Election and Abraham's Other Sons

Introduction

Things are starting to wind down in the life of Abraham. We have followed his adventure of faith and seen how faithful God has been to him. In the last chapter, as Abraham began to see that his time was short, he sent his servant to look for a wife for his son to preserve the promised lineage, and he found Rebekah. God had always been faithful to Abraham and will continue to be faithful to Isaac and to his children after him. Abraham can now die in peace, knowing that God’s promises are sure and certain.

But before we are told of Abraham’s death, we are given this short passage that details Abraham’s marriage to a woman named Keturah. We don’t know really anything about this woman except for her name and the children that she bore to Abraham. We are told their names but they are not the main point of this short text. Instead, the text draws a contrast between these children and Isaac. In this contrast, we begin to see the foundations of a doctrine that has come to be known as the doctrine of election. God’s sovereign choice of Isaac over any other child born to Abraham is an example of the way God chooses his people, not because of their actions, but because of God’s mercy.

The Sons of Keturah: The Non-elect and their gifts

So who is this woman Keturah and who are these children that she has with Abraham? The text puts no date on when he had taken this concubine, but it was likely when Sarah was still alive. But we aren’t given very many details in this text because the circumstances surrounding this marriage are not very important to the writer. It may cause us to wonder, why are we being told about Keturah in the first place? There is no significance about her. We don’t know where she came from or how long she had been Abraham’s concubine. What is the point of this paragraph in the pages of Scripture? I’m sure most, if not all, of us have read parts of the Bible and asked ourselves, “what in the world is this doing here?” Either that, or we kind of skim over sections so that we can get to the next interesting part. One of the reasons we here at Faith Baptist Church believe in systematic, exegetical preaching through books of the Bible is that we are forced to look at these passages, and often find gold where we otherwise would not have looked for it.

So these are the facts about this passage. Abraham married a concubine at some point in his life. She has 6 sons. Several of these sons are significant figures in their own way. Medan and Midian are both associated with the Midianites, a desert dwelling tribe that Moses flees to when he escapes from Egypt. Ishbak becomes the father of a tribe in northern Syria, close to Haran where Abraham had first heard God’s call. Sheba bears the name of another tribe that was known for spice trading. The Asshurim are an early Assyrian tribe. While there is significance to these tribes and peoples, these sons themselves fade into obscurity. They are not even given the same promise as Ishmael, but rather they are mentioned here briefly and then forgotten. It is as if the author wants to acknowledge the existence of these other sons of Abraham, but at the same time show how unimportant they are to the story of Abraham

This is supported by verse 5 and 6, which are the centre of this short text. “Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac.” Abraham was not uncaring, and he certainly wasn’t cruel to these children. He sent them away with gifts, doubtless these included animals from which these sons could make a living off of sojourning just as their father had. But for direct descendants of Abraham they are mentioned so much in passing that I would be surprised if anyone here had their names memorized. I certainly didn’t. The passing mention of these sons says a lot to us, and what it says, it says in the contrast that is made with Isaac.

Isaac: The Elect in his Inheritance

The promises made to Abraham were promises that were made to his descendants as well, but not all of his descendants. In fact, the vast majority of his children would have no part in the covenant promises of God at all. While they did partake in some of Abraham’s material wealth, the possession of Abraham’s house along with the promises and blessings attached to him went to one heir only, Isaac.

Abraham sending these sons away is no surprise. After all, this is what Abraham had done on God’s orders after the birth of Ishmael through his other concubine Hagar. This is the distinction that the author wants to point out. There were other children, but only one was miraculous. There were other potential heirs, but only one was promised. There were many that were born in the flesh, but only one was born in faith.

While polygamy is not called out as sin, the Old Testament always views polygamy as less than God’s ideal. It is a misrepresentation of the plan for marriage that God intended at creation. God did not give Adam a host of wives, but one. And he said that the two should become one flesh. God has patience on Abraham despite his actions being contrary to the nature of marriage and how it was created, but the negative note can still be sensed here. The sons have to be sent away, and obviously that is not ideal. A family ought to be united and together, but God had only given one son from Sarah, the matriarch of the people of God, and these children are not able to inherit that promise because they are not children born in faith.

This rings a note of familiarity back to Genesis 17 and 21 when God deals with Hagar. Remember when we looked at why Ishmael had to be sent away, the answer we got from Galatians 4 was that he was not the child of promise. These two boys stood as analogies for two types of people, those who are of the flesh and those who are of the spirit. Those of the flesh need the law because there is no love of God in their hearts. They do not delight in the instructions of God like David did in Psalm 119, they are bound by the law like a leash because if it wasn’t there they would run away. But the child of the promise has the character of God written on their heart. The law showed this character, but never made it a reality in the lives of God’s people. Only the Spirit of God could create a heart that obeys God out of love and desire.

So when Abraham sends these sons away, the assumption is that they are sent away for the same reason that Ishmael was sent away: because they are not the children of the promise and will have no part in inheriting Abraham’s promise or in propagating the promised Kingdom. In being sent away, they are essentially being excluded from Abraham’s family, cut off from any blessing or benefit from being children of Abraham. Only the son of the promise, Isaac, can claim the promises of God and the sonship status legitimately. Sonship and promise and united by faith, and it is that faith that Isaac represents.

The Elect and the Promise

These children born from ungodly marriages represent a great divide that would exist in the people of God for years to come, the divide between those that know God and those that don’t. You see, the only difference between Isaac and these other sons is election. God chose Isaac before he was even born to be the heir of the promises. These other children were not born, and as materially blessed as they were when they left Abraham, they left as strangers to those promises.

And yet, in the New Testament we know that even from Isaac not all Israelites were true children of Abraham. Like these sons of Keturah, they biologically were descended from Abraham but they had no part in the promises of God. When Jesus was disputing with some of the unbelieving Jews in John 8 we read this in verse 39

English Standard Version Chapter 8

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.”

And then he tells them in verse 44

John 8:44 ESV

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

You see, the Jews had an idea of God’s election that included them as an ethnic group. For them, being biological descendants of Abraham was enough to call themselves children of God. They were the inheritors of the covenant. After all, they weren’t the descendants of Keturah and her children, they were the children of Abraham and Sarah, they had Isaac as their forebear. But they missed the point of Isaacs election. Isaac was the elect child of the promise based on God’s promises, based on God’s sovereignty. And that promise was sealed by faith, and the link between the promise and faith is stronger than the link between the promise and blood.

These Jews did have the blood of Abraham running in their veins, sure, but they did not have the faith of Abraham. While they claim to be physical children of Isaac, they are spiritually children of Keturah. Yes, they have many great blessings for being descendants of Abraham. Listen to Paul describe the advantages the Jews had in Romans 9:4-5

Romans 9:4–5 ESV

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

So if all Israelites are children of the covenant, why would Jesus say to some of them that their true father is not Abraham, but the devil? Listen to what Paul says next in verse 6:

Romans 9:6–9 ESV

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”

In other words, what is important to God is not whether someone is a blood descendant of Abraham, but whether someone is a partaker in the promises of God. How is someone a partaker of the promises of God? This is where election comes in, because as we know, Isaac was the promised child before he was even conceived. He didn’t even exist yet and he already had the promises of God. Listen to what Paul says in verse 11-12 on the same subject, but now with Jacob and Esau,

Romans 9:11–12 ESV

though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

This promise exists before their birth so that the it would be clear that the promise is not given because of works but because God calls those who will be his. In other words, the promise is not a result of faith, faith is a result of the promise. The promise existed before faith, not after it. God chose Abraham before he believed God, and because God chose some to inherit his promise, others are excluded, without the promise and without the faith that accompanies it. Before the world began, God has already elected those who would be his, and he made a promise to them before they even existed. That promise was a promise that they would know God, that they would have faith, that they would be saved from their sin.

This is very important, because faith assumes that a promise exists. It’s not good enough to say you have faith in God as a person, because if there is no promise than you have nothing that you are actually believing. You can believe that God exists but true, biblical faith is to take hold of his promises and trust that they are true. Faith cannot exist without the promise, because where there is no promise there is nothing to believe.

So who is this promise for? In the Scriptures that we have just looked at and in our text we see that the promises of God are specific, they are to specific people. It was a promise to Isaac, one made before he was born, and it was not made to the other children of Abraham.

So how do we know who the promises of God are for? The answer should come naturally, as Paul told the Philippian jailer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." The promise of salvation is for the elect, as we have already seen, and the elect are saved by believing the Gospel.

And that gives us a bit of a problem, doesn't it? If a promise always comes before faith, then you need to know the promise exists in order to have faith. But if faith is the way we know that we have recieved the promise, then it might seem like a chicken, egg situation. What comes first, my faith that the promise is for me, as one of the elect, or the promise that I need to believe in order to know that the promise is for me?

There are a few ways people might try to explain that. They might say, “well the promise is for everyone.” But if that were true, then it makes God a liar because only a small percentage of people that hear the promise are actually saved. But then someone will say, “Well pastor Andy, the promise is for everyone but only those who believe actually receive it.” And the problem with that is you are making a rift between the promises God makes and who gets to enjoy those promises, and that you are meant to fill that rift. This way of thinking says that God makes a promise to you, but if you don’t do something then the promise will be void. But what we see about God’s promises throughout Scripture is that God does not leave them up to people.

2 Timothy 2:13 ESV

if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

If God made a promise to save people and didn’t keep it because of a failure on our part, then God would be faithless because his promises are completely based on him.

So how do we reconcile this problem? What comes first, faith or promise? The answer is that the promise comes first in the form of election. Like Isaac, all believers were chosen by God before they even existed, before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). So why is faith necessary? Because faith is a gift the God gives to all of his elect children. Eph 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” what is not your own doing? Salvation. How does salvation come to you? Through faith. Therefore, faith is not your own doing, it is a gift of God.

You see, this was the problem with the unbelieving Jews. They thought they were elect because they had Abraham as their father, but election is not something that is revealed by your bloodline, but by your faith. When someone is elect, they hear the Gospel call differently than others do. When it hits their ears, they don’t just hear words or dogma. They don’t just hear a religious perspective. They feel a stir in their hearts, a pull. They are aware of their sin and there is an attractiveness to Christ. Maybe they resist it for a while, perhaps even years,.

But that pull is there, and eventually they cannot resist it any longer, and they believe what they now know is true, this Gospel isn’t just a message, it’s a promise. A promise that God made to them before the world began. That pull is the Holy Spirit confirming in their hearts that this promise is for them, the seed of faith is planted by God, and he gives this faith to those whom he made the promise to. Abraham believed God because God planted faith in the heart of a man who he had called and elected for that purpose. The unbelieving cannot have faith because they are children of the devil, sold under sin and unable to come to Christ with a true heart of repentance.

If you are a Christian, you have heard that call. The call wasn’t to come and make the promise of God yours. It was a call to come and experience the promise that God made to you long before you ever existed. A promise for the glory of God displayed in you being reconciled to him.

Conclusion

The doctrine of election is one of the most controversial doctrines in Scripture. It is not because Scripture isn’t clear, it could hardly be more clear. The Bible is patently Calvinistic in its theology. I’ll tell you why I didn’t like it, it’s because it took my salvation out of my hands and put it completely in God’s hands, and my pride hated that idea. It paints a picture of God that is sovereign and doing things for his glory, not for our sensibilities. His plans are always accomplished and every souls that Christ spilled is blood for will enter the New Creation.

Election is scary for many, but if you are a Christian is should be nothing but comfort to you. You have recieved the call of faith. You felt the tug of the Spirit telling you, “This is it! This promise is for you!” And God always keeps his promise. You salvation is not based on your ability to conjure faith, and you are not going to wake up tomorrow without it. Salvation is as secure as the promises of God. Take comfort in that, have confidence in that. You don’t hold the wheel of your Christian life, and that will free up your soul to approach God with the boldness and love that a child of God ought to have. You are the true Israel, an heir of the Kingdom, and this promise is for you!

But have you come to truly know Christ? Did you feel the call telling you that this is your promise? Do you have faith that Jesus died for you, and that in him you have eternal life? Do you believe his promises and act on them? Are you born again, dead to who you once were and alive in who Christ creates his people to be? If you feel that call, obey it. Come to Christ and know the promises of God. If not, all I can say is pray that you would, seek God with all you are and I guarantee you will find him by grace through faith in his eternal promises.