Bismika Alllahuma

Mohd Elfie Nieshaem Juferi

According to Genesis 25:1, Keturah is described as being Abraham’s wife:

Abraham married another wife named Keturah.

The word used for wife in the Hebrew is

‘ishshah (Strong’s No. 802)[1]

and The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (2001) defines the meaning of the word as “woman, wife, female”[2].

But according to I Chronicles 1:32, we are told that Keturah was Abraham’s concubine:

Sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: Zimran, Jokshan…

The Hebrew used here according to the BDB lexicon is either

piylegesh

or

piyegesh (Strong’s No. 6370)[3]

and the lexicon defines the meaning as “concubine”[4].

It is not possible for Keturah to be both a wife and concubine. The difference is without a doubt truly glaring, that one wonders what the missionary excuse will be for the above contradiction.

References

[1] James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Thomas Nelson, 1996)

[2] F Brown, S. Driver & C. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (2001), p. 61

[3] James Strong, op. cit.

[4] F. Brown, S. Driver & C. Briggs, 0p. cit., p. 811