Shem as a subset of the Afro-Asiatic languages, denoting the common linguistic heritage of Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian, Ethiopic, Hebrew and Canaanite-Phoenician languages. The following family tree contains information from the Hebrew Bible, without data from any other sources. According to Luke 3, an additional figure named Cainan is the son of Arpachshad and the father of Shelah. Shem Shem (; "Shem";) was one of the sons of Noah in the Hebrew Bible as well as in Islamic literature. The children of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrews and Arabs,
Japheth on his death (the descendants of Shem and Ham respectively correspond to the other two, those of the Ptolemies and Seleucids). As the point of the "blessing of Japheth" seems to be that Japheth (a Greek-descended people) and Shem (the Israelites) would rule jointly over Canaan (Palestine). From the 19th century until the late 20th century it was usual to see Japheth as a reference to the Philistines, who shared dominion over Canaan during the pre-monarchic and early monarchic period of Israel's history. This view accorded with earlier understanding of the origin of the Book of Genesis, which was seen