I’ve added the words from Genesis 5 that have the letter “Shin”. Except for the words work and Shem, they are all numbers. I’ve tried to put them in numerical order.
So there is a different variation for the number 7 than appeared previously. It is simpler:
There are two versions of the word for ten. The one with the “heh” (E) at the end should probably be translated “teen” instead “ten” since it appears that way when it is referring to one of the numbers between 10 and 20.
Here is an example of how the number 18 is written out:
So when writing out numbers, the letter “shin” appears in almost every number. Between the numbers 1 and 100, the only numbers it won’t appear in are:
1, 4, 40, 44, and 100.
Here are those numbers plus the number for one thousand:
Note that the number for one thousand is “Aleph” which is also the name of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Also of interest is the name Shem, Noah’s son: It is the word for Name.
The ancients saw one’s name as a summary of the deeds and traits this person was known for (e.g. Native American names; He Who Flew with the Eagle). When Adam named the animals, he didn’t give them common names but rather consciously reckoned his fellow creatures for their essential natures. The noun שם (shem) means name, fame, and Conscious Knowledge Of The Whole Of Creation.
Since the Creator’s attributes, His eternal power and divine nature can be clearly seen through His creations, knowing the “Name of God” is the same thing as understanding the whole of creation. It is a true desire for righteousness that leads one to seek knowledge of God’s mysteries. It is the desire for the appearance of righteousness that leads to giving blind obedience to religion (which are always corrupted by men).
Shem’s name means name, but more importantly it means that he knew God. This essential nature would not have been realized yet when Noah bestowed the name on his newborn son, but it is some indication that Shem had the birthright of His forefathers. It is interesting to consider that when Shem fully manifested his name, God gave him a new one: Melchizedek, meaning “king of righteousness.”
In 1844, the church-owned newspaper identified Shem as Melchizedek. Joseph Smith explained that Melchizedek was not an earthly king, nor did he reign over a population. Melchizedek is not a name but a title. It is a compound of two words. The first is Malki (מַלְכִּי), meaning “king,” and Zadok (צֶדֶֿק), meaning “righteous;” Malki Tzedek or Malki Zedek (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶֿק) can mean “righteous king” or “king of righteousness.”
Melchizedek is both a name-title and a new name given to Shem. Christ is the Great King and the Great High Priest. The name Melchizedek is really a name-title belonging to Christ. It was given to Shem because he was a worthy disciple of the Lord. The name-title became the designation of Priesthood. It was used as a substitute for the frequent repetition of the “Son of God.”
The individual letters of Shem’s original name are made of shin (ש) and mem ( מ ). Individually the letter shin means fire and the letter mem means water. An interesting contrast between Shem’s passage through the destruction of the world in water with his father Noah and when he returns with his people and the city of Enoch, the second destruction of the world by fire.
