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Lamech
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la'-mek (poor; made low, a strong youth, the strikerdown; the wild man)
RELATED: Adah, Cain, Noah, Zillah |
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
the strikerdown; the wild man.
(1) The fifth in descent from Cain. He was the first to violate the primeval ordinance
of marriage ( Genesis 4:18 - 24 ). His address to his two wives, Adah and Zillah
( Genesis 4:23 , 4:24 ), is the only extant example of antediluvian poetry. It
has been called "Lamech's sword-song." He was "rude and ruffianly," fearing neither
God nor man. With him the curtain falls on the race of Cain. We know nothing of
his descendants.
(2) The seventh in descent from Seth, being the only son of Methuselah. Noah was
the oldest of his several sons ( Genesis 5:25-31 ; Luke 3:36 ).
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
poor; made low
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(powerful), properly Lemech.
(1) The fifth lineal descendant from Cain. ( Genesis 4:18 - 24 ) He is the only
one except Enoch, of the posterity of Cain, whose history is related with some
detail. His two wives, Adah and Zillah, and his daughter Naamah, are, with Eve,
the only antediluvian women whose names are mentioned by Moses. His three sons,
Jabal, Jubal and Tubal-cain, are celebrated in Scripture as authors of useful
inventions. The remarkable poem which Lamech uttered may perhaps be regarded as
Lamechs son of exultation on the invention of the sword by his son Tubal-cain,
in the possession of which he foresaw a great advantage to himself and his family
over any enemies.
(2) The father of Noah. ( Genesis 5:29 )
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
la'-mek (lemekh; Lamech, "a strong youth"?):
(1) The name is first mentioned in Genesis 4:18 - 24. Here Lamech, the son of
Methushael, is named as the last of the descendants of Cain. He was the father
of Jabel, Jubal, Tubal-cain, and Naamah. As the husband of two wives, namely,
Adah and Zillah, he furnishes the first recorded instance of polygamy. It is very
instructive to note that this "father of polygamy" at once becomes the first blustering
tyrant and a braggadocio; we are fully permitted to draw this conclusion from
his so-called "swordlay" (Genesis 4:23). He does not put his trust in God, but
in the weapons and implements invented by his sons, or rather these instruments,
enhancing the physical and material powers of man, are his God. He glories in
them and misconstrues the Divine kindness which insured to Cain freedom from the
revenge of his fellow-men.
(2) Another Lamech. is mentioned in Genesis 5:25 , 28 (compare 1 Chronicles 1:3
; Luke 3:36), the son of Methuselah and the father of Noah. His words (Genesis
5:29) show the great difference between this descendant of Seth and the descendant
of Cain. While the one is stimulated to a song of defiance by the worldly inventions
of his sons, the other, in prophetical mood, expresses his sure belief in the
coming of better times, and calmly and prayerfully awaits the period of comfort
and rest which he expected to be ushered in by his son Noah.
William Baur
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, descendant of cain, husband of adah and zillah, father of noah, father of polygamy, lamech, lamech's sword-song, lemech, two wives
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