Why Abraham Remarried in Old Age and Fathered Thirty Families

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Chayei Sara 8:2

Curated by Arthur·Translated by Maggid (Beta)·

Another interpretation. Rabbi Dostai said: If you took a wife and she bore a child and died, do not remain in your old age without a wife. Why? "Because you do not know which will prosper" (Ecclesiastes 11:6). From whom do you learn this? From Abraham, who in his youth begot only one, but in his old age begot twelve. Rabbi Levi said: This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3) — for God rose up in the generation of the dispersion and scattered from them thirty families, as it is said: "And the LORD scattered them" (Genesis 11:8). Rabbi Levi said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said: From you I will establish them. This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "And in you they shall be blessed" — and He established from him thirty families. And these are they: the twelve princes whom He established from Ishmael, and the sixteen sons of Keturah, and "two nations are in your womb" (Genesis 25:23) — behold, thirty families. Hence: "And Abraham took another wife" (Genesis 25:1).

Themes

AbrahamDeceptionCreationWomenPatriarchs

Biblical References

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