1. Genesis 4:18-24, a descendant of Cain, in the fifth generation, and ancestor of numerous posterity distinguished for a skill in agriculture, music, and several mechanic arts. He is the first polygamist on record. His address to his two wives is the oldest specimen of poetry extant, and is a good illustration of Hebrew parallelism.

"Adah and Zillah,

Hear my voice;

Ye wives of Lamech,

Hearken unto my speech.

I have slain a man

To my wounding,

And [or even] a young man

To my hurt.

If Cain shall be avenged

Seven-fold,

Truly Lamech

Seventy and seven fold."

Many explanations of this abrupt fragment have been suggested. The

most satisfactory, perhaps, is that Lamech had accidentally or in

self-defense killed a man, and was exposed to the vengeance of "the

avenger of blood;" but quiets the fears of his wives by saying of

Cain under heavy penalties, Genesis 4:15, much more would he guard

the life of Lamech who was comparatively innocent.

2. The son of Methuselah, and father of Noah; he lived seven hundred

and seventy-seven years, and died only five years before the flood,

Genesis 5:25-31.

The strikerdown; the wild man. The fifth in descent from Cain. He was the first to violate the primeval ordinance of marriage (Genesis 4:18-24). His address to his two wives, Adah and Zillah (4:23,24), is the only extant example of antediluvian poetry. It has been called "Lamech's sword-song." He was "rude and ruffianly," fearing neither God nor man. With him the curtain falls on the race of Cain. We know nothing of his descendants.

The seventh in descent from Seth, being the only son of Methuselah. Noah was the oldest of his several sons (Genesis 5:25-31; Luke 3:36).

(powerful ), properly Lemech. The fifth lineal descendant from Cain. (Genesis 4:18-24) He is the only one except Enoch, of the posterity of Cain, whose history is related with some detail. His two wives, Adah and Zillah, and his daughter Naamah, are, with Eve, the only antediluvian women whose names are mentioned by Moses. His three sons, Jabal, Jubal and Tubal-cain, are celebrated in Scripture as authors of useful inventions. The remarkable poem which Lamech uttered may perhaps be regarded as Lamech’s son of exultation on the invention of the sword by his son Tubal-cain, in the possession of which he foresaw a great advantage to himself and his family over any enemies. The father of Noah. (Genesis 5:29)