Lamech (; he, ''Lemeḵ'', in
pausa ''Lāmeḵ''; gr, Λάμεχ ''Lámekh'') was a
patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in ce ...
in the
genealogies of Adam in the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...
. He is part of the
genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:36.
Lamech (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
: ''Lamik'') is also mentioned in
Islam in the various collections of
tales of the prophets who preceded
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...
, which mentions him in an identical manner.
Bible narrative
Biblical genealogy
Lamech is the eighth-generation descendant of
Adam (), the son of
Methuselah, and the father of
Noah (), in the genealogy of
Seth in Genesis 5. In Genesis 5:12-25, Lamech was a son of Methuselah, who was a grandson of
Jared, who was a grandson of
Kenan descended from Adam.
Genesis 5:28–31 records that Lamech was 182 (according to the
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
; 188 according to the Septuagint
) years old at the birth of Noah and lived for another 595
[ years, attaining an age at death of 777][ years, five years before the ]Flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
in the Masoretic chronology. With such numbers in this genealogical account, Adam would still have been alive for about the first 56 years of Lamech's life.
Prophetic naming
When Lamech named his son Noah, he prophesied: "This '' ame' shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the hath cursed." () The people were cumbered with the toil of cultivating a ground that had been cursed in , and they hoped for relief through Noah. Albert Barnes noted: "In stating the reason of the name, they employ a word which is connected with it only by a second remove. נוּח nûach and נחם nācham are stems not immediately connected; but they both point back to a common root נח (n-ch) signifying 'to sigh, to breathe, to rest, to lie down. At Noah's sacrifice in the new world after the flood, the said, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart '' s' evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done."
Tomb
According to a local Afghan legend, Lamech was buried from Mihtarlam. Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni built a tomb and gardens over the presumed burial site. Mihtarlam itself is said to be named after Lamech.
In popular culture
Lamech is portrayed by Marton Csokas in the film Noah (2014).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamech
Book of Genesis people
Bereshit (parashah)
Noah