LAMECH - Scroll of the book of L. (with the two fragments so far able to be detached) found together with other Hebrew manuscripts in the Judaean desert at 'Ajn Fešbah in Sept. 1947.
to which must be added the rich correspondence (published by A. Gambaro in the periodical Levana in 1924 and 1927 and then separately, Turin 1939).
The fundamental ideas set forth and defended by him are the following: even in the field of pedagogy the fundamental problem to be solved by the educator is the fraternal, serene and formative union of the educator's authority and the pupil's autonomy. The old method, which made everything consist in authority, in an iron discipline, which prescribed beforehand for the pupil every movement and every form according to which he was to mold himself, was an erroneous method; just as erroneous was the method of J. J. Rousseau, which prescribes to the educator to impose nothing, but to let the child develop on his own, according to his nature, which is fundamentally good. The true method, on the other hand, is to temper authority and personality: that is, to offer and surround the pupil with all those aids which do not take away from him the obligation of his own work, but impel him to it and point out to him the right path to follow: the teacher then becomes not the operator of education, but the cooperator. And this cooperation will be all the more valid the more it is pervaded by that vital breath which is the Christian love of souls; these will then acquire trust and confidence, and the pupil will always have a greater share in the direction of himself. "If the work is well conducted, it will be the child who truly educates himself" (Della educazione, ed. E. Codignola, Florence 1922, p. 30).
L. also insists a great deal on religious education; but the principles set forth above of the autonomy of reason even in the face of faith and its mysteries undermine its value and would cause one to deviate from the right path. Certainly religion must not be limited to external practices, but felt and lived, which does not mean becoming arbiters of whether or not to admit a truth revealed and taught by the Church, as L. more or less covertly means, but only giving to every external practice the accompaniment, indeed the foundation, of a profound knowledge and also, insofar as it is possible, of a taste rooted in the soul by the intimate persuasion of the intellect, even when the persuasion can derive only from the authority of the Church.
Bibliography5 works
Celestino Testore
LAMECH (Heb. Lemekh, in pause Lāmekh). -1. Sixth in the brief genealogy of Cain and son of Methushael (Gen. 4:17-24). The estrangement from God is complete in L., who to voluptuousness joins cruelty and indomitable pride. L. is the first to take two wives, Adah and Zillah. His brief song, the first poetic specimen according to the law of Hebrew rhythmics, breathes ferocity and swaggering self-assurance. He has no need of God; he declares himself ready to kill for a slight insult and to avenge himself far better than what God had promised for Cain. The connection is probable between these sentiments and the beginning of metal culture, due to Tubal-cain, son of L. (Gen. 4:22), which assured the Cainites supremacy over the others.
2. Descendant of Seth and son of Methuselah (Gen. 5:25-31; 1 Chron. 1:3; Luke 3:36 f.).
The attempt to identify the two genealogies (Ph. Buttmann, etc.) has in the mere identity of the name a very fragile foundation. The expression (Gen. 5:29) that accompanies the choice of the name Noah shows in L. a sentiment quite different from those found in the preceding one. F. de Hummelauer believes he establishes from the Samaritan Pentateuch that both the one and the other L. perished in the flood.
Bibliography4 works
Francesco Spadafora
ICONOGRAPHY
The Patriarch was depicted in the series of medallions painted in S. Croce in Gerusalemme (1123-44); however, only the legend remains: Lamech vix(it) septingentis septuaginta septem annis.
Bibliography
Enrico Josi
BOOK OF L
Apocryphal, mentioned in a biblical catalogue of the 10th century (cod. Vat. 423, f. 415), after the books of the Old and New Testaments, in the 3rd place of a list of apocrypha, after the book of Adam and the book of Enoch. It was found in the "4th scroll" (among those belonging to the Syro-Jacobite Convent of St. Mark in Jerusalem) discovered at 'Ajn Fešbah in Sept. 1947, which J. Trever in 1949 began to read, detaching from it two pieces (12.1 cm. × 21.7 cm.) with 26 lines of Aramaic text. Trever dates this manuscript between 25 B.C. and 25 A.D.
In lines 3 and 8 there is mention of Bit'ēnōl ("daughter of Enos") who in the Ethiopic version of the book of Jubilees 4, 28 appears (Bētēnōs) as the wife of L. In the Aramaic text of the "4th scroll," L. always speaks of himself in the 1st person. In the Ethiopic book of Enoch, traditions concerning L. are used but always in the 3rd person (the use of the 1st person is reserved for Enoch). An attempt is being made to work out this "4th scroll" entirely.
Bibliography2 works
Antonino Romeo