The Prophet Lamech

A Devotional Series from Genesis

Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)

5/24 Reading Portions: Numbers 33; Psalm 78:1-37; Isaiah 25; 1 John 3

Genesis 5:28-31

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

REST

The reason for naming offspring is often given in Genesis. Eve mistakenly believed that Cain was the promised Messiah of Genesis 3:15, therefore she named Cain from what she believed by God’s spoken word (Gen 4:1). After Abel was murdered by Cain, Eve realized that Cain could not possibly be the promised Messiah, so she named her next son Seth (Gen 4:25), a younger son “appointed” as a substitute for the hateful, murderous Cain. At this point, we should also see the contrast between Cain’s wicked life in Genesis 4 to those redeemed by God’s grace in Genesis 5, in that Cain and his progeny never utter anything prophetic concerning their sons. The Lamech of Cain’s lineage was so wicked and antichrist that he presumed to take the place of God, like Satan (Isa 14:13-14), and pronounced his own unmerciful justice for himself (Gen 4:24).

Our Lamech, however, being the son of a prophet himself, utters gospel truth concerning the future. He points to his son Noah as bringing a prophetic picture of the gospel; that in Noah’s lifetime, rest, relief, and comfort would be brought to God’s redeemed souls by His divine grace, via His holy judgment upon the earth, bringing about a new heaven and new earth. Therefore, Lamech names his son, נֹחַ (NŌ-ach), which means “rest,” “relief,” or “comfort.” His name is the root from which Lamech’s prophetic utterance derives: “relief” (ESV) or “comfort” (KJV). It is the Hebrew word נָחַם (na-CHAM), which literally means “sigh,” yet often implies “ease,” “rest,” “relief,” “comfort,” or “repentance,” all of which God’s redeemed have received through Christ by His amazing grace.

Lamech died before he could see the fulfillment of his prophetic utterance, even as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews died before he could see the complete and ultimate fulfillment of his gospel utterance:

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. Hebrews 4:9-11

Hallelujah! What a Savior!