Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Lamech took two wives: the name of the first one was Adah, and the name of the second one was Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal, who was the father of all who handle the harp and pipe. Zillah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of bronze and iron. Tubal Cain’s sister was Naamah. Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice.
    You wives of Lamech, listen to my speech,
for I have slain a man for wounding me,
    a young man for bruising me.
If Cain will be avenged seven times,
    truly Lamech seventy-seven times.”“
(Genesis 4:19-24)

In Hebrew, his name is Lemech – differentiating him from the descendant of Seth (Lamech), but here we are going to use the spelling used in the World English Bible.

Lamech was the first person (that we know of) who decided to take more than one wife. In only five generations (from Cain) there was already someone completely divergent from God’s plan for the spousal relationship (Genesis 2:24). Someone trying to take more for themselves than God had provided. The sage Steinsaltz writes: ‘The verse momentarily dwells on Lemekh on account of his unique behavior: Lemekh took for himself two wives. This is possibly the first instance of polygamy. At first each man married just one woman. This was never explicitly commanded by God, but arose from a basic intuition. Still, by taking two wives Lemekh breached the existing boundaries. This is a further expression of the ambition of Cain’s family to grow and create, although it is possible that Lemekh simply lusted after more than one woman or that he married his second wife because the first had yet to produce children. The name of one was Ada, and the name of the other Tzila.‘

Lamech’s children were VERY creative. Nomadic shepherds, musical instruments, and blacksmiths developing cutting implements (which would greatly help a LOT of human endeavours – especially agriculture). Although some have criticized Tubal Cain for being responsible for introducing armaments into the world, the verse refers explicitly only to the creative act of metalworking, with no mention of weapons.

Lamech killed a young man in strife. He did not seek God. He did not ask God’s opinion. He simply declared for himself that God would punish anyone who tried to kill him even more than God had pledged to Cain. But there is no evidence of a relationship between Lamech and God. There is no evidence he pled with God or even spoke to him. This is humanity assuming that because God did it for someone who had NO real reason to kill (Cain), He would obviously do it for someone who had a reason to kill (the young man bruised Lamech) [Note: it could alternatively be the other way around with Cain killing on purpose and Lamech killing unwittingly when a conflict got out of hand.]. This is human audacity at its worst. It is the same thinking that gives people the idea that just because God isn’t actively smiting someone for a sin, God approves of it. Nothing is farther from the truth. God doesn’t smite us because He is MERCIFUL and giving us GRACE so that we can choose Jesus and be CLEANSED from Sin. In the past (pre-Jesus dying for us) He didn’t smite because we didn’t KNOW it was sin or from MERCY because He loves us.

Adah means ‘ornament’ and Zillah means ‘shadow’. Lamech means ‘strong man’ and also ‘for humiliation’. The speech that Lamech gives to his wives is known as his ‘sword song’. Naamah is the first female whose mother, Zillah, is also named. She is also the first female offspring named. Her name means ‘pleasantness’ and ‘tuneful’.

Some sages have a different interpretation of the song of Lamech. The sage Radak summarizes it best. He writes: ‘ויקח לו למך, it appears that the generations prior to Lemech and even subsequent to him did not marry more than one wife. Lemech, who was the first one to marry two wives, was also the first one of whom disagreements between him and his wives have been recorded. The two wives were jealous one of the other so that Lemech had to scare them that he would kill them if they would disturb his domestic peace.’