Who is…
Lamech

also known as: Lemek

The original meaning of this very ancient name is unknown. It is from an unused root of uncertain meaning. A number of widely varying possible meanings have been suggested by researchers, including: man of prayer; powerful; youth; strong young man; conqueror; one who overthrows; destroyer; the strikerdown.

This was the name of two men who lived before the biblical Flood.

  1. A son of Methushael. He had two sons, Jabal and Jubal, by his wife Adah. Zillah bore him a daughter named Naamah and a son, Tubal-Cain.

    “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.” (Author: Matthew G. Easton)

  2. The father of Noah, and a man mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Luke 3:36). He was a son of the oldest known man and patriarch Methuselah. Noah was the oldest of Lamech's several sons (Genesis 5:25-31; Luke 3:36). Lamech was 777 years old when he died (Genesis 5:31), and was the seventh in descent from Seth. He is the only son of Methuselah that is mentioned in the Bible.

Author: Paul S. Taylor.