Abraham’s Death: Just as the narrative of Abraham begins with a genealogical list (11:27–31), so a genealogy closes his story. This text lists the names of the children born to Abraham’s concubine (vv. 1–4), describes the distribution of Abraham’s heritage (vv. 5–6), and gives Abraham’s obituary (vv. 7–11).

25:1–4 Abraham had married another woman named Keturah. Since traditions like this one have been preserved without a chronological reference, there is no indication in the text as to when Abraham married Keturah. The location of this report in the narrative gives the impression that this marriage took place after Sarah’s death. However, in light of Abraham’s age at Sarah’s death and the fact that Keturah bore him six children, this marriage must have paralleled his marriage to Sarah for …