Excellent article. I especially liked the possibility of a coversation between Shem and Abraham. The Book of Jasher (mentioned twice in the OT) identifies Mekchizedek as Shem. If this were true, then it would help explain why Melchizedek the priest-king would bless Abraham. He would surely have a close relationship with God and know Abraham was coming to take over the land he posessed.

Instead of being a selfish king that wanted to preserve his land for himself, he blessed Abraham, through whom the lines of the priesthood (Levi) and kingship (Judah) would one day come back together in the Messiah.

I like to believe that the hypothetical conversation between Shem and Abraham actually occurred when Abraham met with Melchizedek.

Excellent article. I also just added up the dates then and realised the same thing (that there was multiple generations all alive at the same time). Also I realised that the age in Genesis 5 when people were having kids, was a lot older than that of those in Genesis 4 (Cain→Jubal and siblings) assuming that the genealogies of those in Genesis 4 are taking place, before Adam has Seth at 130 in Genesis 5? If that is the case then 130/7 generations= average 18.5 years of age when having children in Genesis 4 vs significantly older in Genesis 5. Although based on Genesis 5:4 “And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:” there has to be an overlap given that Enoch (in Genesis 4) would have had to have had kids with his aunty if there had not been another generation between Cain’s generation and Enoch’s that isn’t mentioned.

Jerry W of the United States says:

The Book of Jasher (mentioned twice in the OT) identifies Mekchizedek as Shem.

I presume Jerry W is referring to the Midrash Book of Jasher, which is not the Book of Jasher mentioned in the Old Testament, but a work that surfaced in the 17^th century. It has been heavily criticised as a forgery. We should be careful about how much credence we give dubious sources.