Shem

Shem (Hebrew Name|שֵׁם|Šem|Šēm ; Greek: Σημ, "Sēm"; Arabic: _ar. سام ; Ge'ez: ሴም, "Sēm"; "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 academyFact|date=February 2008, and, due to his long life, even his very-distant descendents who kept the belief in God, like Jacob, were able to attend itFact|date=February 2008.

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 [Jasher|7:15] ) - (Elamites), Iran

* Asshur "a step" or "strong" (sons were Mirus and Mokil [Jasher|7:16] ) - (Assyrians, Northern Mesopotamia);

* Arphaxad "I shall fail" (sons were Shelach, Anar and Ashcol [Jasher|7:16] ) - (Chaldeans, Southern Mesopotamia, Israelites, Arabians, Bedouins, Moabites, Amonites, Sabaeans, and related groups);

* Lud "strife" (sons were Pethor and Bizayon [Jasher|7:17] ) - (Ludim, Lubim, Ludians, Ludu, Lydians, Chubs, and other related groups in Asia Minor and North Africa);

* Aram "exalted" (sons were Uz, Chul, Gather and Mash [Jasher|7:17] ) - (Aramaeans, other related groups), and remnant groups throughout Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

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" [ " [http://www.british-israel.ca/britishisraelism_utterly_refute.htm Prophetic Geography and the Time of the End", emphasis added] ]

Germanic

Some scholars nowWho|date=February 2008 claim 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 Sceaf, 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 saidWho|date=February 2008 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." [ Serge A. Zenkovsky's, " [http://web.ku.edu/~russcult/culture/handouts/chronicle_all.html Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales] ", Revised and Enlarged Edition. (NY: Meridian Books, 1974) ]

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. [ P. 94, "Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan" ]

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)". [ P. 27 "Assyria: Her Manners and Customs, Arts and Arms: Restored from Her Monuments" By Philip ]

In "Mystery of the Ages", by Dr. James Modlish, it is said that India is inhabited by Shemites. [ "Mystery of the Ages", by Dr. James Modlish ]

Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi, a 19th century Arab historian, states that al-Hind and al-Sind [India] are of Ophir, the son of Joktan [ p. 1769 "A dictionary of the Bible comprising its antiquities, biography, geography, and natural history." by William Smith, John Mee Fuller] . 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 [ Charles F. Pfeifer. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962 p. 14) ] 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." [ [http://www.pbministries.org/History/S.%20Hassell/church_of_god_02.htm "The History of the Church of God", "Chapter 2: FROM THE FALL OF MAN TO THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM"] ]

The Jewish text "Pirqei R. Eliezer", depicts God as dividing the earth among Noah‘s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet [ [The names of Noah’s sons were prophetic. Shem signifies name or renown (the Scriptures have been given to us through the family of Shem, and Christ was of that family); Ham signifies hot or black (his descendants mainly peopled Africa); and Japheth signifies either fair or enlarged (his descendants are the white-faced Europeans, who have gone forth and established colonies in all the other grand divisions of the globe).] ] , and attributing different skin colors to them (literally, —blessing“ them with different skin colors): light colored skin for theJaphetites, 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 abarī (d. 923) quotes Ibn Abbas (d. 686-8) as saying::"Born to Noah were Shem, whose descendants were tawny-white (bayā wa-adma); Ham, whose descendants were black with hardly any whiteness (sawād wa-bayā qalīl); and Japheth, whose descendants were reddish-white (al-łuqrawal- umra.)" [ [Tarikh al- abarī, ed. M.J. de Goeje, 1:199. A little later (p. 220) abarī repeats this tradition, again in the name of Ibn Abbas, but this time has —tawny with hardly any whiteness“ (udma wa-bayā qalīl) for Ham instead of —black with hardly any whiteness.“ My translation of abarī”s color terms follows Lane, who notes that applied to human complexion adam means—tawny or dark-complexioned, syn. asmar,“ umra means whiteness, and łuqra implies some mix of red and white, the common classification for a light-skinned complexion (Lane, "An Arabic-English Lexicon", pp. 37a, 640c [see also 642a, a mar] , and 1581b).] ]

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- Ibrī (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 (sūdān), Shem the Land of the Browns (sumra), and Japheth the Land of the Reds (łuqra). [ [M. Sprengling and W.C. Graham, ed., Barhebraeus‘ Scholia on the Old Testament, pp. 34-35 and 44-45. Bar Hebraeus‘ father was a Jewish convert to Christianity (thus the name). The quotation is from J.B. Segal, "The Encyclopedia of Islam", second edition, 3:805, s.v. Ibn al- Ibrī.] ]

"According to ISBE, Shem means "dusky", and Japheth means "fair." (McKissick, Beyond Roots. P. 108). [ McKissick, Beyond Roots. P. 108) ]

According to Armenian tradition, Shem had the region of the tawny. [ P. 162 "Christmastide: Its History, Festivities, and Carols" By William Sandys ]

Red

Josaih 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". [ "The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600-2000" By Colin Kidd ]

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." [ Walker, Benjamin 1983 "Gnosticism: Its History and Influence" The Aquarian Press, Wellingsborough UK. ISBN 0-85030-324-9 ]

Theory of origins in Egyptian mythology

Gary Greenberg of the Biblical Archaeology Society has offered the following account of the origin of the word "Shem" in the Hermopolitan creation myth: "Shem" means "name" in Hebrew but is also the root of "Shemoneh", meaning "eight". The Hermopolitan creation myth has the Earth created out of a great flood, influenced by Egyptian experience of the annual Nile flood, in which the waters part into the waters above and the waters below, with the emergence of the eight ("shem") deities, the black earth ("chem" or "keme") of the Nile valley and the god Ptah ("Ja-Ptah"). While the Greeks referred to the city as Hermopolis, the Egyptians named it Shmn, or "eight-town", after the eight deities that emerged from the flood. (Its name today is El Ashmunein Arabic: _ar. الأشمونين.) The three "sons" of Noah correspond to the earth of the valley, the god Ptah and the eight deities of the Egyptian flood/creation myth.

This account is to be found in "101 Myths of the Bible" by Gary Greenberg, President of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York.

References

ee also

*Wives aboard the Ark
*Subarians
*Finnegans Wake

Further reading

*cite book|author=Greenberg, Gary|title=101 Myths of the Bible|publisher=Sourcebooks, Inc.|year=2002|isbn=1570718423

External links

* [http://www.soundchristian.com/man/ Table of Nations]
* [http://ggreenberg.tripod.com/ancientne/about.html Gary Greenberg, author of several books on Egyptian/Hebrew mythology and President of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York]