It began with a small error. An executive sent out an e-mail to approximately 2000 employees seeking information from each one. But when a responding employee pressed the send button, it was set to “reply all.”
So instead of sending a single message to that one executive, it sent the reply to the entire list of 2000 employees. Many others also replied. Soon 2000 messages became hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions. Some employees quickly sent out emails warning others not to press the send button, adding thousands more messages. The system failed under the tsunami of data flooding the servers. It took hours to clear everything away and reboot the system.
The events in Genesis 4 reflect a similar effect on mankind. Tasting a single piece of fruit, even if a mistake, seemed like a small error. Accepting the serpent’s lies replaced order with disorder, and the unraveling accelerated. The virus of sin quickly spread and multiplied.
Genesis 4 begins with Eve announcing the birth of Cain, yet she says nothing about the birth of Abel. The story of the two brothers, and the murder of Abel by Cain, is well known. But for many years I glossed over some of the details.
After Cain becomes angry at his brother, but before the murder, God tells him that sin is “crouching at his door.” In Eden, only at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil could humans be tempted. But now sin has been unleashed and even waits in ambush. That escalated rapidly.
Cain kills his brother. Another escalation, and the consequences reflect that. The soil which resisted Adam with thorns and thistles, will “no longer yield its strength” to Cain. Adam had been cast out of the garden home, but Cain will be a “drifter and wanderer” on the earth—in modern terms, “homeless.”
Surprisingly, God does not demand Cain’s death. Nevertheless, Cain complains about it: “You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and I will be hidden from Your face, and I will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
Cain mourns being hidden from God’s face and realizes that by killing his brother, he has made murder an option for removing annoying persons. God reassures him, by saying He will avenge Cain seven times. This doesn’t mean that God will kill seven people if someone murders Cain. The number seven tells him the vengeance will be total.
The story moves rapidly through 4 generations in 2 short verses. And then, Lamech.
Lamech, we are told, took two wives for himself: Adah and Zillah. Up to now, the genealogy announced each new generation with the phrase, “and ______ was the father of . . .” But Lamech’s children are attributed to his wives, not him.
He addresses his wives in poetry:
“Adah and Zillah,
Listen to my voice,
You wives of Lamech,
Pay attention to my words,
For I have killed a man for wounding me;
And a boy for striking me!
If Cain is avenged seven times,
Then Lamech seventy-seven times!”
Lamech speaks to his wives in poetry, one of the ways an Old Testament author expresses the significance of the words conveyed. When God presented woman to Adam, he also spoke to his wife in poetry. This speaks of design, not coincidence. The author wants us to compare the two events.
One similarity already stands out: they both involve a man speaking to his wife or wives. Adam’s short speech celebrates connection and oneness, rejoicing for God’s gift to them.
But Lamech has no need of God. God gave Adam one wife; Lamech “took” two wives. He boasts of himself, of his prowess—of murder. God will avenge Cain seven times. Lamech takes joy in savagery: killing one who merely wounds him. And avenging himself 77 times.
Lamech represents the flowering of evil, the inevitable result of letting murderers go free. And when we next look at what Lamech’s philosophy produces, we see a humanity whose thoughts are only evil continually and a planet flooded with violence. The virus has had its way.
What remedy can God supply?
If you’d like Ed to speak at your church, contact him at
BibleJourneys@Yahoomail.com
Put “Speaking Inquiry” in the subject line.
