GENESIS 4:19 - The First Polygamist? Numbers Syndrome

"Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah"

The First Polygamist?

This marks the first mention of polygamy since creation - which most commentator have taken to imply that he was the first ever polygamist. And although it's never explicitly mentioned it seems to me a safe enough assumption given that Adah and Zillah are the only wives mentioned throughout this list of descendants (verses 17-22).

(This verse would take on added meaning in my next related post regarding Lamech)

Numbers Syndrome

I have to admit that I completely missed this point upon first reading. Why? Let's just call it "Numbers Syndrome".

When I first started this blog, I figured I'd crawl through question-laden books like Genesis but joked that I would likely blow right through a genealogy book like Numbers without being able to conjure up a single question.

In short, I missed this point because I had arrogantly (albeit subconsciously) decided that I knew better than God and was quite capable of deciding on my own which verses in the Bible required examination and which - in this instance, those on genealogy - could be skimmed over. That I caught myself doing this while reading for my blog whose expressed purpose is to carefully study the Bible line-by-line was an extremely humbling experience. By God's grace, I hope it's a lesson that I'll take to heart, especially when I get around to reading Numbers - which, at the rate I'm going, will also require a heaping amount of God's grace!

(back to Genesis 4)