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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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Lamech's Sin
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Can anyone expound on Genesis 4:23-24? It seems out of context. Why does Lamech condemn himself? Thanks.
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Kevin Cotton 01/02/2012 15:16 |
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Ray
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01/02/2012 15:52 |
It seems to be poetry, a flavor of the days. There are a pile of commentaries here: http://www.studylight.org/com/ Hmmmm, artful expressions about men killing each other. Sounds like hollywood. Maybe something is lacking?
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Ray
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01/02/2012 16:00 |
oh, and hi, Kevin. Good to have you here.
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Calico
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01/02/2012 18:49 |
Hey Kevin, welcome,
"Lamech said to his wives,
'Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
Wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
A young man for injuring me.
If Cain is avenged seven times,
Then Lamech seventy-seven times.'"
- (Genesis 4:23 -24; NIV)
True, as Ray said, this may perhaps identify as ancient poetry in it's format and narrative; however, we are building upon Scripture as accounted of as a matter of "beginnings" (Genesis 1:1; beginning from the original Hebrew word of "re'shiyth" [ray-sheeth'], noun feminine defined as "first, beginning, best, chief").
We know that Lamech is a direct descendant of Cain (see Genesis 4:17, 18). So we might be able to find more information by looking back to Cain. Something we can see from the account of Cain and Abel is that there appears to be in Cain a motivation and heart-attitude that is less than "other-centered," but is more self-centered ("The LORD... did not look [on Cain] with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast." (4:4b, 5; NIV)). When God told him that "sin is crouching at your door" (4:7a; NIV), it would seem that Cain's motivations his offerings and his thoughts about how he viewed his brother were ALREADY suspect because "it desires to have you." By continuing on in a train of thought that isolated him from the way God thinks (careless and disrespectful in 4:3; angry and jealous in 4:5; murderous in 4:8; disingenuous and lying in 4:9), Cain had little understanding of the things God expressed to him ("What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground." (4:10; NIV)). In fact, as God passes his judgement on Cain and curses him, rather than say "I am sorrowful for what I've done, Lord," Cain instead selfishly and self-pityingly says "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." (4:13, 14; NIV).
Cain establishes the city of Enoch. A lineage is established. The seventh generation yields Lamech; and possibly a "culture of entropy" in which Lamech would have been raised up in. With Cain never having expressed remorse, I have wondered if his influence would have brought about the same selfish mindset, but wholly perpetuated and deepened over a period of generations.
Lamech seems, then, to commit violence arrogantly; if his ancestor Cain had "a mark... so that no one who found him would kill him" (4:15; NIV), then Lamech is proudly determining his own outcome apart from God; thinking he stands on his own from his ancestry while still claiming "the mark" for his own deceitful, wrong-minded, blind purposes apart from the Lord. Lamech completes his own independence from God by taking vengeance into his own hands (if indeed he was at all wronged by the man, or the boy).
It seems telling that when Eve gives birth to Seth (4:25), we can see that this new lineage "began to call on the name of the LORD." (4:26b). What might be seen here is that Lamech's proud self-reliance, which seems so characteristic of the lineage of Cain, is greatly contrasted with the newly-reviving dependence of God, which is found in the lineage that comes from Seth.
Praying with you, Kevin,
Tom
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Calico
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01/02/2012 19:56 |
Sorry, that last line of the last paragraph reading "the newly-reviving dependence OF God" should instead read "the newly-reviving dependence ON God."
:-)
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Ray
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01/03/2012 08:34 |
Does the spirit of a family line visit us? I always wondered where some of the fronts in my own internal war came from. "However strong a castle may be, if a treacherous party resides inside (ready to betray at the first opportunity possible), the castle cannot be kept safe from the enemy. Traitors occupy our own hearts, ready to side with every temptation and to surrender to them all. (John Owen, Sin and Temptation)" - Wild at Heart 143-44
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Kevin Cotton
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01/04/2012 00:38 |
Thank you both for your input! It does really help to consider it in the lineage of man and the bigger picture of God's relationship with humanity.
When the flood happens, does not all of Cains decendants die off? Yet they are still of significants (son of lyrers and harps, son of iron working)? I guess they could have integrated into Noah's family.
Ray, I do believe the choices of our fathers have a great effect on us, but I also believe we are each individuals that do not have to accept the sins of our fathers. It reminded me of a quote by August Wilson:
“When the sins of our fathers visit us
We do not have to play host.
We can banish them with forgiveness
As God, in his His Largeness and Laws.”
? August Wilson, Fences
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