A term connected with Shem
The word “Semite” comes from Shem, Noah’s son. After the flood, Genesis records Shem’s family line and identifies him in relation to Eber, an ancestor associated with the Hebrews (Genesis 10:21). The Bible itself does not call anyone a “Semite”, so it helps to distinguish the Bible’s own family names from a later label.
Genesis names several of Shem’s sons, including Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram (Genesis 10:22). Arphaxad’s line includes Eber (Genesis 10:24). These genealogies show how the biblical writers understood nations as connected through real family lines after Noah.
Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
More than one people group
In ordinary modern use, “Semitic” usually describes a family of related languages and the peoples historically associated with them. Hebrew, the main language of much of the Old Testament, belongs to that family. Aramaic, which appears in parts of Daniel and Ezra, is related too.
So “Semite” is not simply another word for “Jew”. Jewish people are connected in Scripture with Israel, the name God gave Jacob (Genesis 32:28). Jacob’s descendants became the tribes of Israel. That is a particular covenant people and story within the wider network of nations described in Genesis.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
Where Arabs fit in
The Bible also tells of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, and says that he became the father of twelve princes (Genesis 16:15; Genesis 17:20). It records Joktan, descended from Eber, as the father of many sons as well (Genesis 10:25-29). These passages matter because the ancient Near East contained many interwoven families, nations and languages.
That means it is usually too simple to treat biblical family trees as a modern ethnic map. Scripture is chiefly showing God’s work among nations and through the line of promise, which leads from Abraham to Isaac and Jacob. It is not trying to provide a modern racial classification.
Why the distinction matters
Because the word has been misused, clarity matters. Antisemitism means hostility towards Jewish people, and it is wrong. The Bible teaches that God does not show favouritism between peoples, and that he calls people from every nation to honour him (Acts 10:34-35).
Genesis begins with one human family, and Paul told the people of Athens that God made all nations from one blood (Acts 17:26). Biblical genealogy should never become a reason for contempt or suspicion. It should remind us that every people has dignity before the God who made them.
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;