SEASONS - COUNTING THE OMER WITH A BAPTIST TWIST

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Even though I grew up Baptist but now lean toward all things original and Hebraic, I have come to realize that so many Messianic and Hebraic thoughts and practices were taught to me by those dedicated Baptist Sunday School teachers and preachers who were very serious about their knowledge of the scriptures and the gospel of salvation.

For instance, back in those days in the little Baptist Church where I attended we constantly sang a song called “Bringing In The Sheaves.”  This song to these sincere Baptist people simply related to bringing a harvest of souls to salvation, which was an absolutely correct metaphor; except that now in my own life, with added Hebraic thoughts, there is also SO MUCH MORE to this story of the sheaves that was not known or taught, or at least never publicly shared in that little baptist congregation.  Yet, you might say in the Baptist Church I received the basics, and since then God has graciously shown me more of the story.  I'm sure there are baptist that receive MORE than the basics in their worship; I am simply relating my own personal experience.  I was young and still learning, but those BASICS were so vital to any more growing I had to do.

Now as  I contemplate the basic truths learned about salvation and the gospel message I was taught as a young girl in the Baptist church, I am able to realize that the “sheaves” referred to in this song were the “first fruits” of the early spring harvest that relate to the Counting of the Omer in the time period between the Jewish Passover Festival and the Jewish Feast of Pentecost.   With this further knowledge, the song really comes alive for me! These things were not specifically taught or talked about a lot the Baptist Church, but this is a Torah commandment given in Leviticus 23: 15 – 16.

 “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath (Passover, The High Sabbath) from the day that you brought the sheaf (omer) of the wave offering (Day of Early First Fruits).  You shall count 50 days to the day after the 7^th Sabbath.  Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain unto the Lord.”

I was taught that it is good and proper to bring offerings unto the Lord, and I was taught that The Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost; but nothing specific was given in the teachings that addressed these particular feast days or this particular offering (The Omer of First Fruits), which appears to be pretty important to God in the scriptures.

So, now that I know this fact; I’ve taken it to heart!  Every year starting on the day of Early First Fruits during the season of Passover I say a prayer/blessing and declare the day of the Counting of the Omer.  It makes that old worn-out and heavily used Baptist scripture of  “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” found in Philippians 2:12, come alive for me!  This harvesting experience has become the way of the season at our house now, and we (like a lot of other Jewish, Protestant and Catholic believers) count the days up until Pentecost (49 days with Pentecost being the 50^th day)  and participate in The Counting of the Omer.

Studying the Hebraic Feast Days of Passover and Pentecost has made these days that are sandwiched in between them so much more significant in the journey of life.  I never knew until I just stepped out in faith on my own and took God at his word and just started doing what I had learned, how significant these days would be in changing my life and bringing me closer in my walk with God.  It is so helpful, and believe me – I am one of those people who always needs a lot of help.  When the 49 days,(seven weeks) are complete it is customary to say another prayer/blessing: 

“O Compassionate One may He return for us the service of the Temple to its place speedily and in our time. Amen.  Selah.”  

Having the Messianic meaning of “temple” (fits right in with my Baptist upbringing too) I know I am walking around in the temple of the latter days.  Christ dwells in me through The Holy Spirit and my body has become a temple.  It is my place to do all I can to keep my temple holy and acceptable to God so that one day, He will return for me.  

One way that I attempt to do this is to study and meditate on the seven fruits of the Spirit that are focused on by Jewish and Hebraic thinking people along with miscellaneous others (like nondenominational Christians such as myself) during The Counting of the Omer. 

Each day is devoted to learning more of the attributes of God.  At first they seemed a little silly and really strange to me, but the more I studied and listened to God, the more they exactly showed me the things that God wanted me to change about my temple (my body) and my life (my soul and my spirit) so that I could better be of service to Him in His Kingdom as I walked the earth.  These seven attributes which correspond directly to the fruits of The Spirit I studied all my life, starting early in the Baptist church, are really cool.  These seven attributes of God’s Divine Character help us to overcome the attributes of our human nature that are directly opposed to God’s will.  These seven attributes we meditate on in The Counting of the Omer are:   

                         (1)       Chesed – Loving Kindness

                        (2)       Gevurah – Strength and Power

                        (3)       Tiferet – Harmony and Peace

                        (4)       Netzach – Victory and Triumph

                        (5)       Hod – Glory and Majesty

                        (6)       Yesod – Foundation

                        (7)       Malkut – Sovereignty

It seems that each of the seven ancient patriarchs of Israel possessed a portion of these characteristics when we look at their combined lives.  The life of Abraham teaches us Chesed.  The life of Isaac teaches us Gevurah.  The life of Jacob teaches us Tiferet.  The life of Moses teaches us Netzach.  The life of Aaron teaches us Hod.  The life of Joseph teaches us Yesod.  The life of David teaches us Malkut. 

By meditating and dwelling on these seven attributes of God’s character during the seven weeks of counting the omer while waiting for Pentecost, we participate in a process of overcoming that consists of seven stages of spiritual growth and development.  This is God teaching us how to overcome our own human nature that drags us down and keeps us from entering and/or presently living in The Kingdom of God.  These seven attributes of God’s personality offset the seven natures of our own humanity that Paul spoke to us about and called “the works of the flesh.”  (Galations 5:19-21).  Peter listed the characteristics of God for us to help us overcome these when he said:  “Giving all diligence add to your faith virtue (spiritual power), to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love.  For if these things are yours and abound you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  For he who lacks these things is short sighted, even unto blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.  (II Peter 1:5-9). 

How many times did I hear those teachings as I sat a child and a young adult in the Baptist pews?  Over and over they were taught.  Now in counting the omer and meditating on these attributes and trying to overcome daily by putting them into my life as we approach the Day of Pentecost, I am able to begin to live out what I was taught.  Not to say that we will ever be perfect (far from it), only Jesus was perfect!  With His blood covering my sins though, I am better able to open my eyes to the things of life that are worthy and worth while for God’s Kingdom.  I am constantly being “born again” into this new place of where God created me to be! Like a child growing in the mother's womb; I love and need this process and this time.  Only God could have commanded something so perfectly fitting and valuable for teaching a sinner like me to overcome. The scriptures clearly say that those who "overcome" will be the ones who enter the kingdom after they come out of the great tribulation.  Our world is beginning to groan with the pains of tribulation even now, and help for living out these days in a godly manner is welcome food for my soul.

The days of The Counting of The Omer are simply all about growing in the womb of the attributes of God’s character and learning how to better become His child.  This is one of the first process, after salvation, baptism and the receiving of The Holy Spirit, to being "born again."   It is an exciting and fulfilling process that I am thankful to have discovered.  As I go through these days now an old song comes to mind that I haven’t sung in a long time.  I catch myself singing that old hymn called “Bringing In The Sheaves.”

The words are suddenly so much more profound:

“Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping, We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves."

The old song was written in 1874 by a man named Knowles Shaw.  How I would love to have a conversation with him! I am told by what little witnesses there are, that he was inspired by Psalms 126:6; “"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." 

“Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows, Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;By and by the harvest, and the labor ended, We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves”  

These wonderful old words perfectly describe the journey through life with Christ living inside us and being led by The Holy Spirit.  It paints a beautiful picture of the aspect of overcoming; of accepting the good with the bad and staying faithful until the times of harvest, learning, loving, trusting, rejoicing as we go!

"Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,
Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;
When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves."

I guess that little conversation with Mr. Shaw will have to wait until we are in eternity together, but I do intend to look Mr. Shaw up on the other shore!  I also find it amazing how the Spirit of God advertises the kingdom sometimes.  These simple yet profound lyrics that most people do not have a clue how to understand have been used in a million and one movies, tv shows and books.  All of our bad media sources have unknowingly used them in the strangest ways and all of them have from time to time burst out in one big chorus of the songs refrain:

"Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves;
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves."

 One of the most astounding places I’ve found the lyrics repeated was in the southern American writer Eudora Welty’s novel called “Losing Battles.” 

Robert Mitchum sung it as he portrayed The Reverend Harry Powell in “The Night Of The Hunter.” 

A three piece marching band played it in “Batman and The Bomb” scene in 1966 from “The Batman Movie” staring Adam West. 

Granny of the Beverly Hillbillies loved to sing this song! 

In a real ironic twist, Faye Dunaway sings it while bathing Dustin Hoffman in the movie “Little Big Man.” 

The church congregation of The Andy Griffith Show sang it in “The Church Organ” episode, not to mention the time Barney Fife lulled Otis (the town drunk) to sleep by humming it in another episode of the same show.

The children in "The Children of The Corn" sang it before chasing the main character into the corn field, yet another most ironic use of the song.  

Each time I see this song used in a bad way, a way that really wasn't intended and at first think it should have been edited out of a musical, tv show or video, the thought finally occurs to me; this is just God's way of seeping into our bad and bringing His good.  If we don't turn, He comes to us in our dirt and grime and states truth in a way that we will understand it.   It is like he is playing a joke on his mischievous children and teaching them something in a different way, a way that He knows they will relate to and come back to in their minds later after they feel the contracting emotions of that wrong way twist, and turn from the bad because of the good words heard within the bad.

You can see this old song has has been used a million different ways by a million unlikely sources over the years!  

Now I sing it with a Hebraic heart, loving the words that speak to me of a better future in a land where we are always surrounded by the beautiful attributes of God, Our Father and the mercy, grace, love and truth of Yeshua, Our Messiah.

THE HOUSE DOCTOR PART FOUR PREPARING FOR A LIVELY SUMMER

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

I did so LOVE the spring look that had evolved at our home by the closing of spring this year, and even felt a little sad and challenged about packing it all up.  I had become used to it and it made me happy every time I walked through.

It felt like Spring had reached a point of perfection; but nothing gold can stay forever, and I’m sure by Fall, Summer will have reached a point of perfection too…..so here goes, on with the transition!

Out with the red, white and blue - what a contrast!  Quite a change!

Both looks could be quite cheerful and comfortable, but I was going for more of summer and less of spring!  This:

Became this:

And several other changes began to take place:

I usually wait until after Derby Day and Mother’s Day to begin to transition our house from the lovely, more formal, fresh and bright spring greens and soft and pretty pastels into the more casual and comfortable deeper, darker greens of summer and deep reds of Pentecost.  I chose to start a little early this year.  

Now with the fast approaching days of summer we go from elegant, spacious and slightly formal to cottage-cozy, laid back and comfortable casual.  I always want a more relaxed, laid back feeling in the house which will hopefully match our life styles during the summer months.

 

It is a season that easily blends it’s qualities.  These same colors used for Pentecost work well when we arrive at the time for the patriotic reds, whites and blues of Memorial Day.   The patriotic things feel so festive, yet un-formal.  They continue the Pentecost message with the way they speak of freedom and growth of a Godly nation.  

They also lend themselves with the blends of more shades of the blues and some mixed beiges to the beach feeling I like to mix into it all.  

These beach decorations and colors then go so well with more red, white and blue when we once again show our patriotism on Independence Day.

When you set your home with this atmosphere, you get the feeling of a constant on-going picnic.  It is the time of the year to concentrate much more on the yard and the outside living areas of the home.  We stay beach-worthy inside and outside right through the end of August when things will once again take another transition and total change of colors in honor of fall in September. 

This year I’m starting early, right BEFORE Mother’s Day.  I’m going to let May, June, July and August just blend with slight changes.  I have pulled out the basics and I’m setting my goals for some new improvements and fresh ideas this summer. I have a list of the things I would like to aim to accomplish in my home before the end of August.  I'll share a few of them with you here.  Pray that I get at least HALF of them done!

I want to plant a thriving spice garden in my kitchen window.  When this gets done I'll use these spices to make fresh new summer recipes.

I need to make the entrance to the house fit the season that we are going through.

I would love to re-purpose several pieces of old un-useful-for-the-moment furniture.  I want to paint some smaller pieces with a patriotic flair (only to be used in the appropriate seasons.)

I am hoping to be able to revive some of my outdoor areas – they need a lot of tender loving care this summer.   They have been long neglected while we worked on some inside remodeling.   Places like the back yard deck, the grilling area at the downstairs back of the house and the screened porch just off our master bedroom.

It would be fun to incorporate more plants, those of the “eating” kind and those of the “just pretty” kind into planters and containers all over the yard and decks of the house.

I am STILL cleaning out the storage building and garage - an on-going project that will continue through the summer.  The garage may have more priority - since it is cooler in the summer months.

I’ve always dreamed of having a little secret garden to the back of my house that wraps all the way around one side of my house.  I want to lay out the master plan for that this summer and plant a few of the basics and create a few beginning gardening projects in that direction.  This will be a whimsical garden, one with little spots of imaginative creations and restful places of peaceful meditation, with pretty plantings that add large splashes of color here and there, maybe even with a walking trail, be it ever so small and humble.  I will use some of my seasonal re-purposed furniture that I will not need to use any more to make outdoor sitting spaces for this area.

 

I want to establish our first annual Family Pentecost BBQ Picnic to be held in our own back yard and I will work on little things that aim for making this more festive and fun for all.  This year it will only be immediate family, but this may evolve over the years into a casual reunion with other extended family and friends.  I’ve noticed a lot of the younger cousins don’t really seem to know each other very well.  We need to initiate an opportunity there…..Planning the fun events that you want to take part in your home is what the constant remodeling and redecorating is all about, right?  It is all about the people; not the things.  I want the people to know each other better!  The things and all the effort you are extending toward the care of your home are for the people you love.  Let them enjoy as often as you can.  There are a million little ways to do this.  My Pentecost Family Picnic is just one example.  What would you like to be sharing with your family this summer? Make some special memories!

Last but not least, is my forever dream-plan of putting an entertainment center with sliding barn-style doors at the end of our living room.  It would be a miracle to get this done by fall, but I can always hope.  I’ve seen just exactly what I want (well, I would tweek it a bit and make it fit my purposes) in a local store display.  Remember my thoughts are to have the barn doors slide on and off and be the display for my different large pieces of art to be changed with each season?  I am going to make it a priority to take pictures of the “almost perfect” one I saw so that my husband and my son-in-laws can help me build it at the end of our living room.  If we do it ourselves, we can do this for a small amount of pocket change.  The one I saw in the store though amounted to several thousands of dollars.  Of course, I'm opting for saving the money and having a new family project to share!   I would change the store's original design a bit to suit my own purposes, change the door to one large one instead of two smaller ones, and change the colors used for painting the wood.  This is on my “if possible” list.  Maybe I will just start accumulating the materials – we will see how this one goes.

So what is my budget for all of this?  I don’t have one.  I really don’t have a penny to spend on home improvements this summer, so everything you see from me will be very thrifty and economical.  Just more of an excuse to use the old imagination, right?  Keep reading the blog each week to see all that can be accomplished with sheer will power and a little elbow grease!

Sounds like we all are going to have a very busy summer!  I’ll share my pics and tell you all about it as we go along, hopefully it will spark some ideas for your home too.  Have you made your own list yet?  What things would you like to work toward this summer?  Life is a process and if you don’t think it through and make a list, well you may not ever get started.  If you have anything you would love to share with others about your summer décor and home improvement ideas, please let me know.  I would be happy to feature your home on this blog in “The House Doctor” section too.  I'm always looking for willing participants not too embarrassed to put their ideas out there for everyone to share.  The more we share our ideas the richer our lives will be.

 Just don’t forget to stop and enjoy your summer progress along the way.  Take long times to rest and bask in your progress and also remember to share the beautiful results of your ideas with all of your family, friends and neighbors.  A “house” is an investment.  A “home” is a lifestyle!

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 68 HAGAR BECOMES KETURAH

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So, the story hiding within the story is that Abraham married Keturah shortly after Isaac married Rebekah. 

 There is much fascination around the thoughts as to who Keturah really was.  It seems that Abraham was 140 when he married her; that would mean that they were husband and wife for thirty-five years, since Abraham died at a ripe old age of 175.  

We see Keturah mentioned in the scriptures of the Torah as the one Abraham married after Isaac’s wedding, as if she were a whole new person in the story, but many believe she had a past history with Abraham.  Some think she was actually Hagar with a new name. It seems that the Midrash also leans toward the theory that Hagar was Keturah, and her name was changed due to the fine qualities that she had developed over a lifetime of living on her own.
 

One has to stop here to remember that God changed the names of Abraham and Sarah, and it seems highly possible that this would also have been the case with Hagar.  Yet, none of this is explained exactly, so all we can do based on the solid scriptures is speculate.  It is almost as if things were deliberately vague regarding Keturah.  
 

In the questions around Keturah there is also that nagging question of whether or not Abraham actually married and/or divorced Hagar in the first place, or if she was simply a concubine and he just sent her away.

The Midrash teaches that Abraham DID divorce Hagar when he sent her away (which would indicate that he was actually legally married to her also.) It states that as she sat by the well and cried out to God that she demanded for God to look down on her shame and bring her justice.  This same story teaches that God heard her prayer and much later granted her this justice by speaking to Abraham after Sarah’s death and commanding him to take back his divorced wife, Hagar.
 

It is also hinted in the Torah scriptures and repeated in the Midrash that Isaac too actually initiated this action of his father’s remarriage.  The story notes that Isaac, having just married Rebekah, said to himself “I have taken a wife, while my father is without a spouse.  What did he decide to do about this?  He went and brought Keturah to Abraham.  The one who had inadvertently caused them to be separated in the first place, now brought them together again.  

This traditional teaching is based on Genesis 24:62 that reads “Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Be’er-la-hai-ro’i”.  So; many think that it is highly possible that was when Isaac brought Hagar back to live with Abraham again, probably hoping she would keep him company and he would not be so lonely since Sarah had died.  We know that same area is where she had established a life when she left Abraham’s camp, and it was where she had been living for most of her days since her time with Abraham.  It was also where several of her experiences with God had taken place, and where her eyes had been opened, hence how the place had been given its name.  (Genesis 16:14)  A lot had happened to Hagar at this well.  Perhaps Hagar had learned even more by living beside this well than the scriptures tell us.  There seems to be a drastic change between the first woman we knew as Hagar and the woman we meet later named Keturah.  God had done a work in Hagar and this had changed her name.

Let’s ponder this and go a bit deeper with it.  When Abraham sent Hagar

and Ishmael away on the day of Isaac’s weaning, it is certainly very possible that he did give her a certificate of divorce.  Sarah had been very angry and wanted Abraham to be rid of this servant and her son forever.  She wanted it to be legal so there could be no question that Isaac was the only heir of Abraham.
 

Hagar was left alone in the wilderness to care for her son without anyone helping her for years and years.  Some think Abraham had mercy on her and sent her in the direction of the well, knowing that if she found water, she would be saved.  Still, she was lost and on her own without the identity of Abraham's name for years and years.  It is said that he sent help to her, but had promised Sarah that his foot would never step down from his camel on Ishmael’s property.  So when he visited with Ishmael, it was not inside Ishmael’s home.  It was by indirect contact or infrequent face to face encounters for many years.
 

Let’s even take these thoughts about Abraham and Hagar’s divorce a step further and ask another question:  Was this not a very similar situation to the time when God sent Israel away with a divorce and dispersed them into the world and they became lost without any sign of their true identity?
 

God had married Israel at Mt. Sinai on Pentecost when the cloud had settled over the mountain like a wedding canopy. God gave the people His covenant in writing on stone called The Ten Commandments.  Moses, acting in the place of the priest, had written out the marriage certificate, the Ketubah, containing all of the words, and all the people who had cleansed their clothes and consecrated themselves for two days, stood before God on the third day and agreed to this marriage covenant.   

The very first commandment was “thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”  No sooner were the words written down and read  aloud than the people were building and worshiping a golden calf.  They were committing spiritual adultery almost as soon as they took their wedding vows.  How did God chose to handle this?  Though His heart was broken, after many repeated episodes of the same thing, He gave these rebellious people a writ of divorce.  God cannot dwell with pagans.

We read about this in Jeremiah, Chapter 3.  The prophet speaks in parable and allegory to describe all of this.  He speaks of how Israel had been untrue to God by worshiping other gods.  The two parties had created a covenant together of the most serious kind.  It was an extension of the original covenant God had given to Abraham.  
   

A marriage contract is always based on compete faithfulness of both the bride and the groom.  This was a blood covenant.   Moses had built an altar of twelve stones to represent each of the twelve tribes.  He had read the contract aloud and sprinkled the people with half the blood of the sacrifices and poured the other half of the blood on the altar. 

In those days when a blood covenant was made it meant that if one party broke the covenant it was punishable by death (by the shedding of a party of the covenant’s own blood.)  Yet, serious as it was, in no time at all the people had broken the covenant.
   

The words “thou shalt have no other gods before me” were the same as a groom saying to his bride, “You will have no other husband but Me.”  When the people sinned by worshiping the idol of the golden calf, they committed spiritual adultery.  They were untrue to God.  They lost their purity before Him.  This broke the covenant with God and ended the marriage.  At that point, the people were doomed to die for their sin of adultery and rebelliousness.

How odd to think that the God of Heaven had married a harlot, but that was the case with Israel!
 

We could stay within the bounds of our present story and look at Abraham and Hagar and say “How odd that Abraham would have married an Egyptian slave girl who would eventually rebel against his household!  He divorced her and sent her away when she was rebellious against his house.  Hagar and Ishmael had treated Sarah and Isaac grievously.  Her own rebellion had caused her divorce.
 

The story of Hagar and Abraham continues to reflect the story of God and Israel.  It is not the story of Isaac.  Isaac represents the people who did not rebel against God in spiritual adultery.  It is about another son, the son of Hagar who was very different from the son of Sarah.  Ishmael was wild and rebellious.  Ishmael paid no attention to the laws and rules of Abraham’s household even though when he was but a young boy God had given him mercy and saved him beside a wellspring of water.  Ishmael remained rebellious, but it seems that Hagar had begun to change.

Hagar wandered in the circumstances that Abraham had decided for her until she came to rest by a well where God spoke to her and satisfied her thirst as well as the thirst of her son.  This nourishment from the water of the well and the words from heaven to her here in this place made her realize her worth as a child of God.  Miracles can do that for all of us.  Sometimes things just happen that we know were impossible without God’s total intervention, and those things tend to strengthen our belief and help us to hold on until we are spiritually stronger and able to overcome our circumstances.

  

There at the well provided by God, Hagar found her purpose and destiny.  She became the woman that God had intended for her to be all along.  Her circumstances helped her to understand need and suffering.  This developed a trait of compassion and love for others that had not come naturally to her before.  Now that she had known thirst, she shared the precious water from the well with all those passing by, and they maintained life from it and were grateful.  They paid her good wages for this water and Hagar began to support herself and her son from the bounty of the one good thing that God had given them of their own.
 

We all have one thing in our lives that we know is our greatest blessing from

God.  Usually when we become grateful for that one thing and turn it completely over to God, He multiplies that one thing into a way for us to become survivors and over-comers in a hard, cold and uncaring world.  For people of God living in the modern world today, a way to over-come tribulation and survive is critical.  It is a trait we must learn from Hagar.  We must find out and understand how she came to be Keturah.  Keturah was a woman who was prepared to become a bride.
 

God's love gives our hearts the capacity to grow and reach out to those who have even more needs than we do.  In this unselfish act, we begin to find our blessings and we cultivate love.  That is exactly what had happened to Hagar as she waited by the well and tended to her son.  That is the very thing that turned her into Keturah.  She developed compassion and love for all of mankind.  She forgave Sarah and Abraham for putting her into circumstances beyond her control.  She did not question God's destiny for her life any longer, and she began to fulfill the true destiny that God had designed especially for her to be.
 

A whole new woman appeared; one much different than the one that had left the home of Abraham so many years ago.  The change from Hagar to Keturah prepared her to become acceptable as Abraham’s wife again.
 

So it seems that after the death of Sarah Abraham found Hagar again, after many years of not knowing her, and he saw how beautiful she had become, both inside and out.  It was said by the people in the land that her deeds were as pleasant as incense, and that is part of the meaning of her new name.  Where she once had been bitter and harsh Abraham now saw her kind ways.  He saw that she had not neglected her only son, but had raised him to be strong.  He was amazed at the business woman that she had grown to be, smartly buying and trading with the merchants that came and went through the land, always selling them the right to use the water in her well; but always keeping the well for her livelihood.  Some think that she also sold spices to the merchants that she had grown and cultivated in her garden, but the well was her main source of income.  Even her garden was watered by it. 

Let’s not forget – it was Abraham’s well.  He never took it from her, but let her use it freely and this provided a living for her while she was away from him. (Does this remind you of  how God sent The Holy Spirit to His people when Jesus had to go back to Heaven?)  

Hagar/Keturah had become quite wealthy and prosperous, and she had kept herself moral and pure.  She had never even looked in the direction of another man after her relationship with Abraham.  She had very strong strong morals and very high standards.  She had made it on her own, with God’s help.  She had relied on no other man to solve her problems and had risen above her harsh circumstances with dignity and grace.  Abraham recognized this change of character and admired the very valuable woman that she had become.  He saw so many new qualities that had come to take root in her life since the days of the Egyptian slave girl from so long ago.  This totally different woman had a new name.  Hagar was gone.  Now they called her Keturah.  So Abraham remarried Keturah and they had six sons.

  

There is another story about a prophet named Hosea that had an experience with a rebellious wife.  Like Abraham’s marriage to Keturah, his marriage was also a picture of God’s marriage to Israel, only an even better comparison.  

Hosea and Gomer (his wayward wife) had three children.  Gomer went out and committed adultery and eventually she found herself standing in the slave market shamefully waiting to be sold as a slave.  God instructed Hosea to go find her and redeem her.  Hosea did this and redeemed her for fifteen shekels of silver and one-half an omer of barley.
  

In a similar fashion, God instructed Yeshua to go find the lost sheep of Israel and to redeem them.  He did this.  He bought them back from the slave market of sin for thirty shekels of silver and his own flesh and blood.

When we read of the death of Abraham, who died at 175 years old, we see a picture of Isaac and Ishmael burying their father together.  How very strange to know that the two sons who were kept apart during the life of Abraham came together in the death of Abraham.  We had a hint of this reconciliation when Isaac brought Keturah back to Abraham after Sarah died.  Maybe this reconciliation of the two sons came even before Abraham died, perhaps some time after the Akadah?  We do not know exactly when, but now we see two very different men coming together in peace in order to bury their father.

 Some believe that in his old age Abraham had worked very hard to reconcile the two grown men to one another as brothers.  Perhaps as he grew older and older Abraham did not want to die with the thought that the two that he loved most on earth were enemies, and this situation had been partially of his own making; because he had divorced Hagar and separated them.
  

When Isaac and Ishmael come together in grief over losing their father, we are reminded of the split between the tribes of Israel that happened much later in history, where the ten tribes were separated from the two tribes and both groups, once separated. wound up being exiled to different places, with ten tribes totally losing their identity within the family of Israel and only two tribes eventually returning from exile to Jerusalem.
 

Many today believe that one day these two parts of the nation of Israel will rediscover their identity as one family and re-unite in the power of The Holy Spirit under a shared belief that Yeshua is Messiah and the true Son of God.  A day may come where they will honor their Father and become One again. 

We know that it is promised that Yeshua,  like the shadow we see of Isaac in our story, will bring His family together once more; and Israel will again become one with God.  It is a day we all hope and pray for, a day when we will all find the peace of God that has been so elusive for so long.  
  

Will that time be like the time at the end of Abraham's life?  Will it too be a long slow process with many twists and turns?  Will it take that long for two brothers of one Father to become friends again and agree on the truth of their family history?

But wait….God had divorced Israel, at least the scriptures indicate that He divorced all but the tribe of Judah.  How could these two divided pieces of one nation ever reunite again?  It would break God’s own law. 

Abraham was able to remarry Keturah (Hagar who had changed), but she had remained faithful and had not gone after other men.  We know that the reason the lost sheep were divorced from God in the first place was that they were committing spiritual adultery, or they were worshiping idols and using pagan practices in their lives.  God could not endure this, hence the writ of divorce.  

It is said in God’s own law (Deuteronomy 24: 1-4), in the Ketubah that was given at Sinai, the document that contained the ten commandments for all to follow on the wedding day; that a man could not remarry a woman he had divorced if she had been wed to another, even if that person died.  

The only way for God to be able to legally remarry the lost sheep of Israel would be for Him to die, thus ending that part of the covenant.  (A covenant that was broken only ended with the death of one party of the covenant.)   If God died and was resurrected to new life it would then be possible for Him to remarry those of Israel that He had previously divorced.  That is exactly what happened.
 

Wonder of all wonders, there was a way and it was legal!  Romans 7:2-3, written in the words of Paul explains it:

“For a woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives, but if her husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband.”

If the first husband dies, the woman would be free to marry another man, even if she had been married to someone else in the meantime (spiritual adultery.)  We know the first husband of Israel was God, and we know He gave most of Israel a writ of divorce.  We know a portion of Israel has been lost and wandering around in the wilderness of the world for years and years (like Hagar) not even realizing their true identity any more.  We also know the only way that God could legally remarry these “lost sheep” was to die first and then be resurrected to new life.
 

That is just what happened!  This was exactly what took place when God came as Jesus Christ and gave His life on a cross for the redemption of sins.  When that happened the lost ten tribes were legally free to remarry if they chose to do so.  

It was Jesus who died, but Yeshua and God are One, are they not?  God paid for His Bride with His life.  He separated a part of himself to come to earth to live in the flesh so that He might live and die for His Bride, Israel to be made whole again.  

Once Israel is made whole, the Gentiles may also be saved by the atonement of this same precious blood of Christ.  In this act the Son reconciled the Father back to his original wife, and it was completely legal and in keeping with the Law.   The first marriage, the one to Sarah was still in tact, but she had died making it legal for God to marry again.  The second marriage to Hagar had received Sarah's blessing, but it had not been God's will.  It was ended with the death of God and made new through the Resurrection.  Jesus said "I make all things new."  It is still the same Ketubah, or marriage contract with a new and deeper covenant and commitment and now, this time,  the bride has a choice.  She is free, no longer a slave.  She can remarry if she chooses to do so. 

Now the decision is in the former wife’s court.  Will she come back to be reconciled with her husband?  God allows for free will.  Will she work with her first and true love to bring ALL under the cloud of covering, the wedding canopy of God?  Will the Bride chose the Groom and start to prepare herself  for the next wedding?  Two thousand years have ticked off from the clock in order for us to come to the time of this decision.  Is the bride becoming prepared?  Is she ready?  In the first wedding the bride spent two days getting ready, washing her clothes and consecrating herself to meet God.  On the third day the wedding took place.  We are approaching the third day of humanity on this earth after the death of Christ on the cross.  Is the bride ready?  Yeshua is going to return!

Yes, it is true that Yeshua came to bring ALL men to God, but He came FIRST

to the lost sheep of Israel.  Until God’s household was in order again the whole family could not be complete and legal.  Because Israel had sinned and caused a divorce to happen Yeshua now had to die to make this remarriage possible.  He has now been resurrected into new life, and He is waiting on his Bride to be ready.

Do you see how much of this story is like the story of Abraham and Hagar/Keturah?  They had already been married once before and were divorced.  Hagar was sent away never to return. Things looked pretty hopeless.  Hagar had gone back to Egypt and back to her old pagan ways for a while, but these things had died in her heart because she had seen the truth right there beside the well and she knew of God.  She remembered how she had lived  in God's ways with Abraham’s house under the covenant blessings, and she once again decided on her own accord to return to the ways of God in her life; only this time she kept God’s laws from within her heart instead of just because that was the proper thing for a servant to do in Abraham’s house.  She was free to make a choice and she made the RIGHT choice.  This is what turned her into Keturah!  This is what made her ready to be reunited with her husband.   

It was like God had been preparing her heart to be re-united with her former husband all along.  His son initiated this and encouraged their reconciliation.  Once the father was again happily married the son could go on with his life and live out the purposes that God had planned for him.
    

This is just a small portion of all the essence of what is contained in the few small paragraphs of scripture that we know of Abraham’s remarriage to Keturah.  Perhaps we will hear of them again later as we now go back and continue to study the love story of Rebekah and Isaac.  Whether we do or not, just know that Abraham died a happy man having lived a fulfilling life before God.  

We hear that at the end of his life Abraham came with the fullness of his days and was gathered to his people.  How many times do you hear of such a happy ending?   And the best part of all is that Abraham's ending, just like any child of God, was only his new beginning in eternity.  

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 67 - A FAMILY IN TRANSITION AND TRANSFORMATION

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So, like all of the fairy tales we know and love; Isaac and Rebekah married and lived happily ever after, right?   Funny how we humans tend to view the beginnings of all marriages that way!

I hope that isn’t what you are thinking, because if you are, you are sadly mistaken.  Like every true life story, Isaac and Rebekah had their share of ups and downs all through their marriage.

Rebekah did not come directly into that magical life that Abraham had once lived with Sarah, even though, when you think about it – they had THEIR ups and down too.  The good times and the blessed days that we hear of were things that everyone had to work hard to accomplish.  They were now a family and a team and it all had to be done together.  At any rate, Sarah was completely absent from the family picture by this time; so Rebekah experienced a world with no wiser older woman to influence her and guide her.  It must have been very hard for her in the beginning.  She was basically on her own, living in the tent with Isaac.  She had only her oldest servant for help and friendship.  She was very young and this must have been quite an adjustment.  She had probably lived in a house in the past, and now she took on the life of a sojourner, always living in a tent with no walls to hide behind and no permanent doors to close and lock the world out.  The woman who chose to wear the veil was in a time of transition, and so was her husband.

   

There was yet another strange and interesting transition taking place in the family during the time period that Isaac and Rebekah were forming and establishing their marriage.  They all went through another wedding as Abraham took another wife in his old age.  This new wife, named Keturah, was from a different culture and she and Abraham lived miles away from Rebekah and Isaac, so even this was of no comfort to Rebekah in the new place.  Abraham had given the established area of the home site in Hebron to Isaac and then basically left them alone to begin their marriage. 

Abraham’s new wife was named Keturah.  They had six sons of their own.  Of the six named children of Abraham and Keturah, only Midian’s future has an impact on the rest of the story of Abraham’s descendants.  It might be possible, but is fuzzy and unclear, that Sheba, Dedan, and the Ashurites could have also been notable descendants that played indirectly into the family story.  It is suggested by some that these people might be the founders of the line of descendants that belonged to the famous “Queen of Sheba” who later tests Solomon’s wisdom.  It is all very unclear though, whether these are truly from the descendants of Abraham and Keturah, or just others with similar sounding names. 

But why is it that all of this is so obscure? Why are people as important as Abraham’s children not more involved in the story of the history of the children of God?  The answer is pretty simple.  Because Abraham wanted it that way.

Abraham, being very careful with everything involving Isaac, followed a custom of many other cultures when he decided to remarry.  He held the belief of those who thought it was best if a man’s wife died, that he should not remarry until his children were grown and married themselves.  He patiently waited until he saw Isaac happily married to Rebekah before considering taking another wife.

There are a lot of old stories that circulate around the fact of Abraham marrying again.  There is no way to confirm them, but many of them make sense in relation to the scriptures that we do know.

We have already mentioned that prior to Isaac's marriage Abraham had given Isaac all of his greatest possessions, and the bulk of his great wealth.  Isaac was clearly distinguished as Abraham’s most honored heir.  Every precaution was taken to protect this.

We know that Abraham tended to Ishmael's support until he was grown, giving him gifts while he was still living, and Abraham also looked after his sons with Keturah in the same way.  When they grew up Abraham always sent them away toward the East and was careful to keep these descendants separate and far from where Isaac was living.  Some commentators state that Abraham in his wisdom sent these sons out to seek and establish their own independence, thinking that living on their own and making their way through the world without his help would change them, make them stronger men and possibly even bring them closer to God.  From the records of history we can discern that these sons were pagan to the core.  This must have greatly disappointed Abraham, and some stories go so far as to say that Abraham gave the grown sons of Keturah a formal, legal document that was comparable to a writ of divorce.  This was to keep them legally distinguished from the inheritance of Isaac.  Isaac was always to be the legal child of blessing, both in the physical and the spiritual inheritance.  To keep this established and firm Keturah's sons, like Ishmael, were only given gifts from Abraham while he was still alive, and when he died they were to receive nothing else.  This custom was as if to say "here are my gifts for you; I give them to you now while I am alive, and it finishes my business with you."  

Thus it was clearly established that none of the sons of Keturah and Abraham were to inherit past their lifetime.  Isaac was the sole owner of the eternal blessings from Abraham's covenant with God.

As time allows we will talk more about this fascinating marriage of Abraham to Keturah.  It is often forgotten and laid aside because it is mentioned in the middle of the story of Isaac and Rebekah.  To know both love stories is important.  It helps us to understand the plan that God had for His people, from the very beginning of Abraham's story all the way through to the descendants of today, which are as many as the sand of the sea.