21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 5:28-31, Lemekh II

Now I’m going to show you that M’tushelach’s son Lemekh is not the Lemekh of the Qain episodes.

כח וַֽיְחִי־לֶ֕מֶךְ שְׁתַּ֧יִם וּשְׁמֹנִ֛ים שָׁנָ֖ה וּמְאַ֣ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד בֵּֽן:

כט וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֶת־שְׁמ֛וֹ נֹ֖חַ לֵאמֹ֑ר זֶ֠֞ה יְנַֽחֲמֵ֤נוּ מִֽמַּֽעֲשֵׂ֨נוּ֙ וּמֵֽעִצְּב֣וֹן יָדֵ֔ינוּ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֵֽרֲרָ֖הּ יְהוָֹֽה:

ל וַֽיְחִי־לֶ֗מֶךְ אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הֽוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת־נֹ֔חַ חָמֵ֤שׁ וְתִשְׁעִים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וַֽחֲמֵ֥שׁ מֵאֹ֖ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת:

לא וַֽיְהִי֙ כָּל־יְמֵי־לֶ֔מֶךְ שֶׁ֤בַע וְשִׁבְעִים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁבַ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּמֹֽת:

Lemekh must have lived 187 years; he sired a son.

He named him Noach saying: “This will allow us rest from our deeds and the pain of our hands, from the earth that the Lord had cursed.”

Lemekh must have lived after siring Noach -- 595 years -- for he sired sons and daughters.

All the days of Lemekh must have been 777 years; he died.

Here is the proof that this is a different Lemekh. Number One knew about Qain’s story and his curse, knew about shivataim, the keyword for that narrative, and was presumptuous.

Number Two knows about Adam’s story and the cursing of the earth, and he only hopes for some easing of the itsavon, the keyword from the cursing of the earth, that people have been suffering since then.

Both stories are legends in the sense of being one episode, closing with an important exclamation. But the second Lemekh is worried about how hard it is for people to scratch a living out of the cursed earth. The first Lemekh was worried about his own survival in his descendants. These are two different men, their role in the greater saga is different, and the role of their descendants is different.

Which makes the second legend a Law of Ascents issue. Noach survived the flood. His descendants in the male line populated the area served by the caravans that passed through Ebla. One of his sons, Shem, was the ancestor of the Jews. How much more important can it get?

We are descended from Number Two and that’s why we are not descended from murderers.  Even if Qain and Lemekh were murderers.  Which they were not – not in BH anyway. They may have killed but the verb is horeg not rotseach.