The Two Fascinating Lamechs

One of my college roommates has four strapping sons.  She and her husband named them all "L" names.  The youngest is named Lamech.  What an interesting choice!

The name Lamech appears twice in recorded Scripture.  Prior to studying Genesis, I did not know that.  (I just love to learn something new from studying the Word!) These two very different men were cousins.

The first Lamech recorded was the great-great-great grandson of the infamous "first-murderer", Cain.  And, like his progenitor, Lamech was a murderer also.  In fact, he boasted about getting away with the murder of a young man who had (seemingly) committed some minor offense against Lamech.  He was also the first polygamist mentioned in Scripture.  I blogged about this awful dude in a recent post.

The second Lamech was a descendant of Seth, the son of promise born to Adam and Eve.  This Lamech was the father of Noah (yes, THAT Noah).  He was also the son of Methusaleh, the longest-living human, and the grandson of Enoch, the man who was apparently so godly that never died.  (More about Enoch in another post) . Meanwhile, Genesis 5:21-32 (ESV)

21When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22Enoch walked with God^b after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24Enoch walked with God, and he was not,^c for God took him.

25When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. 26Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

28When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief^d from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” 30Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters.31Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

32After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Two more different men you could hardly find.  They present a juxtaposition of good vs. evil. 
We don't know much about "the good Lamech" except that he named his son "Noah".  The name means "comfort" or "rest".  We see, at the very end of Genesis 4 (vs. 26b) that "people began to call upon the name of the Lord".  Why do you think this was recorded?

The line of Cain had veered off into depravity.  But, by the grace of God, the line of Seth (and perhaps others of Adam and Eve's descendants) had remembered The Promise (Genesis 3:15, the Protoevangelium.)  Even then, names had great significance.  As a man of 182 years, Lamech had seen much - - - the evil works of most men, the ever-encroaching evil influence of fallen angels (Genesis 6), the corruption of the human blood line, etc.  It seems no accident then, that in naming his son "Noah", Lamech longed for spiritual comfort and rest in the Promise made nearly 1000 years earlier, a rest from a condemned, wasting, dying life that was the legacy of Adam to his offspring.

The prophet Isaiah expressed this same longing throughout his book - - Isaiah 40:1, 49:13, 51:3, 51:12, 61:2, 66:13.  This heart-piercing longing was not solved by the Great Flood associated with Noah who, along with the Ark he built, are "types", foreshadows of Jesus Christ.  The fulfillment of The Promise, that gut-wrenching thirst in the heart of faithful worshippers for true relationship with God Himself, was only assuaged by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the ultimate Son of Promise.  Paul speaks of how God the Father ultimately provided the final solution through Jesus, in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NIV)

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

Praise be, indeed.....

On a side note, can you EVEN imagine living hundreds of years?  I cannot.  Obviously, the aging process before the Great Flood was extremely slow.  Couples were fertile for a much longer period than today, possibly siring scores of offspring.  Families were huge.  Great-great-great grandparents lived to see their descendants.  For example, in this fascinating chapter of Genesis 5, we see (if I did the math right) that Adam lived long enough to know the godly Lamech, but died before the birth of Noah.  Knowledge proliferated as well, because people lived long enough to accumulate vast stores of knowledge in the course of a lifetime, presumably teaching it to their many offspring.  In this way, the earth was populated quickly.

One more comment on the lives of Adam and Eve....Every parent similarly bequeaths to his/her children the same depravity with which every person is born.  At least we can bemoan our fate but blame it on the first two parents, Adam and Eve, whose deadly disobedience in the Garden of Eden brought it all about.  But, can you imagine seeing your horrific mistake, your ghastly choice, played out in the lives of your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc., over hundreds of years?!  I grieve when I see sin at work in the lives of my sons, because I see myself in them.  (Families tend to have predispositions to certain sins, if you have not noticed that yet, lol!)  Can you imagine being Adam and Eve, and knowing that your own tragic sin brought about the extreme "fall from Eden" they lived to witness?  It is a wonder they lived as long as they did.  I think I would have grieved myself to death.

Unfortunately, along with the "advances" mankind made in the antediluvian period, aided by the influence of fallen angels, mankind slipped into extreme depravity, sort of like the bad Lamech "on steroids", to use a popular phrase.  Genesis 6 is one of the most mind-blowing chapters in all the Bible.  That's our next destination.

Sources:

https://www.esv.org/2+Corinthians+1:3%E2%80%9310;Hebrews+3:13%E2%80%9314;Hebrews+4:14%E2%80%9316/

https://www.gotquestions.org/Lamech-in-the-Bible.html

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/genesis/5-1.htm