Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

LAMECH

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 112 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

LAMECH *), the biblical See also:

patriarch, appears in each of the antediluvian genealogies, Gen. iv. 16-24 J., and Gen. v. P. In the former he is a descendant of See also:Cain, and through his sons the author of See also:primitive See also:civilization; in the latter he is the See also:father of See also:Noah. But it is now generally held that these two genealogies are variant adaptations of the Babylonian See also:list of primitive See also:kings (see See also:ENOcH). It is doubtful whether Lamech is to be identified with the name of any one of these kings; he may have been introduced into the See also:genealogy from another tradition. In the older narrative in Gen. iv. Lamech's See also:family are the originators of various advances in civilization; he himself is the first to marry more than one wife, 'Adah (" See also:ornament," perhaps specially " See also:dawn ") and Zillah (" See also:shadow "). He has three sons Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal, the last-named qualified by the addition of Cain (= "See also:smith"). The assonance of these names is probably intentional, cf. the See also:brothers See also:Hasan and Hosein of See also:early See also:Mahommedan See also:history. Jabal institutes the See also:life of nomadic shepherds, Jubal is the inventor of See also:music, Tubal-Cain the first smith. Jabal and Jubal may be forms of a See also:root used in See also:Hebrew and Phoenician for See also:ram and ram's See also:horn (i.e. See also:trumpet), and underlying our " See also:jubilee." Tubal may be the See also:eponymous ancestor of the See also:people of that name mentioned in See also:Ezekiel in connexion with "vessels of See also:bronze." s All three names are sometimes derived from in the sense of offspring, so that they would be three different words for " son," and there are numerous other theories as to their See also:etymology.

Lamech has also a daughter Naamah (" gracious," " pleasant," " comely "; cf. No'See also:

man, a name of the deity See also:Adonis). This narrative clearly intends to See also:account for the origin of these various arts as they existed in the narrator's See also:time; it is not likely that he thought of these discoveries as separated from his own See also:age by a universal See also:flood; nor does the See also:tone of the narrative suggest that the primitive tradition thought of these pioneers of civilization as members of an accursed family. Probably the passage was originally See also:independent of the document which told of Cain and See also:Abel and of the Flood; Jabal may be a variant of Abel. An See also:ancient poem is connected with this genealogy: " Adah and Zillah, hear my See also:voice ; Ye wives of Lamech, give See also:ear unto my speech. I slay a man for a See also:wound, A See also:young man for a stroke; For Cain's vengeance is sevenfold, But Lamech's seventy-See also:fold and seven." In view of the connexion, the poem is interpreted as expressing Lamech's exultation at the See also:advantage he expects to derive from Tubal-Cain's new inventions; the worker in bronze will forge for him new and formidable weapons, so that he will be able to take See also:signal vengeance for the least injury. But the poem probably had originally nothing to do with the genealogy. It may have been a piece of folk-See also:song celebrating the prowess of the tribe of Lamech; or it may have had some relation to a See also:story of Cain and Abel in which Cain was a See also:hero and not a villain. The genealogy in Gen. v. belongs to the Priestly See also:Code, c. 450 B.C., and may be due to a revision of ancient tradition in the See also:light of Babylonian See also:archaeology. It is noteworthy that according to the See also:numbers in the Samaritan See also:MSS. Lamech See also:dies in the See also:year of the Flood.

The origin of the name Lamech and its See also:

original .meaning are doubtful. It was probably the name of a tribe or deity, or both. According to C. J. See also:Ball,' Lamech is an See also:adaptation of the Babylonian Lamga, a See also:title of See also:Sin the See also:moon See also:god, and synonymous with Ubara in the name Ubara-Tutu, the Otiartes of See also:Berossus, who is the ninth of the ten primitive Babylonian kings, and the father of the hero of the Babylonian flood story, just as Lamech is the ninth patriarch, and the father of Noah. Spurrell" states that Lamech cannot be explained from the Hebrew, but may possibly be connected with the Arabic yalmakun, " a strong young man." Outside of See also:Genesis, Lamech is only mentioned in the See also:Bible in 1 Chron. i. 3, See also:Luke iii. 36. Later Jewish tradition See also:expanded and interpreted the story in its usual See also:fashion. (W. H.

End of Article: LAMECH

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LAMBS 		[next]
LAMEGO

Site © 2006 - Net Industries