Sorting Noah's Sons
If you read commentaries on what scholars think about Noah’s children, there’s a lot of variety. So what do we know, and how do we know it?
Let’s start with the number of kids. Genesis says that Noah became the father of three sons named Shem, Ham, and Japheth.1 Beyond those three, the Bible never mentions Noah having any other children,2 and this may be significant, as all the patriarchs that came before Noah are listed as having “other sons and daughters.”3 In addition, after the Flood, when Genesis lists the people who repopulated the Earth, no mention is made of any descendants that didn’t come from either Shem, Ham, or Japheth. Instead, Genesis states explicitly that all the people of the world were descended from those three men.4
It’s not conclusive, but based on those details, Noah probably had only three children, all of them boys.
The second question is when these boys were born. Genesis says they showed up when Noah was 500, and they are always listed in the order of “Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” You see it that way five different times,5 but that doesn’t mean they were born in that order, and scholars have a lot of opinions. Some argue Shem was the oldest, some Japheth, some that Ham came second, others say he was the youngest.6
So what do we know?
Start with Shem. Genesis says that Noah had sons after he turned 500 years old (or “when” he was 500, if you use the NKJV).7 It then says Noah was 600 years old when the Flood came.8 Later, two years after the Flood, Genesis mentions that Shem turned 100.9 The only way for Shem to be the oldest son, then, is if the statement that Noah had sons “after” he was 500 years old is a round number and Shem was born when Noah was 502. Alternatively, if Noah’s first son was born “when” he was 500, then Shem is not the oldest.
As for Ham, all we know about his age comes after Ham sees Noah in his tent and mocks him and Noah refers to what his “youngest” (or “the younger” if you use the NKJV) son had done.10 Scholars take this two ways. Either Ham was Noah’s younger or youngest son, or Noah was really referring to Canaan, Ham’s son, since the curse mentions Canaan rather than Ham.11
The only reference about Japheth’s age is also relative, and it can be translated to mean either Shem was Japheth’s older brother or Japheth was Shem’s older brother.12
See the confusion? The ambiguity in the words used in Genesis, or at least our translations of them, leaves room for lots of interpretations.13
That said, if you accept that Noah’s first son was born when he was actually 500 years old and that it wasn’t just a round number, that eliminates Shem as the oldest. Shem was then born 2 years later, leaving little room for Ham to show up in-between as a middle-child (assuming none of the brothers were twins). In addition, the most straight-forward reading of the story of Ham and Noah suggests that Noah was referencing Ham as his “younger” or “youngest” son since Ham’s actions are the ones described previously in that story. Connecting those dots leads to the conclusion that Japheth was the oldest, Shem the middle child, and Ham the youngest. This is the position taken by some commentaries and the one I follow.14
Altogether this makes the timeline of Noah’s life and his immediate descendants look something like this:
If this is right, and Shem was the middle child, why is he always listed first?
Perhaps it’s not because Shem was the oldest, it was because he’s the most significant.15
After Noah, it was Shem who handed down the worship of God to his children, children who would someday include Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,16 and — many years later — Jesus Christ.
Maybe that’s why Shem’s name always comes first. It didn’t matter that he was a middle child. It mattered that he was a faithful one.
1. For the statement that “Noah had three sons” see Genesis 5:32 and Genesis 6:10.
2. One commentary mentions the possibility that Noah had other kids that we don’t know about (see the notes on Genesis 5:32, here), but ones who weren’t followers of God and didn’t get on the Ark. God’s promise to save Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives in Genesis 6:18 could refer to all of Noah’s children or the subset of sons who were faithful.
3. For the reference to “other sons and daughters” among the patriarchs that preceded Noah, see Genesis 5. The summary statement for the end of Noah’s life comes after the Flood in Genesis 9:28-29 where the reference to “other sons and daughters” is conspicuously absent.
4. For the idea that all the nations of the world come from Noah’s 3 sons, see Genesis 9:19. As a counterpoint, one could cite Genesis 9:1, which records God telling both Noah and his sons to, “be fruitful and multiply,” to suggest that Noah would’ve had more children to comply with God’s command to “fill the earth,” but if so, there is no record of them as mentioned in note on Genesis 9:19 here.
5. When Noah’s kids are all named together, they are listed in the order of Shem, Ham, and Japheth in Genesis 5:32, Genesis 6:10, Genesis 7:13, Genesis 9:18, and Genesis 10:1.
6. For a variety of birth-order opinions on Noah’s sons, see articles on “Shem” and “Ham” in Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers who suggests that Shem was probably the oldest and Ham the youngest. The same pattern is found in the note on Genesis 10:1, here. Alternatively, this source argues Shem was oldest but Ham came second. In two commentaries (see notes on Genesis 9:24 here and here) the authors argue that Ham is always named second so he can’t be the youngest. The note on Genesis 11:26, here that says Shem was the youngest (an idea also mentioned in Doukhan, J. B. (2016). Seventh-day Adventist International Bible Commentary (pg. 163). Pacific Press Publishing Association.), while this commentary, in the note on Genesis 9:24, thinks Japheth was the youngest as does the note on 10:1 here.
7. Genesis 5:32 is translated a variety of ways (see here) that say that Noah fathered his three sons “when” he was five-hundred years old or “after” he was five-hundred years old. According to the lexicon for that verse it doesn’t look like we can tell based on words alone how close Noah was to five-hundred when the first boy was born. For commentaries saying Noah’s first kids came when he was 500, see note on Genesis 5:32 here as well as Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1978). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 1, p. 254). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
8. For Noah’s age at the Flood, see Genesis 7:6. There is some wiggle room in that number, though, as it is unlikely the Flood came on Noah’s birthday, but rather sometime during his 601st year.
9. For Shem’s age when his son was born, and the timeline placing it 2 years after the Flood, see Genesis 11:10. Again, there’s some wiggle room as “two years after the Flood” might refer to either the start or the end of the year long Flood.
10. For the statement of Ham as the “youngest” or “younger” son, see Genesis 9:24-25.
11. For Noah’s reference to a “younger” son, and Noah’s curse upon Canaan, see Genesis 9:20-25. For scholars who interpret the reference to “younger” as possibly referring to Canaan rather than Ham, see notes on Genesis 9:24, here, here, here and here.
12. See parallel translations of Genesis 10:21 for the verse comparing ages of Shem and Japheth. Many of those translations make Shem out to be the older brother of Japheth. Scholars take both sides. For the idea that Shem is the oldest, see “Shem” entry in Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers. For support for Japheth as the older brother, see Horn, S. H. (1979). In The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary (p. 1021). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
13. Of the options, I didn’t find anyone who argued Ham was an oldest child. Furthermore, for Shem to be a youngest child, all three boys would need to be born between the time Noah was 500 and 502, which might require two of the boys to be twins. Taken together, this makes Shem oldest or middle, Ham middle or youngest, and Japheth as youngest or oldest as the most likely options
14. For commentaries that suggest Japheth was the oldest, then Shem, then Ham, see notes on Genesis 10:21, here and here as well as as well as Jones, F.N. (2015) Chronology of the Old Testament (p. 25). Master Books. For other commentaries who think Japheth was the oldest brother see note on Genesis 10:1, here and on Genesis 10:1 and 11:10 here. For commentaries that think Ham was the youngest, see note on Genesis 9:20 here as well as “Ham” entry in Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers and note on Genesis 9:25 in Kidner, D. (1967). Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 108–123). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
15. For the suggestion of Shem’s significance, and the reason his name comes first, being due to his preeminence in the lineage of faith, see note on Genesis 10:21, here as well as a similar reference in Jones, F.N. (2015) Chronology of the Old Testament (p. 25). Master Books. As for Ham’s name coming second in the lists of sons, I can only speculate, but it may be due to the interactions between Ham’s children (places like Egypt) and Seth’s children (the Israelites) while Japheth’s descendants had more tangential interactions in ancient history, an idea perhaps suggested by the note on Genesis 10:2, here.
16. Of the children listed at the start of the Bible, the oldest child being the most important appears to be a rarity. Neither Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Joseph were first-born sons. This is also true of Moses at the start of Exodus, who was, at best, the second oldest son. For various lesser known names in Genesis 5 or Genesis 11, we don’t know if they were oldest children or simply the children that led to Abraham.