Shem was born about 100 years before the flood and lived to about 500 years after the flood. He had the opportunity to know Methuselah and Lamech and chose to walk in the ways of his father Noah. As Noah’s family grew Shem’s family stayed near Noah, Japeth’s family moved north and Ham’s family moved south.
From Ham’s line we have his grandson Nimrod who built cities, where worldly kingship and priestly temple worship were established. While Cain was the first to build a city, Moses does not mention anything about kings or temples before the flood, it was the violence and doing wickedly continually that brought forth the flood.
Tracing Shem’s family to Abraham we have Arphaxah, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, and Terah. These men mostly followed Nimrod and his ways. Abraham was born about 300 years after the flood and during that time Nimrod encouraged those who followed him to build a tower that would reach to heaven. Having one language and so many of the people of the world gathered to the cities that Nimrod had built, they desired never to be scattered and wanted to establish their united power and might.
However God confounded their language and they were scattered across the world. It was after this experience that one of Ham’s sons Mizraim founded Egypt. Shem continued to worship God and have faith in the coming Messiah during this time when the majority of the people of the world were seeking for other pleasures.
Noah and Shem were not alone; some of their families stayed with them and they followed after the ways of Adam. This theme happens over and over where the children of fathers who come to know God decide to not follow in their ways. Therefore Abraham was a great blessing to Noah and Shem as God called him to restore the true worship of the father.