generation (Jude 15), which evidently grew worse as the days drew on. Lamech was

182 years of age when Noah was born. Sufficient time had passed for him to arrive at the

conclusion that has been discovered by others since, viz., that "vanity of vanities all is

In naming his son Noah, Lamech emphasized his felt need of rest. Noah is derived

from nuach which means "to be at rest", and occurs in Gen. 8: 4, "and the ark rested in

the seventh moth". Again in Exod. 20: 11, "for in six days the Lord made heaven and

earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day". When we read in Gen.

8: 9, "the dove found no rest", the word is manoach, or in 8: 21, "the Lord smelled a

sweet savour", the word "sweet" is nichoach, and literally the passage reads, "a savour of

rest". Thus it will be seen that for God as well as man there is a place of rest, and that

rest is Christ, of whom Noah and the ark are prophetic.

Lamech in naming his son said, "this same shall comfort us (nacham, or give us rest)

concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath

cursed". The word rendered "toil" is twice rendered "sorrow" in Gen. 3: where the

curse is first pronounced, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow", and "in sorrow shalt thou

eat of it all the days of thy life" (verses 16, 17). The words "work and toil" may be a

figure, meaning very grievous work; the work and the toil are clearly specified as being

the work and toil of the hands, and in connection with the ground, that under the curse

yielded but thorns and thistles of itself, and bread only by sweat of face. We read that

Cain experienced a special pronouncement of this curse (Gen. 4: 12), and he is the first

builder of a City that is named in Scripture.

We cannot help noticing the similarity of names that occur in the two lines of Adam's

descendants. If there is an Enoch who walked with God, there is an Enoch born to Cain

in the land of banishment. If there is a Jared in the line of Seth, there is an Ired in the line

of Cain, which differs only in one letter. Methuselah has a son named Lamech in the line

of Seth, so Methusael had a son of the same name in the line of Cain. Both Lamechs

have seven, and seventy and seven written of them. If these things were not recorded in

Scripture we might dismiss them as fanciful, but they are written for our learning. Do

they not speak to us of the beginning of that parody of truth which Satan has so skillfully

established and maintained by taking advantage of similar sounding names, and of the

confusion of tongues which we associate with Babylon and Babylonianism?  (See The

Two Babylons, by Hislop).

Lamech, "the seventh from Adam, in the line of Cain, has three sons, one (Jabal) kept

cattle, and so continued in the work of the ground, but Jubal was the father of all such as

handle the harp and organ, and Tubal-cain an instructor of every artificer in brass and

iron. It would appear that the veneer which has spread over the curse, and which is

variously named culture, civilization, etc., to-day, was originated by the sons of Lamech

in Cain's line; the Lamech who begat Noah, however, is in direct contrast, he does not

appear to have attempted to evade the weary toil that must be experienced by those who,

by sweat of face, eat the bread that is produced by the ground that is cursed. Lamech

longed for rest, but he did not accept the vain travesties of Cain's descendants. There are