According to Genesis, Shem was the ancestor in the line leading to the Hebrews.
Genesis 10 and 11 trace a genealogy from Shem through several generations to Abram, later called Abraham. Abraham is a central ancestor in the biblical traditions of the Israelites and other related peoples. The term “Semitic” was later formed from Shem’s name, although modern linguistics uses it for a language family rather than as a simple biological label.
Shem was one of Noah’s three sons, alongside Ham and Japheth. Genesis presents their descendants in the Table of Nations, which follows the Flood and describes the origins of many peoples.
The genealogy is theological and literary as well as ancestral. It should not be read as a modern population map or as a precise genetic account of every later group called Hebrew.