Abram’s Instruction Under Noah and Shem

Abram entered the household of Noah and Shem as a child preserved by providence and set apart for a work known in heaven from the beginning. Though Noah yet lived, it was Shem who now presided as the leading patriarch among the righteous—Noah’s appointed heir in the covenant line and the steward of the ancient records. Shem had passed through both worlds, the one before the Flood and the one after, and he had preserved the covenant in purity while the nations around him embraced idols and kings claimed divine honors. When Abram was brought before him, Shem discerned the spirit upon the boy, perceiving in him the promised “righteous branch” who would rise from their lineage to restore the order first given to Adam (Jubilees 10:13), (Genesis 9:26).

Noah the eldest of all living men and the patriarch whose authority and testimony reached back to the world before the Flood. His sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—had likewise lived in both worlds, but Noah alone had seen the full measure of mankind’s corruption, the rise of the giants, and the judgment that cleansed the earth. From him Abram learned the oldest traditions of the righteous: the order of sacrifice, the laws of purity, the covenants given to Adam, and the pattern of family government established from the beginning (Josephus, Antiquities 1.3.1). Noah taught him how the ordinances had been altered before the Flood, how angels rebelled, and how God preserved a single family so the Ancient Order would not perish from among the living (Jubilees 4:2–5).

Under Shem’s guidance, Abram was instructed in the patriarchal priesthood that descended from Adam—a household-centered order governed by righteousness, purity, stewardship, and the knowledge of God. Shem taught him the ordinances of sacrifice, the meaning of altars, the laws of clean and unclean, and the responsibilities of a patriarch who walks with God on behalf of his family. He revealed the genealogies of the fathers, the covenant with Noah, and the prophecies foretelling that a chosen seed would arise in the last days to restore Adam’s dominion. In these years Abram learned the Ancient Order not as distant history, but as living law to be practiced, guarded, and passed to future generations (Book of Jasher 9:5–7), (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 27).

The patriarchs also preserved the writings of the earliest fathers—records from Adam to Enoch, from Enoch to Methuselah, from Methuselah to Noah—texts describing the heavens, the divisions of the earth, and the rebellions that led mankind astray. These ancient books, forgotten by the nations, were placed in Abram’s hands so he might understand the world he was called to restore (Jubilees 4:7, 4:17–18). They strengthened him, revealing that God always preserves a remnant and that the righteous are never left without a witness.

In the tents of Shem, Abram heard the prophecy spoken to Enoch—that a “generation of righteousness” would arise and that God would raise up a leader in the last days to reestablish His ways among men (1 Enoch 91; 93). Learning how Enoch walked with God, how the Watchers fell, and how mankind corrupted the ordinances of heaven, Abram felt within himself a growing resolve that he would not walk in the blindness of Shinar nor serve the idols that ensnared his father’s house.

Shem also taught Abram to read the heavens—the courses of the sun and moon, the fixed order of the stars, and the appointed times and seasons that governed the earth from the beginning. Observing these laws nightly, Abram perceived that the universe was ruled not by idols of wood or stone, nor even by the heavenly bodies themselves, but by a single Creator whose will ordered all things. In contemplation he recognized that the Maker of those lights was the same God who had preserved his life in the cave and guided him to the household of the patriarchs (Book of Jasher 9:8–10), (Chronicles of Jerahmeel 13).

As Abram matured, his life among Noah and Shem became more than study—it became full participation in the covenant community. He labored in the fields, tended flocks, oversaw herds, and learned the stewardship of land given by God as a trust (Jubilees 7:17–39). He observed the seasons of planting and reaping, learned the management of servants, and lived daily within a society ordered after the Ancient Covenant. According to patriarchal custom, young men were expected to marry and raise up seed unto the Lord, a command preserved in the ancient records (Jubilees 20:4), (Jubilees 21:3–4). Thus, during these years, Abram took covenant women, established a household, and began to raise a posterity in righteousness according to the law preserved from Adam.

The size of Abram’s later household testifies to the fruitfulness of these early years. When he rescued Lot, he commanded three hundred and eighteen trained men “born in his own house,” not counting their wives, children, and extended families (Genesis 14:14). Such a multitude could not have arisen had Abram remained unmarried or childless through his youth. Rather, it reveals decades of increase, stewardship, and faithful governance—foundations laid in the household of Noah and Shem.

Living under Noah’s patriarchal government required Abram to preside over his own women and children in righteousness. The covenant of the fathers was a family order, and a man learned to lead by first being obedient as a son within the house of his patriarch. In this setting Abram received the lower order of priesthood—officiating at altars, blessing his household, and judging matters of purity and conduct—according to the ancient practices handed down from the beginning (Josephus, Antiquities 1.3.1), (Jubilees 4:21–22). Thus he grew not only in knowledge but in the living responsibilities of a patriarch, shaping his household after the divine pattern.

After thirty-nine years, Shem discerned that Abram was prepared for a greater work. He was no longer the hidden child preserved from Nimrod’s decree, but a seasoned patriarch whose household walked in righteousness. With Noah’s blessing, Shem declared that the time had come for Abram to return to his father’s house—for the Lord would soon call him to confront the idolatry of Shinar and stand against the kingdoms of men. Thus Abram departed from their tents at forty-nine years of age, carrying the wisdom of the earliest fathers in his heart and leading a household shaped by heaven. The path ahead would bring him into open conflict with Nimrod’s world, but the foundation laid by Noah and Shem ensured that he would not stand alone. (Book of Jasher 9:11–12).