Genesis 4:23 - Meaning and Application

By this speech of Lamech, which is recorded here and likely was widely repeated in those days, he shows himself to be a wicked man, like Cain’s cursed line in general.

Notice, first, how proud and commanding he speaks to his wives. He says, “Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech,” as if he expected great respect and obedience. It is no surprise that the man who broke one law of marriage by taking two wives also broke the duty of loving them well and honoring the wife as the weaker vessel. Those who are least faithful in doing their own duty are often the most eager to demand respect from others and to tell their family members to know their place.

Notice, also, how violent and cruel he was toward everyone around him. He says, “I have killed a man for wounding me, and a young man for hurting me,” or, as the margin puts it, “I would kill a man in my wound, and a young man in my hurt.” He admits that he was fierce and merciless, ready to strike down anyone who stood in his way, whether man or young man, even if he himself were in danger of being wounded. Some think that, since he compares himself with Cain in the next verse (Genesis 4:24), he had murdered some of the holy seed, the true worshipers of God, and that this murder troubled his conscience and wounded his soul, yet he stayed unrepentant, shaken but not humbled.

Or perhaps his wives, knowing what kind of man he was, were afraid that someone would kill him because he was so quick to provoke others and so quick to take offense. He answers them in effect, “Do not worry, no one dares attack me. Whoever does, I will handle him myself. I will kill him, whether he is a man or a young man.” It is common for violent and bloody men to boast in what should shame them (Philippians 3:19). They care little how many lives are lost to satisfy their anger, and little how hated they are, so long as they are feared. “Let them hate, if only they fear,” was the old saying.

Lamech also speaks very wrongly when he assumes God will protect him in his wicked way (Genesis 4:24). He had heard that Cain would be avenged sevenfold (Genesis 4:15), meaning that anyone who killed Cain would be severely punished, even though Cain deserved far worse for murdering his brother. From this, Lamech wrongly argues that if anyone killed him for the murders he had done, God would avenge him even more. It is as if the special care God took with Cain, for reasons unique to Cain’s case and for greater judgment on him, were meant to protect all murderers. Lamech twists it into this, “If God guarded Cain, then he will surely guard me, since I have killed many, though I never killed my own brother, and never for such a reason as Cain did.”

This shows how the delay of judgment for some sinners, and God’s patience with them, are often abused by others to make them bolder in sin (Ecclesiastes 8:11). Even if justice moves slowly for some, that does not mean others are safe from sudden destruction. And if God bears long with those who presume on his patience, they are only storing up wrath for themselves for the day of wrath.

This is all Scripture records of the family and descendants of cursed Cain, until we find them all cut off and destroyed in the great flood.