Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, "listen to me; wives of Lemech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."Genesis 4:23-24
I've been thinking a great deal about vengeance and the kingdom of God lately. Vengeance, anger, and hate seem to overrun much of our world today. I would venture to guess that it is the most abundant emotion in human history, but not the most powerful. In my opinion hatred is the third most powerful force on earth, followed by... well, you might not keep reading if I gave it away this quickly.
In this portion of the Scriptures Cain has killed his brother Able and the linage of two very different branches of the family tree follow. On the one hand Cain, cursed for his act of murder but protected by a mark bringing seven-fold upon anyone that would harm him, made his home East of Eden (also the name of my favorite book by Steinbeck by the way) in Nod and had children, who had children, who had... you get the picture. On the other hand Seth, who replaced Able as the favored son, had children, who had children... etc. The seventh generation of Adam's line list two men, Lemech from Cain and Enoch from Seth.
In the bible that number seven is very important. It is the number of completion, wholeness, fulfillment. There are seven days in creation, and thus seven days in the week. the seventh day is the day of rest, shabbat (roughly meaning: stop). Both the books of Daniel and Revelation are fond of this number in talking about the future. So important is the number in Revelation that it appears 55 times out of 93 in the whole New Testament. I better be carful lest I bore you to death with my bible geekiness. All this is to say that this seventh generation sets the trajectory for these two families.
Enoch, "walked with God" and was seen no more because God took him up. Amazing, this seventh generation from Adam was so close to God that once again human kind "walked with God" (see Gen 2-3). While Lemech, now a murder as his ancestor before him claims ten-fold the curse of Cain. Each generation has lead to the completion of obedience or disobedience. Anger and Vengeance have fully taken hold in Cain's line. This power would eventually lead to the complete un-creation and re-creation of the world through the flood.
Where have the powers of anger, leading to hate, resulting in vengeance taken you in your life? We have all succumbed to these forces at times. They can be loud and violent, or quiet and cancerous. They may look like jealousy or rage, prejudice or bigotry. They may come out through "telling it like it is," and character assassination. Ultimately all of this boils down to the second most powerful emotion on earth... Fear. Fear of being left alone, of being rejected, forgotten. Wasn't that Cain's issue? Fear not faced and uncovered, curves us in on ourselves. Fear hinders forgiveness. It is the LDL Cholesterol of the soul and will eventually kill us if it remains unchecked.
But Jesus knows us. He knows the weakness of the human heart and prescribes the best diet-excercise regiment. It is no accident that the same language Lemech uses to cures, Jesus uses to forgive when Peter asks him...
Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times."
Matthew 18:22
You might have guessed by now but the most powerful emotion on earth is love that leads to forgiveness. It is the HDL cholesterol of the soul protecting us from the heart attack of self-centered fear.
May God shape us today to live in the line of Seth and Enoch, freeing us from fear and hatred of Cain and Lemech.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
