5/28/2008

Noah, Shem, and Abram

Genesis 11:10-26 - This is the account of Shem.

Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

Noah, Shem, and Abram were all alive at the same time. I wonder if Abram ever got to meet Noah or Shem. I think I remember hearing that Martin Luther speculated that Melchizedek might have been Shem.

I wonder how many times Noah and Shem got to retell the account of the Flood. How many generations got to hear about it from these eyewitnesses? There were at least 9 generations who had the opportunity from Shem to Abram over a period of about 500 years!

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:22 AM

    Hi,
    I think it's so neat that Abram may have sat at the feet of Shem and heard 1st hand experience of the flood and goodness of our God!

    I'm trying to create a timeline from Adam on... But I found your blog on a search on Google "Shem to Abram."

    Thank you! May the Lord bless you!

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  2. Thank you for your reply.

    Keep in mind that the Hebrew doesn't insist that a phrase like "became the father of" automatically means a father-son relationship as we assume today. It may mean a grandfather-grandson relationship or even more generations in between.

    God bless you too.

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  3. Hi, I was searching for the number of year from the flood/Shem to Abram. My concerns with some comments are that Shem having survived the flood, God's wrath on a sinful world, God had to call Abram out of idolatry in UR. How quickly men forget God. The idea that Noah & Shem might have been around in Abram's day seems unwise, or Shem wasn't spreading the word! I think 500 years must be understated. GB.

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  4. As already noted, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to tell how many years actually passed from Shem to Abraham. Givens these numbers though, it is certainly a possibility.

    We cannot assume that Shem wasn't preaching about God and his promises. He would have been just one voice among many ungodly folk. He may have been doing God's will 100% of the time, but that doesn't mean people heeded his words.

    On the other hand, he may have fallen away as Solomon seems to have done at the end of his days. 500 years is a long time to try to remain faithful when all around you becomes more and more unfaithful.

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  5. Peter6:25 AM

    Have a look at the book of Jasher, a book commented on in the scriptures.
    1 And Haran, the son of Terah, Abram's oldest brother, took a wife in those days.
    2 Haran was thirty-nine years old when he took her; and the wife of Haran conceived and bare a son, and he called his name Lot.
    3 And she conceived again and bare a daughter, and she called her name Milca; and she again conceived and bare a daughter, and she called her name Sarai.
    4 Haran was forty-two years old when he begat Sarai, which was in the tenth year of the life of Abram; and in those days Abram and his mother and nurse went out from the cave, as the king and his subjects had forgotten the affair of Abram.
    5 And when Abram came out from the cave, he went to Noah and his son Shem, and he remained with them to learn the instruction of the Lord and his ways, and no man knew where Abram was, and Abram served Noah and Shem his son for a long time.

    Peter
    6 And Abram was in Noah's house thirty-nine years, and Abram knew the Lord from three years old, and he went in the ways of the Lord until the day of his death, as Noah and his son Shem had taught him; and all the sons of the earth in those days greatly transgressed against the Lord, and they rebelled against him and they served other gods, and they forgot the Lord who had created them in the earth; and the inhabitants of the earth made unto themselves, at that time, every man his god; gods of wood and stone which could neither speak, hear, nor deliver, and the sons of men served them and they became their gods.
    7 And the king and all his servants, and Terah with all his household were then the first of those that served gods of wood and stone.

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  6. We can't say everything in the book of Jasher is 100% accurate as we do for the Bible, but that doesn't mean this quotation is false either.

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  7. I came here searching out information for our lady's Bible study's FaceBook page. We are studying the first chapters of Genesis to get our foundation settled.

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  8. Our men's Bible study focuses on the men of the Bible. We started with Adam since he was the first man, and have continued through Genesis to where we are now, focused on Terah. We keep our study exclusively within the Bible as we believe only Scripture is divinely inspired. It seems there are two schools of interpretation of the genealogies from Noah to Abram. One suggests that Noah died 2 years before Abram was born and the other that suggests Abram was 58 years old when Noah died. Regardless, Shem is a guarentee of the faithfulness of God to give Abram a witness. How far civilization had fallen through Nimrod's murderous rebellion against the established patriarchy and his idolatry and pride as well as his disdain for God, the Creator. How far we've come and so little has changed! Thank God for His faithfulness, thank God for His Son, Jesus. Our redemption draweth nigh.

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