Genesis 5:32

Genesis 5:32

 

And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

 

a. NLT: By the time Noah was 500 years old, he was the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: And Noah was five hundred years old: And Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

 

c. YLT: And Noah is a son of five hundred years, and Noah begetteth Shem, Ham, and Japheth. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

 

d. Amplified Bible: After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

 

e. Stone Edition CHUMASH, Rabbinic Commentary: When noah was 500 years old, Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japeth. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE CHUMASH; Copyright 1998, 2000 by Mesorah Publications, Ldt.]

1. “And Noah was five hundred years old…”

 

a. And Noah [Strong: 5146 Noach no'-akh:  the same as 5118; rest; Noach, the patriarch of the flood:--Noah.]

 

b. was five [Strong: 2568 chamesh khaw-maysh' masculine chamishshah {kham-ish-shaw}; a primitive numeral; five:--fif(-teen), fifth, five (X apiece).]

 

c. hundred [Strong: 3967 me'ah may-aw' or metyah {may-yaw'}; properly, a primitive numeral; a hundred; also as a multiplicative and a fraction:--hundred((-fold), -th), + sixscore.  

d. years [Strong: 8141 shaneh shaw-neh' (in plura or (feminine) shanah {shaw-naw'}; from 8138; a year (as a revolution of time):--+ whole age, X long, + old, year(X -ly).] 

e. old [Strong: 1121 ben bane: from 1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like 1, 251, etc.)):--+ afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-)ite, (anoint-)ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-)ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.]

 

2. “…and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

 

a. [and] Noah [Strong: 5146 Noach no'-akh: the same as 5118; rest; Noach, the patriarch of the flood:--Noah.]

b. begat [Strong: 3205 yalad yaw-lad': a primitive root; to bear young; causatively, to beget; medically, to act as midwife; specifically, to show lineage:--bear, beget, birth((-day)), born, (make to) bring forth (children, young), bring up, calve, child, come, be delivered (of a child), time of delivery, gender, hatch, labour, (do the office of a) midwife, declare pedigrees, be the son of, (woman in, woman that) travail(-eth, -ing woman).]

 

c. Shem [Strong:8035 Shem shame: the same as 8034; name; Shem, a son of Noah (often includ. his posterity):--Sem, Shem.]

 

d. Ham [Strong: 2526 Cham khawm:  the same as 2525; hot (from the tropical habitat); Cham, a son of Noah; also (as a patronymic) his descendants or their country:--Ham.

 

e. Japeth [Strong: 3515 kabed kaw-bade': from 6601; expansion; Jepheth, a son of Noah; also his posterity:--Japheth.]

 

1). At the age of 500, Noah began having children. When the flood began Noah was 600 years old.

 

a). Genesis 7:11  In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

 

2). When the flood began Noah’s sons were married.

 

a). Genesis 7:12, 13 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

7:13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

3). Many in the church have mistakenly taught and believed that this verse implies it took Noah 120 years to build the ark, but this is not so. Before God ever gave Noah instructions to build the ark, Noah already had his three sons.

 

a). Genesis 6:9, 10 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

 

4). In fact in Genesis 6:14-20 when the LORD gave the instructions for the building of the ark, Noah’s sons were already married (Genesis 6:18).

 

a). Genesis 6:14-18 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

6:16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

6:18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

 

5). Shem, the oldest of Noah’s sons, was 100 years old, two years after the flood.

 

a). Genesis 11:10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 

 

6). If Shem was grown and married before Noah was told to build the ark and 2 years after the flood Shem was 100 years old, it is impossible that it took 120 years to build the ark. What I believe the actual meaning of this verse is that from the beginning of the intermingling of “the sons of God”, i.e., angels with the daughters of men, till the flood was 120 years. If I am correct on this point then the sexual intermingling of angels and human women occurred 20 years before Noah began having children. Noah did not begin having children until he was 500 years old, and the flood began when he was 600.

 

a). Genesis 5:32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

 

b). Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

 

7). My personal opinion of what this verse means is, and it is not original with me, I had heard it from someone else.: The eventual result of the horrible situation of angels fornicating with women would have contaminate human DNA, and thus jeopardizing the plan of redemption, because the Messiah must come through the seed of the woman and if all the DNA pool of women and men were contaminated through this intermingling, it would stop the plan of redemption. Or so this theory goes. God also being omniscient, knows it will take 120 years for the total irreversible effect of the contamination to be complete, giving man 120 years until he will destroy all who have been contaminated. During those years, Noah preached righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), and God was longsuffering (1 Peter 3:20), not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:8). The message of righteousness that Noah preached would result in a lifestyle that would prevent the contamination. When it was known by God that all flesh had been contaminated except for Noah and his family, the flood came.