Salah

Salah — spelled Shelah throughout the UPDV — is the son of Arpachshad and the father of Eber. He stands three generations after the Flood in Shem's line and reappears in every major biblical genealogy that traces the post-Flood descent toward Abraham and, through Abraham, toward Christ.

Begotten of Arpachshad, father of Eber

The first notice places Shelah as the link between Arpachshad and Eber: "And Arpachshad begot Shelah; and Shelah begot Eber" (Gen 10:24). The Chronicler restates the same sequence without modification: "And Arpachshad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber" (1Ch 1:18). A second notice in the Chronicler's opening list reduces the line to bare names — "Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah" (1Ch 1:24) — fixing Shelah as the third name in Shem's descent.

The toledot of Genesis 11

The expanded chronology in the post-Flood toledot supplies Shelah's age at Eber's birth and the remainder of his life: "And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begot Shelah. And Arpachshad lived after he begot Shelah four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. And Shelah lived thirty years, and begot Eber: and Shelah lived after he begot Eber four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters" (Gen 11:12-15). The pattern — thirty years to the named son, four hundred and three years afterward, additional sons and daughters — matches Arpachshad's notice immediately above it. Shelah is one rung in a regular sequence of post-Flood lifespans descending toward Abraham.

Link in Christ's line

Luke's ascending genealogy carries Shelah upward beyond Abraham into the pre-Abrahamic patriarchs: "the [son] of Serug, the [son] of Reu, the [son] of Peleg, the [son] of Eber, the [son] of Shelah," (Lk 3:35). The ascent continues above Nahor through Serug, Reu, Peleg, Eber, and Shelah. Five pre-Abrahamic names from the Genesis 10-11 lists are placed in unbroken sequence as links in Christ's line.