Abraham’s Years with Noah and Shem

Before Abraham was called to depart from his father’s house, before he built altars in the land of Canaan, and before kings would come to bless him or seek his aid, he was first prepared. Scripture records his calling; ancient tradition preserves his formation. Abraham did not emerge from the nations in isolation, nor did he stumble upon the Ancient Order by private discovery. He was formed within it.

After the scattering of Babel, Abraham was born into a divided world. In his youth he was brought into the household and sanctuary of Noah and Shem, where the covenant of the fathers was still kept. There he lived within the ordinances of righteousness, the order of sacrifice, and the laws of stewardship that had been handed down from Adam through Seth, Enoch, and Methuselah, preserved through the Flood, and renewed in Salem Jubilees 10:16–17; Book of the Bee 21.

This formation was not the study of doctrine apart from life, nor the accumulation of knowledge through instruction alone. In the Ancient Order, truth was learned by obedience, and understanding followed faithfulness. Abraham came to know the covenant because he lived it—working the land, keeping the ordinances, offering sacrifice, submitting to priesthood, and ordering his household in righteousness. The Ancient Order could not be mastered by explanation; it could only be known by walking in it.

Abraham was not instructed in the Ancient Order as a student receives lessons, nor initiated through words alone. He was formed by living within it. From his youth he served within the covenant households of Noah and Shem, laboring alongside their families, tending flocks, working the land, assisting in sacrifice, and learning obedience through daily responsibility. The truths of God were not conveyed to him as abstractions, but impressed upon him through service, discipline, and participation in a righteous community Deuteronomy 6:6–7; John 7:17.

In his teenage years Abraham took his place among the young men of the covenant—serving elders, guarding herds, learning restraint, and proving faithfulness in small things. As he entered early manhood, he took covenant women and began to establish his own household within the community. He lived consecration not as theory, but as practice: sharing increase, submitting to order, receiving counsel, and teaching his household according to the light the Lord granted him through prayer, discussion, and revelation Proverbs 22:6; 1 Timothy 3:4–5; Psalm 127:3–5; Ephesians 3:15.

The knowledge Abraham gained did not come without trial. As with all who seek the knowledge of God, his path included testing, failure, repentance, and correction. Within the order preserved by Noah and Shem, Abraham learned that righteousness does not consist in perfection, but in humility before God. He learned to confess error, to turn again to obedience, and to rely upon the mercy and atonement of the promised Messiah—by whom all are saved who walk in covenant faithfulness Psalm 25:8–10; Isaiah 1:18; Hebrews 5:8; 1 John 1:7–9.

True understanding came to Abraham as it comes to all the righteous: through lived experience. He learned the order of sacrifice by offering; stewardship by loss and increase; authority by service; and priesthood by accountability before God. The Ancient Order was not explained to him—it was revealed as he lived it. In this way the covenant was distilled upon his soul, line upon line, season after season John 7:17.

Alongside the other men of the community, Abraham was taught the appointed times and seasons of worship, the rhythms of thanksgiving, and the order God set in heaven and earth. He learned the courses of the stars, the signs of the heavens, and the harmony of creation—not as instruments of divination, but as witnesses of divine order. The same God who ordered the fields and flocks had ordered the cosmos, and Abraham learned to see all things as governed by covenant law Genesis 1:14; Job 38–41; Jubilees 2; Acts 17:24–28.

It was through this shared life with Noah, Shem, and their families that the deepest lessons of eternity settled upon Abraham. The Ancient Order was not transferred to him in a moment, nor granted by proclamation alone. It was formed within him through years of obedience, labor, repentance, worship, and revelation—preparing him quietly, thoroughly, and irrevocably for the tests, commands, and promises that were yet to come.

When Abram’s years of formation were complete, Shem—Melchizedek—called him forward from among the covenant households. This was not an act of succession, nor the transfer of presiding authority, but a blessing of commission. Shem discerned that Abram had proven faithful within the Ancient Order and was ready to bear responsibility beyond Salem Jubilees 10:16–17; Genesis Rabbah 46:7.

Shem blessed Abram with patriarchal priesthood and authority to preach the gospel, gather a household, and administer the ordinances of salvation according to the covenant of the fathers. This commission empowered Abram to build a family-kingdom wherever God would lead him, yet it did not remove him from submission to the greater patriarch. Shem remained Abram’s priest, teacher, and king within the order of heaven Genesis 14:18–20; Hebrews 7:4–10.

This distinction is made clear in Abram’s later actions. Though entrusted with authority, Abram continued to recognize Shem as the presiding patriarch, offering tithes to him and receiving blessing at his hand. Abram’s mission advanced under Shem’s covering, not in competition with it, for the Ancient Order multiplies authority without dividing allegiance Genesis 14:18–20; Hebrews 7:7.

Ancient tradition further preserves that Noah was still alive when Abram was first sent forth, and that Noah himself blessed Abram before his death. When Noah passed from the earth, Shem assumed full presiding authority as patriarch of the faithful. Abram’s ministry therefore began under Noah, continued under Shem, and remained accountable to Shem throughout the years of his early calling Jubilees 10:14–17; Cave of Treasures 16–20.

Even as Abram journeyed among the nations, Shem continued his own ministry from Salem. He called his household to repentance, instructed the faithful in righteousness, and prepared his family in faith to walk as Enoch had walked. Some ancient accounts hold that Shem and his household were ultimately taken to join Enoch and his city—a work completed only after Abram had been blessed and sent forth Jubilees 8:19; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 23.

Thus the missions of Shem and Abram overlapped without conflict. Shem’s work began while Noah yet lived, just as Abram’s work began while Shem yet presided. The Ancient Order does not end one mission to begin another; it expands through faithful sons who labor under living fathers. Abram departed from Salem not as a replacement for Melchizedek, but as his lawful heir and servant—sent to carry the covenant outward while Salem’s priesthood still stood Genesis Rabbah 46:7; Hebrews 7:15–17.