> [!Scripture] >**23 Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me; > 24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."** <img src="https://audio.mhbbible.com/media%3Agenesis%204%2023-24.jpg" alt="Genesis 4:13-15" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"> > [!success] Audio Commentary > <audio controls src="https://audio.mhbbible.com/Genesis%204%2023-24.ogg"></audio> ## Brief Observations - **Lamech: first polygamist, perverting God’s design** — As a descendant of Cain, Lamech breaks the pre-Fall pattern of one man and one woman becoming one flesh. He didn’t honor tradition—he simply wanted two wives. His sin created a human custom that later ensnared even greater men (Jacob, David, Solomon), who unwittingly followed precedent instead of God’s command. Sin is dangerous; one man’s rebellion can destroy countless marriages across generations. + **God’s common grace despite open defiance** — Though Lamech lived in unrepentant polygamy, God still blessed him with children. These descendants weren’t known for piety—they were likely as godless as their father and ancestor Cain—yet they became prominent, inventive, and serviceable to the world itself. God does not withhold common gifts from the wicked. - **Jabal: father of herdsmen and tent-dwellers** — Son of Adah, Jabal pioneered livestock herding and nomadic living. He either fathered a whole line of herdsmen or became so renowned that later ones called him “father.” His work brought innovation and prosperity to the craft. + **Jubal: father of musicians** — Also son of Adah, Jubal invented and mastered the lyre and pipe. He is called the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. His contributions brought music, joy, and the jubilee tradition of liberation and redemption—making his family merry. - **Tubal-Cain: forger of bronze and iron** — Son of Zillah, he advanced metallurgy—tools for husbandry and weapons for war. The descendant of the first murderer becomes the preeminent artificer of war, weaponizing nations. His sister Naamah is also noted, completing the family line. + **Worldly innovation without God** — All three sons’ industries centered on a world without God. These trades remain useful to the faithful, but they are equally desirable to the godless. None became priests or teachers of God’s knowledge. If your mind and time are dominated by worldly commodities, evaluate your relationship with God. - **Common grace to the wicked** — God gifts talents and power even to evil men. This is partly so He may glorify Himself through the foolish things of the world (the apostles were mostly tradesmen, not scholars). It is also because no one escapes His sovereign control. God is never hesitant to give great gifts to the unrighteous. + **Wealth and merriment among the unrepentant** — Job 21 shows the wicked often prosper outwardly: powerful descendants, safe houses, fruitful livestock, music, and pleasure. Yet their prosperity is not in their own hand. We cannot judge blessing by material success—Lamech’s family was not blessed by God, yet responsible for major artistic and scientific breakthroughs. - **What profits gaining the world?** — Jesus asks in Matthew 16:24–28: deny self, take up your cross, follow Me. Whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Cain’s family mastered present things but knew nothing of God’s glory, fear, or service. Christians must remember this today: faithless people destitute of grace can still be gifted by God, but soul-loss is the ultimate tragedy. + **God chooses the foolish to glorify Himself** — He often uses the weak and uneducated (tradesmen apostles) so that glory goes to Him, not human wisdom. Even great power given to evil men is under His omnipotent sovereignty—no one truly escapes His rule. ## Full Commentary If there was any doubt whether Lamech was an evil man, he clears all of that away with this speech. He proves his cursed pedigree as a descendent of Cain with this wicked boast. The first piece we notice is how he barks orders at his wives. "Listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech." Rather than honoring his wives as the weaker vessels, he expected his wives to honor him. Lamech already broke one law of marriage by practicing polygamy, so it's no surprise he broke another one by dishonoring the wives he took. Lamech was an insecure man which is why he demanded honor from his wives. People who aren't confident in their own abilities are the ones most likely to demand respect from others. A well-adjusted, high-performance person often engenders respect from others without needing to demand it. To vocally demand it from his own wives proves his ability to perform his duties even in the context of his own polygamous marriage was woefully lacking. If you have to demand respect from your spouse then she probably doesn't truly respect you and there are probably many reasons why. Next we see Lamech reveal himself as a bloody barbarian in the way he treated others. Lamech confesses to two murders right here in verse 23. It's not just a confession, he's actually bragging to his wives about it. He claims to have killed a man for wounding him and killed a boy for striking him. What a cruel and fierce disposition Lamech must have had to slay two people over such trifling causes. Lamech was proud to be the kind of man who would kill anyone who stood in his way. By his own boasting it appears he went so far as to murder a child for striking him. What he says in the very next verse is most intriguing. He says, "If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold." Lamech's relating himself to Cain might mean the people he killed were part of Adam's lineage of the holy seed. These would have been faithful worshippers of God. In this case it's possible the man and boy injured Lamech's conscience through some kind of retort or even by their very presence in front of him. This is what happened between Cain and Abel. We established it was very unlikely righteous Abel would have defamed his brother or verbally cut him down. If anything Abel would have been encouraging Cain and telling him the truth. Cain, overcome with rage, murdered Abel anyway. In that case I think Cain's soul was injured merely by the presence of Abel's righteousness. He felt judged by it. Lamech may have felt the same way with this man and boy whom he murdered. Lamech may have also been bragging to his wives because they may have been concerned for his safety. They knew he was an arrogant, impenitent man with a penchant for bluster. Perhaps they feared someone might come along and end his life for good. If that was the case then Lamech's boasting would have served to remind them he himself was a murderer. Lamech believed if someone tried to do him harm, he had the power to avenge himself against them seventy-sevenfold. Lamech didn't care how much others hated him just as long as those same people feared him. He didn't value human life, and so he didn't care how many people had to be sacrificed to his angry resentment. His lack of care and his disregard for human life became a source of safety for him and a twisted reason to honor himself. He was willing to go further than others would go, and this made him dangerous enough that others may think twice before messing with him. Rather than being humble and penitent, Lamech gloried in his own shame. Paul offers a description of this kind of person in [[Philippians 3.17-21|Philippians 3:18-19]] when he calls them enemies of the cross of Christ. Listen to what he says: > **Philippians 3:18-19** > 18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, > 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. Lamech's proclamation that his own death would be avenged seventy-sevenfold revealed a biblical truth as well as the staggering height of his own hubris. The biblical truth is that unrepentant sin has a multiplicative effect as it spreads down the generations. It's almost as if it becomes more potent or more concentrated. Lamech's sons furthered the development of the artifices of war and Lamech himself decreed outsized acts of vengeance if anyone would so much as look at him the wrong way. While Cain's reactive murder of Abel was devastating, Lamech's potential for reactively destroying entire villages was like industrialized devastation. Cain tried to highjack God's authority by erasing Abel's future with a bludgeoning stone. Lamech spiritually positioned himself such that vengeance meant seizing authority over entire people groups. Why stop at murdering one righteous man when you can murder an entire village of them? And this is how the murderous spirit which indwelled Cain grew more and more evil as it made its way into Lamech. Part of Lamech's arrogance was to presume God would avenge him should someone rise up and kill him. That was a mark God gave to Cain, not to Lamech. Lamech heard of God's [[Genesis 4.13-15|promise to avenge Cain sevenfold]] and his own pride caused him to misunderstand it. He thought it was God's protection against all murderers. He failed to see God marked Cain for God's own reasons and one of them was likely to prolong Cain's punishment for murdering Abel. Lamech may have rationalized that, despite himself being a serial murderer, since he never murdered his own brother unprovoked like Cain did then he was actually morally superior to Cain. His own sense of moral superiority might explain his proclamation that God would avenge him with more tenacity should someone try to take his life. One of Solomon's insights in Ecclesiastes is that God's gracious restraint toward a sinner is often abused by other sinners who use the reprieve to harden their own hearts and justify sin. Listen to what he says in [[Ecclesiastes 8.9-13|Ecclesiastes 8:10-13]] > **Ecclesiastes 8:10-13** > 10 So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility. > 11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. > 12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly. > 13 But it will not be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God. This same principle holds true with how churches handle punitive actions against high-level leaders who are revealed as unrepentant sinners. If the church simply turns away from the sin and doesn't take action to deal with it, then anyone else in the body who is sinning will become emboldened in their sin. So if God's mark on Cain was motivated by a merciful patience to give Cain the opportunity to repent, Lamech's evil heart abused this mercy and used it to justify his own murders. Our own judges and district attorneys would do well to remind themselves there is a cost to granting unwarranted mercy. If your society becomes soft on crime, then your society is going to experience more crime. When considering God's own justice, it's just never a good idea to presume on His forbearance. He has His own reasons for delaying wrath and those might have to do with you and they might not. Assuming God's grace means He will simply look away as you continue sinning is definitely the wrong presumption to make. God strikes some sinners with the sword of justice swiftly, and others He strikes slowly. It's too difficult to establish a pattern for who will receive what, but we know those sinners who presume on God's forbearance treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath. This brief passage of Genesis chapter four is all we have concerning the posterity of Cain and his family. The next time we read anything about them is when they all perish alongside the rest of civilization in [[The Flood|Noah's Flood]].