SEM (Hebrew: Šēm). - One of the sons of Noah, perhaps the firstborn, since he appears in first place in the enumerations (S., Ham [v.] and Japheth [v.]: Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 9:18 etc.); but in the "Table of Nations" (ibid. 10:2-21) the brothers are mentioned first, because they are set aside from the narrator's interest, who then follows only the fortunes of the Semitic-patriarchal family (Terahites). From S. the stock of the Semites takes its name.
Of particular significance, both religious and historical-ethnic, is the episode of Gen. 9:18-28, in which the three brothers are characterized by their different attitudes toward their father. At the conclusion of the episode Noah uttered for S. the words of blessing: "Blessed be Jahweh, God of S." (ibid. 9:26), which are directly in praise of God, but as the content of a "blessing" they refer to the son: an expression of a particular relationship between the true God and S., in comparison with his brothers.
Others interpret, with a slightly different reading and without substantial difference in meaning: "Blessed be S. by Jahweh, my God," and "May Jahweh bless the tents of S." In S. his descendants are understood, partly through an actual providential choice on God's part, partly insofar as the phrase is a wish, partly insofar as it is a prophecy of the future free historical development. None of the three motives is absent and none is exclusive. The text does not lend itself to recognizing in it a process of pure and simple projection of the fortunes of the ethnic group onto the figure of an ancestor, as is often claimed for the patriarchal narratives: if that were so, the expressions would be much more precise. In fact, monotheism among the stock of the Semites (and among it alone) always had adherents, though not in all its groups: that is, history will later say that "Jahweh, God of S." in reality meant "God of Israel." Noah's own saying for Japheth (Gen. 9:27) had no meaning except at the messianic advent, with the preaching of the Apostles to the West. There is therefore no reason not to regard the blessing of S. as a prophecy, as that for Japheth certainly is.
In Gen. 10:21-31 the sons and grandsons of S. are mentioned, in whom are for the most part recognizable the ancestors of known groups of Semites (v.). Giovanni Rinaldi