An interesting translation discrepancy arises in Genesis 10:21 regarding the question of who was the oldest son of Noah, Shem or Japheth. It’s peculiar how some modern English versions of Genesis 10:21 state that Shem was the older brother of Japheth, while others, including the King James Version, claim that Japheth is the elder. The Hebrew text has the word gadol (גָּדֽוֹל), meaning “big” or “highest,” next to Japheth, whereas the NASB lexicon places it before Japheth, next to Shem. Which is it, Japhet or Shem? A similar issue arises with Abraham and his brothers; examining both will help us understand this.
Genesis 6:9-10 introduces us to Noah and his sons. It states that Noah had Shem, Ham, and Japheth at the age of 500. However, they are not triplets, and Noah only has one wife that we know of, so that must mean age 500 is when his firstborn son was born. We know Ham is the youngest, as mentioned in Genesis 9:24. Therefore, that leaves Shem and Japheth. We know that Shem is 502 years younger than Noah because he was 100 years old two years after the flood started, when he had Arphaxad (Gen 11:10). Noah got on the Ark when he was 600 years old (Gen 7:11), so Noah was 602 years old when Shem had Arphaxad. This means Shem was 98 (100 – 2) years old when the flood started and was born when Noah was 502 (600 – 98) years old. Therefore, Shem couldn’t have been born when Noah was 500 years old, and since all three are mentioned in Gen 6:10, one of them must have been born when he was 500, and that leaves Japheth. People assume that because Shem is mentioned first, he is the oldest, but then Ham is mentioned second, and he is directly stated to be the youngest, so that logic doesn’t hold up.
This type of situation can also be observed in the case of Abraham and his siblings. Genesis 11:27-32 states that at the age of 70, Terah had Abram (before his name was changed to Abraham), Nahor, and Haran. Again, many assume that since Abram is mentioned first, he is the oldest. However, if that’s true, then it causes a discrepancy. Terah dies at 205 (Gen 11:32). If Abram were born when Terah was 70, then Abram would be 135 years old when Terah died. This is a problem because Abram left Haran to answer God’s call to go to Canaan around the time Terah died, and scripture says Abram was 75 when this happened (Gen 12:4), not 135. The alternative is that Terah was 130 when Abram was born, then 75 years later, Terah dies at 205, as the text says, making Abram 75 years old when he leaves for Canaan. Just like we know Noah’s sons are not in order of age, Terah’s sons are not in order of age either. Haran may be the oldest since he died first. He was old enough to have a daughter named Milcah, who was old enough to marry his brother Nahor after he died (Gen 11:29). However, this doesn’t necessarily exclude Nahor as the firstborn, so it can be interpreted either way. All we know for sure is that one of the other two brothers (Haran or Nahor) was the firstborn when Terah was 70, and Abram was born when Terah was 130.
The lesson here is that the order in which a person’s children are listed is not necessarily birth order. The aforementioned is sometimes simply the most important or most relevant to the story. In Gen 6:9-10, Shem is mentioned first because he is the ancestor of Abraham and therefore Moses (the author of Genesis) descends from him. Then Ham is second because he is the one who disrespects Noah, and his firstborn, Canaan, gets cursed by Noah. Japheth is last simply because nothing significant or relevant happened to him. In Genesis 11:27-32, Abram is mentioned first because he is the main character in the succeeding chapters and is considered the “father of faith” for the Israelites. Haran is likely the last because he dies, and we know very little more about him beyond the fact that his children are Milcah, Iscah, and Lot (Abraham’s famous nephew). Nahor is in the middle because his granddaughter Rebecca married Isaac, and his great-granddaughters Rachel and Leah married Jacob.
Oftentimes, the answers may be hidden in plain sight. Linguistic context is essential for Bible study, but we must not forget that when dealing with discrepancies regarding numbers, the language of Math can help us out.
Resources:
Multiple translations of Genesis 10:21 on Biblehub
The Hebrew table Layout says Japheth the Elder
The Lexicon puts gadol before Shem, calling Shem the older brother