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Keturah may have been a concubine like Hagar (v. 6; 1 Chron. 1:32). It is not possible to prove that Abraham married Keturah and that she bore him six sons after Sarah's death, though this was probably the case. He may have married her earlier in his life while Sarah was alive.
The information revealed in these verses may appear at this point in the narrative simply to introduce the Midianites who come into prominence later in Genesis. They were a group of tribes that inhabited the deserts surrounding Israel. Probably Moses also included this data because this passage confirms God's faithfulness in giving Abraham many descendants, though Isaac and his branch of the family would be the recipients of God's special blessings.
In this section and the following two (vv. 7-11 and 12-19) those characters who play minor parts in the drama take their curtain calls making way for the chief actors who follow.
God's promise that "through Isaac your descendants shall be named"(21:12) led Abraham to act as he did as Moses recorded here.
"The land of the East"(v. 6) to which Abraham sent his sons other than Isaac was evidently Arabia. It lay to the east and south of Canaan.
"In this case the sending away of the sons is to make Isaac's position more secure."616
