2024-12-30 - Evan Lancaster

Reversing Lamech's Revenge

The book of Genesis is full of examples of how not to handle interpersonal relationships. Envy, rivalry, bitterness, hatred, lying, and many more atrocities saturate the pages of the first book of the Hebrew Bible. One story tucked into the fourth chapter of Genesis is that of a boastful, violent womanizer named Lamech who pronounced a curse upon any who might cross him. We don't know much else about this evil man; his curse, however, became the seed from which a deep, fundamental truth would grow centuries later.

But first, a little backstory is in order.

Lamech was a descendent of Cain, who was guilty of the first recorded murder in human history, seen earlier in Genesis 4. As a result of Cain's evil deed, God told him he was cursed from the ground, that the ground would therefore no longer yield its strength to him, and that he would be a wanderer and a fugitive upon the earth. Cain feared that his actions would cause God to hide his face from him and also lead others to kill him if they found him. In a sign of mercy toward Cain, God put a mark on him and proclaimed that if anyone murdered Cain, vengeance would be taken on that person sevenfold.

Now, fast-forward to Lamech. Apparently wanting to be a trailblazer for sin like his forefather, Lamech was the first person recorded as being a polygamist, taking multiple wives for himself. And the only words of his we have recorded are an arrogant announcement to his wives that he had killed a young man for striking him, and that if Cain's revenge was sevenfold, his revenge would be seventy-sevenfold (Gen 4.23-24 ESV). 

The implication behind that curse reveals just how arrogant Lamech was. Remember that God placed the mark on Cain and declared that vengeance would be taken on him sevenfold. The underlying sentiment there is that God would be the one to exact that revenge on any person who wronged Cain. But now Lamech was declaring that not only would he (Lamech) be the one to exact revenge on anyone who wronged him, but also that he would exact that revenge even more completely than God would, implying that Lamech's strength and power surpassed God's.

This idea of holding onto grudges and of total revenge toward one's enemies was the prevailing worldview for most humans (even many Jews) by the time the period of the Old Testament came to a close. And so when Jesus entered the scene and started to teach about loving one's enemies and turning the other cheek when wronged, it was probably (ahem) a slap in the face to most of his followers. Why would a person allow another person to wrong them without exacting revenge or retaliating? But the starkest contrast of Jesus' thoughts on grudge-holding and revenge-seeking compared to the world's thoughts can most easily be seen in an exchange with his disciple Peter.

In Matthew 18, we read of Jesus teaching his disciples about how they should react when a brother wrongs them (address it privately first, then take a couple of witnesses to establish the charges, and then bring it to the church's attention before taking any action against the brother). In reaction to this teaching, Peter asks, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” (Mt 18.21) Peter must have thought he was being exceedingly generous in forgiving his brother seven times. Or perhaps there was even a bit of exasperation in his voice as he asked this, thinking to himself, "Surely he doesn't expect me to be that forgiving of someone!" But Jesus had a different perspective: "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times." (Mt 18.22)

The numbers 7 and 77 are referenced in the same passage... just like back in Genesis 4. In point of fact, these two accounts are the only times in the entire Bible where the number 77 is used.** Jesus' use of that number here is more than mere coincidence or use of a common idiom. It is almost assuredly a peek into Jesus' knowledge not only of the text of Hebrew Bible, but also the profound wisdom it contained.

Lamech invoked use of the number 77 to display his pride and power through his willingness to **completely destroy** someone who wronged him. Jesus, on the other hand, used that same number to teach his disciples how to do the exact opposite--to display their humility and meekness through their willingness to **completely forgive** and restore someone who had wronged them. By using the number 77, Jesus deftly pulled up Lamech's words in the minds of his disciples and juxtaposed it against his own words. In doing so, he was able to masterfully demonstrate the dramatic contrast between complete revenge and complete forgiveness: 

• In seeking revenge, we put ourselves in the place of God by defining what's right based on our own self-centered wisdom and by dictating punishment on those who don't walk in step with that definition. 
• In offering forgiveness, we maintain our proper positions below God and others by leaving to God the responsibilities of defining what's right based on His wisdom and allowing Him to be the one to exact justice on those who don't walk in step with that definition.

Thus, the question for us when we are wronged is whether we will walk in the footsteps of Lamech and allow our pride to drive us to seek total revenge, or whether we'll walk in the path of Jesus and allow our humility to point us toward total forgiveness instead.

** (There are questions about whether the original languages should be translated as "seventy times seven" (i.e., 490), or "seventy-seven times". Regardless of where you land on that, the Septuagint uses the same Greek phrase for the number in Gen. 4 as what Jesus uses in Matt 18, so the connection between those two texts remains.)