These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.
After the tower at Babel, the story leaves the nations and follows one family. Genesis 11:10 opens the record of Shem's line, and it raises two questions: why the focus narrows here, and what a list of names and ages can teach.
Genesis falls into sections. Each one opens with the words "these are the generations of." One writer marks where each section starts and ends:
Genesis 2:4 — Genesis 4:26, Generations of heavens and earth. Genesis 5:1 — Genesis 6:8, Generations of Adam. Genesis 6:9 — Genesis 9:29, Generations of Noah. Genesis 10:1 — Genesis 11:9, Generations of sons of Noah. Genesis 11:10 — Genesis 11:26, Generations of Shem. Genesis 11:27 — Genesis 25:11, Generations of Terah.
These headings track a series of tests, and this one closes the sequence:
First, God set Adam up in innocence, and he failed. "The generations of the heavens and of the earth" (Gen. 2:4) include Adam before the fall. Next God tested man with no restraint on him, up to the flood, and "the book of the generations of Adam" [now fallen] (Gen. 5:1) brings us up to the flood and Noah. After the flood God tests man again — He put government into Noah's hands — and man failed. God chooses Noah's son Shem, and "these are the generations of Shem" (Gen. 11:10) brings us up to Abram.
Shem's descendants were already listed in chapter 10. This second list is selective, and the selection has a destination:
From verse 10 Scripture traces the line of Shem further than Chapter 10:21-31 does. That earlier list goes as far as Joktan the son of Peleg and stops with his thirteen sons. This genealogy of Chapter 11 continues with Reu the son of Peleg, ignoring Joktan and his sons. The reason is clear. Reu's line leads on to Nahor, Terah and Abram. God had purposed Abram to be the father of a chosen race whom He would separate from the rest of the nations. … Matthew 1 begins the New Testament by showing that Christ, the Messiah of Israel, is the official descendant of Abraham.
The genealogy is therefore a runway, not a detour:
Here we have a genealogy that ends with Abram. The next chapter follows it with the mighty principle of grace: God's call. That prepares the way outwardly. But Jehovah shines through this dealing and revelation. Here we have the special line. It is no more an "endless genealogy" than that of Adam to Noah in Gen. 5. We may notice ten links in the chain of both chapters.
Genesis 5 repeats a refrain that this chapter drops, and the silence is deliberate:
The sorrowful chime sounds all through the earlier list: "and he died." Not once does it sound in the later one, though as a fact all spoken of in chap. 11 did die… The second half of chap. 11 gives us the line of blessing. It names each succession down to Abram, the time when the promise was made, and the years each man lived. But it says nothing of death. Others may call either one an accident. To the believer, a distinct purpose in each is hard to miss.
Shem's hundred years open a run of numbers that shrink fast:
Compared with his father Noah and those before him, Shem's years mark the growing decline of human age after the flood. Yet it was given to him, before he came near the end of his six hundred years, to live into the days not of Abram only but of Isaac. Peleg, the fifth in this series, did not reach half the limit of Shem's term; and Nahor, the father of Terah, dwindled to a hundred and forty-five years.
Shem's long life served a purpose:
One remarkable fact in Gen. 11:10-26 is the long life of Shem. He outlived many generations of his own descendants, and that in turn shows God's gracious purpose in his very long life. He had seen the flood with his own eyes, and he was an honoured saint of God (Gen. 9:26). He lived on to bear witness to very many of the things he had himself seen and heard.
The shrinking numbers match something worse — a spiritual slide in the very family God had marked out:
Abram's descent from Shem shows him in the line of promise. … But the promise itself expressed a grace in God which came before any claim on Abram's part. In the chosen line itself we have only a scanty record of names and lengths of life. Even so, the decay is plain, and it never stops. … Elsewhere we read that they fell away from God, and that left every hope resting on the sovereign grace of God.
- Heading. "These are the generations of Shem" starts a fresh section of Genesis. It closes the series of man's testings and runs from the flood to Abram.
- Narrowing. Chapter 10 spread out into nations. Chapter 11 drops the side branches and keeps only the names that lead to Abram — and through him to Christ.
- Silence. Genesis 5 tolls "and he died" at every link; this list of blessing never once says it, though every man in it died.
- Decline. Ages fall fast after the flood, and decay runs through the chosen family too. Only God's grace is left to hope in.
- Witness. Shem's six hundred years let him outlive generations of his own children. He could still tell of the flood he had seen, and he lived on into the days of Abram and Isaac.
And Shem lived after he had begotten Arphaxad five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
Genesis 11:11 is one link in a chain of ten names that runs from Shem, the son of Noah, down to Abram. It gives only a number of years and a quiet note about more children. Yet commentators see a plan in the list: where the line is heading, why the years keep shrinking, and why death is never named.
This genealogy is not a bare record of names. It moves toward a person, and toward an act of God.
Here is a genealogy that ends with Abram. The next chapter follows it with the mighty principle of grace: God's call... Here we have the special line.
The line is also selective. Genesis 10 followed one branch of Shem's family. This chapter drops that branch and keeps only the line that leads to Abram.
From verse 10 the record traces the line of Shem further than Genesis 10:21-31 does. That chapter goes as far as Joktan the son of Peleg and stops with his thirteen sons. This genealogy in Genesis 11 carries on with Reu the son of Peleg instead, and leaves Joktan and his sons out. The reason is clear. Reu's line leads to Nahor, Terah and Abram... God has taken care to trace that line down through the ages. Matthew 1 opens the New Testament by showing that Christ, the Messiah of Israel, is the official descendant of Abraham.
Genesis 5 has the same shape — a name, the years, the sons and daughters — but one phrase is missing here.
The sad chime sounds all through the earlier list: "and he died." It never sounds in the later one, though in fact everyone named in chapter 11 did die... The second half of chapter 11 gives us the line of blessing. It tells us of each generation down to Abram, the time when the promise was made, and the years they lived. But it says nothing about death. Let anyone call either of these an accident; the believer can hardly miss a clear purpose in each.
Shem's remaining five centuries were not idle time.
One remarkable fact shown in Genesis 11:10-26 is how long Shem lived. He outlived many generations of his own descendants. That in turn shows God's gracious purpose in giving him such a long life. He saw the flood himself, and he was an honoured saint of God (Genesis 9:26). So he lived on to testify to very many of the things he had seen and heard. How the heart of Shem must have grieved when not only the sons of Ham and Japheth, but his own children, turned to gross idolatry (Joshua 24:2)! He was living at the time when God called Abram.
Shem's number is large. It is already smaller than his father's, and the numbers keep falling through the chapter.
Compared with his father Noah and those before him, Shem's years mark the shrinking of human life after the flood. Yet God let him live, before his own six hundred years were nearly over, into the days not only of Abram but of Isaac. Peleg, the fifth in this list, did not reach half of Shem's total. Nahor, the father of Terah, dropped to a hundred and forty-five years. So under God's ordering, man was moving fast toward the ordinary lifespan of the days since the prayer of Moses (Psalm 90).
The falling numbers match something happening in the family itself.
Here again ten names stand out, the same number as in Genesis 5. Both lists, in chapters 5 and 11, end with a man to whom God reveals Himself, and with each of them a new age begins: Noah and Abram... The line of Shem was breaking down, and some of the names show it. Terah (which means delay), the father of Abram, worshipped idols... When the line of Shem had failed, God called Abram.
That decline is what makes the next chapter necessary. Nothing in the list earns what follows it.
But the promise itself expressed a grace in God that came before any claim Abram could make. In the chosen line itself we have only a thin record of names and ages, yet the decay is plain, and it never stops... elsewhere we read that they fell away from God, so that hope could rest only on His sovereign grace.
One caution belongs with these figures. The ancient copies do not all agree on them.
Once again the Hebrew Scriptures and the Septuagint, the old Greek translation, do not agree... So any dating we work out for the time between Shem and Abraham could be wrong by as much as 650 years.
- Line — Ten names run from Shem to Abram. The list drops every side branch, because it is heading somewhere.
- Life — Shem's five hundred remaining years outlasted generations of his own descendants. He could still speak as a witness of the flood.
- Loss — Each generation after him lives a shorter life, down toward the ordinary span of Moses' day (Psalm 90).
- Decline — The shrinking years match a shrinking faith. The family God had blessed ended up worshipping idols.
- Grace — The chosen line failed. So the call of Abram in the next chapter rests on God's grace, not on anything the family earned.