Session 3: Week 6
Genesis 4:23-26
23 Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words. For I killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 If Cain is to be avenged seven times over, then for Lamech it will be seventy-seven times!
Cain had eight children. Lamech was the fifth son. As a reminder, his name means “poor, made low.”
Adah – an assembly
Zillah – shadow; the tingling of the ear
In ancient Israelite culture names reflect the character traits of a person. Here in verse 23 of Genesis 23 we see that Lamech followed in the footsteps of his father and murdered someone. As a result, he would indeed be humbled and become poor and made low.
The Hebrew word translated as avenged is נָקַם
…to avenge, take vengeance, revenge, avenge oneself, be avenged, be punished
It’s the same word as used in Genesis 4:15 “And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken H5358 on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.” (KJV)
In verse 23 we see that Lamech killed someone for physically hitting him; unlike his father, Cain, who killed for what seemed like no external reason.
In Lamech’s arrogance he declares that if is father got vengeance 7 times, his would be 77 times. Remember that 7 is the number of completion, 77 then refers to doubly complete – though actually impossible because complete is complete – it implies Lamech’s certainty of his own innocence for having killed a man.
The English word vengeance is a principal translation of נָקַם
It’s interesting that behind the Hebrew usage of that word stands a sense of the solidarity and integrity of the community as a whole. In our society we’re very individualistic. In the Hebraic world survival was and is still based on being part of a community. In the case of a murder being committed, it was the entire community that had been damaged by the offense, and there must be a restoration by some deed of retaliation or punishment. The range of meaning extends beyond “vengeance” and/or “punishment” to a sense of “deliverance.” This middle eastern cultural mindset can be applied today and can give us understanding when we see terrorist activity that’s provoked by some other event that has occurred. The community feels like it has a right to execute vengeance for a supposed wrong that they perceive has been committed.
I’m going to go on a bit of a tangent right now:
Very interesting…. wikipedia says this: “The Qur’an states that the story of Cain and Abel was a message[7] for mankind, as it had told them about the consequences of murder and that the killing of a soul would be as if he/she had slain the whole of mankind.”
With that statement I can’t help but wonder why we see so much killing in the name of Allah.
It then goes on to say “But the Qur’an states that still people rejected the message of the story, and continued to commit grave sins, such as slaying prophets and other righteous people. All the prophets who preached since the time of Adam were persecuted, insulted or reviled in one way or another. With some righteous men, however, the Qur’an states that people went one step further, in attempting to slay them or indeed slaying them. As for the slaying of the righteous, it says “As to those who deny the Signs of God and in defiance of right, slay the prophets, and slay those who teach just dealing with mankind, announce to them a grievous penalty”.[8]
In fact the Qur’an says in that passage [21] Surely (as for) those who disbelieve in the communications of Allah and slay the prophets unjustly and slay those among men who enjoin justice, announce to them a painful chastisement.
There’s so much twisting of the muslim message in our modern western culture to make it seem attractive to westerners. I’m putting this in here and bringing this up as a warning. When people look at these biblical stories, Islam also looks at them and uses them to try to make people believe that Allah is the God of the Bible and the Muslim religion has the same types of beliefs and ideals and Judeo/Christian faith. These are fabrications and lies.
OK, back to Genesis 4…..
The dictionary defines murder as the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.
Killing is defined as an act of causing death, especially deliberately.
Is there a difference between murder and killing?
What does scripture teach us so far about the penalty for murder?
We all know Jesus’ commands to us about murder. We read them in Matthew 5.
21 “You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment. 22 But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Fool!’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You moron!’ will be subject to hellfire.
It’s interesting that Yeshua, in talking about murder, brings up brother being angry with brother. I wonder if He was alluding to Cain and Abel. Never thought about that before. He probably was, as that first act of murder became the evil seed in the soul of mankind. It was the place in time where murder entered into the human equation and is a grave sin that we’re still dealing with the consequences of today.
25 Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, “God has given me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 A son was born to Seth also, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of Yahweh.
Seth – put; who puts; fixed
Some say Cain’s lineage produced all the wicked of the earth that were killed in the flood while Seth’s produced the righteous and all of surviving humanity. Noah was in the line of Seth, and ultimately then Abraham and Yeshua would be too.
God gave Seth in place of Abel. What does this show us about the character of God?
After that Enosh was born to Adam and even though his name means mortal man; sick; despaired of; forgetful – Scripture tells us that at this time people began to call on the name of Yahweh.
This seemingly trivial statement is actually profound. What does calling on the name of God imply?
These four verses that complete Genesis 4 happened many years after Cain had murdered Abel and had been sentenced by God to be a wanderer. There’s so much underlying information in them that it almost boggles the mind in trying to uncover it all. Isn’t that the beauty of Scripture! In it is a wealth of treasure for those who take the time and apply the energy to seek it out.
