#lamech

The devil has sinned from the beginning: Too bad for them, because they have gone in the path of Cain... 

In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of [the] watery deep; and God’s active force was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. And God proceeded to say: “Let light come to be.” Then there came to be light. After that God saw that the light was good, and God brought about a division between the light and the darkness. And God began calling the light Day, but the darkness he called Night. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a first day.

And God went on to say: “Let an expanse come to be in between the waters and let a dividing occur between the waters and the waters.” Then God proceeded to make the expanse and to make a division between the waters that should be beneath the expanse and the waters that should be above the expanse. And it came to be so. And God began to call the expanse Heaven. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a second day.

And God went on to say: “Let the waters under the heavens be brought together into one place and let the dry land appear.” And it came to be so. And God began calling the dry land Earth, but the bringing together of the waters he called Seas. Further, God saw that [it was] good. And God went on to say: “Let the earth cause grass to shoot forth, vegetation bearing seed, fruit trees yielding fruit according to their kinds, the seed of which is in it, upon the earth.” And it came to be so. And the earth began to put forth grass, vegetation bearing seed according to its kind and trees yielding fruit, the seed of which is in it according to its kind. Then God saw that [it was] good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a third day.

And God went on to say: “Let luminaries come to be in the expanse of the heavens to make a division between the day and the night; and they must serve as signs and for seasons and for days and years. And they must serve as luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to shine upon the earth.” And it came to be so. And God proceeded to make the two great luminaries, the greater luminary for dominating the day and the lesser luminary for dominating the night, and also the stars. Thus God put them in the expanse of the heavens to shine upon the earth, and to dominate by day and by night and to make a division between the light and the darkness. Then God saw that [it was] good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a fourth day.

And God went on to say: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls and let flying creatures fly over the earth upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.” And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul that moves about, which the waters swarmed forth according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God got to see that [it was] good. With that God blessed them, saying: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the waters in the sea basins, and let the flying creatures become many in the earth.” And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a fifth day.

And God went on to say: “Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind.” And it came to be so. And God proceeded to make the wild beast of the earth according to its kind and the domestic animal according to its kind and every moving animal of the ground according to its kind. And God got to see that [it was] good.

And God went on to say: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth.” And God proceeded to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. Further, God blessed them and God said to them: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.”

And God went on to say: “Here I have given to YOU all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To YOU let it serve as food. And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food.” And it came to be so.

After that God saw everything he had made and, look! [it was] very good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth and all their army came to their completion. And by the seventh day God came to the completion of his work that he had made, and he proceeded to rest on the seventh day from all his work that he had made. And God proceeded to bless the seventh day and make it sacred, because on it he has been resting from all his work that God has created for the purpose of making.

This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.

Now there was as yet no bush of the field found in the earth and no vegetation of the field was as yet sprouting, because Jehovah God had not made it rain upon the earth and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist would go up from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground.

And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul. Further, Jehovah God planted a garden in E’den, toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Thus Jehovah God made to grow out of the ground every tree desirable to one’s sight and good for food and also the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

Now there was a river issuing out of E’den to water the garden, and from there it began to be parted and it became, as it were, four heads. The first one’s name is Pi’shon; it is the one encircling the entire land of Hav’i·lah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. There also are the bdellium gum and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gi’hon; it is the one encircling the entire land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Hid’de·kel; it is the one going to the east of As·syr’i·a. And the fourth river is the Eu·phra’tes.

And Jehovah God proceeded to take the man and settle him in the garden of E’den to cultivate it and to take care of it. And Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: “From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”

And Jehovah God went on to say: “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.” Now Jehovah God was forming from the ground every wild beast of the field and every flying creature of the heavens, and he began bringing them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man would call it, each living soul, that was its name. So the man was calling the names of all the domestic animals and of the flying creatures of the heavens and of every wild beast of the field, but for man there was found no helper as a complement of him. Hence Jehovah God had a deep sleep fall upon the man and, while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and then closed up the flesh over its place. And Jehovah God proceeded to build the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and to bring her to the man.

Then the man said:

“This is at last bone of my bones

And flesh of my flesh.

This one will be called Woman,

Because from man this one was taken.”

That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh. And both of them continued to be naked, the man and his wife, and yet they did not become ashamed.

Now the serpent proved to be the most cautious of all the wild beasts of the field that Jehovah God had made. So it began to say to the woman: “Is it really so that God said YOU must not eat from every tree of the garden?” At this the woman said to the serpent: “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. But as for [eating] of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘YOU must not eat from it, no, YOU must not touch it that YOU do not die.’” At this the serpent said to the woman: “YOU positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of YOUR eating from it YOUR eyes are bound to be opened and YOU are bound to be like God, KNOWING good and bad.”

Consequently the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was something to be longed for to the eyes, yes, the tree was desirable to look upon. So she began taking of its fruit and eating it. Afterward she gave some also to her husband when with her and he began eating it. Then the eyes of both of them became opened and they began to realize that they were naked. Hence they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves.

Later they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden about the breezy part of the day, and the man and his wife went into hiding from the face of Jehovah God in between the trees of the garden. And Jehovah God kept calling to the man and saying to him: “Where are you?” Finally he said: “Your voice I heard in the garden, but I was afraid because I was naked and so I hid myself.” At that he said: “Who told you that you were naked? From the tree from which I commanded you not to eat have you eaten?” And the man went on to say: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me [fruit] from the tree and so I ate.” With that Jehovah God said to the woman: “What is this you have done?” To this the woman replied: “The serpent—it deceived me and so I ate.”

And Jehovah God proceeded to say to the serpent: “Because you have done this thing, you are the cursed one out of all the domestic animals and out of all the wild beasts of the field. Upon your belly you will go and dust is what you will eat all the days of your life. And I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.”

To the woman he said: “I shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.”

And to Adam he said: “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and took to eating from the tree concerning which I gave you this command, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. And thorns and thistles it will grow for you, and you must eat the vegetation of the field. In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”

After this Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she had to become the mother of everyone living. And Jehovah God proceeded to make long garments of skin for Adam and for his wife and to clothe them. And Jehovah God went on to say: “Here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad, and now in order that he may not put his hand out and actually take [fruit] also from the tree of life and eat and live to time indefinite,—” With that Jehovah God put him out of the garden of E’den to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. And so he drove the man out and posted at the east of the garden of E’den the cherubs and the flaming blade of a sword that was turning itself continually to guard the way to the tree of life. 

Now Adam had intercourse with Eve his wife and she became pregnant. In time she gave birth to Cain and said: “I have produced a man with the aid of Jehovah.” Later she again gave birth, to his brother Abel.

And Abel came to be a herder of sheep, but Cain became a cultivator of the ground. And it came about at the expiration of some time that Cain proceeded to bring some fruits of the ground as an offering to Jehovah. But as for Abel, he too brought some firstlings of his flock, even their fatty pieces. Now while Jehovah was looking with favor upon Abel and his offering, he did not look with any favor upon Cain and upon his offering. And Cain grew hot with great anger, and his countenance began to fall. At this Jehovah said to Cain: “Why are you hot with anger and why has your countenance fallen? If you turn to doing good, will there not be an exaltation? But if you do not turn to doing good, there is sin crouching at the entrance, and for you is its craving; and will you, for your part, get the mastery over it?”

After that Cain said to Abel his brother: [“Let us go over into the field.”] So it came about that while they were in the field Cain proceeded to assault Abel his brother and kill him. Later on Jehovah said to Cain: “Where is Abel your brother?” and he said: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s guardian?” At this he said: “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. And now you are cursed in banishment from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood at your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will not give you back its power. A wanderer and a fugitive you will become in the earth.” At this Cain said to Jehovah: “My punishment for error is too great to carry. Here you are actually driving me this day from off the surface of the ground, and from your face I shall be concealed; and I must become a wanderer and fugitive on the earth, and it is certain that anyone finding me will kill me.” At this Jehovah said to him: “For that reason anyone killing Cain must suffer vengeance seven times.”

And so Jehovah set up a sign for Cain in order that no one finding him should strike him. With that Cain went away from the face of Jehovah and took up residence in the land of Fugitiveness to the east of E’den.

Afterward Cain had intercourse with his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to E’noch. Then he engaged in building a city and called the city’s name by the name of his son E’noch. Later there was born to E’noch I’rad. And I’rad became father to Me·hu’ja·el, and Me·hu’ja·el became father to Me·thu’sha·el, and Me·thu’sha·el became father to La’mech.

And La’mech proceeded to take two wives for himself. The name of the first was A’dah and the name of the second was Zil’lah. In time A’dah gave birth to Ja’bal. He proved to be the founder of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. And the name of his brother was Ju’bal. He proved to be the founder of all those who handle the harp and the pipe. As for Zil’lah, she too gave birth to Tu’bal-cain, the forger of every sort of tool of copper and iron. And the sister of Tu’bal-cain was Na’a·mah. Consequently La’mech composed these words for his wives A’dah and Zil’lah:

“Hear my voice, you wives of La’mech;

Give ear to my saying:

A man I have killed for wounding me,

Yes, a young man for giving me a blow.

If seven times Cain is to be avenged,

Then La’mech seventy times and seven.”

And Adam proceeded to have intercourse again with his wife and so she gave birth to a son and called his name Seth, because, as she said: “God has appointed another seed in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.” And to Seth also there was born a son and he proceeded to call his name E’nosh. At that time a start was made of calling on the name of Jehovah.”

-Genesis 1-4, NWT 

Lamech had two wives: one named Adah and the other named Zillah.

Adah bore Jabal, who was the forefather of those who live in tents and herd cattle. 

His brother was named Jubal. He was the forefather of those who play the lyre and the flute.

 Zillah bore Tubalcain, the forger, and forefather of those who forge things made of bronze and iron.

The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

Genesis 4:19:22

4:1 This is the first real mention of Eve, before it was just "wife." Now it mentions that "Adam knew Eve," In this connotation, it means they had intercourse. The result is Cain, the firstborn son.

4:2 Abel born after Cain. Both of them played different roles. Cain was a "tiller of the ground" while Abel was "shepard of sheep."

4:3-5 Both offer sacrifices related to their expertise. God respected Abel's offering but not Cain's. Abel's offering was the "firstborn of his flock and of their fat" while Cain's offering was from the "fruits of the ground." Why would God dislike one person's offering if they both provided from what they specialized in? From how it is worded, we can be sure that Abel's sacrifice was significant because it was the firstborn and fatty. Cain's sacrifice could be interpreted in different ways. "From the fruits of the ground" could imply that the fruits were from the plants nourished from the ground. This verse could also mean that the fruits he offered for sacrifice were the rotten fruits that had already fallen to the ground. Because the verse states that they are "fruits OF the ground" rather than fruits ON the ground, I assume the former interpretation where Cain offered good fruits from his work.

Also, this is the first instance of sacrifice we see in the Bible. Why do we need to sacrifice? It was never a decree stated by God to offer sacrifices. Are sacrifices man's way of trying to appease God, when before our fall our pure existence was enough to appease Him?

4:6-7 God confronts Cain and asks why he should be sad. God says that although you brought the sacrifice rightly, it was not divided properly. What does that mean? Where do we find sacrificial rules if this is the first instance? This next part of the verse states that Abel should find recourse in Cain and that Cain should rule over Abel. Why have the roles seemingly switched here? Also, when seeing sad Cain, God says, "Be still." This must mean controlling the fluctuations in your head and emotions.

4:8 Cain kills Abel in seclusion. They talked beforehand. I'm wondering if that was to entice Abel to come to the fields or if it was to discuss what had happened at the sacrifice. Also, I'm curious as it says that they were in the fields: does this mean garden fields (Cain's territory) or sheep fields (Abel's territory)?

4:9 God here asks a question again to man. Since God already knows what is happening, this might be the second instance of opportunity for repentence seen in the Bible. Instead of repenting, Cain replies with arrogance: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

4:10 This sounds almost poetic, "The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground." This is the first instance of where we see death and the fact of life after death. If there was no life after death, then it would be impossible for Abel to cry out to God.

4:11-12 Cain is cursed, the grounds should be hard and it is no longer easy to garden.

4:13 I find it mature and humbling to see Cain recognize his position he found himself in, or that just might be despair: "My guilt is too great to be forgiven!"

4:14-15 Cain worries that since he has been driven out from the face of the Earth and sorrowful, he is in danger of being killed by whoever comes across him. Why should someone be condemned to death for being sorrowful? Maybe because they see the impurity of a person, which has no place in God's creation? But that doesn't make sense because the first people were impure for eating the forbidden fruit. God calms Cain's worries by giving Cain a mark that ensures that if anyone kills Cain shall face a 7x vengeance. This is the second instance we see the number 7, in this context it seems arbitrary, but it also appears in the 7 days of creation.

Side note: Cain is worried about someone finding him and killing him. By name, the only people we know are Cain, Abel, Adam, and Eve. Since Abel is out of the picture, that means there is only Adam and Eve. It wouldn't make sense that Cain would be worried about his parents trying to kill him. Also if Cain was just worried about his parents trying to kill him, I feel like he would have phrased his concerns differently. Which means that there must have been other people living at the same time. Where did these other people come from? I am assuming that Adam and Eve had other children that were not explicitly mentioned by name. Also, it was never stated that Cain was the firstborn from Adam and Eve.

Side note pt.2: The fact that God does not leave Cain for himself but imparts a mark on him that if anyone else were to harm Cain, they would be harmed 7x. This is another instance of love we see, unconditional love. Even when the child has committed murder, the Father still looks after him and wishes the best for him. Don't get me wrong, God might still be mad, and that is perfectly normal, but above that anger lies love.

4:16 Cain leaves the "presence of the Lord" and lives in Nod. So this. is the official leaving of Eden. First, man was in paradise in Eden. Then, man was cast out of paradise but still in Eden (?). Now man leaves Eden. I wonder what 'Nod' means. Also mentions that Cain leaves the presence of the Lord. This probably means that Cain left the physical presence of God, not God's omnipresent watch.

4:17 Cain knew his wife, wife is left unnamed. Cain had a son with his wife named Enoch. Cain built a city and named it after his son. I wonder what a "city" was like back then, especially with significantly fewer people. Also, if Cain built a city, then what happened to Nod? Is it rather the name of the land? I would think Nod is the name of the land and Enoch is now a city in Nod.

4:18 Statment of lineage: Enoch to Irad to Mehujael to Methushael to Lamech.

4:19 First mention of a man having two wives. Lamech has Adah and Zillah.

4:20-21 Adah bore Jabal, who was the father of the people who dwelled in tents and had livestock. Adah also bore Jubal who played instruments. This is the first instance we see animal farming and musical art. Art previously was comprised of God's work, while this example of music is human-derived.

4:22 Zillah bore Tubal-Cain who was a smith. Zillah also bore Naamah. Naamah is the only female offspring and the only one who was not given any role or title.

Side Note: When lineage is portrayed, it is always listed under the name of the Father. This shows patriarchal lineage. This statement is also supported by the mention of the contribution of each of Lamech's sons but not his only daughter.

4:23 Lamech speaks to his wives. Interestingly he says "wives of Lamech" rather than 'my wives.' Is this because of the grammatical structure of the language they used? He attests that he killed a man for "wounding" him and a young man for "hurting" him. It is as if Lamech is basing his authority on his ability to do cruelty. This might be the first instance of rule by fear. Although previously God had instructed man not to do things in fear of death, God did not leverage death so that man had no choice but to listen to His word. Lamech on the other hand is leveraging death for any form of denial to his requests. Lamech seems to be following the principle of if you do me harm then I will give it back to you manyfold.

4:24 Lamech states his status over Cain, stating that Lamech should have 77x avengement if Cain had 7x avengement. Lamech is probably basing this claim on the action of human harm. In Lamech's mind, the stronger and more able one is to inflict harm on other humans, the more power and divine retribution received from God. If God had loved violence and harm, why would God have offered man opportunities of repentence for both Adam and Cain? I think God does not focus on harm and power for one human over another (other than what was mentioned about Adam over Eve).

4:25 Adam and Eve bore another son named Seth. It's surprising that Adam and Eve are still around and able to produce children after many generations from Cain. Maybe the span of life was different back then. Seth is created in a position to essentially be Abel's successor of purity, rather than letting just Cain's lineage live.

Side note: Adam says that he finally has another seed aside from Cain and Abel. This statement provides evidence that Adam did not have any other sons. But that does not discount that Adam might have had many daughters that were not named. Otherwise, where did all the humans come from? If daughters were never named then that would follow the theme of the importance of men for lineage. But also if females were never named, then why was Naamah named?

4:26 Seth had a son named Enosh. It is stated that "he hoped in the Lord God and called upon His name." Who is "he" in this instance? Is it referring to Enosh or Seth? Since the comma is before "and" in the sentence, I am assuming it is Seth. Also this is the first explicit reference to prayer in the Bible. Interestingly, those descendants of Cain lived lives that were Earthly while those descendants of Seth seemed to have a Godly focus. For context, Cain's lineage was also raised in Nod while Seth probably never left Eden, where Adam and Eve were. So that is one argument for the nurture aspect of personality.

Other Remarks:

If Cain, Abel, and Seth were the only sons of Adam and Eve, then that would imply that Cain was afraid of being killed by a daughter of Adam and Eve. This is interesting because it contradicts the power of man over woman.

Cain's sorrow did not ask for repentance. The root of Cain's anger was grief at the disappointment and humiliation of his sacrifice not being accepted by God. The lesson that we must take from this is that we need to process our emotions and ground them. Leaving emotions unchecked can manifest themselves in different and malicious ways, both for others and for ourselves.

Questions:

Why are sacrifices necessary?

Why was God not appeased with Cain's offering? What does it mean that Cain's offering was not "divided" properly?

Where did the other humans that are unnamed come from?

What did Seth call out to God for?

Things to Add to Prayer:

Help us to "be still" in times of sorrow and anguish.

Help us acknowledge our arrogance and shortcomings

Help us to unconditionally love, like you loved your creation.

Help us not to view the world through the lens of self-fulfillment but rather the fulfillment of your will.

The reason why Noah walked with God:  He came from a lineage of people who did just that.  Noah’s father was Lamech, whose father in turn was Methuselah, who was the son of Enoch – the very same Enoch who was caught up to the third heaven before he would die. Hebrews 11:5 KJB — By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for…