Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of
Eber,
&c.] And for the sake of those Shem is particularly said to
be the father of, is this genealogy given, and indeed the whole
book of Genesis wrote: Eber was the great-grandson of Shem, and
is here spoken of by anticipation, and Shem is called not the
father of either of his immediate sons, but of the posterity of
this man; because the Hebrews sprung from him in his line, among
whom the church of God and the true religion were preserved, and
from whom the Messiah was to come, as he did: the word Eber,
Jarchi interprets, "beyond the river, Euphrates" or "Tigris", or
both, as describing the seat of the posterity of Shem; but as
this too much straitens them, since they inhabited on both sides,
Dr. Hyde F4 has shown that the word used may
refer to both, to those beyond these rivers, and to those on this
side; see ( Numbers
24:24 )
the brother of Japheth the elder;
he was the brother of Ham too, but he is not mentioned because of
the behaviour towards his father, and because of the curse that
was upon him and his; but Shem's relation to Japheth is expressed
to show that they were alike in their disposition; and it may be
to signify, that in times to come their posterity would unite in
spiritual things, which has been fulfilled already in part, and
will be more fully by the coalition of the Jews, the posterity of
Shem, and of the Gentiles, the posterity of Japheth, in the
Christian church state: and from hence we learn that Japheth was
the eldest of Noah's sons, though some render the words, "the
elder brother of Japheth" F5; and so make Shem to be the
eldest; but as this is contrary to the accents, so to the
history: for Noah was five hundred years old when he began to
beget sons, ( Genesis 5:32
) he was six hundred when he went into the ark, ( Genesis 7:11
) two years after the flood Shem begat Arphaxad, when he was one
hundred years old, and Noah six hundred and two, ( Genesis
11:10 ) so that Shem must be born when Noah was five hundred
and two years old; and since he begot children, there must be one
two years older than Shem, which can be no other than Japheth,
since Ham is called his younger son, ( Genesis 9:24
) .
even to him were [children] born,
who are reckoned as follow.
F4 Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 47, 48.
F5 (lwdgh tpy yxa) "fratre Japheth majore". V. L. Samar. Syr. Ar. "frater major natu ipsius Japheth", Tigurine version; "fratri Japheti majori", Cocceius; so some in Vatablus.
