Genesis 4:19-24; 5:25-31
Lamech (Heb. Lemek, Lâmek, perhaps “vigorous” or “tasting”; Gr. Lámech). 1. Descendant of Cain and son of Metusael. He was the 1st polygamist. With his 1st wife, Ada, he had 2 sons: Jabal and Jubal, the originators of nomadism and music. With his 2nd wife, Zila, he had a son (Tubal-cain, metalworker) and a daughter (Naama, of whom nothing is said). Lamech’s words to his 2 wives about a tragic event in his life are recorded poetically in Hebrew, and have been aptly called the “Song of Lamech”. This song is the oldest poetic composition in the world. The Hebrew verses, somewhat cryptic and ambiguous, lend themselves to more than one explanation. Perhaps the meaning is that Lamech would be ready to repeat his murderous act if need be (Gen 4:18-24). 2. Descendant of Set and son of Methuselah. When he was 182 years old, his son Noah was born, whose name means “rest” or “consolation”, perhaps hoping that this son would bring him and his contemporaries rest from the curse under which humanity was living. He died at the age of 777 (Gen 5: 25,28-31). Lamentation. see Duel. Lamentations, Book of. A series of laments composed as an elegy for the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC The Hebrew Bibles give it the title from the first word of the elegy, ‘Kkâh, “How”. According to the Talmud, it was also known as Qînôth, “Lamentations”. The LXX translators transliterated the title as Threnoi, and the Latin Vulgate added an explanatory note: “These are the lamentations of Jeremiah the prophet.” The English title, “Lamentations of Jeremiah,” is an abbreviation of the Vulgate title. I. Author. Before the rise of modern critical scholarship, Jews and Christians alike uniformly attributed the book to the prophet Jeremiah. Modern critics point out that in the ancient Hebrew canon it is, not in the prophetic section, as would be expected if the author were a prophet, but among the Writings or Hagiographers, the 3rd section of the Hebrew canon. However, certain parallels between the phrases and content of Lamentations and Jeremiah point to a common author (cf Lam 3:14, 48 with Jer 9:1 and 20:7; Lam 3:52-56 with Jer 12:9; 37 :16 and 38:6-13). Repeated references in Lam_3 (see especially vs14, 48-57, 61-63) to the author’s personal sufferings correspond with what is known about Jeremiah’s experiences. II. Setting, Theme and Content. The prophet delivered God’s message to Israel before and during the early years of the Babylonian captivity. With a tender heart, he felt deeply the evils of which the nation was guilty, and mourned as the retribution soon to befall his beloved Jerusalem was revealed (Jer 4:19; 10:20; 13:17; 14: 17; etc.). Jeremiah counseled submission to the conquering Babylonians as a means of avoiding further suffering and disaster (27:11-14; 29:4-7), but kings and people alike refused to listen to the message. As a result, the “wooden yokes”—representing the comparatively light suffering Nebuchadnezzar’s 1st and 2nd invasions of Judah had caused—were replaced by “iron yokes” (28:2,10,13,14). The perversity of spirit made inevitable the captivity of practically the entire nation, the desolation of Jerusalem and Judea, and the destruction of the temple. Only a very poor few were left scattered across the countryside. No wonder Jeremiah is nicknamed the “weeping prophet”: he had more than enough to lament in Lamentations pours out the pain in his heart. III. Outline and Linguistic Aspects. The book is made up of 5 poems in the form of elegies, which correspond to its 5 chapters. The first 4 are written in qînâh or characteristic meter of the Hebrew elegies; the 5th, a sentence, is in the usual Hebrew meter. Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5 each have 22 verses, corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet; cp 3 has 66 lines. In cps 1, 2 and 4 the verses are ordered alphabetically: v 1 begins with the 1st letter of the alphabet, v 2 with the 2nd, etc., except for some minor variations in cp 2. In cp 3 the 3 The first few verses begin with the 1st letter of the alphabet, the next 3 with the 2nd letter, and so on. The 5th chapter does not have an alphabetical layout. It is of interest that the letters pê and ayin are present 3 times in a reversed order (2:16, 17; 3:46-51; 4:16, 17) in contrast to the usual order ayin-pê, followed in other compositions. acrostics in the Bible. That this is not an error, but simply a variant in the order, is shown by the alphabetical list of characters preserved among the inscribed ostraca (perhaps from 1200 BC) found in 1976 695 at ‘Izbet Tsartah (probably the Biblical Eben-ezer;* see CBA 4:573-575).
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
1. A son of Methusael (Gen 4:18-24) and a descendant of Cain. He had two wives, Ada and Zila. His sons founded nomadic life and musical arts and invented metal tools and instruments of war. The song of Lamech (Gen 4:23-24) gives expression to all the features of Hebrew poetry (alliteration, parallelism, poetic diction, etc.).
2. The son of Methuselah (Gen 5:28-31). This man, a descendant of Seth, became Noah’s father. His faith can be attested to by the name he gave his son, Noah (meaning relieve), and by the hope of comfort (Gen 5:29) that he anticipated in the life of his son. .
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
Name of people from the OT.
1. Son of Methusael. A man characterized by violence. He is the first one mentioned in the Bible as practicing polygamy. His wives were called Ada and Zila. His offspring: Jabal, † œfather of those who dwell in tents and herd cattle †; “Jubal, who was the father of all who play the harp and flute”; and “Tubal-cain, maker of all works of bronze and iron,” plus his sister named Naamah (Gen 4:18-22). A short poem, song or proverb attributed to L. marks him out as a violent man who threatens to kill a man if he is injured or a young man if he is beaten (Gen 4:23-24). In the Jewish tradition L. appears as the person who killed Cain, his ancestor.
. Son of Methuselah. Noah’s father. He lived seven hundred and seventy-seven years (Gen 5:26-31; 1Ch 1:3; Luke 3:36).
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
tip, BIOG HOMB HOAT
vet, (a) Son of Metusael, of the offspring of Cain. One of his wives gave him Tubal-Cain, who invented tools of bronze and iron (Gen. 4: 18-24). Lamech’s speech to his wives can be interpreted in various ways, but most commentators see it as the bravado of a violent man. (b) Antediluvian Patriarch, descendant of Set through Methuselah, and father of Noah. Lamech feared Jehovah and believed in his promises (Gen. 5:25, 28-31).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
(-> culture, violence). Lamech is a cultural creator, a civilizing hero, a descendant of Cain (farmer) and Enoch (founder of the city), and is the father of some children who represent the other types of organized life, but who live strictly outside the city. happiness: shepherds, musicians and blacksmiths. In this way he appears as a sign of the whole of humanity and as an organizer of family life, the husband of two women whom he dominates through a law of sacrificial violence that appears endorsed by the God of Cain himself. He comes to present me as the first sexual oppressor: “He took two women for himself. The name of the one was Adah and the name of the second Sillah (who were mothers of shepherds, musicians and blacksmiths)… And Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Sillah, listen well to my voice! Women of Lamech, heed my word! I have killed a man because of a wound, a boy because of a blow; for Cain will be avenged seven times, and Lamech seventy-seven” (Gen 4:19-24). This story is part of the tradition of violence initiated by Cain, who solves his problems with murder. Lamech resolves them with a violence that he extends and applies as the domination of the male over the female. The text does not explain the passage from egalitarian monogamy (supposed in Gn 1,27-28; 2,21-25) to hierarchical polygamy, with a dominant male, but it takes this step as a sign of violence: Lamech, descendant of Cain , the murderer, becomes the owner and avenger of women. Only he has the word; the women appear as passive recipients of his law of sacred and social violence: they have no voice, they cannot say anything, they simply listen to what Lamech tells them: they are a possession that he must guard with zeal and blood, they are a woman-object. The law of violence that this passage establishes and ratifies (with a vengeance that is applied seventy-seven times) has two purposes: to keep women subjugated (so that they introject the law of their husband) and to oppose possible contenders. (other males who may want them). This is the first market and war in history, which makes women the object of domination and dispute between men. Thus property (Lamech’s women), violent defense, expressed as war, and the right that justifies it, are born together. For the sake of women (to possess and steal them) men fight. To tame them, the first law of domination and revenge is established. More than a source of sexual attraction (cf. Gn 2,23), women are the object of male domination and mothers of children who expand memory and define the truth of men. The subsequent evolution of humanity is thus established in keys of active violence (male) and violent submission (female).
PIKAZA, Javier, Dictionary of the Bible. History and Word, Divine Word, Navarra 2007
Source: Dictionary of Bible History and Word
1. Son of Metusael and descendant of Cain. (Ge 4:17, 18) His and Adam’s lives overlapped. Lamech is the first polygamist in the biblical record, since he had two wives at the same time: Adá and Zilá. (Ge 4:19) With Adah he had a son named Jabal—the “founder of those dwelling in tents and having cattle,” and another named Jubal—the “founder of all those handling the harp and the pipe.” (Ge 4:20, 21) With Zilah he became the father of Tubal-cain—the † œsmith of all kinds of copper and iron tools†—as well as a daughter named Naamah. (Ge 4:22.)
The poem that Lamech composed for his wives (Ge 4:23, 24) reflects the violent spirit of his time. He said: “Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech; Listen to what I said: I have killed a man for having wounded myself, yes, a young man for having hit me. If seven times Cain is to be avenged, then Lamech seventy times and seven† . With this poem Lamech presented a case of self-defense, and argued that his act had not been a deliberate murder, as in the case of Cain, since he had killed in…