Well, not everything. But he would have been if he could have been.Though he did rack up a few personal and family firsts: *First to practice polygamy by taking two wives, Adah and Zillah.*Thus, the first to break God’s marriage laws (Gen.2:24). *Adah’s firstborn, Jabal, became the first large scale tent-dwelling farmers. *And his brother, first runner-up, Jubal, was the first to rise a family of instrumentalists. *Zillah’s firstborn, Tubal-cain, was the first to make iron instruments. *And Naamah…she was the first sister? *And, back to Lamech, he was the first to pen a poem, albeit in his own honour (Gen.4:23-24):“Adah and Zillah,Listen to my voice,You wives of Lamech,Give heed to my speech,For I have killed a man for wounding me;And a boy for striking me;If Cain is avenged sevenfold,Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”The poem is made darker for its pridefulness. Lamech calls his wives to attend carefully to his words. Telling them that he has avenged injury with death. And lest his wives be concerned that an avenger of blood come after him, they need not fear for his life. He may have been six generations down from Cain, but he considered himself to be above them all. He reasoned: ‘Since God had promised a sevenfold vengeance upon anyone who came after Cain, then I will guarantee that a seventy-sevenfold vengeance come upon anyone who comes after me!”Everything about Lamech lacks regard for God. God had blessed him with wealth and ingenuity. But sadly, he stands out as the ‘first’ to prove Jesus’ words: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mt.16:26)
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