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Shem
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Shem ( ; ; Arabic: ; Ge'ez: ??, Sem; "renown; prosperity; name") was one of the sons of Noah in the Bible. He is most popularly regarded as the eldest son, though some traditions regard him as the second son. Genesis 10:21 refers to relative ages of Shem and his brother Japheth, but with sufficient ambiguity in each to have yielded different translations. The verse is translated in the KJV as "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.".
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Shem ( ; ; Arabic: ; Ge'ez: ??, Sem; "renown; prosperity; name") was one of the sons of Noah in the Bible. He is most popularly regarded as the eldest son, though some traditions regard him as the second son. Genesis 10:21 refers to relative ages of Shem and his brother Japheth, but with sufficient ambiguity in each to have yielded different translations. The verse is translated in the KJV as "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.". However, the New American Standard Bible gives, "Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born."
Genesis 11:10 records that Shem was 100 years old at the birth of Arpachshad two years after the flood, making him 98 at the time of the flood; and that he lived for another 500 years after this, making his age at death 600 years.
The children of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Aram, Arpachshad and Lud, in addition to daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrews and Arabs, was one of the descendants of Arpachshad.
The 1st century historian Flavius Josephus, among many others, recounted the tradition that these five sons were the progenitors of the nations of Elam, Assyria, Syria, Chaldea (from whom descended the Hebrews and Arabs), and Lydia, respectively.
Terms like "Semite" and "Hamite" are less common now, and may sometimes even be perceived as offensive, because of their "racial" connotations. The adjectival forms "Semitic" and "Hamitic" are more common, though the vague term 'Hamitic' dropped out of mainstream academic use in the 1960s. Semitic is still a commonly used term for the Semitic languages, as a subset of the Afro-Asiatic languages, denoting the common linguistic heritage of Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian, Ethiopic, Hebrew and Phoenician languages.
'Semitic' also appears in the phrase "anti-Semitic" to refer to racial, ethnic or cultural prejudice aimed exclusively at Jews.
According to some Jewish traditions (e.g., B. Talmud Nedarim 32b; Genesis Rabbah 46:7; Genesis Rabbah 56:10; Leviticus Rabbah 25:6; Numbers Rabbah 4:8.), Shem is believed to have been Melchizedek, King of Salem whom Abraham is recorded to have met after the battle of the four kings. Other legends say that he opened a religious academy, and, due to his long life, even his very-distant descendents who kept the belief in God, like Jacob, were able to attend it.
In a few of the many extra-biblical sources that describe him, Shem is also credited with killing Nimrod, son of Cush.
Shem is mentioned in Genesis 5:32, 6:10; 7:13; 9:18,23,26-27; 10; 11:10; also in 1 Chronicles 1:4.
Genealogies according to "Book of Jasher"
A rabbinic document that surfaced in the 1600s, claiming to be the lost "Book of Jasher" provides some names not found in any other source. Some have reconstructed more complete genealogies based on this information as follows:
Shem. Also Sem. Literal meanings are named or renown (father of the Semitic races - Shemites). The sons of Shem were:
- Elam "eternity" (sons were Shushan, Machul and Harmon) - (Elamites, Khuzestanis)
- Asshur "a step" or "strong" (sons were Mirus and Mokil) - (Assyrians
- Arphaxad (sons were Shelach, Anar and Ashcol) - Hebrews (Israelites, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and related groups)
- Lud "strife" (sons were Pethor and Bizayon) - (Ludim, Lubim, Ludians, Ludu, Lydians, and other related groups in Asia Minor.
- Aram "exalted" (sons were Uz, Chul, Gather and Mash) - (Aramaeans.
Other proposed lineages from Shem
Europeans
Some believe that from Shem descend the whole of the European peoples. Ernest L. Martin writes, "...[The] Shemite tribes (people who were descendants of Shem and including some peoples who came from Abraham) later colonized the whole of southern Europe and replaced the people of JAVAN and his four descendants. JAVAN'S people were pushed mainly into the northern areas of Europe where in turn they migrated farther east into Asia (along with GOMER the firstborn son of JAPHETH and his descendants). Indeed, in prophecies dealing also with the End-Time, we find the people of JAVAN no longer in Europe, but they are now associated with TUBAL [Ezekiel 38: & 39 end time prophecy] (another son of JAPHETH) who became an eastern Mongolian type of people...though the name JAVAN still retained its geographical hold on the southern region of Europe, particularly in Greece)...It is not uncommon for people to give a name to a region and then the original people move on to other areas (or are killed off) and the original geographical name becomes associated with completely different people"
Germanic
Some scholars have claimed that the Anglo-Saxons are the descendants of Shem. "Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons [b. 849 A.D.] was... the son [descendant] of Sem [Shem]" (Church Historians of England, vol. 2, p. 443). Proponents of this theory also claim that Alfred the Great was a descendant of Shem because he claimed to descend from Sceafa, a marooned man who came to Britain on a boat after a flood.
Le Petit, a writer in 1601 mentioned King Adel, said to be descendant of Shem, ruler of Britain having 3 children that migrated to India.
Further, it is said that Tuitsch a German patriarch is none other than Shem himself (see Assyrian-German theory).
Hellenistic (Greek)
A text from Islam claims that the Greeks derived from Shem: Tabari II:11 “Shem, the son of Noah was the father of the Arabs, the Persians, and the Greeks;...”
In Serge A. Zenkovsky's, Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales, "To the lot of Shem fell the Orient, and his share extended lengthwise as far as India and breadthwise (from east to south) as far as Phinocorura, including Persia and Bactria, as well as Syria, Media (which lies beside the Euphrates River), Babylon, Cordyna, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Arabia the Ancient, Elymais, India, Arabia the Mighty, Coelesyria, Commagene, and all Phoenicia."
Indo-Iranians
According to Abulgazi, Shem's original land was Iran while Japheth's was the country called "Kuttup Shamach," said to be the name of the regions between the Caspian Sea and India.
According to Armenian tradition, Dr. Hales is quoted saying, "To the sons of Shem was alloted the middle region of the earth viz., Palestine, Syria, Assyria, Samaria (Shinar?) Babel (or Babylonia), Persia and Hedjaz (Arabia).
In Mystery of the Ages, by Dr. James Modlish, it is said that India is inhabited by Shemites.
Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi, a 19th century Arab historian, states that al-Hind and al-Sind [India] are of Ophir, the son of Joktan. Isidore of Seville (c. 635) had also made Joktan the ancestor of Indians; his material was based on earlier enumerations made by Jerome and Josephus, who had stated that Joktan's descendants "inhabited from Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Asia adjoining to it."
African
In Genesis, while Sheba and Seba are listed among descendants of Cush son of Ham in 10:7, another Sheba is listed as a son of Joktan, son of Eber in 10:28. These names are associated with Semitic tribes on both sides of the Red Sea in Yemen and Eritrea (See Sabaeans). This situation may reflect a combined Hamito-Semitic ancestry postulated for Ethiopian peoples.
Racial connotations
Tawny of Brown
In the modern times, many people including scholars associate the 3 patriarchs of human cultures with distinct racial features in each of the three. That is, Shem, the oldest son of Noah is said to be yellow-brown; Japheth, white; and Ham, black.
Also, according to The History of the Church of God:
- "The world was to some extent divided between Noah’s three sons, so that we may in general reckon Asia to Shem, Africa to Ham, and Europe to Japheth[9] — though, of course, there was some crossing of these lines by each."
The Jewish text Pirqei R. Eliezer, depicts God as dividing the earth among Noah‘s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and attributing different skin colors to them (literally, —blessing“ them with different skin colors): light colored skin for the
Japhetites, medium dark or brown for the Semites, and very dark or black for the Hamites.
This passage again from Pirqei R. Eliezer, a writing which was composed in Israel after the Islamic conquest, is strikingly paralleled in an Arabic text of approximately the same period. The historian abari (d. 923) quotes Ibn Abbas (d. 686-8) as saying:
- Born to Noah were Shem, whose descendants were tawny-white (baya wa-adma); Ham, whose descendants were black with hardly any whiteness (sawad wa-baya qalil); and Japheth, whose descendants were reddish-white (al-luqra
wal- umra.)
From the same author also comes his commentary of Gen 5:32:
- " 'And Noah begat Shem and Ham and Japheth.' That is Shem is the father of the swarthy, and Ham of the blacks, and Japheth of the whites." Then on the commentary on Gen 10:32, "...the red [smqry'] sons of Japheth,... the black sons of Ham,... and the swarthy sons of Shem."
The tradition is repeated in the 13th century by the Christian Ibn al- Ibri (Bar Hebraeus), known for the —fidelity with which he reproduces earlier writers. Again in another work, Bar Hebraeus speaks of Noah dividing the world among his three sons, with Ham getting the Land of the Blacks (sudan), Shem the Land of the Browns (sumra), and Japheth the Land of the Reds (luqra).
"According to ISBE, Shem means "dusky", and Japheth means "fair." (McKissick, Beyond Roots. P. 108).
According to Armenian tradition, Shem had the region of the tawny.
Red
Josiah Preist (1788–1851) believed that Shem, because he was a descendant in the Adamic line, and because "Adam" means reddish in Hebrew, that Shem too was of the "reddish race". Further, he believe that because Christ was a descendant in the line of Shem, that Christ was of "copper-colored stock".
White
Discussing the backgrounds of the Magi Three Wise Men, Benjamin Walker writes:
- "Balthasar belonged to the white race of Shem and brought the infant gold, symbol of the incarnation. Melchior belonged to the black race of Ham, and brought frankincense, symbol of the crucifixion. Caspar belonged to the yellow race of Japheth, and brought myrrh, symbol of the resurrection."
See also
Further reading
External links
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