Lamech (Descendant of Cain)

Biblical Account

Lamech appears in the genealogy of Cain in Genesis 4. The line runs from Cain through Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, and Methusael to Lamech (Genesis 4:17-18). Counting from Adam, Lamech belongs to the seventh generation. This Enoch is Cain's son and is a different person from the Enoch who appears in the line of Seth in Genesis 5.

Lamech took two wives, Adah and Zillah (Genesis 4:19). This is the first recorded instance in Scripture of a man having more than one wife. Adah bore Jabal and Jubal. Jabal became the father of those who dwell in tents and keep livestock, and Jubal became the father of all who play the harp and the pipe (a wind instrument). Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who forged implements of bronze and iron, and his sister Naamah (Genesis 4:20-22). The children are treated in the article Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain.

The text then records, in poetic form, words Lamech spoke to his two wives. The King James Version renders them: "I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold" (Genesis 4:23-24). Lamech took the sevenfold vengeance that God had appointed to protect Cain (Genesis 4:15) and magnified it eleven times over for the sake of his own revenge. Scripture says nothing about the rest of Lamech's life or about his death.

Another Person of the Same Name

The Lamech who appears in Genesis 5:25-31, 1 Chronicles 1:3, and Luke 3:36 is a descendant of Seth. He is the son of Methuselah and the father of Noah, and he is a different person from Lamech the descendant of Cain. Thus the New Testament never mentions Cain's descendant Lamech by name.

Significance Within Scripture

Genesis 4 depicts the violence that began with Cain's murder escalating by Lamech's generation into a boastful song. In the same passage, civilization first appears in the form of herding, music, and metalworking. Many interpreters read this arrangement as showing that while civilization advances, sin deepens alongside it. Immediately afterward, Genesis 4:25-26 turns to the line of Seth and the record that "then began men to call upon the name of the LORD," forming a contrast with the line of Cain.

In the New Testament, Matthew 18:22 is often discussed in connection with this passage. When Peter asks how many times he should forgive, Jesus answers, "Until seventy times seven." The Greek phrase uses the same words as the "seventy and sevenfold" of Genesis 4:24 in the Septuagint. For this reason, a number of commentators interpret Jesus' words as reversing Lamech's limitless vengeance into limitless forgiveness. Because the text does not refer to Lamech directly, however, this connection is a matter of interpretation.

Interpretations and Issues

• Nature of the song: Many interpreters read the Hebrew verb as a boast that Lamech had already killed a man. Others read it as a threat to kill anyone who might harm him in the future. Some hold that "man" and "young man" refer to a single person by way of Hebrew poetic parallelism, while others take them as two different people.
• Polygamy: Many interpreters regard Lamech's two wives as the first departure from the marriage order of one man and one woman set forth in Genesis 2:24. The text itself, however, offers no evaluation of the matter.
• Assessment of civilization: In the Reformed tradition since John Calvin, the technology and arts developed by Cain's descendants have sometimes been cited as examples of the common grace that God bestows on believers and unbelievers alike.
• Relationship between the two genealogies: The line of Cain (Genesis 4) and the line of Seth (Genesis 5) contain identical or similar names, such as Enoch and Lamech. Traditionally the two genealogies have been read as belonging to separate families. Some scholars, however, regard them as two forms of a single tradition.
• Later legends: A story is said to be preserved in later Jewish tradition (midrash) that the blind Lamech, while hunting, accidentally shot and killed Cain with an arrow. This story does not appear in the biblical text.

In the Korean Church

In Korean church preaching and Bible study, Lamech usually comes up in treatments of Genesis 4. He is cited as an example of sin spreading from generation to generation, of vengefulness, and of polygamy, and he is often presented in contrast with the teaching on forgiveness in Matthew 18. Because he is easily confused with Lamech the father of Noah, Sunday school materials and similar resources sometimes explain the distinction between the two figures.