Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 34.--What is Meant by Abraham's Marrying Keturah After Sarah's Death.

What did Abraham mean by marrying Keturah after Sarah's death? Far be it from us to suspect him of incontinence, especially when he had reached such an age and such sanctity of faith. Or was he still seeking to beget children, though he held fast, with most approved faith, the promise of God that his children should be multiplied out of Isaac as the stars of heaven and the dust of the earth? And yet, if Hagar and Ishmael, as the apostle teaches us, signified the carnal people of the old covenant, why may not Keturah and her sons also signify the carnal people who think they belong to the new covenant? For both are called both the wives and the concubines of Abraham; but Sarah is never called a concubine (but only a wife). For when Hagar is given to Abraham, it is written. "And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abraham had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife." ¹ And of Keturah, whom he took after Sarah's departure, we read, "Then again Abraham took a wife, whose name was Keturah." ² Lo! both are called wives, yet both are found to have been concubines; for the Scripture afterward says, "And Abraham gave his whole estate unto Isaac his son. But unto the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from his son Isaac, (while he yet lived,) eastward, unto the east country." ³ Therefore the sons of the concubines, that is, the heretics and the carnal Jews, have some gifts, but do not attain the promised kingdom; "For they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed, of whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called." ⁴ For I do not see why Keturah, who was married after the wife's death, should be called a concubine, except on account of this mystery. But if any one is unwilling to put such meanings on these things, he need not calumniate Abraham. For what if even this was provided against the heretics who were to be the opponents of second marriages, so that it might be shown that it was no sin in the case of the father of many nations himself, when, after his wife's death, he married again? And Abraham died when he was 175 years old, so that he left his son Isaac seventy-five years old, having begotten him when 100 years old.

Edition Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXXIV: Quid intellegendum sit in eo, quod Abraham post mortem Sarrae Cetturam accepit uxorem.

Quid autem sibi uult, quod Abraham post mortem Sarrae Cetturam duxit uxorem? ubi absit ut incontinentiam suspicemur, praesertim in illa iam aetate et in illa fidei sanctitate. an adhuc procreandi filii quaerebantur, cum iam deo promittente tanta multiplicatio filiorum ex Isaac per stellas caeli et harenam terrae fide probatissima teneretur? sed profecto si Agar et Ismael, doctore apostolo, significauerunt carnales ueteris testamenti, cur non etiam Cettura et filii eius significent carnales, qui se ad testamentum nouum existimant pertinere? ambae quippe et uxores Abrahae et concubinae sunt appellatae; Sarra uero numquam dicta est concubina. nam et quando data est Agar Abrahae, ita scriptum est: et adprehendit Sara uxor Abram Agar Aegyptiam ancillam suam post decem annos, quam habitauerat Abram in terra Chanaan, et dedit eam Abram uiro suo ipsi uxorem. de Cettura autem, quam post obitum Sarrae accepit, sic legitur: adiciens autem Abraham sumpsit uxorem, cui nomen Cettura. ecce ambae dicuntur uxores; ambae porro concubinae fuisse reperiuntur, postea dicente scriptura: dedit autem Abraham omnem censum suum Isaac filio suo, et filiis concubinarum suarum dedit Abraham dationes et dimisit eos ab Isaac filio suo adhuc se uiuo ad orientem, in terram orientis. habent ergo nonnulla munera filii concubinarum, sed non perueniunt ad regnum promissum, nec haeretici, nec Iudaei carnales, quia praeter Isaac nullus est heres, et non qui filii carnis, hi filii dei, sed filii promissionis deputantur in semine, de quo dictum est: in Isaac uocabitur tibi semen. neque enim uideo, cur etiam Cettura post uxoris mortem ducta, nisi propter hoc mysterium, dicta sit concubina. sed quisquis haec non uult in istis significationibus accipere, non calumnietur Abrahae. quid si enim et hoc prouisum est contra haereticos futuros secundarum aduersarios nuptiarum, ut in ipso patre multarum gentium post obitum coniugis iterum coniugari demonstraretur non esse peccatum? et mortuus est Abraham, cum esset annorum centum septuaginta quinque. annorum ergo septuaginta quinque Isaac filium dereliquit, quem centenarius genuit.