Shem

A son of Noah, possibly oldest, but apparently the 2d oldest, for Ham was the youngest (Gen 10:1 cf. ch 9:24), and Japheth seems to have been 2 years older, having been born apparently when Noah had reached the age of 500 years (ch 7:6 cf. ch 5:32), whereas Shem was born 98 years before the Flood, when his father was 502 years old (ch 11:10 cf. ch 7:6).

Consequently the rendering "Japheth the elder" in ch 10:21, KJV, seems to be better than that of the RSV, which declares Shem to be the elder brother of Japheth. Shem, his wife, his parents, and his 2 brothers and their wives went into the ark and were saved from the Flood (ch 7:7). In the post—Flood period Shem is mentioned with his brother Japheth as endeavoring to protect their drunken father's honor following a shameful act by Ham.

For this Shem received a special blessing (ch 9:20—27). Shem became the progenitor of the Semitic race to which the Babylonians, Assyrians, Aramaeans, Arabs, and Hebrews belonged (ch 10:21—32). Some scholars believe that the Sumerians were also descendants of Shem (S. N. Kramer, Analecta Biblica, 12 [1959], 202—204). The Hebrews were the descendants of Shem's son Arpachshad or Arphaxad, who was born 2 years after the Flood (ch 11:10—26). Shem died at the age of 600 years (vs 10, 11). He is mentioned in the genealogy of Christ (Lk 3:36).