Rabbinic tradition claims Abraham’s ‘new’ wife Keturah (Ge. 25:1) was, in fact, a returning Hagar. But this idea is an impossibility based on age and fertility.
Rashi to Gen.
25:1 states emphatically -- citing Genesis
Rabbah 61 – that Keturah was Hagar. That
Hagar had remained ‘pure’ and never remarried after her expulsion by Sarah
(Gen. 21: 9-14) and now reunited with Abraham after Sarah’s death.
This
tradition is accepted by Chatam Sofer, Chizkuni, Mizrachi, Daat Zkenim, Gur
Aryeh and Kli Yakar.
Chomat Anakh
even states she is Hagar based on gematria,
the idea that words with the same numerical value are interchangeable. So he sees the standard term for ‘Hagar the
Egyptian’ somehow equivalent to Gen. 25:1’s phrase “another
woman named Keturah”.
To do so he plays fast and loose: omits the Hebrew definite article meaning ‘the’ – הָ in ‘Hagar the Egyptian’
(now reduced to 948) and somehow sees the Hebrew קְטוּרָֽה וּשְׁמָ֥הּ אִשָּׁ֖ה as
equivalent though it adds up to 306 + 351 + 320 = 977![i]
However, Ibn
Ezra, Radak and Rashbam reject this Keturah is Hagar mindset[ii].
The dispute,
in fact, is a recurring issue: whether one is to take the Bible at its literal wording:
its plain meaning or peshat, or to
seek hidden meanings that often contradict the plain wording of Scriptures.
In this
case, is it a new woman named Keturah or is Keturah a euphemism meaning ‘sweet’,
so Hagar -- after being expelled for 52 years -- can return and live happily ever after with
Abraham.
I, for one, always
rely on the peshat.
There is
also a piece of evidence that none of the above seems to have been aware of, the
midrash Sefer HaYashar.
I was
unaware of its existence until I stumbled upon it in the online Sefaria Gen. 25:1 right sidebar under midrah.[iii]
The work is
generally attributed to the Middle Ages as some place names are of Medieval
origin. But the name Sefer HaYashar
is referred to twice: in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18.[iv]
And I believe its section on Gen. 25 re: Keturah and her sons is an authentic, ancient text.
As noted in the
Joshua and Samuel references, there was a book of ancient history parallel to
the Chumash which contained additional information; similar to the Book of the Wars of God mentioned in
Num. 21: 14-15 and as the book of battles referred to in Exodus 17:14.[v]
The section of Sefer HaYashar adds much factual information for these minor and essentially unimportant characters. Namely, the offspring and grandchildren of the youngest three sons not mentioned in the Bible: children who probably would not have been born until after Abraham’s death (an idea raised by Radak to Gen. 25:3[vi]). And the cities and areas they settled in.
Aside from
all this extensive genealogical information, it twice identifies Keturah as a Canaanite.
In previous
blogs I have argued the equation of Hagar with Keturah is unfeasible on
various grounds, and here add the factors of age and the biological
clock of women.
The Bible
never gives the age of Hagar when she was given by Sarah to 85 year old Abraham
to produce a child – hopefully, a male heir.
Within a
year, when Abraham was age 86, she gave birth to Ishmael (Gen. 16: 15-16).
Now let us
assume she was a very young handmaiden, possibly in her early 20s or even a
teenager, say age 15, when given to Abraham.
What then
would be her age at Sarah’s death?
Abraham was
10 years older than Sarah (Gen. 21:5) and since Sarah died at age 127, Abraham was
137 at this point.
As for
Hagar, even if she had been age 20 or even age 15 when she cohabited with 85
year old Abraham some 52 years beforehand, Hagar would now be at least
67 or, more likely, in her 70s.
As will be
argued in detail in the next blog, “KETURAH – Abraham’s 3rd round of
fatherhood”, Abraham was not likely to remarry immediately on Sarah’s death:
out of respect and mourning for his beloved wife, and especially as Isaac
continued to lament her absence for 3 years: only snapping out of his morose
once his arranged bride, Rebecca, arrived and he installed her in his mother’s
tent (Gen. 24:67) and they married. Isaac
now being age 40 (Ge. 25:20).
Only once
the newlyweds move out to their own homestead would Abraham be free to pursue a
new life companion and bed-mate.
And by this
point, Hagar would certainly have been in her 70’s if not far older.
It is here
that the biological facts of female reproduction and menopause come into play.
Sarah
laughed when she overheard the three visitors telling Abraham she would bear
him a son next year -- when she would be 90, as she was “old” and had already
passed menopause long before (Gen. 18:11).
Menopause is
the inflection point of female fertility: after which any remaining ovary eggs
no longer drop into the fallopian tubes[vii]
(leading to the uterus) where contact with male sperm causes conception, thereby leading to a fetus and child. [viii]
Also, even
before menopause, as women age, so too do their eggs. As a result, they are less likely to
successfully conceive and produce a live, healthy offspring.[ix]
These
biological facts make it impossible for Hagar to be Keturah.
Keturah
produced six (6) healthy son to Abraham (Gen. 25:2) over a period of no more
than 15 years (as argued in the next blog, “KETURAH – Abraham’s 3rd
round of fatherhood”) with at most on average 2 ½ years between each birth.
A very heavy
reproduction rate – especially when one takes into account the 9 months of
pregnancy when a female is infertile.
This is a
testament to the extreme fecundity and biological youth of Abraham’s new
wife: a fertility which only a very young, nubile Keturah would possess.
Again, Hagar
is not Keturah.
Those who
equate Keturah with Hagar ignore the realities of female biology and menopause,
and simply have not done the age math above.
Hagar would
have been too old to even remotely produce one or two offspring let
alone six healthy ones as Keturah did.
Ibn Ezra,
Radak and Rashbam -- and Sefer HaYashar -- got
it right.
Peshat rules.
[i] See
Sefaria for Gen. 25: 1 right sidebar
commentaries.
[ii]
See Sefaria for Gen. 25: 1 right
sidebar commentaries.
[iii] https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.25.3?ven=The_Contemporary_Torah,_Jewish_Publication_Society,_2006&vhe=Miqra_according_to_the_Masorah&lang=bi&with=Sefer%20HaYashar%20(midrash)&lang2=en
[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sefer_haYashar_(midrash)
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Jasher_(biblical_references)
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