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All right. Amen. Second Chronicles chapter number 11. So, real quickly, just look down at verse number 21. So, the Bible says, And Rehoboam loved Machah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and his concubines. For he took eighteen wives and threescore concubines, and begat twenty and eight sons and threescore daughters. Large family right there. Now, the title of the sermon this evening is called The Carnage of Concubinage. The word concubinage is a word that means the practice of keeping concubines. Okay, that's what we're going to talk about this evening, about understanding that word and their role in the Old Testament. There are several reasons to preach a sermon about this, and for us to study through this. And one of them is people like to throw this at you, at us, as like some kind of a proof text that the Bible is just not true. They're just, you know, that the God somehow is contradicting himself by allowing this sort of stuff. You're going to definitely see that is not the case at all. And so by going through this and really breaking this down, understanding it, you're going to find that it helps your Bible reading, and it's going to help give you a better grasp of old-time biblical culture, and so on and so forth. So, real quickly, just right at that verse, you'll notice that it says that Rehoboam had eighteen wives, and then he had sixty concubines. And I started with this verse for that reason, because you see that ratio there is quite different than what his father had. Remember, his father had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. And, you know, there's probably some reasons for that. One of them is obviously the amount of wisdom that Solomon had been given by God. He was definitely able to be more efficient in everything he did. And you see that even through the book of Ecclesiastes. The stuff that he does wrong, he's still even able to do it in more of an efficient and just a better way. And I'm not in any way endorsing that. I'm just saying because of that he was able to handle more. And so what I think this here shows us is it does show us that a concubine is less than a wife. You know, they're more expendable. So he had sixty versus eighteen wives. We're going to get into that and explain what that means. Now, keep your place right here. We're going to look at this verse again here in a moment. But just turn back in your Bibles to Second Samuel, Chapter Number 15. Second Samuel, Chapter 15. So you look this word up on the dictionary and it's going to say this is a girl that lives with a man, but in a lower status than a wife. And you're definitely going to see that is definitely the case here when you study this out, especially with this verse right here. So Second Samuel, Chapter 15 begins to describe when David's son Absalom decided that he was going to go ahead and overthrow his father and take him down. And just for a little bit of context, if you look at verse 13, it says, And there came a messenger to David saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. That doesn't mean they're coming after Absalom, but that means that the heart of the men of Israel have bonded with Absalom. They are now looking to him as the leader there with Absalom. They are ready to do whatever he commands them. And so verse 14, David says, Okay, we need to come up with a plan. We need to arise and we need to flee. Okay. Verse 15, David's servants say, Hey, you know, your people, your servants are basically with you ready to go. And so we can go ahead and leave and flee. Now look at verse number 16. And the king went forth and all, now don't miss this, and all his household after him. And the king left 10 women, which were concubines, to keep the house. Okay. Notice he took his whole household. So everyone else he took, took his wives. You know that he had many. He took them, obviously probably not the daughter of Saul because she was shut up in widowhood, but minus her, he takes all of his household, but he leaves these concubines to keep the house. Now, why would he do that? And the only logical explanation that you're left with is because they are lesser in status than a wife. If you want kind of a somewhat modern day, good explanation, not really modern day, but there is a YouTube video out there. If you just type in Chinese concubines, there's a guy who's made a video describing some of the carnage, some of the destruction that they went through back in the day. And it kind of helps bring things to light. And obviously they had some differences over there. In the time period of this video, the Chinese weren't allowed to have multiple wives, but it was perfectly acceptable to have as many concubines as one could afford. And I thought that was interesting, but I'm not going to use that for any illustrations tonight. I just wanted to throw that out there. Okay. Now go back to Second Chronicles, chapter number 11. And so what you're going to find over and over again, when you study the subject out is this, okay? A wife is not a concubine and a concubine is not a wife, but they're joined to the same husband. Okay? So let me say that again. A wife is not a concubine and a concubine is not a wife, but they are both joined to the same husband. And that'll come to light here as we begin to study this out. And just for a quick example, let me just think about this, okay? Let's say again, you're getting back in your time machine, you go back to the time of David, okay? Before Absalom does his thing, he's set up in his kingdom. He's got a little bit of rest. He's got his wives. He's got his concubines and life is just kind of going on. He's raising up his children. Let's say Absalom's still a young lad. And let's say you were able to meet him and you go up and he introduces you to Bathsheba and you're like, oh, you're David's concubine. What do you think she was going to say? Say, yeah, I'm his concubine. No, she was his wife. She would probably correct you because a wife was a higher status than a concubine, okay? Just something to keep in mind there. I mean, heck, this verse we're in right now, 2 Chronicles chapter 11, okay? What does it say? And Rehoboam loved Makkah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives. What if you were to say, well, hey, you know, I heard you were one of the concubines of Rehoboam, you know? She would be like, no, I'm not a concubine, okay? Now what if you were to say to one of the concubines, hey, you know, you're one of the wives of King Rehoboam or one of the wives of David. They'd probably answer like this, and this is my opinion. I imagine they'd be like, well, I'm not a wife, I'm concubine, but yes, he is my husband, okay? That's pretty much after studying this the way that I believe, and I'm telling you the way that I believe they would respond, okay? So let's start this off here. And the reason why I use the word carnage, I'm using more of the slang term of that word, okay? I know that carnage can mean like physical violence, death, things of that nature, but really when you study this out here, I mean, this verse speaks volumes, okay? What do we see here? Well, Rehoboam's got 18 wives, 60 concubines, and he loves one woman above them all, okay? One woman above them all. Ask yourself, how would you feel in a situation like this? And I think the answer is very clear. We would not feel good. No woman, look, evolution is false, okay? No woman would be like, oh, yeah, great time there. I'd love to share my husband with 75 or 80 other people. No problem. Yeah, I don't think so, okay? And so what this did, ultimately, yeah, it preserves it. Yeah, it allowed them to build big, large families. It allowed the guy to do what guys want to do. However, it caused a lot of carnage, a lot of drama, and destroyed feelings, and it's just never a good thing, okay? So 2 Chronicles, again, 1121, so it says, And Rehoboam loved Makkah the daughter of Absalom above, and here's what I want you to see, above all his wives and his concubines. Notice that distinction there, okay? You find that several times throughout the Bible, wives and concubines. Why is that? Well, because a wife is not a concubine, and a concubine is not a wife. However, they are both joined to the same husband, okay? And so I wanted you to see that there. Now, leave your place there, and go to 1 Kings, chapter 11. So just go back a few, several chapters in your Bible, actually. Go to 1 Kings, chapter number 11, and let's just look at this again, here in verse number 3. Okay, and we're working up to a first sort of point here this evening, and so we've already seen 2 Chronicles 11, that there is a distinction between wife and between concubine, okay? That means something. Here it is one more time. 1 Kings 11, look at verse number 3. This is talking about Solomon, and he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart, and dealt with that before. But what I want you to see here is this, okay? Notice that the number 700, and then the number 300, okay? Everybody see that? The number 700 is different from the number 300. Why is that? Because the word wife is different than the word concubine. That is why, okay? Now, leave your place there, go to 2 Samuel, back to the book of 2 Samuel, so just keep going back again, real quickly there. One book back, 2 Samuel, chapter number 5. We're going to look down here at verse number 13. So as David is now becoming the king, and getting things brought back into order in the nation of Israel after Saul's death, the Bible says here in 2 Samuel 5, 13, says this here, says and David took him more concubines, okay? There's that word again, and wives out of Jerusalem after he was come from Hebron, and there were yet sons and daughters born to David, okay? So again, why bring this up? Seems pretty, you know, might seem pretty silly, but we know that there's a difference between the two, okay? That's why the Bible over and over and over again makes that distinction, okay? A wife is not a concubine, and a concubine is not a wife, but they're joined to the same husband. Let me prove that to you even further. Go to Judges, chapter number 19, and Judges, chapter number 19, and we're going to kind of look at some similarities here, then we're going to work up into a big difference here that I believe Judges calls out for us that distinguishes a concubine from a wife, okay? And if you're wondering, well, you know, they're the same, I think they're the same thing because in Genesis chapter 25, you know, Abraham took a wife, Keturah, and it says it was a wife, and then in 1 Chronicles it says it was a concubine. I'm going to put all that together for you as well, and it should make perfect sense. So let's take a look at some similarities here. Look down at Judges 19. Let's just start in verse number one. So the Bible says this, and it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite, okay? So we've got this guy, a certain Levite, okay? Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here. Certain Levite, what is he doing here? Okay, look what it says, sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim, okay? Everybody following? We've got a certain Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim. Now look at this next phrase. Who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah, okay? So just before we read verse two, we've got this Levite. He's sojourning. Where's his location? He's on the side of Mount Ephraim, okay? So that's where he's at, and it says he took him a concubine, not a wife, but it says he took him a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. So does that mean he went down to Bethlehem Judah and took her, or does that mean she's from Bethlehem Judah? Okay, well, if you read the next verse, the next couple verses, you're going to see that it's just simply stating where she's from. She was from Bethlehem Judah, but she is there, okay, on the side of Mount Ephraim. So he's sojourning on that side, and he sees this woman, okay, and takes her as a concubine. Everybody tracking? Look at verse two. And his concubine played the whore against him and went away from him. Now ask yourself this question. Where does she go? Okay, look at it. Look what it says. Went away from him onto her father's house to Bethlehem Judah and was there for whole month. So again, understand what's going on here. We've got a certain Levite. He's sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim. He sees a woman. She's from Bethlehem Judah. They connect. They establish that relationship. He becomes her husband. She becomes his concubine, not his wife, his concubine, okay, and in the process of time, she decides to play the whore and obviously he finds out things get bad, and she leaves, and she goes down to where she's from to her father's house to Bethlehem Judah, which while we're on that note, I might as well just bring this up. Everybody knows this, but I just want to say this anyways. Obviously times were much different back then, okay? Women were not going to go on YouTube and make a channel and earn a bunch of money. They weren't going to go down to the job market and just go get a job and be treated like women are today. Women have much more opportunity today to make money, which is why this was such a benefit to even be a concubine, okay, because if they didn't have father or father was poor or something, I mean, this is definitely a step up in society. I mean, could you imagine being back then in those times as a woman and like, well, I can never be the wife of the king, but you know, she gets grafted into the family by being a concubine, and so it was just socially acceptable that way. But this woman here, she's not just going to go stay at a hotel or just go get a job and just live in an apartment by herself. No, she has to go have a man take care of her. Okay. And obviously there's some beef now because of what she just did. So she goes to her father. Okay. Verse three and her husband arose. Notice what it says and her husband arose. Okay. That's what the Bible says. That is the narrator telling you that he is the husband. Okay. He has committed unto her. And what is he doing here? And her husband arose and went after her to speak friendly unto her. Now this guy's got some serious character here. Okay. I ain't going to say any more than that. Okay. But and her husband arose and went after her to speak friendly unto her and to bring her again, having his servant with him and a couple of asses. And she brought him in to her father's house. Now look at the last part of this verse here. And when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. Hey, everybody see that? He rejoiced to me. And so now, okay, he gets to meet his father-in-law and his father-in-law is very excited and we don't have time to get into this, but we will later on, on a, on a Sunday, you know, God. So this guy, this father-in-law, he just keeps trying to restrain them and keep trying to get them to stay. And obviously God's working in that because he knows that there's evil approaching them. He's trying to stop it, but we don't have time to get into that. What I want you to see here, okay, is number one that the Bible says that this certain Levi, okay, who took a concubine on the side of Mount Ephraim from Bethlehem, Judah, okay, is her husband. Okay. But it says she's a concubine. She plays the whore. He decides, you know what? She is mine. Okay. So understand that that concubine belongs to the certain Levi because they entered in to this relationship, which is just so hard for us in our day and age to really fathom. Okay. But that's what it says. That's what it is. Okay. And finally he says, okay, well, you know what? She's mine. I'm going to go and get her. And he gets to now finally meet his father-in-law. Okay. And then we're going to come back to that in a second. Verse four and his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him and he abode with him three days. So they did eat and drink and lodged there. Okay. So that brings me to the next thing that I want to talk about. Okay. Obviously we just looked at wives' concubines. Okay. Different word totally means a different thing. A concubine is of a lower status than a wife, but they share the same husband. So the commitment is still there. Okay. So when a person took a concubine, that was to be apparently for life. You were now that person. You're not supposed to be, you know, sharing around, which is why they had this issue when she decided to play the whore. Okay. So it is like a marriage. Okay. It's, it's, it's adjoining, but it's not the same status as a wife. Okay. So what I want you to see here also is notice the possession here. Okay. And I know people are going to get mad. Oh, you think I'm a possession? Yes. Okay. Yes. Wives, you are your husband's possession. Okay. You possess each other. Okay. You belong to each other and you both belong to Christ for that matter. I don't see what the big deal is about that, but we see that. Okay. So he's like thinking, okay, you know, well, I'm just going to go ahead and go down and get her back because she's mine. She belongs to me. I'm going to forgive her. And that's that. Now, um, go to sec, go back to, we're going to do a lot of flipping tonight. I'm sorry about that, but go to second Samuel, chapter number three. Okay. Cause we need to look at this here. It's very, very, very, very important. What's going on here. And I'm just going to bring this up now. So the reason why I wanted you to see that there, and I wanted to kind of harp on the fact that the certain Levites father-in-law rejoice to actually meet him is because, okay, when you often study these marriages in the Bible, what do you see? Okay. We'll get into this again here in a second. I'm just giving you a preview. Okay. You're going to read about this word called dowry. Okay. Often the husband would provide a dowry to the bride's father. And there was a joining or a marriage after that point. Okay. But what you don't see when someone gets a concubine is you don't see that. Typically, you see a situation like this where he's just sojourned and doing his thing. He runs into this lady. They hit it off, and they decide to join into this relationship here. Okay. That's what you find. You see the same thing with Abraham. Okay. Abraham's or Sarai, rather, her handmaiden named Hagar. Okay. She went from handmade to basically a concubine and then was sent off because of the whole beef there. And we'll cover that here in a second. Okay. But what I want to focus on right now is just this possession here. And I want to show you that throughout the Bible here. Okay. That when a person took a concubine, that was his possession. Very similar. Okay. These are similarities. Very similar to a wife. But yet, understand, a concubine is not the same as a wife. 2 Samuel 3. Look down at verse number 7. It says, And Saul had a concubine. Now, this is after Saul's death. Okay. And Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner. Remember, Abner was the general there under Saul. And Ish-bosheth, who basically for a moment, took the reigns after Saul's death. Obviously, he's being played by Abner, but it says, And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, wherefore has thou gone in unto my father's concubine. So I just wanted to bring that up so that you guys can see the possession there. Okay. So even after Saul's death, he is still very concerned as to, or I'm sorry, his son is concerned as to why Abner now, this mean, tough general is now going into his father having a physical relationship with his father's concubine. Okay. Why is that a thing? Why does that come up? Well, because that was his father's possession. But of course, obviously, Ish-bosheth didn't understand until death do us part. And they're going to do what they want. And Abner just basically sharply rebukes him anyways. Okay. But I just want you to see that possession there. That was known in the culture and known in the community was someone was your concubine. That was your possession, your property. Okay. Similar to a wife. Now go to chapter 16, same book, second Samuel, go to chapter 16. And again, if you were paying attention when I said, gave you the quick breakdown there in chapter 15, that's where we learned that Absalom has decided to now come after David. And chapter 16, we're going to see Ahithophel, who was the wise counselor to David. Now he's on the side of Absalom and he's going to give Absalom some dark manipulation tactics here. Okay. And we're going to look at that because it has to do with these concubines. So the, the verse says this, what did I say? Verse 21, second Samuel 16, look at verse 21. It says, and Ahithophel said to Absalom, go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house. Remember those 10 that we read about in chapter 15. Okay. So Ahithophel has got this dark idea and he says, okay, well, if we're really going to solidify the kingdom and really hammer your dad down, we need to take possession of these concubines because that's going to spread throughout the nation. And that's going to cause people to look at David as weak. Okay. Ahithophel advises Absalom and says, go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house. And all Israel shall hear that thou art aboard of thy father. Then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong. So again, why bring this up, bringing this up to show you the possession, because this would have repercussions. This would affect David in a very negative way. In fact, let's just go ahead and look at that. Go to chapter 20 real quick. Okay. So obviously you guys are familiar with the story. You know what happens. Absalom winds up dying at the hands of Joab, despite David's orders, not to kill him. And what happens next to the concubines? Let's take a look here. Second Samuel 20, look down at verse number three. And David came to his house at Jerusalem and the King took, so he's trying to put his life back together. Okay. And the King took the 10 women, his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house and put them in ward and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up onto the day of their death, living in widowhood. You see that? So if concubines were just like a throwaway product, okay, that's what would have happened. But David being a man after God's own heart says, obviously I'm not going to go ahead and go back and have the same relationship with these ladies, but I am going to continue to take care of them and provide them with food, water, and things to sustain their lives. And obviously because these women had bore him children. Okay. All that just to demonstrate to you the possession. How about a couple more real quickly, go to Genesis. Genesis chapter 35 and make sure you keep something there because we're going to come back to the book of Genesis. Genesis 35 and look down at verse 22. Genesis 35 verse 22. Obviously after Abraham has passed on, it says this in verse 22 says, and it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah's father's concubine. And Israel heard it, Jacob, okay. Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were 12. And so as the 12 patriarchs are living with their father, living their lives, doing what they do, obviously they're somewhat grown here. Okay. This is, you know, a very tragic thing that happens here. Reuben decides, oh, you know what? Bilh is pretty attractive. I'm going to go ahead and do this thing that's unspeakable here. And word spreads, word gets out. Now let's see the consequences of that. Okay. Look at verse, I'm sorry, go over to chapter 49, two verses here, Genesis 49. So obviously here, Jacob is ready to pass on and he's giving out blessings to all 12 of his children. Reuben being the oldest starts with Reuben. Look what he says to Reuben right off the bat here. Genesis 49 verse three. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Verse four, unstable as water. So it sounds like it's going real good for Reuben here. And then he just hits him with this unstable as water. Now look at this, thou shalt not excel. Words none of us want to hear. Because, now here's why, because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, then defileest thou, it he went up to my couch. Saying this obviously in front of the whole nation here, in front of the whole family. Okay. And so again, I'm bringing that up just to demonstrate to you guys that a concubine, we've already looked at this, is a lower status than a wife. Okay. That, I mean, the story of David, when he's on the run from Absalom, proves their worth. It proves that. Okay. I mean, just the number, the ratio of Rehoboam's concubines to wives demonstrates that. Okay. However, hey, they are all basically joined to one husband and they are that husband's possession and supposed to be that way for life, as hard as that is to obviously see. So hopefully that makes some sense. Now, let's move on here. Go to Genesis chapter number 34. So let's look at this. Okay. So let's revisit the story here in Judges. Judges 19. Okay. We've got this certain Levi. What did he do? Well, he's sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim. He runs into a woman and decides, okay, you're going to be my concubine. You are mine. You are my possession, not my wife, but my concubine. She plays the whore, goes back to where she's from. She's from Bethlehem, Judah. Okay. The man says, you know what? This isn't right. I want to go down and do what's right. I want to go take care of her, speak kindly unto her. And you'll see what happens to her in a few weeks. But this is a hard story to preach. So he goes down there and then the Bible says what? He gets to finally meet his father-in-law. Remember that whole bit about the dowry? Okay. Genesis 34 here. Here's an example of a relationship trying to form. And it started off on the wrong foot. Okay. This is a story in the Bible of a man named Shechem. Okay. And the man named Shechem decided that one of Jacob's daughter Dinah was very beautiful and that he wanted to be with her. So he doesn't force her. He winds up smooth talking her. They wind up having a physical relationship and it gets back to Jacob, gets back to the brethren. And of course they're upset like any good brother would be. Okay. And so Shechem's like, well, you know what? I'm going to do what the world does. I like her. That went well. So I want to marry this girl. Okay. Now he doesn't want to make her a concubine. Okay. Keep in mind. It wasn't just Israel that had concubines. This was a thing back then. Okay. In the world. Nebuchadnezzar had them. A lot of these other hazardous had them. A lot of these other nations that had concubines. Okay. So he wants to specifically wife her up, so to speak. He wants to make her his wife. So let's look at this here in verse number 11. Genesis 34 verse 11. And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, let me find grace in your eyes. And what you shall say unto me, I will give. So he wants to give something. He wants to do something to make sure he pleases the family and take her as a wife. Verse 12. Ask me never so much dowry and gift. And I will give according as you shall say unto me, but give me the damsel. And here it is to wife. Okay. What's a dowry? It's the reward paid for a wife. And at some point in history that kind of went to the bride's dad having to pay for everything. I don't know how that works, but it does. It's just what it is. And so when I saw that I had two daughters, like someday I'm going to be broke because I'm gonna have to pay for all these weddings, which is why I fight so hard to stop. No, I don't do that. I'm just kidding. I'm just teasing. Okay. So obviously Shechem didn't do things right with Jacob's daughter. He didn't do things right with Dinah, but he does want to make her a wife and he wants to provide the dowry. He wants to provide the gift. You don't see that with concubines in the Bible. You didn't see that in Judges 19. You don't see that in Second Samuel. You don't see that in Chronicles. You don't see that in Kings. You don't see that anywhere. Okay. You only see that when it comes to wife, which is why I keep saying a wife is not a concubine and a concubine is not a wife, but they share the same husband. They're joined to the same husband. Okay. He's got commitment in other words. Okay. So a wife involves a price and a status whereas concubines involve care and still commitment. Okay. You can kind of think of it that way. Now let's go on here. We're getting close to being done. I know this is kind of, you know, all over the place, but it's necessary if we're going to study this out. Go to Genesis 25 and let's look at this story here. This is the one where people say, I got you a contradiction in the Bible. Or they say, well, there's no contradictions in the Bible, but there are errors in the Bible. There are mistranslations. And so this should say wife or this should say concubine. And of course, I've already alluded to it. This has to do with Abraham and his wife slash concubine Keturah. Okay. So let's start off here in Genesis 25 and then we'll kind of do a breakdown and we'll work back to this part of the Bible. Genesis 25. Now look at verse number one. It says then again, and I'll explain that. Okay. Then again, Abraham took a wife and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran and Jokshan and Midian and Midian and Ishbaq and Shuah. Okay. So let's just stop it right there. Okay. Keep your finger or keep something right there in Genesis 25. Now go forward in your Bibles to first Chronicles. First Chronicles chapter number one. First Chronicles chapter number one. And let's look at something here. Okay. So what do we learn in Genesis chapter 25? Well, we learned that this woman named Keturah is the wife of Abraham. Okay. Well, look at how it's recorded in first Chronicles chapter one in verse 32. So the Bible says this. Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine. See that there? Abraham's concubine. And you could read that and be like, okay, well, you know, they're just the same thing. It's just interchangeable. Okay. But the problem you run into is you run into all of these differences. Like we saw in Judges 19. Like we saw in second Samuel 15 and 16. Okay. You see these differences and you got to deal with them. They're there in the Bible. You got to know them. Okay. Verse 32. Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine. She-bear. Here's the same name. Zimran, Jokshan, and we'll call them Medan and Midian. Ishbak and Shewa. And the sons of Jokshan, Sheba and Dedan. Okay. Now let's go back to Genesis 25. Genesis 25 verse one says that Abraham took a wife and her name was Keturah. Let's try to make some sense out of this. How can they be both? If you want some funny reading, just go on the forums on the internet. Just type this in the internet. You got the Calvinist saying this. You got the dispensational saying this. You got the original manuscripts only over here. Well, let's be guy. We need to update the language. It changes to one or the other. So it makes sense. Now we're going to rightly divide the word of truth and have that make sense. Okay. And so in order to make this make sense, you want to know your Bible. You want to read from chapter one to all the way up through here so that you got an idea of the flow and what's going on. Because when you're reading through Genesis, you'll be reading a story and then there'll be like a chapter of parenthetical stuff that has already happened. You got to understand that. You got to know that. Okay. So just back up here. Chapter 23. Look at verse number one. Okay. Genesis 23. Real quickly, just look at verse one. So this is the death and burial of Sarah. This chapter deals with that one through 20. We're just gonna look at verse one. Says, and Sarah was 107 and 20 years old. These were the years of the life of Sarah. We'll do verse two and Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Okay. So the Bible goes on to just kind of describe those events surrounding the death of Sarah. Now, if we were to go all the way back to chapter 12, where we're introduced to Abraham. Okay. You're going to find this name over and over again. It's Sarah. She eventually becomes Sarah. The only wife you're really given the name of in his life is Sarah. That's his one and only. That's his true love. That's his wife. We know the Bible says over and over again, how well she looked even into her older age. Definitely God had blessed her in that way. We know the promise God had told Abraham in Genesis 18. Hey, your wife, though she be old and barren in her later years, she's gonna bear a son. She's gonna bury you a son. And of course they spent time wondering, well, what does that look like? Oh, maybe God meant you need a concubine. So here take my handmaiden and she'll just bury some children. That didn't go too well, but it did fulfill the promise that God gave Abraham when he said that you will become the father of many nations. So that's grafted in there as well. Okay. So back to the chronology here, we see the death of Sarah, his wife. Okay. Chapter 24 deals with Abraham and he's saying, Hey, you know, before I go, I want, and he's talking to his servant. He's like, I want you to find a wife that's definitely not from this area. Not from the land of Canaan, for Isaac. And so you read about that whole process there. And then it's a very long chapter. It's like 60 something verses, 67 verses. And then you get to chapter 25. So let's look at this. Okay. Let's, we're going to read a few verses here and then this will all hopefully make sense here in a second. Okay. 25 verse one. Then again, Abraham took a wife and her name was Keturah. We know in Chronicles, it says she's a concubine. Okay. Hold on for a second. And she bare him, Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shewa. Verse three, Jokshan begot Sheba. And so it just goes on to list these names. Look at verse four and the sons of Midian, Ephah, more names for him. Look at verse five. And Abraham gave all, look at this, that he had to Isaac. Okay. So Abraham gives all that he has to Isaac. Okay. Who was Isaac's mother? Well, it was Abraham's wife, Sarah. Can we track in here? I'm telling you this because the statement that I made at the beginning is true. When you study this out, a wife is not a concubine. A concubine is not a wife, but they share the same husband. Okay. Now, verse number six. But notice that contrast that lets you know, hey mind, get ready. You're about to read a contrast to that here. Okay. So Isaac gets the goods. He gets the good stuff. He's going on. He's going to bear Jacob who bears the patriarchs. Verse six. But unto the sons of the concubines, plural, I'm not giving all their names, but he noticed he has concubines. Okay. But unto the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac, his son. Look at this. While he yet lived eastward on to the east country. Verse seven. And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life, which he lived. 103 score in 15 years. Verse eight. That Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good old age, an old man full of years, and was gathered unto his people. Again, you have to understand the parenthetical information that the Holy Ghost is giving you in this chapter if you're going to reconcile these two issues here. How do we reconcile this? Okay. Well, up until this point, you study Abraham's life and all you hear about really is just Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, how beautiful. You know, they got this promise coming. And then there's Hagar, handmaiden to concubine. Then that doesn't work out. And he has to send her away and sends Ishmael away. And then you get here at the beginning of this chapter here and you learn, oh, wait a second. He had concubines? Okay. The Bible's trying to tell you something here. Okay. And that is obviously at some point after Sarah had died, he took this concubine named Keturah, who was a concubine when she birthed these children and made her his wife, which again proves the point that a wife is not a concubine and a concubine is not a wife, but they share the same husband. Okay. So hopefully that makes sense. And if you look at it like that, then you can now reconcile these two. And you don't have to be like, oh man, what in the world's going on here? You know, I don't understand this. It doesn't make sense. It just basically shows you that she got an upgrade in position. That's what it demonstrates to us, the students of the Bible. And so hopefully the study, you know, helps you through your Bible reading, provides you a little bit of answers, you know, and don't just stop here, you know, look these things up for yourself, study them out so that you've got to internalize because you never know when the time's going to come where somebody is like, hey, what are you going to do with this? And they got that smug look on their face. Like, I got you. What about the concubines? What about the wives? Huh? And we didn't even get time to deal with the whole is it sin issue because then the Bible says that God gave David his wives. Okay. We'll deal with that another time. Okay. Study the Bible. Words mean things. Okay. And when you get that and you understand that you start with what we know, you move to the unknown, you're not going to go wrong. Okay. You're going to get good information, good Bible doctrine. So stop right there with that study for tonight. Let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church, for all that you do for us. Just pray that you'd bless the fellowship after the service. Bring us home safely and please bring us back again this weekend. Safely. Bless the soul winning marathon this weekend in Jesus name. I pray. Amen.