THE GENEALOGY OF SHEM
Chapter 11:10 - 26
This book traces the genealogy of Shem to Abram. It allows us to calculate the duration in years of this period, although nothing remarkable is said about the people whose names are mentioned, further to their ages and the fact that other people have had "sons and daughters."
If we add it to information in previous books, and take the year in which Adam was formed as year zero, we arrive at the following chronology:
Name________Born______ Died_____Age
Adam __________0 _______930 ____930
Seth _________ 130 ______1.042____ 912
Enosh ________ 235 ______1.140 ____905
Cainan ________ 325 ______1.235 ____910
Mahalaleel______395 ______1.290 ____895
Jared _________460 ______1.422 ____962
Enoch_________622_______(987) ____365
Methuselah______687 ______1.656 ____969
Lamech_ _______ 874 ______1.651 ____ 777
Noah _________1.056 _____ 2.006 ____950
Shem_ ________1.558 _____ 2.158 ____600
FLOOD __1.656
Arphaxad__ ____1.658 ______2.096 ____438
Salah _________1.693 ______2.126 ____433
Heber_________1.723 ______ 2.187 ____ 464
Peleg____ _____1.757 ______ 1.996 ____239
Reu__________ 1.787 ______2.026 ____239
Serug_____ ____1.819 ______2.049 ____230
Nahor _________ 1.849 ______ 1.997 ____148
Terah _________1.878 ______ 2.083 ____205
Abram ________2.008_______2.183 ____175
This is also the first part of the human genealogy of the Lord Jesus, as we see it, complete (of Mary) in Luke 3:34-38. His other genealogy, of the royal line of Joseph, found in Matthew 1, follows from Abram. To our knowledge, no other person in the world is able to establish their genealogy so far in antiquity. It proves not only that He was a descendant of Abraham, but also the descendant of the first Adam (human being, made of earth) through His mother.
The figures reveal some curious things:
In the genealogy of Luke we find Cainan also inserted between Shelah and Arphaxad: it was possibly found in the Scriptures existing at the time of the apostles but was omitted through a transcription error in the later copies that we have now. Making this correction, we see that from Adam to Abraham we have 21 generations, or 3 times 7; until David there are another 14 generations, or 2 times 7, and to Mary there are 28 generations, or 4 times 7.
Until he was 84 years old, Noah could have found all his ancestors, with the exception of Adam, Seth and Enoch.
Even until he was 150 years old Abram could still have met Sem.
Methuselah died in the year of the flood.
The age which men reached in antiquity quickly reduced after the flood, down from 950 (Noah) to 175 (Abraham). When we get to Moses we see that in his time he considered that the maximum age attainable was between seventy or eighty years (he lived 120). Of those born after the flood, from this lineage, Heber was who lived longer, dying at 464 years.
Abram means exalted father, the progenitor of God's special people; but his name was later slightly changed to Abraham, meaning father of a multitude. According to calculations, he was born in the year 1996 BC, which puts creation in year 4004 BC; it is a rough calculation, because we need to add Cainan, and adjust the fractions, because months and days are not included, etc..
Nothing is said about faithfulness to God by the persons mentioned in this passage, but in Joshua 24:2 we read that Terah worshipped other gods. But Abram was faithful, and God chose him and took him from the midst of the idolatry in which he found himself – his faith, as evidenced by his obedience, saved him.
This passage begins the lineage of Shem, and the rest of the Bible follows this lineage directly to the Messiah, His atoning death on Calvary, and His spiritual descendants. What came first was preliminary, showing that humanity is sinful, rebellious: in the episode of Cain and Abel we see that Cain would not admit that he was sinful, a type of the pride of life; in the flood, we see the lust of the flesh dominating humanity, and that every purpose of its heart was evil and unrepentant despite the testimony of Noah, suffering destruction because of it; in the tower of Babel, we find disobedience and rebellion against God.
After this passage God leaves out mankind in general (the Gentiles), and through Abraham He miraculously creates and educates a people in order to show the perfect standard of conduct that he requires from Man: but nobody can attain it except His Son, who He then sent into the world to redeem it.
R David Jones
10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.
11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah.
13 After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
14 Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber.
15 After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.
17 After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.
19 After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.
20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug.
21 After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.
23 After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah.
25 After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.
26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot.
28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there.
32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.
Genesis chapter 11, verses 10 to 32