Lamech

Two men named Lamech stand at the close of the antediluvian genealogies — one in the Cainite line of Genesis 4, the other in the Sethite line of Genesis 5. The first is a violent polygamist who composes a sword-song boasting of vengeance; the second is the father of Noah and is named into the canonical line that runs forward to Christ.

Lamech of the Cainite Line

In the descent from Cain through Enoch, Lamech is the seventh generation: "And to Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begot Mehujael: and Mehujael begot Methushael; and Methushael begot Lamech" (Ge 4:18). With him the line breaks into named cultural innovation through three sons by two wives: "And Lamech took to him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and [have] cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and pipe. And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of bronze and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah" (Ge 4:19-22).

The chapter then preserves Lamech's own speech to his wives — a short, defiant poem that escalates Cain's protective sevenfold avenging into Lamech's seventy-and-sevenfold: "And Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; You⁺ wives of Lamech, listen to my speech: For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for bruising me: If Cain will be avenged sevenfold, Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold" (Ge 4:23-24). This Lamech is a killer who broadcasts the killing.

Lamech of the Sethite Line

The Sethite genealogy of Genesis 5 names a different Lamech, son of Methuselah: "And Methuselah lived 187 years, and begot Lamech" (Ge 5:25). His own paragraph follows immediately: "And Lamech lived 182 years, and begot a son: and he named him Noah, saying, This same will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, [which comes] because of the ground which [the Speech of] Yahweh has cursed" (Ge 5:28-29). The naming of Noah is offered as a reading of the cursed ground from Genesis 3.

The remainder of the entry follows the genealogical pattern: "And Lamech lived after he begot Noah 595 years, and begot sons and daughters: And all the days of Lamech were 777 years: and he died" (Ge 5:30-31).

In the Canonical Lines

Both summary genealogies fix this second Lamech in his place. The Chronicler picks him up in the opening chain of human descent: "Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech," (1Ch 1:3). The Lukan genealogy of Jesus runs the same line back through Noah to Lamech and beyond: "the [son] of Cainan, the [son] of Arphaxad, the [son] of Shem, the [son] of Noah, the [son] of Lamech," (Lu 3:36). Through Noah, this Lamech becomes part of the line that runs forward to the Messiah.