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Genesis 4:23-24 NIV
Who did Lamech kill and why is this even important? |
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Lamech killed some younger man. Lamech represents the fifth and last generation mentioned of the Cainites, who by that time were probably a large multitude occupying cities. Lamech represents the culmination of those that turned away from the promise of the Messiah to Eve, in contrast tot the Sethites which were the early church. What we have in Lamech's short poem to his wives, whose names in Hebrew mean 'ornament' and 'shade', is the height of violent boasting. He essentially say's 'I will kill (and have) who I want and anyone who avenges it shall suffer!' Grabbing beautiful wives (a polygamy of ornament and 'shade', possibly cast from the lovely flowing hair by his second wife) and having children that were committed to establishing crafts and skills and building cities, implies that in addition to the violence of this people, they were vain, lustful and seeking permanent settlement into the pleasures and ambitions of this world. The Sethites on the other hand were more like visitors to the world, looking for a better life by faith. Basically Lamech's great boasts, lusts and violence was the early version of Heathenism later represented so well by Greece and Rome. Note: In my answer I have mostly summarized points learned from Alfred Edersheim's 'The Bible History, Old Testament Volume I ' but the idea of two races developing with different agendas early in Genesis is common to most Bible Commentaries. |
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The Bible has no answer to this question. We do not the man's name or anything about him, other than that he was a young man. The importance, then, is not who died, but rather who the murderer was. Lamech was a murderer, just as Cain was. Additionally, we see that Lamech appears to be unrepentant. It is interesting to note that Cain's response to God's judgment was "My punishment is greater than I can bear". His focus was on his inability to bear up under the punishment for his crime rather than on the horror of his crime. Lamech also appears to refuse to see the evil he has done, choosing rather to wish for an exemption from capital punishment greater than that of Cain. As an addendum, we know that Lamech did not kill his wife, with whom he was talking, or Abel, who had already been killed previously. |
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Although there seems to be no direct answer to This question in the bible, I don't think the person Lamech killed was Cain. Lamech is a fifth generation son of Cain. Even if Cain was still alive in the days of Lamech because poeple live long in those days, he wouldn't have been so young that Lamech will refere to him as a young man. As stated in one of the previous answers, the main interest in the passage is not the one who died but on Lamech and his action. He did killed like his father did. Abel did no wrong to Cain but in his case he said the young man wounded him. He might have felt a bit justification compare to Cain to infer that if Cain is avenged 7 times then his should be a lot more (77). |
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Everyone has a point, and makes a great argument. However to me La'mechs explanation is of two people. 1) A Man who he killed for wounding him. 2) A young who he killed men for injuring him. Both action seams to me to be self defense. He also had some remorse, for if he didn't he wouldn't have spoken about his actions. He wouldn't have care of the consequences that his action was bringing him. Also to me, God must have seen it as a self-defense, for he chose La'mech son Noah. Why restart humanity all over with the descendants of murderers. Unless La'mech didn't killed Cain, and didn't murder an innocent person. This is one of my reasons in naming my son Elijah La'mech Reyes |
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