The
next parent brought before us in the Scriptures is Lamech, “the seventh from
Adam”, but seventh in the line of Cain, not of Seth. First take note that Lamech is the first one mentioned in the
Bible with more than one wife. That
custom originated with a child of Cain, not a child of Seth.
You
have heard men say of certain parents, “They may be justly proud of their
family.” Lamech, Adah and Zillah, (his
two wives), were just such parents. The
boys were apparently brought up to be useful, industrious men, and their sister
Naamah, (Pleasant), completes a very charming picture of an earthly home. Adah’s two sons Jabal and Jubal, were
respectively the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle; and those who handle the harp and the organ;
while Tubalcain, (meaning a “pouring forth of Cain”, in memory of his famous
ancestor), was the father of the metal-working industry, a great and glorious
trade that is coming more into its own every day we live. Yes, as Lamech watched the marked success in
life of each of his four children he may well have been (from the world’s view
point) a proud and happy man.
But
appearances are deceitful, and like his ancestor, whose name he was seeking to
perpetuate in one of his sons, Lamech had a sin that seems to have haunted him;
and sin takes the joy out of any life.
Like Cain, Lamech was a murderer, and the fear of vengeance evidently
hung heavily upon him, and sapped the peach and joy that might have been his.
And
what of his family? What of those early
pioneers in farming, music, and the metal-trade? They have long since passed off the scene:
“Yes, but whither, whither bound?”
trained for earth, successful on
earth, there is no suggestion that they ever left the broad road which already
had led to Destruction so many walking on it, with Cain, their honored
ancestor, leading the way.
Thousands of Christian parents have given their offspring a good start on the broad road, when they only meant to give them a good start in life. How much better for your little darlings to be unknown and unnoticed in this life, with their names written in Heaven; than to have them shine on the brightest tablets of this world, without Christ!