The Faith Of Lamech

“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15 NKJV).

The enmity between the seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the woman begins as soon as Adam and Eve have children. Cain takes the side of Serpent by murdering his brother Abel. God then gives Eve a new seed and she names him Seth (Genesis 4:25).

These two seeds have two family trees. Cain and the seed of the Serpent (Genesis 4:16-24). Seth and the seed of the woman (Genesis 5). And both genealogies end with a Lamech.

Cain’s Lamech takes two wives and introduces polygamy into the world for the first time. He also murders a man, but instead of hoping for mercy like his father Cain did, Lamech boasts.

“Then Lamech said to his wives:
‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold’” (Genesis 4:23-24 NKJV).

Cain knew he deserved death after killing his brother Abel, so he cried out to God. And God protected Cain by promising that he would be avenged sevenfold if anyone killed him (Genesis 4:13-15). But Lamech thinks he has an even greater claim to this protection—seventy-sevenfold.

The Serpent was the first murderer (John 8:44). He deceived Eve so that she and Adam would die. Cain was a murderer like his father the Serpent. And Lamech continued the family tradition.

Seth’s line also ends with a Lamech, but this Lamech believes God’s promises.

“Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed’” (Genesis 5:28-29 NKJV).

Seth’s Lamech names his son Noah which means rest. Lamech has faith that God will do what He said He will do. Lamech dies a few years before God recreates the world with the Flood. And even though his son Noah is a preacher (2 Peter 2:5), the world is so full of violence that only Noah and seven others enter the ark and are saved.

Both Lamechs use what God had previously said. Cain’s Lamech twists God’s words to excuse his act of murder. Seth’s Lamech hopes for the Seed of the woman to prevail and he has faith that God will bring rest.

What do you think?
Joseph