Genesis 11:11

11 En Sem leefde, nadat hij Arfachsad gewonnen had, vijfhonderd jaren; en hij gewon zonen en dochteren.

Genesis 11:11 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 11:11

And Shem lived, after he begat Arphaxad, five hundred years,
&c.] So that his whole age was six hundred years, and therefore must live to the times of Abraham, and even throughout the life of that patriarch, or near the end of it; and if he was the same with Melchizedek, as is the general opinion of the Jews, and is embraced by many Christians, they had an interview with each other:

and begat sons and daughters;
of whom we have no account, because the Messiah did not spring from them; the design of this genealogy being to carry down his direct line from Shem to Abraham: it is to be observed, that in the account of the patriarchs, and their children after the flood, it is not added as before the flood, "and he died", their lives being long, that remark is made; but the lives of these being shorter, and gradually decreasing, it is omitted. An Arabic writer F24 says, that Shem died in the month Elul, on a Friday, at the close of the year of the world 2758. A Jewish writer F25 says, he died in the fifteenth year of Jacob, and that he saw twelve generations; according to Bishop Usher, he died A. M. 2158.


FOOTNOTES:

F24 Elmacinus, p. 13. apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 258.
F25 R. Gedaliah, Shalshalet, fol. 1. 2.

Genesis 11:11 In-Context

9 Daarom noemde men haar naam Babel; want aldaar verwarde de HEERE de spraak der ganse aarde, en van daar verstrooide hen de HEERE over de ganse aarde.
10 Deze zijn de geboorten van Sem: Sem was honderd jaren oud, en gewon Arfachsad, twee jaren na den vloed.
11 En Sem leefde, nadat hij Arfachsad gewonnen had, vijfhonderd jaren; en hij gewon zonen en dochteren.
12 En Arfachsad leefde vijf en dertig jaren, en hij gewon Selah.
13 En Arfachsad leefde, nadat hij Selah gewonnen had, vierhonderd en drie jaren; en hij gewon zonen en dochteren.
The Dutch Staten Vertaling translation is in the public domain.