Four hundred shekels of silver. That was the price Abraham paid for a patch of dirt in Hebron—just enough ground to bury his wife. Sarah had died at one hundred and twenty-seven years old, and the Canaanites, in a rare act of generosity, publicly granted the grieving patriarch a burial plot. Abraham purchased the field from Ephron the Hittite, and there he laid her to rest. That cave at Hebron would become the family tomb for generations—the first permanent foothold the Israelites ever owned in the promised land.
But Abraham was not finished building a legacy. After Sarah's death, he married Keturah, and she bore him six sons—Zambran, Jazar, Madan, Madian, Josabak, and Sous. Men of courage and sharp minds, according to Josephus. Abraham settled them all in distant colonies, stretching from the cave-dwelling regions of Troglodytis to the coasts of Arabia Felix along the Red Sea. One grandson, Ophren, reportedly conquered Libya, and his descendants named the entire continent of Africa after their clan.
Then came Isaac's marriage. Abraham sent his oldest servant to Mesopotamia with strict instructions—find a wife from Abraham's own kindred, not from among the Canaanites. The servant prayed for a sign at the well: the woman who offered water freely would be the one. Every girl refused him except one. Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel and sister of Laban, not only gave him water but rebuked the others for their stinginess. The servant knew immediately. He produced bracelets and ornaments, and Rebekah brought him home to her family. The match was made. Isaac married Rebekah, and Abraham died soon after at one hundred and seventy-five years old—buried beside Sarah in Hebron by his sons Isaac and Ishmael together.
Now Sarah died a little while after, having lived one hundred and twenty-seven years. They buried her in Hebron; the Canaanites publicly allowing them a burying-place; which piece of ground Abraham bought for four hundred shekels, of Ephron, an inhabitant of Hebron. And both
Abraham and his descendants built themselves sepulchers in that place.
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."
