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Noah’s three sons Shem, Ham, Japheth

Shem, Ham, Japheth

Noah was the ninth descent from Adam. He was chosen to build the ark, and was thus saved from the flood with his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japeth, along with one pair of each species. He and his family re-peopled the earth. He died at the age of 950 years.

Shem

The eldest son of Noah. After the flood, he populated the central portions of the known world, among which the Semitic peoples (Shemites or Semites).

Ham

The second son of Noah. He became the eponymous ancestor of a number of people, supposed to have been associated with Egypt (the Land of Ham).

Japheth

Japheth is often regarded as the youngest son, though some traditions regard him as the eldest. They are listed in the order Shem, Ham, and Japheth in Genesis 5:32 and 9:18, but treated in the reverse order in chapter 10.

Genesis 5:32 states that Noah had three sons when he was five hundred years old. Genesis 11:10 records that Shem was one hundred years old when his son Arphaxad was born, two years after the Flood. If Noah was six hundred years old (Genesis 7:13), then Shem was ninety-eight years old at the Flood. Ham is further implied to be the middle son in Gen. 9:24 (which says Noah realized what his “younger son” had done to him.)

The Book of Jubilees indicates in 4:33 that Shem was born in the year of the world (after creation) 1205, Ham in 1209, and Japheth in 1211.

 

partial content by Micha F. Lindemans and Wikipedia