Robert Filmer and model of all government. In the beginning God gave authority to Adam, who had complete control over his descendants, even over life and death itself. From Adam this authority was inherited by Noah. Here Filmer is most likely to be quoting the legend of Noah sailing up the Mediterranean and allocating the three continents of the Old World to the rule of his three sons. This assumes that from Shem, Ham and Japheth the patriarchs inherited the absolute power which they exercised over their families and servants, and that it is from these patriarchs that all kings and governors
Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov Shem Tov ibn Shem Tov (c. 1390 – c. 1440) (Hebrew: שם טוב אבן שם טוב) was a Spanish kabbalist and fierce opponent of rationalistic philosophy. Tov was president of a yeshivah in Spain. He lived about 1390-1440 (Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya, "Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah," ed. Venice, p. 62b). He was the father of Joseph ibn Shem-Tov and Isaac ibn Shem-Tov. He wrote: "Sefer ha-Emunot," on religious dogmas (Ferrara, 1556); "Sefer Yesodot" (perhaps only another title for the preceding); a commentary on the "Pesach Haggadah" (Steinschneider, "Cat. Munich," 264, 3; idem, "Cat. Bodl." col. 99). The "Sefer