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A | 1: 26. "Every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (ground)."
B | 2: 5. "There was not a man to till the ground."
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A | 9: 2. "All that moveth (creepeth) upon the earth (ground)."
B | 9: 20. "Noah began to be an husbandman (lit. a man of the ground)."
In between these two sets of references is the curse, the flood, and the new start under
Noah. The impression which this survey leaves in the mind is that Lamech was right.
Not the building of a city, but the building of an Ark was God's pleroma to fill the gap or
rent occasioned by the curse. The way of Cain is still markedly different from the way of
Abel.
The parallels between Adam and Noah are so many and so clear, that the reader who
once perceives them cannot avoid the conclusion that with Noah, God was making a new
start.
Before setting out the parallel passages, we note one or two more features of interest
concerning Lamech.
"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 month'. 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'.
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
many to-day who, surrounded by the comforts and inventions of man could scarcely
believe that there is truth in the record of the curse on the ground. The products of the