Who were the Descendants of Keturah? (22 April, 2015, 3 Iyar, 5775)
1. Introduction
2. Yemenites and Rechabites
3. Arabs and the Brahmins of India
4. Sparta was Not from Keturah but from Edom!
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1. Introduction
We received the following query from Michael Greenwood.
#Yair who are the nations that mostly come from Abrahams 2nd wife with whom he had 6 children? #
The partial answer we now give to this question leads tot he genealogies of several different nations and has interesting ramifications.
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Who Were the Concubines?
Apart from Sarah (mother of Isaac), and Hagar (mother of Ishmael), Abraham took to wife (after the death of Sarah) Keturah, and begat 16 descendants through her (Genesis 25:1-4). In addition a reference is made to "the sons of the concubines, that Abraham had" (Genesis 25:6). One explanation (Rashi) says that Keturah and the concubines are one and the same and that the word 'pilagshim' translated as 'concubines' should be read as in the singular. The text itself supports this explanation. Whatever the case they are recalled together and for our purposes the sons of Keturah and/or the concubines may be considered as one entity.
Genesis 25:
1 And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. 4 And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. 4 All these were the children of Keturah. 5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. 6 But unto the sons of the concubines, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts. And he sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.
A Midrash (Yalkut) says that Keturah was descended from Japhet.
Another source (quoted by Rashi) says that Keturah was another name for Hagar.
Midrashim at times contradict each other.
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2. Yemenites and Rechabites
The name Keturah connotes incense.
Descendants of Abraham. Part IV: Sons of Keturah
http://www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p212d.html
# According to Selbie, Arab genealogists maintain there was a tribe called Katura living in the neighbourhood of Mecca. Herodotus (ca. 490-425 BCE) stated that: 'Arabia is the last of inhabited lands towards the south, and it is the only country which produces frankincense, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon, and ledanum' (Histories, III, 107), and adds: 'Concerning the spices of Arabia let no more be said. The whole country is scented with them, and exhales an odour marvellously sweet'' (ibid., 113). #
The above-quoted article is interesting and detailed. It shows that Arab and other sources tedned to identify the descendants of Keturah with Yemenites and others in the south of Arabia.
The Himyarite kings of Yemen frequently converted to Judaism. [Geneaological records, quoted by de Gobineau, suggest that they were of Scythian-Israelite descent, but that is another study.]
The Yemenites were often very powerful in their own right. After becoming Muslims they participated with the other Arabs in the conquest of Mesopotamia (Iraq, etc), Egypt, North Africa, and Spain. Nevertheless they retained their feeling of  being distinct from the descendants of Ishmael. Throughout Muslim Arab history fiction between descendants of the Yemenis and the Ishmaelites periodically came to the surface and still exists today.
We also have the case of the Druze in Israel, Jordan, and Syria. The Druze revere Jethro and may be partially descended from him.
The Rechabites also descend from Jethro. They were destined to be exiled with the Ten Tribes and to return with them. They were to be found in the west and in the British Isles alongside the Lost Ten Tribes,
See:
Hebrew Isles. Ancient Knowledge and Josephus
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/myth/josephus.html
The Prophecies of Bilaam
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/parasha/numbers/balak/bilaamprophecy.html
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3. Arabs and the Brahmins of India
It says (Genesis 25:6) that Abraham gave gifts to the Sons of the Concubines. The Sages (Talmud, Sanhedrin 91;a) said that these were Names of Impurity. They went to the east. They influenced Asian cultures and in this way, together with contributions from Esau and Ishmael, we see through Descendants of Keturah an overall primacy of Shem over Japhet, as prophesied (Genesis 9:27).
Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel (1604-1657, Netherlands) related a tradition that the Brahmins of India were descended from Abraham. The Names of Impurity remind us of the mantras and chanting meditation techniques used throughout Asia.
In the eyes of Rabbinical Sages the Arabs are considered to be descended from both Ishmael (son of Abraham and Hagar) as well as descendants of Abraham and Keturah.
See:
Q & A: Arabs Circumcise At 13 (Part XI) by Rabbi Yaakov Klass
http://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/ask-the-rabbi/q-a-arabs-circumcise-at-13-part-xi/2015/02/12/0/?print
The Midianites were also descended from Abrahm through Keturah (Genesis 25:4). Jethro was from Midian. Zipporah the daughter of Jethro married Moses.
See:
The Black Woman. Racial Prejudices is Forbidden by the Bible!
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/race/woman.html
Zippora was described as a Cushite woman (Numbers 12:1). The Midrash ("Seder Olam") says that the Midianites intermarried with the Cushites.
See Also: Ishmael, Esau, and Keturah. The Three Divisions of Mankind
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4. Sparta was Not from Keturah but from Edom!
Josephus. Antiquities
CHAPTER 15. HOW THE NATION OF THE TROGLODYTES WERE DERIVED FROM ABRAHAM BY KETURAH.
ABRAHAM after this married Keturah, by whom six sons were born to him, men of courage, and of sagacious minds: Zambran, and Jazar, and Madan, and Madian, and Josabak, and Sous. Now the sons of Sous were Sabathan and Dadan. The sons of Dadan were Latusim, and Assur, and Luom. The sons of Madiau were Ephas, and Ophren, and Anoch, and Ebidas, and Eldas. Now, for all these sons and grandsons, Abraham contrived to settle them in colonies; and they took possession of Troglodytis, and the country of Arabia the Happy, as far as it reaches to the Red Sea. It is related of this Ophren, that he made war against Libya, and took it, and that his grandchildren, when they inhabited it, called it (from his name) Africa. And indeed Alexander Polyhistor gives his attestation to what I here say; who speaks thus: "Cleodemus the prophet, who was also called Malchus, who wrote a History of the Jews, in agreement with the History of Moses, their legislator, relates, that there were many sons born to Abraham by Keturah: nay, he names three of them, Apher, and Surim, and Japhran. That from Surim was the land of Assyria denominated; and that from the other two (Apher and Japbran) the country of Africa took its name, because these men were auxiliaries to Hercules, when he fought against Libya and Antaeus; and that Hercules married Aphra's daughter, and of her he begat a son, Diodorus; and that Sophon was his son, from whom that barbarous people called Sophacians were denominated."
There are scholars who misquote or interpret Josephus as identifying the Spartans as descendants of Keturah, e.g.
Kinship Myth in Ancient Greece By Lee E. Patterson, p.63
https://books.google.co.il/books?id=24JRAeGc5xAC&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=Keturah+and+sparta&source=bl&ots=TSrGn2ka2A&sig=loSMEI1HnPFmqiew0eui-Hf2tzU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjK1NPc1fbPAhVHExoKHejcB9oQ6AEINjAF#v=onepage&q=Keturah%20and%20sparta&f=false
The claim is that the person named Diodorus by Josephus is Dorus a founder of the Spartan people. "Diodous" in the account of Josephus is the son of Hercules and the daughter of Aphra (i.e. Epher, Genesis 25:4) son of Midian son of Abraham and Keturah.
We however consider the Spartans to have been a branch of Edom and to have contributed to the early settlement of Rome.
Popular Jewish sources (e.g. Sefer Ha-Yashar) attributed the founding of Rome to Zepho of Edom (Genesis 36:11, 15) also referred to as Zephi (1-Chronicles 1:36).
The Edomite input into Rome appears in several lineages including that of the Sabines. The name of the Sabines is derived from that of Zepho.
The historian Dionysius traced the Sabians to a group who had fled from Sparta (Lacedaemonia).
Herman Hoeh (volume 1, ch.17) identified Belus founder of Sparta with Bela, a king of Edom (Genesis 36:32).
The Sabines were noted for their belligerence and frugality which traits the Romans supposed they derived from their Spartan ancestors. Plutarch (in the Life of Numa Pompilius) remarks, "Sabines, who declare themselves to be a colony of the Lacedaemonians..."
Romulos a descendant of Aeneas of Troy in Roman tradition founded Rome. Men from surrounding regions gathered to the city but females were lacking. They abducted women from the neighboring Sabines. War broke out but the abducted women threw themselves and the children who had been borne to them between the two armies of their fathers. According to Livy the Sabine and Roman states then merged. The Sabine king, Titus Tatius, ruled jointly with Romulus. The Sabine population divided into two: Those near Rome moved into the city and became part of it. The others remained separate and even joined Italic tribes in a war against Rome which they lost. They too were then assimilated into the Roman Republic.
See our work,
Esau. Edomites Today
http://hebrewnations.com/publications/books/esaubook.html