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Lamech is a name appearing at the end of both genealogies of Adam in the book of Genesis. One is the descendant of Cain and is responsible for the "Song of the Sword," the other is the descendant of Seth and is the father of Noah. Because of the similarities between the two lines, critical scholarship regards both Lamechs as one and the same individual.

Lamech is also noted as the first polygamist mentioned in the Bible.

Biblical context

Sandwiched between two genealogical lines, the passage describing Lamech, descendant of Cain and his children is fairly substantive:

Lamekh had two wives: Adah, and Tsilah. Adah gave birth to Yaval, the father of tent-dwellers, and cattle owners. His brother was Yuval, the father of harpists, and pipers. Tsilah, on the other hand, gave birth to Tuval-Qayin, who instructed the artificers of brass and iron. Tuval-Qayin's sister was Na'amah. And Lamekh said to Adah and Tsilah, his wives:

Hear my voice: ye wives of Lamekh, hearken unto my speech:

For I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

If Qayin shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamekh seventy-sevenfold.

-Genesis 4:19-24 in paraphrase

Genesis 5:25-31 records that Lamech was 182 years old at the birth of Noah; and that he lived for another 595 years after this, making his age at death 777 years (or just a few years before the Flood). With such numbers in this geneaological account, calculations such as those of Archbishop Ussher would suggest that Adam was still alive for about the first 50 years of Lamech's life.

The names

There are various suggestions of the correct translations for the names:

The older Septuagint, unlike the masoretic text, does not present the name Tubal rather than Tubal-Cain.

Translating the names as well, it is possible to read the text of the story of Lamech as:

God's servant took two wives, light and darkness. The light brought forth the shepherd, who was the father of tent-dwellers, and herdsmen, and his brother was the musician, who was the father of harpists and pipers. But the darkness brought forth the blacksmith, the forger of brass, and of iron, and his sister was pleasure.

Interpretation

When fully translated, the text has a strong resemblance simply to a basic mythology concerning the origin of the various forms of civilisation, the shepherds and musicians being products of the day, and pleasure being a product of the night. Blacksmiths, in carrying out their trade, are also associated with the darkness. Thus, in a sense, Lamech could be interpreted as a culture hero. Some of the names also appear to demostrate punning - Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal rhyme, and appear to be derived from the same root - JBL (YVL in modern Hebrew): to bring forth, (also) to carry. A similar description existed amongst Phoenicians.

The names are instead interpreted in the Midrash as an attack on polygamy. Adah is there interpreted as the deposed one, implying that Lamech spurned her in favour of Zillah, whose own name is understood to mean she shaded herself . The Midrash consequently regards Adah as having been treated as a slave, tyrannised by her husband, who was at the beck and call of his mistress, Zillah. It further goes on to claim that part of the immorality, which had led God to flood the earth, was the polygamy practised by Lamech and his generation.

The rabbinical tradition is just as condemning of Naamah. While a minority, such as Abba b. Kahana, see Naamah as having become Noah's wife, and being so named because her conduct was pleasing to God, the majority of classical rabbinical sources consider her name to be due to her singing pleasant songs in worship of idols.

The Song of the Sword

The last part of the tale of Lamech (Genesis 4:23-24), takes the form of a brief poem, which refers back to the curse of Cain. In the poem, Lamech's stance resembles that of a supreme warrior, able to avenge himself absolutely. However, no explanation of who Lamech supposedly killed is ever given in the tanakh. Some scholars have proposed that it is connected to the invention, contextually by Tubal-Cain, of the sword, for which reason the poem is often referred to as the Song of the Sword. The poem may originate from the mysterious Book of the Wars of the Lord, though the greater context for it is likely to remain obscure.

However, this paucity of context did not stop a rabbinical tradition growing up around it. The Talmud and Midrash present an extensive legend, told, for example, by Rashi, in which Lamech first loses his sight from age, and had to be led by Tubal-Cain, the seventh generation from Cain. Tubal-Cain saw in the distance something that he first took for an animal, but it was actually Cain (still alive, due to the extensive life span of the antediluvians) whom Lamech had accidentally killed with an arrow. When they discovered who it was, Lamech, in sorrow, clapped his hands together, which (for an unclear reason) kills Tubal-Cain. In consequence, Lamech's wives desert him. A similar legend is preserved in the pseudepigraphic 2nd Book of Adam and Eve, Chapter XIII; in this version Tubal-Cain is not named, but is instead referred to as "the young shepherd." After Lamech claps his hands he strikes the young shepherd on the head. To ensure his death, he then smashed his head with a rock.

An alternate form of this negative attitude towards Lamech (such as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan) claims that even though Lamech did not kill anyone, his wives refused to associate with him and denied him sex, on the grounds that Cain's line was to be annihilated after seven generations. The poem is then given by Lamech to allay their fears. Other classical sources, such as Josephus, see the word seventy-seven as the number of sons which Lamech eventually had.

Extending on this classical view of Lamech is the Book of Moses, regarded in Mormonism as scripture. According to this Latter-day Saint text, Lamech entered into a secret pact with Satan, as had Cain before him, becoming a second Master Mahan. When Irad (an ancestor of Lamech) learned his secret and began to publicise it, Lamech murdered him. News of the murder was spread by Lamech's two wives, leading to his being cast out of society.

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• Polygamists