Lesson date: 1/27/5855AA

Verse 1 – Qeturah is only mentioned four times in the entire Scripture. Twice in Ber. 25 and twice in 1 Chron. 1. It is the mention of Qeturah in 1 Chronicles 1 that provides information to suggest that Qeturah was possibly Hagar by calling her “the concubine”. It may be that she is called the concubine instead of wife in 1 chronicles is that the children of Qeturah did not inherit much of anything for Abraham. We will look at this in more detail.

Verse 2-4 –

Qeturah – קְׂטוּרָׂה – Strong’s H6989 – ‘incense’

• Zimran – זִמְׂרָׂן – Strong’s H2175 – ‘musician’

• Yoqshan – יָׂקְׂשָׂן – Strong’s H3370 – ‘snarer’

            ▪ Sheḇa – שְׂבָׂא – Strong’s H7614 – ‘seven or oath’

            ▪ Deḏan – דְׂדָׂן – Strong’s H1719 – ‘low country’

                        • Asshurim – אַשּׁוּרִם – Strong’s H805 – ‘steps’

                        • Letushim – לְׂטוּשִם – Strong’s H3912 – ‘hammered’

                        • Le’ummim – לְׂאֻמִים – Strong’s H3817 – ‘peoples’

• Meḏan – מְׂדָׂן – Strong’s H4091 – ‘contention’

• Miḏyan – מִדְׂיָׂן – Strong’s H4080 – ‘strife’

            ▪ Ěphah – עֵּיפָׂה – Strong’s H5891 – ‘gloomy’

            ▪ Ěpher – עֵּפֶר – Strong’s H6081 – ‘a calf’

            ▪ Ḥanoḵ – חֲנוֹךְ – Strong’s H2585 – ‘dedicated’

            ▪ Aḇiḏa – אֲבִידָׂע – Strong’s H28 – ‘my father knows’

            ▪ Eldaʽah – אֶלְׂדָׂעָׂה – Strong’s H420 – ‘El has known, El has called’

• Yishbaq – יִ שבָׂק – Strong’s H3435 – ‘he releases’

• Shuwaḥ – שוּ ח – Strong’s H7744 – ‘wealth’

Verses 5-6 – At first verses 5 and 6 seem as though they are in conflict with one another but they are not. Go back Ber. 21:10 : for the son of this female servant shall not inherit with my son,

He we see Sarah stating that Yishma’el would not inherit but inherit what? The promise: Gal 3:16  But the promises were spoken to Aḇraham, and to his Seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Messiah.

What the other sons received were physical wealth rather than the promise of the coming Messiah. Further, it states that Abraham sent the sons away to the land of the east. Where? Flavius Josephus states that the sons of Abraham by Qeturah became troglodytes in what we would now call the Sinai Peninsula and also Saudi Arabia. Although some of them undoubtably did go into Saudi Arabia I do not believe they went south into the Sinai. When we look at India, which is under a caste system, the system is called a Brahmin caste system. It is called this because it was named after A[braham], and yes, so were the cows, Brahma, because they were considered sacred. (This may tell us why the cows were sacred as that was all they received from Abraham.)

Why are we given certain grandchildren names?

Verses 7-8 – Abraham lived [17]5 years. Seventeen is salvation in the midst of adversity and 5 represents grace, chesed. Also, look at John 1:16, grace for grace or grace upon grace = 5 x 5 = 25. Any number times itself is completeness in whatever the number represents.

Please take note of verse 8, this is very important. Compare this verse to these: Gen_49:29  And he commanded them, and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Ḥittite,

Jdg_2:10  And all that generation were likewise gathered to their fathers, and another generation arose after them who did not know יהוה nor the work which He had done for Yisra’ĕl.

2Ki_22:20  “Therefore, see, I am gathering you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, so that your eyes do not see all the evil I am bringing on this place.” ’ ” And they brought word to the sovereign.

2Ch_34:28  “See, I am gathering you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, so that your eyes would not see all the evil that I am bringing on this place and its inhabitants.” ’ ” So they brought back word to the sovereign.

Abraham was gathered to his people, the righteous but he is the “father” of our faith in that the promise was through him and no one else: Luk 16:24  “And crying out he said, ‘Father Aḇraham, have compassion on me, and send Elʽazar to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering in this flame.’

Verses 9-10 – We see that only Yitshaq and Yisma’el buried Abraham. They stand as two opposite poles of a magnet. Yitshaq was the son of the promise and did inherit the promise and Yishma’el was the son of the ‘flesh’. Remember what was said about Yishma’el: Gen 16:12  “And he is to be a wild man, his hand against every one and every one’s hand against him, and dwell over against all his brothers.”

Verse 11 –  Please notice that Yitshaq is located at Be’er Lahai Roi – the well of the Living One Who sees me. His father traveled thousands of miles in his day and Ya’aqob will travel thousands of miles in his day but Yitshaq will not leave the Promised Land all of his life.

Verses 12-18 – The genealogy of Yishma’el: Yishma’ĕl – יִשְׂמעֵּאל – Strong’s H3458 – ‘El will hear’

• Neḇayoth – נביֹת – Strong’s H5032 – ‘heights’

• Qĕḏar – קֵּדר – Strong’s H6938 – ‘dark’

• Aḏbe’ĕl – אַדבאֵּל – Strong’s H110 – ‘disciplined of El’

• Miḇsam – מִבשָׂם – Strong’s H4017 – ‘sweet odour’

• Mishma – מִשְׂמע – Strong’s H4927 – ‘a hearing, a rumour that is heard’

• Dumah – דוּמה – Strong’s H1746 – ‘silence’

• Massa – מַשָׂא – Strong’s H4854 – ‘burden’

• Haḏar – חֲדַר – Strong’s H2316 – ‘honour’

• Tĕma – בֵּימא – Strong’s H8485 – ‘desert’

• Yetur – יטוּר – Strong’s H3195 – ‘enclosed, row of jewels’

Let’s look at Yishma’el’s name in the pictographic:

I         = strong arm, power, work, make, throw

s         = two front teeth, chew, devour, destroy, ruminate

m         = water, chaos, confusion, people

o         = eye, to be watchful, take heed, pay attention

a         = ox, strength, leader, ruler, can also mean yoke,

l         = shepherd’s staff, authority, leadership, also to or toward

His strong arm will devour and destroy and cause chaos and confusion when his ruler gains authority.

Ya’aqob had 12 sons and Yishma’el had 12 sons. The path of the sons of Yisra’el will bring salvation through the Messiah. The path of the sons of Yishma’el (flesh) will bring chaos and destruction. We have now entered the time when the sons of Yishma’el have come to power.

Look at verse 18 – “He settled before all his brothers” means “in the face of” which carries a negative connotation. Similar to what you and I would say “in spite of”.

Verse 19-21 – Yitshaq was 40 when he took Ribqah to be his wife. What does 40 represent in Scripture?  How old was Ribqah we don’t know, but there is no mention of her being outside of the normal age of marriage so, we can infer that she was a teenager or possibly as old as 20 but I feel as though if she had been 20 or older it probably would have been mentioned in some way. Twenty is the age of majority and although it may sound silly to us a young woman this age would have been looked on as a spinster. As I mentioned last week the Book of Yashar has Ribqah age at 10. I do not believe this is accurate but if it is it would explain verse 21 in that Ribqah was barren. Having intercourse with a girl this young could cause her to be barren after menarche. To be barren, as was Sarah and Rachel, was to be cursed.

Ribqah means “ensnarer” and it certainly appears that she ensnared Yitshaq. But remember she is also the great-niece of Abraham. Notice how Ribqah’s father and brother are refered to as Arameans. This is Abraham’s family too. That would place Abraham’s place of origin in nothern Syria and/or southern Turkey. This is still more evidence that Abraham did not begin his journey for the land of Ur as it is generally believed. Abraham is refered to as a Hebrew because he ‘crossed over’ the Euprates River which would become the northern limit of the Kingdom of Yisra’el.

Verse 22 – “So she went to ask YHVH”. Where did she go and why? Lam 3:25  יהוה is good to those waiting for Him, To the being who seeks Him.

Verse 23 – Who gave her the message from YHVH? Just as we saw two different nations in Yitshaq and Yishma’el we see again two different groups of people represented by the children of Yitshaq. Also, we will see again the promise of the younger getting the greater blessing again in Bereshith with the children of Yoseph.

Verses 24-26 – Twins were born to Ribqah and the oldest was Esaw (H6215 = hairy or rough) also called Edom: H123 – אדום / אדם – ‘ĕdôm / ‘ĕdôm – BDB Definition: Edom = “red”. Notice the similarity with Adam: H121 – אדם – ‘âdâm – BDB Definition: Adam = “red”. Without vowelization in modern Hebrew we would not know the difference between the two words as they contain the same consonants. ((Remember, in Semitic languages of all kinds the alef or “A” is a consonant not a vowel.))

Ya’aqob comes out of the womb holding Esaw’s heel as a sign that he will usurp or supplant Esaw’s blessing.

Verse 27 – This is a very important verse for our day. Notice that Esaw, like Yishama’el and Nimrod, was a ‘cunning’ hunter (knowing how to hunt). ((Jer. 16:16))

Verse 28 – We see that the parents have their favorite child, as many people do.

Verses 29-33 – Here we see the well known story of Ya’aqob making a stew and Esaw selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. We see in the Book of Yashar that the reason he sold his birthright was that he had every expectation of dying that day because he had slain Nimrod and his bodyguards were searching for him. Is it true? Maybe.

Verse 34 – Up to this moment in time Esaw was the elder and his birthright would have been the inheritance as promised to his grandfather and father. He did not sell his gold, silver or other worldly belongings but his right to inherit the promise for YHVH. This is why we see: Mal_1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Rom_9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. (KJV)

Ahavah,

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Lesson date: 6/27/5858AA

Verse 1 – Qeturah is only mentioned four times in the entire Scripture. Twice in Ber. 25 and twice in 1 Chron. 1. It is the mention of Qeturah (H6989 – Perfumed) in 1 Chronicles 1 that provides information to suggest that Qeturah was probably Hagar by calling her “the concubine”. It may be that she is called the concubine instead of wife in 1 Chronicles because the children of Qeturah did not inherit much of anything from Abraham. We will look at this in more detail.

Verse 2-4 –

Qeturah – קְׂטוּרָׂה – Strong’s H6989 – ‘incense’

• Zimran – זִמְׂרָׂן – Strong’s H2175 – ‘musician’
• Yoqshan – יָׂקְׂשָׂן – Strong’s H3370 – ‘snarer’

            ▪ Sheḇa – שְׂבָׂא – Strong’s H7614 – ‘seven or oath’

            ▪ Deḏan – דְׂדָׂן – Strong’s H1719 – ‘low country’

• Asshurim – אַשּׁוּרִם – Strong’s H805 – ‘steps’
• Letushim – לְׂטוּשִם – Strong’s H3912 – ‘hammered’
• Le’ummim – לְׂאֻמִים – Strong’s H3817 – ‘peoples’
• Meḏan – מְׂדָׂן – Strong’s H4091 – ‘contention’
• Miḏyan – מִדְׂיָׂן – Strong’s H4080 – ‘strife’

            ▪ Ěphah – עֵּיפָׂה – Strong’s H5891 – ‘gloomy’

            ▪ Ěpher – עֵּפֶר – Strong’s H6081 – ‘a calf’

            ▪ Ḥanoḵ – חֲנוֹךְ – Strong’s H2585 – ‘dedicated’

            ▪ Aḇiḏa – אֲבִידָׂע – Strong’s H28 – ‘my father knows’

            ▪ Eldaʽah – אֶלְׂדָׂעָׂה – Strong’s H420 – ‘El has known, El has called’

• Yishbaq – יִ שבָׂק – Strong’s H3435 – ‘he releases’
• Shuwaḥ – שוּ ח – Strong’s H7744 – ‘wealth’

 

Verses 5-6 – At first verses 5 and 6 seem as though they are in conflict with one another but they are not. Go back Ber. 21:10 : for the son of this female servant shall not inherit with my son,

Here we see Sarah stating that Yishma’el would not inherit but inherit what? The promise: Gal 3:16  But the promises were spoken to Aḇraham, and to his Seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Messiah.

What the other sons received were physical wealth rather than the promise of the coming Messiah.

Luk 16:25 “But Aḇraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your life you received your good, and likewise El‛azar the evil, but now he is comforted and you are suffering.

Further, it states that Abraham sent the sons away to the land of the east. Where? Flavius Josephus states that the sons of Abraham by Qeturah became troglodytes in what we would now call the Sinai Peninsula and also Saudi Arabia. Although some of them undoubtably did go into Saudi Arabia I do not believe they went south into the Sinai. When we look at India, which is under a caste system, the system is called a Brahmin caste system. It is called this because it was named after A[braham], and yes, so were the cows, Brahma, because they were considered sacred. (This may tell us why the cows were sacred as that was all they received from Abraham besides some gold and/or silver.)

Why are we given certain grandchildren names?

Verses 7-8 – Abraham lived [17]5 years. Seventeen is salvation in the midst of adversity and 5 represents grace, chesed. Also, look at John 1:16, grace for grace or grace upon grace = 5 x 5 = 25. Any number times itself is completeness in whatever the number represents.

Please take note of verse 8, this is very important. Compare this verse to these: Gen_49:29  And he commanded them, and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Ḥittite,

Jdg_2:10  And all that generation were likewise gathered to their fathers, and another generation arose after them who did not know יהוה nor the work which He had done for Yisra’ĕl.

2Ki_22:20  “Therefore, see, I am gathering you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, so that your eyes do not see all the evil I am bringing on this place.” ’ ” And they brought word to the sovereign.

2Ch_34:28  “See, I am gathering you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, so that your eyes would not see all the evil that I am bringing on this place and its inhabitants.” ’ ” So they brought back word to the sovereign.

Abraham was gathered to his people, the righteous, but he is the “father” of our faith in that the promise was through him and no one else: Heb 11:17 By belief, Aḇraham, when he was tried, offered up Yitsḥaq, and he who had received the promises offered up his only brought-forth son,

Heb 11:18 of whom it was said, “In Yitsḥaq your seed shall be called,”

Heb 11:19 reckoning that Elohim was able to raise, even from the dead, from which he received him back, as a type.

Verses 9-10 – We see that only Yitshaq and Yisma’el buried Abraham. They stand as two opposite poles of a magnet. Yitshaq was the son of the promise and did inherit the promise and Yishma’el was the son of the ‘flesh’. Remember what was said about Yishma’el: Gen 16:12  “And he is to be a wild man, his hand against every one and every one’s hand against him, and dwell over against all his brothers.”

Verse 11 –  Please notice that Yitshaq is located at Be’er Lahai Roi – the well of the Living One Who sees me. His father traveled thousands of miles in his day and Ya’aqob will travel thousands of miles in his day but Yitshaq will not leave the Promised Land all of his life.

Verses 12-18 – The genealogy of Yishma’el: Yishma’ĕl – יִשְׂמעֵּאל – Strong’s H3458 – ‘El will hear’

• Neḇayoth – נביֹת – Strong’s H5032 – ‘heights’
• Qĕḏar – קֵּדר – Strong’s H6938 – ‘dark’
• Aḏbe’ĕl – אַדבאֵּל – Strong’s H110 – ‘disciplined of El’
• Miḇsam – מִבשָׂם – Strong’s H4017 – ‘sweet odour’
• Mishma – מִשְׂמע – Strong’s H4927 – ‘a hearing, a rumour that is heard’
• Dumah – דוּמה – Strong’s H1746 – ‘silence’
• Massa – מַשָׂא – Strong’s H4854 – ‘burden’
• Haḏar – חֲדַר – Strong’s H2316 – ‘honour’
• Tĕma – בֵּימא – Strong’s H8485 – ‘desert’
• Yetur – יטוּר – Strong’s H3195 – ‘enclosed, row of jewels’

Let’s look at Yishma’el’s name in the pictographic:

I         = strong arm, power, work, make, throw

s         = two front teeth, chew, devour, destroy, ruminate

m         = water, chaos, confusion, people

o         = eye, to be watchful, take heed, pay attention

a         = ox, strength, leader, ruler, can also mean yoke,

l         = shepherd’s staff, authority, leadership, also to or toward

His Strong Arm will Devour and Destroy and cause Chaos and Confusion when his Ruler gains Authority.

Ya’aqob had 12 sons and Yishma’el had 12 sons. The path of the sons of Yisra’el will bring salvation through the Messiah. The path of the sons of Yishma’el(flesh) will bring chaos and destruction. We have now entered the time when the sons of Yishma’el have come to power.

Look at verse 18 – “He settled before all his brothers” means “in the face of” which carries a negative connotation. Similar to what you and I would say “in spite of”.

Verse 19-21 – Yitshaq was 40 when he took Ribqah to be his wife. What does 40 represent in Scripture?  How old was Ribqah we don’t know, but there is no mention of her being outside of the normal age of marriage so, we can infer that she was a teenager or possibly as old as 20 but I feel as though if she had been 20 or older it probably would have been mentioned in some way. Twenty is the age of majority and although it may sound silly to us, a young woman this age would have been looked on as a spinster. As I mentioned last week the Book of Yashar has Ribqah’s age at 10. I do not believe this is accurate but, if it is, it would explain verse 21 in that Ribqah was barren. Having intercourse with a girl this young could cause her to be barren after menarche. To be barren, as was Sarah and Rachel, was to be cursed.

Ribqah means “ensnarer” and it certainly appears that she ensnared Yitshaq, with love. But remember she is also the great-niece of Abraham. Notice how Ribqah’s father and brother are refered to as Arameans. This is Abraham’s family too. That would place Abraham’s place of origin in nothern Syria and/or southern Turkey. This is still more evidence that Abraham did not begin his journey from the land of Ur as it is generally believed. Abraham is refered to as a Hebrew because he ‘crossed over’ the Euprates River which would become the northern limit of the Kingdom of Yisra’el.

Verse 22 – “So she went to ask YHVH”. Where did she go and why? Lam 3:25  יהוה is good to those waiting for Him, To the being who seeks Him.

Verse 23 – Who gave her the message from YHVH? Just as we saw two different nations in Yitshaq and Yishma’el we see again two different groups of people represented by the children of Yitshaq. Also, we will see again the promise of the younger getting the greater blessing again in Bereshith with the children of Yoseph.

Verses 24-26 – Twins were born to Ribqah and the oldest was Esau(H6215 = hairy or rough) also called Edom: H123 – אדום / אדם – ‘ĕdôm / ‘ĕdôm – BDB Definition: Edom = “red”. Notice the similarity with Adam: H121 – אדם – ‘âdâm – BDB Definition: Adam = “red”. Without vowelization in modern Hebrew we would not know the difference between the two words as they contain the same consonants. ((Remember, in Semitic languages of all kinds the alef or “A” is a consonant not a vowel.))

Ya’aqob comes out of the womb holding Esau’s heel as a sign that he will usurp or supplant Esau’s blessing which is the very meaning of Ya’aqob’s name.

Verse 27 – This is a very important verse for our day. Notice that Esau, like Yishama’el and Nimrod, was a ‘cunning’ hunter (knowing how to hunt). ((Jer. 16:16))

Verse 28 – We see that the parents have their favorite child, as many people do.

Verses 29-33 – Here we see the well known story of Ya’aqob making a stew and Esaw selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. We see in the Book of Yashar that the reason he sold his birthright was that he had every expectation of dying that day because he had slain Nimrod and his bodyguards were searching for him. Is it true? Maybe.

Verse 34 – Up to this moment in time Esau was the elder and his birthright would have been the inheritance as promised to his grandfather and father. He did not sell his gold, silver or other worldy belongings but his right to inherit the promise for YHVH. This is why we see: Mal_1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Rom_9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. (KJV)

Ahavah,