Sons Of Noah

Whoever we are, wherever we are, we are all descended from the people of the ark. Noah and his wife are distant grandparents to everyone born after The Flood. We are also all directly related to either Shem and his wife, Ham and his wife, or Japheth and his wife. Every human being on earth today is your cousin, whether first, second - or thousandth!

Shem

• The second-born son of Noah, he is the progenitor of the Semitic peoples (Genesis 10:21-31).

• He was born 98 years before the flood (Genesis 11:10) and outlived his descendants for 9 generations, except for Eber (from whom we get the word Hebrew) and Abraham.

• After Noah's incident with "too much wine," Shem seems to have been given pre-eminence over his brothers (Genesis 9:20-27).

• The 3 great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all have Semitic origins

Ham

• The youngest son of Noah, born about 96 years before the flood.

• He became the progenitor of the Egyptians, Cushites, Ethiopians, Libyans, Canaanites, Assyrians and Babylonians (Genesis 10:6-20).

• After the incident with "too much wine," Ham apparently lost favor with his father for something that he did while Noah was asleep (Genesis 9:24-25).

Japheth

• The oldest of the 3 sons of Noah (Genesis 10:21).

• He is the progenitor of Gomer, Magog, Madai, and the maritime peoples of Javan (Genesis 10:2-5).

• He didn't get into any trouble during the "too much wine" incident, but his younger brother Shem seems to have done better in terms of their father's blessing (Genesis 9:23,27).

Fact Finder: What did the apostle Peter have to say in the New Testament about Noah and the flood?
1 Peter 3:18-22