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אבי כל בני עבר THE FATHER OF ALL THE CHILDREN OF EBER — (עבר means the “side” or “ other side” of a river) — The father of all the children of עבר הנהר, the other side of the River (Euphrates), was Shem.

AND UNTO SHEM, TO HIM ALSO WERE CHILDREN BORN. Since Scripture delayed the narration of the generations of Shem and related the generations of his younger brother as if Shem had no children, it therefore says here, to him also.

ולשם יולד, the formulation suggests that the son born to Shem resembled his father in his good qualities, the son in question being עבר.

ולשם, the reason that the descendants of Shem are listed last in this chapter is that the story will continue with the lives of the patriarchs, all of whom are descended from Shem. The Torah is trying to preserve continuity. As to the unusual phrase

ולשם יולד גם הוא, ”also for Shem offspring had been born.” The Torah chose this unusual syntax so that we would not think that seeing Shem’s offspring had not been mentioned up until now that he had been childless during the time Canaan had produced all these nations.

Of the river. The simple reading of the verse is that Eiver is the name of a man [who was a greatgrandson of Sheim]. But if so, why does it say that Sheim was “father of the children of Eiver”? Was Sheim the forefather only of Eiver’s descendants? Sheim had other sons as well! Thus Rashi explains that Eiver is not a name of a person, but it means עבר הנהר, the other side of the river. This is preferable to the Re’m’s explanation, that it cannot refer to Eiver the great-grandson of Sheim because then what would it come to teach us? Everyone is the forefather of the families he produced! Perforce, עבר means the other side of the river.

לשם ילד גם הוא. Auch dem Schem, auf welchem nach dem Propheten spruche des Vaters das letzte Ziel der Menschheit ruhte, wurden Nachkommen geboren. Er wird hier in doppelter Beziehung hervorgehoben. Erstens als Vater aller Kinder יעבר Obgleich עבר Schems Urenkel war, und dessen Kinder ja gerade zuerst den Ausspruch Noas וישכון באהלי שם zu berwirklichen begannen, so war doch Schem zugleich deren geistiger Vater. Selbst יעקב lernte ja noch von Schem. Dass im Hause Therachs ein Abraham geboren werden konnte und dessen Söhne das weiter tragen konnten, was Gott dem Abraham als Kleinod für die Menschheit überantwortet, das haben wir Schem zu verdanken. Es weiß es oft keiner, was er dem זכות seiner Väter und Großväter zu verdanken hat, deren Standpunkt er vielleicht verhöhnt und belächelt, und fragt sich nicht, wie viel solch geistiges und sittliches זכות er seinen Kindern und Enkeln denn vererben werde. Zweitens war er zugleich יפת .אחי יפת הגדול war sein älterer Bruder und ging ihm der Bestimmung nach als Herold voran, der Menschen Herz für die einstige Aufnahme der Lehren Schems empfänglich zu machen. Ganz natürlich, dass auf lange hinaus Schem nicht als der גדול auf Erden anerkannt werden konnte. Für japhetische Kunst und Wissenschaft sind die Menschen leicht empfänglich. Das stille Licht, als dessen Träger Schem zu wandeln, die Wahrheit, die er zu bringen haben sollte, der Begriff, den man nur leugnen kann oder erfüllen muss — einen Mittelweg giebt es nicht — der muß auf lange Zeit hinaus auf Anerkennung im großen verzichten.

'ולשם יולד וגו, “and for Shem were born, etc.” In these verses (221) the three sons are listed in the order of their ages. As to the reference to Yephet as the הגדול, “the big one,” this adjective was used here to ensure that we realise that he was the oldest. If his other brothers were sometimes mentioned ahead of Yephet, this was only in order to underline an important act performed by the one concerned.

אחי יפת הגדול [SHEM …] THE BROTHER OF JAPHETH, THE ELDER — (The Hebrew is ambiguous: “the elder” may refer either to Shem or to Japheth). One cannot from here determine whether Japheth was the elder or Shem. Since, however, it states (10:10) “Shem was a hundred years old … two years after the flood” you must admit that Japheth was the elder. Because Noah was 500 years old when he first had children (5:32), and the Flood happened in the six hundredth year of his life (7:11), consequently the eldest of his sons was then one hundred years old, whereas Shem reached his hundredth year only two years after the Flood (and therefore Japheth was the elder of the two) (Genesis Rabbah 37:7).

גם הוא אבי כל בני עבר, although, as we know from the description of Avraham as an עברי, a Hebrew, (a descendant of Ever) i.e. as someone believing in G’d the Creator being the sole G’d, and it might appear that Ever initiated this adherence to monotheism in his time, Shem, the father too, was a founder of preaching monotheism in his time. Anyone teaching and instructing others, especially in a way of life and philosophy, is called אבי, “father of.” We have come across this term as possessing such meaning already in Genesis 4,21 when Yuval was introduced as the inventor and teacher of how to play musical instruments featuring strings. Just as the teachers, mentors are called “fathers,” so the disciples are called “sons,” בנים, as in Samuel I 10,12 בני הנביאים, “the disciples of the prophets.”

גם הוא, the Torah adds these words as if to say that we should not think that seeing that up to now we heard about Shem always first, that the fact that we had not heard about him in this chapter means that he had not been blessed with offspring. Not only did he have sons, but he became the founding father of all the tribes descended from עבר, who in turn became the ancestor of the patriarchs. In fact, his descendants were even more important than those of his older brother Yaphet, described as הגדול, the great one. The attribute הגדול, when used in conjunction with Yaphet may be understood as Shem sharing his brother Yaphet’s distinction of doing good deeds. The Torah invites you to note that Shem has not been compared to Cham, neither in seniority nor in quality of lifestyle. The word הגדול may equally well be understood as “the great one,” i.e. in deeds.

אבי כל בני עבר, “the founding father of all the “Ivrim.” He was the founder of all the clans settling west of the river Euphrates, the region from which Avraham stemmed.

Consequently, his oldest child was 100 years old. [The Re’m, who holds that Cham was the oldest son of Noach (see entry on 9:24, citing Re’m) writes as follows:] You might ask: How does this prove [that Yefes was older than Sheim]? Perhaps Cham was 100 years old when the Flood came, Sheim was 100 at two years after the Flood, and Yefes was 100 at three or four years after the Flood. The answer is: In the early generations, sons were born at intervals of one year, as it says in Sanhedrin 69b. Once Scripture tells us that Sheim was born when Noach was 502, which is [deduced from the fact that Sheim turned 100] “two years after the Flood,” we may infer that Sheim was the last [to be born. This is because “Noach was 500 years old when he had his first child.” [We may therefore deduce that] Yefes was born when Noach was 501, and Cham was born when Noach was 500.

THE FATHER OF ALL THE CHILDREN OF ‘EBER.’ This means that he was the father of all who dwelled beyond (eber) the Euphrates River, which was the place of Abraham’s family. But it is not possible that Eber in this context be the name of the person who was the father of Peleg³²⁷Verse 25 here. So too the opinion of Ibn Ezra and R’dak. for why would Scripture connect the children of Eber with Shem [moreso than with any of his other offspring]?

אחי יפת THE BROTHER OF JAPHETH — It does not state “brother of Ham”, because those two honoured their father whereas Ham put him to shame.

יולד, a somewhat strange word when we would have expected יולדו in the plural mode, seeing that a number of sons were born to him. The singular is used to cover the subject of progeny being born. It has been use in a similar manner in verse 25, when speaking of Ever’s progeny.

אחי יפת הגדול “the brother of the senior Yephet.” It is the custom of the Torah to relate the younger brother always by comparing him to the oldest, not to the one who had been born immediately after to him. This is why we have the prophetess Miriam described as Aaron’s sister and not as Moses’ sister (Exodus 15,20) The reason why this comparison is mentioned altogether, is to inform us that his distinguished brother was equal to him, and that Shem’s being mentioned last does not suggest that he was less distinguished or worthy of mention. Cham was certainly not more distinguished than Shem. [this too is the commentary by Nachmanides. Ed] Personally, I believe that the word הגדול in our verse is an adjective that applies to Shem, [he was the “great one”] i.e. he was senior to Yephet, Cham being the youngest, although he was listed in an order that suggests otherwise. It is the custom of the Torah to apply the adjective to the party or object that serves as the immediately preceding subject.

THE BROTHER OF JAPHETH THE ELDER. It is the way of Scripture to record a younger brother beside the oldest of his brothers, and not beside a younger one than himself.³²⁸See above, 6:10, that Ramban’s opinion is that Noah’s children were born in this order: Japheth, Shem, and Ham. Ramban thus says here that it is customary for Scripture to record a second son (Shem) beside the oldest (Japheth) even though Shem had a younger brother, Ham. Thus Scripture writes, the brother of Japheth the elder, rather than “the elder brother of Ham.” And similarly, we find the verse, Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron.³²⁹Exodus 15:20. Even though Moses was younger than Miriam, Scripture records the younger Miriam beside the elder Aaron, rather than say, “the older sister of Moses.” The reason for mentioning this altogether is to state that he [Shem] is the brother of the honorable Japheth, comparable to him in distinction. Scripture thus declares that the reason it delayed telling of his genealogy is not because Ham was more distinguished than he.
It appears to me that “the elder” is descriptive of Shem,³³⁰Ramban, in this final paragraph, sets forth his principle that Shem was really the oldest of the three brothers. The order of their birth was thus: Shem, Japheth and Ham. This is completely unlike the theory of Rashi (5:32; 9:24) who holds that they were born in this order: Japheth, Ham and Shem. R’dak here conforms with Ramban’s theory, as is clear from R’dak’s following words: “The word hagadol (the elder) is descriptive either of Japheth or of Shem. If so, the elder refers to age in years for in my opinion Shem was the oldest of the brothers while, in the opinion of most commentators, Japheth was the oldest. It is also possible to explain the elder as referring to distinction, and it may also be descriptive of either of them.” meaning that he was the older brother of Japheth, as Ham was the youngest of all, even though Scripture mentioned Japheth first. So, likewise, in all places in Scripture, the descriptive noun refers to the subject spoken of, such as: Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet,³³¹II Kings 20:1. [the term “the prophet” refers to Isaiah, who is the subject of the narration]; Unto Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law,³³²Numbers 10:29. [here, “Moses’ father-in-law” refers back to Hobab]. But Rashi wrote: “The brother of Japheth. It does not state “the brother of Ham” because these two [Shem and Japheth] honored their father whereas Ham put him to shame.” This interpretation also declares that the sense of the verse is that Shem is the brother of the righteous brother, and not the brother of the wicked brother even though he is counted after him.