Scripture: 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.” Genesis 5:28-29 ESV
Observation: Lamech is an interesting character. Coming from the ancestral line of Cain (who murdered his brother, Abel), Lamech boasted to his wives that he killed a young man for merely wounding him and further arrogated: “If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold” (4:25). Nevertheless, this nasty piece of work fathered a godly man, Noah, who found favor in the eyes of the Lord (6:8). So at Noah’s birth, Lamech prophetically pronounced: “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” (5:29).
Other than cited above, this is all we know about Lamech. However, Scripture provides a helpful backstory. Cain killed his brother in a fit of unprovoked rage borne in jealousy over God favoring Abel’s sacrifices. God cursed Cain for murdering his brother by pronouncing that the ground which received his brother’s blood would no longer yield its strength to Cain and that he would live the rest of his life as a fugitive (4:12). Cain cried to God for mercy, fearing that others would kill him in his wanderings. The Lord graciously responded by putting a mark on Cain to warn others not to take his life; otherwise, Yahweh would invoke his wrath sevenfold on Cain’s murderer (4:15). Five generations later, Lamech heightens the generational sin. Being fully aware of his predecessor’s trespasses and consequences, he takes a young man’s life and brags of his might with no remorse.
Takeaway: Fortunately for Lamech’s family and for all the other godless people at that time, the Lord used Noah to reverse the curse by building an ark to preserve a remnant from a looming worldwide flood. But this radical means of cleansing the earth of evil would prove only temporary— humanity desperately needed a permanent solution to the sin problem. Approximately 2300 years after the flood subsided, Yahweh would send a sinless Savior to rescue his remnant from a world again corrupt with bloodshed. However, this time the ground would receive his Son’s blood to break the bondage of sin for all future generations. Resultantly, our Lord has brought us “relief” from the “toil” of works-righteousness.
So how is this relevant to living out our faith? We all bring baggage to our marriages and families. Generational sins breach relational boundaries no matter how hard we try to identify and address them. Still, God’s grace in Christ abounds. Even those reared in a godless home can come to know our Father and find relief. Our part? Cooperate with the Holy Spirit as he exposes our sins and provides the means to develop godly habits to replace our self-destructive thoughts and behaviors. It’s a lifetime process, but his mercies are new every morning.
Prayer: Father God, we thank you for your Son who has shed his blood and paid in full the penalty for our iniquities and for your Holy Spirit who is defusing the power of our vices. Would you please help us cooperate with your Holy Spirit with grace and humility, that you might break the bonds of generational sin through us? Amen.
Rev. Gordon Green, M.Div., M.A. Counseling
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