Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAMECH

(Heb. lemeḵ; Gk. Lámech)

A name occurring in two genealogies in Genesis. In the Yahwist or J genealogy of the line of Cain (Gen. 4:17-24), Lamech is the son of Methushael and claims the pride of place associated with the seventh generation from Adam. The significance of this position is underscored by the fact that a linear genealogy (a single line of named descendants, Gen. 4:17-18) becomes “segmented” when it names Lamech’s three sons and his daughter (vv. 20-22; cf. 5:32; 11:26). As the father of the first breeders of livestock (Jabal), the first musicians (Jubal), and the first metalworkers (Tubal-cain), Lamech is presented as a progenitor of cultural development and diversification. Thus, this list has been compared to the Mesopotamian tradition of seven preflood “sages” who originated arts and skills of culture. Of particular interest is the “song of Lamech” (Gen. 4:23-24), addressed to his two wives, Adah and Zillah. It glorifies excessive vengeance: for a wound, Lamech would kill; and he threatens 77-fold vengeance (contrast the lex talionis [Lev. 24:19-20] and the injunction of Jesus [Matt. 18:22]).

In the P genealogy of the line of Seth (Gen. 5:3-31), Lamech is the son of Methuselah and the father of Noah. As in the line of Cain, Lamech again is the only individual to speak; but this time instead of words of wrath, he speaks of hoped-for “relief” through Noah. Here Lamech is ninth in a list of 10 that concludes with Noah. A similar pattern of 10 generations ending with the hero of the Flood is attested in some editions of the Sumerian King List.

Bibliography. J. M. Sasson, “A Genealogical ‘Convention’ in Biblical Chronology?” ZAW 90 (1978): 171-85; R. R. Wilson, Genealogy and History in the Biblical World (New Haven, 1977).

Jeffrey S. Rogers

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAMECH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)