Son of Noah. (Gen. vi. 10.) The genealogy of Shem on account of the promised seed, is more particularly recorded than the other sons of Noah in the Bible. The name of Shem means emineney or renown.
the son of Noah, Gen 6:10. He was born A.M. 1558. It is the opinion of the generality of commentators, that Shem was younger than Japheth, and the second son of Noah, for reasons given under the article See JAPETH. See also Gen 9:22-25. He lived six hundred years, and died A.M. 2158. The posterity of Shem obtained their portion in the best parts of Asia. The Jews ascribe to Shem the theological tradition of the things that Noah had learned from the first men. Shem communicated them to his children, and by this means the true religion was preserved in the world. Some have thought Shem the same as Melchisedec, and that he himself had been at the school of Methuselah before the deluge: that he gave to Abraham the whole tradition, the ceremonies of the sacrifices of religion, according to which this patriarch afterward offered his sacrifices. But this opinion has no adequate support. Lastly, the Jews say, that he taught men the law of justice, and the manner of reckoning months and years, and the intercalations of the months. All that can be said as to these speculations is, that Noah and all his sons were the depositaries of the knowledge which existed among men before the flood, and were perhaps both specially qualified by God first to attain it, and then to transmit it to their descendants. Shem had five sons, Elam, Asher, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aran, who peopled the richest provinces of Asia.
Shem (name), one of the three sons of Noah (Gen 5:32), from whom descended the nations enumerated in Gen 10:22, sq., and who was the progenitor of that great branch of the Noachic family (called from him Shemitic or Semitic) to which the Hebrews belong. The name of Shem is placed first wherever the sons of Noah are mentioned together; whence he would seem to have been the eldest brother. But against this conclusion is brought the text Gen 10:21, which, according to the Authorized, and many other versions, has ’Shem the brother of Japheth the elder;’ whence it has been conceived very generally that Japheth was really the eldest, and that Shem is put first by way of excellency, seeing that from him the holy line descended. But this conclusion is not built upon a critical knowledge of the Hebrew, which would show that ’the elder’ must in this text be referred not to Japheth but to Shem, so that it should be read ’Shem… the elder brother of Japheth.’
A son of Noah, Gen 5:32 6:10, always named before Ham and Japheth, as the eldest son; or, as some think, because he was the forefather of the Hebrews. In Gen 10:21, the word elder may be applied to Shem, instead of Japheth. He received a blessing from his dying father, Gen 9:26, and of his line the Messiah was born. He had five sons, and their posterity occupied the central regions between Ham and Japheth, and peopled the finest provinces of the East. The languages of some of these nations are still called the Shemitic languages, including the Hebrew, Chalee, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, etc.; but in this general class are found several languages spoken by nations descended from Ham.\par
Shem. (name). The eldest son of Noah. Gen 5:32. He was 98 years old, married, and childless at the time of the flood. After it, he, with his father, brothers, sisters-in-law and wife, received the blessing of God, Gen 9:1, and entered into the covenant. With the help of his brother, Japheth, he covered the nakedness of their father and received the first blessing. Gen 9:25-27. He died at the age of 630 years.
The portion of the earth occupied by the descendants of Shem, Gen 10:21; Gen 10:31, begins at its northwestern extremity with Lydia, and includes Syria (Aram), Chaldaea (Arphaxad), parts of Assyria (Asshur), of Persia (Elam), and of the Arabian peninsula (Joktan). Modern scholars have given the name of Shemitic or Semitic to the languages spoken by his real or supposed descendants. See Hebrew Language.
Noah’s oldest son, as the order implies (Gen 5:32; Gen 6:10; Gen 7:13; Gen 9:18; Gen 10:1; 1Ch 1:4).
Noah’s words after Shem’s dutifulness in covering his father’s shame, in filial reverence, with Japheth (compare the blessing, Exo 20:12), "blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant," not only bless God for putting the pious feeling into his heart, but prophesy that Jehovah should be especially the God of Shem, which was fulfilled in choosing Abraham and Israel his descendants as God’s peculiar people. "Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Shem," fulfilled in part now, more fully hereafter (Isa 60:3; Isa 60:5; Eph 3:6). All the Japhetic nations almost are believers in the God of Shem, even the Aryan races in Asia are tending toward Christianity. Others less probably (as Gen 9:27 refers to Japheth’s future rather than Shem’s), "God shall dwell in the tents of Shem" (compare Joh 1:14, the Son of God "tented (
"Go to, let us build us a city and tower ... let us make us a name" (
Moses omits the Phoenicians, as they had not in his time yet made the movement which first brought them into notice, namely, from the shores of the Persian gulf to those of the Mediterranean (Herodotus i. 1). Moses adds to the Semitic races the Elamites and Ludites, concerning which ethnology says nothing. The Japhetic and Hamitic races are geographically contiguous; the Japhetic spread over the northern regions, Greece, Thrace, Scythia, Asia Minor, Armenia, Media; the Hamitic over all the southern and south western regions, N. Africa, Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, southern and south eastern Arabia and Babylonia; the Semitic are located in one region, namely, the central one intermediate between the Japhetic on the N. and the Hamitic upon the S. The intermediate position of the Shemites brought them in contact with the Japhetic races in Cappadocia, and on the other hand with the Hamitic in Palestine, in the Yemen (Arabia Felix), in Babylonia and Elymais. The harmony between Genesis 10 and ethnology strikingly confirms Scripture.
The Scythic (Hamitic) race at a remote period overspread Europe, Asia, and Africa (Gen 10:18; Gen 10:20); the Semitic and. Aryan races subsequently occupied the places respectively assigned them by Providence in Canaan and elsewhere; but the Semitics were probably (as the Semitic Melchizedek exemplifies) in Canaan originally, and the Hamite Canaanites acquired their language. The dead languages of the Semitic are Ethiopic and Himyaritic (inscriptions), both related to Arabic dialects; Hebrew, Samaritan, Carthaginian Phoenician (inscriptions); Chaldee, Syriac, Assyrian (cuneiform inscriptions).
Triliteral or bi-syllabic stems or roots are a distinctive mark of Semitic languages. The Indo-Germanic have monosyllabic roots. The Arabic is now the richest of the Semitic languages; but Hebrew possesses in the bud all the contrivances which, if they had been duly developed, would have made it a rival of the present Arabic. The Aramaic has endured longer than Hebrew; but it is poor lexically and grammatically, needing frequent periphrases and particles in aid, and wanting in flexibility and harmony. Semitic lacks the Japhetic power of creating compound words, also the delicate shades and gradations of meaning observable in the latter class of languages. divine wisdom shows itself in choosing as the vehicle for the Old Testament revelation a language so solid, self contained, immovable, and reflective as Hebrew. The Aramaic was too coarse and vague, the Arabic too earthy. When the New Testament revelation for all mankind was to be given, a different vehicle with more flexibility and variety was needed. By that time the Japhetic had ripened fully, and Greek was the tongue so happily chosen for expressing with its wonderful variety, flexibility, and logical power the fully developed doctrines of the gospel.
Shem (shĕm), name. The eldest son of Noah. His conduct toward his father on one occasion is noted with praise. Gen 9:20-27. The Jews are his descendants, and, besides, there are the Aramæans, Persians, Assyrians, and Arabians. The languages spoken by the descendants of Shem—the Hebrew, Chaldee, Assyrian, and Arabic-are called Semitic languages.
Eldest son of Noah and one of the three heads of mankind after the flood. Shem is specially blessed: "Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." Gen 9:26-27. This was verified by Jehovah being the God of the descendants of Shem through Abraham; the sons of Japheth (Gentiles) came into the tents for blessing.
The portions of the earth occupied by the descendants of Shem intersect as it were the portions of Ham and Japheth, and stretch from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. Shem had five sons:
ELAM - originally settled in the province of Persia, of which Susa was the capital.
ASSHUR - strictly Assyria, but in an extended sense may have included Babylonia and the land of the Chaldees.
ARPHAXAD - recognised by Josephus and others as the father of the Chaldees. The name is supposed to have been preserved in the province Arrapachitis in northern Assyria.
LUD - said by Josephus to have been the father of the Lydians of Asia Minor (these are distinct from the Lud and Ludim in Africa).
ARAM - the name of Syria, but more especially, referring to the high land of Lebanon. Gen 5:32; Gen 9:18-27; Gen 10:21-31; Gen 11:10-11; 1Ch 17:24. In Luk 3:36 the same name is called SEM.
SHEM.—The patriarch, mentioned as a link in our Lord’s genealogy (Luk 3:36).
By: Emil G. Hirsch, Ira Maurice Price, Wilhelm Bacher, M. Seligsohn
—Biblical Data:
The eldest of Noah's sons, according to the position and sequence of the names wherever all three are mentioned together; e.g., "and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth" (Gen. v. 32). In the table of nations in Gen. x., however, Shem and his posterity are placed last, probably because the compiler of that record expected to trace his descendants far down into history, while those of the other two sons were confined to early ages. Shem's prominence among the peoples of pre-Christian times may be partially suggested by the ethno-geographical table of Gen. x. For descendants see Semites.
The Most Important Son of Noah. —In Rabbinical Literature:
Although Shem is unanimously declared by the Rabbis to have been the youngest son of Noah (comp. Japheth in Rabbinical Literature), yet he is always named first, being the most important of the three brothers. Indeed, he was born circumcised; he was the ancestor of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he was priest and prophet; and he was one of the eight righteous who are mentioned twice in Gen. xi. 10 and who were allotted a portion both in this world and in the world to come (Sanh. 69b; Tan., Yelammedenu, Noaḥ; Midr. ha-Gadol on Gen. ix. 18, xi. 10, ed. Schechter, cols. 142, 186). Shem is styled "the' great one" ("Shem rabba"; Sanh. 108b). According to Gen. R. xxx. 6, it was Shem who offered the sacrifices on the altar after Noah came out of the ark (comp. Gen. viii. 20), as the latter, having been crippled by the lion (see Noah in Rabbinical Literature), was unfit for the priestly office. Noah gave to Shem the priestly garments which he had inherited from Adam (Num. R. iv. 6). Shem is extolled by the Rabbis for his filial devotion in covering his father's nakedness (Gen. ix. 23). Although his brother Japheth assisted in this praiseworthy act, it was Shem who suggested and began it, his brother not arriving on the scene until Shem was already on his way with the garment. Therefore Noah, in blessing these two sons (ib. verse 27), declared, so the Rabbis think, that the Shekinah was to dwell only in the tents of Shem (Yoma 10a; Tan., Noaḥ, 21; Gen. R. xxxvii. 9; comp. Jubilees, vii. 9, where it is said that the garment was Shem's). Shem's reward for this deed is seen in the fact that the Jews, his descendants, cover themselves with the ṭallit and phylacteries, and remained untouched when the Assyrians, who also were descendants of Shem, were destroyed by an angel in the time of Hezekiah (Tan., Yelammedenu, l.c.; Ex. R. xviii. 5).
Legends.
The Rabbis identify Shem with Melchizedek, King of Salem, who is termed "a priest of the Most High," and who came to meet Abraham after the latter had defeated the four kings led by Chedorlaomer (Gen. xiv. 18-20). According to this account, Shem, as a priest, came to Jerusalem (with which Salem is identified by the Rabbis), of which city he became king, it being the proper place for the establishment of the cult of Yhwh. He went to meet Abraham to show him that he was not angry with him for having killed the Elamites, his descendants (Midr. Agadah on Gen. l.c.). Shem, however, forfeited the priesthood by mentioning in his blessing Abraham's name before that of God, so that God took his office from him and gave it to Abraham (Ned. 32b; Pirḳe R. El. xxvii.). According to the Midrash Agadah (l.c.) Shem himself asked God togive the priesthood to Abraham, as he, in his prophetic capacity, knew that he (Shem) would have no children eligible for the sacerdotal office. Contrary to the Pirḳe R. El. and Gen. R. (xliii. 10), the Midrash Agadah explains that it was Shem who gave tithes to Abraham, showing that he recognized him as priest (see Gen. R. xliii. 7). The Rabbis point out that in certain cases Shem ranked as the equal of Abraham; so that the latter was afraid lest Shem might be angry at him for having slain the Elamites and might curse him (Gen. R. xliv. 8; Tan., Lek Leka, 19). In another instance God made a compromise between Shem and Abraham, namely, with regard to the name of the Holy City, the place of the Temple, which Abraham had called "Jireh" (Gen. xxii. 14; see Jehovah-jireh) and which Shem had called "Salem." God united both names; and thus arose the name "Jerusalem" (Gen. R. lvi. 16).
Shem is supposed by the Rabbis to have established a school ("bet ha-midrash") in which the Torah was studied, and among the pupils of which was Jacob. Later, Shem was joined by Eber; and the school was called after both of them. Besides, the school was the seat of a regular bet din which promulgated the laws current in those times. Thus Esau was afraid to kill Jacob, lest he should be condemned by the bet din of Shem and Eber. The bet din of Shem proclaimed the prohibition of and the punishment for adultery; and according to this law Judah condemned Tamar to be burned ('Ab. Zarah 36b; Gen. R. lxiii. 7, lxvii. 8). Shem's bet din was one of the three in which the presence of the Shekinah was manifested (Mak. 23b). At Abraham's death Shem and Eber marched before his bier; and they indicated the place that was suitable for his burial (Gen. R. lxii. 6, according to the emendation of the text in Yalḳ., Gen. 110). At the division of the earth among the three sons of Noah, Shem's lot consisted of twenty-six countries, thirty-three islands, twenty-six out of seventy-two languages, and six out of sixteen scripts. Thus Shem took one script more than either of his two brothers: and this was the Hebrew script, in which the Torah was written. The other five were Egyptian, Libyan, Assyrian, Chaldean, and Guṭazaki (Guzarati ?) (Midr. ha-Gadol on Gen. x. 32, col. 182).
—Critical View:
Shem is not an individual, in the sense that one person by that name came forth with his father and brothers from the ark, and had a share in the scene described in Gen. ix. 18-27. Neither does the name in itself suggest geographical or racial entities. It recalls more probably some ethnic deity that had become the "heros eponymus" of his worshipers. As it now occurs, the name has no theophorous character; but it has been suggested that "Shem" must be considered a corruption or abbreviation of a name similar to Shemu'el (see Samuel), the element "Shem" meaning "son" in the combination. This suggestion—though none of the critics seems to have noticed it—receives a strong degree of probability from the blessing spoken over Shem (ib. verse 26). There is no doubt that the pointing of the text is incorrect. Budde proposes to omit the 
(which Grätz would read "ohole" = "tents"), and then vocalize: "Beruk Yhwh Shem" = "Shem is blessed of Yhwh." This would at once place this "blessing" in the category, so numerously represented in Genesis, of name oracles. From the oracle the name is readily reconstructed as "Shemaiah" or "Shemu'el," the "Elohe Shem" in the text indicating the latter possibility.
These oracles are always the primary elements from which the legend in which they are found embedded is a development. That Japheth also originally had a theophorous form is indicated in the oracle spoken concerning him (Gen. ix. 27; comp. the name 
). It is plain that Canaan should not appear in this group. Ham is the brother of Shem; and it was he who committed the unseemly deed. The substitution of Canaan for Ham is secondary. The curse upon him (Canaan) displays the temper of the centuries when Yhwh and Baal were struggling for the ascendency (see Elijah). As Shem represents Yhwh, he is proclaimed the master, while Canaan is doomed to servitude. As Israel is the people of Yhwh, Shem(yahu), i.e., "the son [of Yhwh]," naturally must be Israel's progenitor. In substance this is also the explanation of those scholars who reject the suggestion that "Shem" is a name like "Shemu'el." They read into "Shem" the signification of "prominence," "mastership." The people descended from Shem is thus the master people destined to "lord it" over Canaan, the slave people committing such dire atrocities as are hidden in the legend of Noah's exposure. According to Budde, Japheth—which name means "beauty"—represents the Phenicians, while Canaan, signifying "lowness," "vulgarity," represents the aboriginal population of Palestine. Thus this triad would result: lordship (Shem), beauty (Japheth), and meanness (Canaan).
In the table given in Gen. x. 1-xi. 9 Shem is recorded as the father of five sons, among whom are named some that are not Semites. This catalogue, however, is geographical and not ethnic. In this list of Shem's descendants (ib. x.) verses 22 and 23 are assigned to P, verse 24 to R, and verses 25-30 to J. In the last-mentioned passage the tendency to connect Shem and Eber is patent. See Semites.
SHEM.—The word signifies ‘name,’ which can also denote ‘fame,’ ‘renown’ (cf. ‘the men of name,’ Gen 6:4). Possibly it is an abbreviation; cf. Shemuel (Samuel), ‘name of God.’ In one of the two traditions combined in J
A. H. M‘Neile.
A name
(Hebrew "name", "fame", "renown"; in Septuagint, Sem; A.V., Shem.)Son of Noe; according to Gen., x, 21, the eldest. His birth and generations are recorded in Gen., v, 31; xi, 10 sqq. (cf. 1 Chronicles 1:4, 17 sq.; Luke 3:36). He lived to be six hundred years of age. An incident, narrated Gen., ix, 18 sqq., discloses his filial reverence. His reward was a blessing of great import (cf. Ecclus., xlix, 19). Noe’s prophetic words (according to Massor. Text), "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Sem" (for the glory of a nation is its God), designate, in a special manner, Yahweh as the God of Sem and, consequently, Sem as the bearer of the Messianic promises. Having enumerated the Semitic nations, whose habitat extended over the central portions of the then known world (Genesis 10:21-31), the Sacred Writer resumes (xi, 10 sqq.) the genealogy of the descendants of Arphaxad, the direct ancestor of Abraham, David, and Christ.-----------------------------------HUMMELAUER, Comment. in Genesim (Paris. 1895), loc. cit., and HAGEN, Lex. Bibl. (Paris, 1905-11), both in Cursus Scripturae Sacrae; STRACK, Genesis (Munich, 1894), loc. cit. in Kurzgef. Kommentar z. d. hl. Schriften Alt. u. N. Test.; HOBERG, Die Genesis (Freiburg, 1908), loc. cit.; MAAS, Christ in Type and Prophecy, I (New York), 212 sq.THOMAS PLASSMANN. Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
1. Position in Noah’s Family: His Name:
The eldest son of Noah, from whom the Jews, as well as the Semitic (“Shemitic”) nations in general have descended. When giving the names of Noah’s three sons, Shem is always mentioned first (Gen 9:18; Gen 10:1, etc.); and though “the elder” in “Shem the brother of Japheth the elder” (Gen 10:21 margin) is explained as referring to Shem, this is not the rendering of Onkelos. His five sons peopled the greater part of West Asia’s finest tracts, from Elam on the East to the Mediterranean on the West. Though generally regarded as meaning “dusky” (compare the Assyr-Babylonian
2. History, and the Nations Descended from Him:
Shem, who is called “the father of all the children of Eber,” was born when Noah had attained the age of 500 years (Gen 5:32). Though married at the time of the Flood, Shem was then childless. Aided by Japheth, he covered the nakedness of their father, which Ham, the youngest brother, had revealed to them; but unlike the last, Shem and Japheth, in their filial piety, approached their father walking backward, in order not to look upon him. Two years after the Flood, Shem being then 100 years old, his son Arpachshad was born (Gen 11:10), and was followed by further sons and daughters during the remaining 500 years which preceded Shem’s death. Noah’s prophetic blessing, on awakening from his wine, may be regarded as having been fulfilled in his descendants, who occupied Syria (Aramaic), Palestine (Canaan), Chaldea (Arpachshad), Assyria (Asshur), part of Persia (Elam), and Arabia (Joktan). In the first three of these, as well as in Elam, Canaanites had settled (if not in the other districts mentioned), but Shemites ruled, at some time or other, over the Canaanites, and Canaan thus became “his servant” (Gen 9:25, Gen 9:26). The tablets found in Cappadocia seem to show that Shemites (Assyrians) had settled in that district also, but this was apparently an unimportant colony. Though designated sons of Shem, some of his descendants (e.g. the Elamites) did not speak a Semitic language, while other nationalities, not his descendants (e.g. the Canaanites), did. See HAM; JAPHETH; TABLE OF NATIONS.