“Lamech said to his wives, ‘Adah and Zillah, listen to my
voice; wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words: I killed a man for wounding
me, a boy for striking me; so Cain will be paid back seven times and Lamech
seventy-seven times.” Genesis 4:23-24 (CEB)
I am on vacation. A vacation is a wonderful time to gear up
for coming challenges. And, when I was not in an Emergency Room for a random
infection procured by a bug bite (a bug that was, no doubt, a colossal, blood
sucking monstrosity of nature that came in the middle of the night to claim my
life but was thwarted by my insurmountable will to live), I was determined to
do just that. The challenge: this Torah study. The preparation: I decided to do
a dry run. This “dry run” has included reading Genesis in the last two days.
Given the task that is to come, I thought I would share an insight/connection
that has had some influence on how I understand the book.
This insight is imbedded in the genealogies of chapters 4
and 5. After Cain murders Abel and is ejected from the stability of his
household to fend for himself, Genesis gives us a brief list of Cain’s
descendants, who are a fairly technologically advanced group (4:21-23). But I
want to focus in on one person in particular. A majority of this genealogical
text is devoted to Lamech and his famous, irascible declaration in 4:23-24.
Misunderstanding the function of the protection given to Cain by God, Lamech
thinks he can manipulate this protective blessing and use it to further the
damage his ancestor, Cain, had wrought. Lamech arrogantly assumes that he has
the right to take the life of any who oppose him, a clear distortion of the
purpose of the protection that was offered to Cain.
This strange aside makes for a welcome departure from a
“boring” genealogy. However, its theological/thematic importance is discovered,
in my opinion, when seen beside the genealogy in chapter 5. Curiously enough,
there are a number of similar or identical names between Cain and Shem’s
genealogies. We see the counterpart to Cain’s Lamech in 5:28-31. Let us note
the similar, yet importantly different detail: Cain’s Lamech overcomes the
curse of the land by developing advanced tools and forceful rule over his
enemies; Shem’s Lamech names his son Noah in hope that he will be the one to
give them relief from the curse.
This interesting comparison provides a significant
theological insight for us as readers. These parallel families are functioning
by very different paradigms. One family group takes matters into its own hands:
killing, oppressing, subverting, demanding, and developing tools to aid in
these tasks. The other dwells in the same world under a similar curse, working
to live, but all the while maintaining a link to their strained relationship
with the God who created their ancestors, Adam and Eve. Their most notable
characteristics lie in their relationship to this God, not in their ingenuity.
The tale of two Lamech’s casts a vision and a theme that permeates the book of
Genesis and the Bible as a whole.
Who says that genealogies are boring?
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