527. The symbolism of Lamech as a church whose perception of truth and goodness was so general and vague as to be almost nonexistent, so that it was a church devastated, is established by the preceding verses. What follows — since the next verse describes this church — establishes the same meaning again.

In the last chapter Lamech symbolized almost the same thing as here, namely, devastation. (For more on this subject, see the previous chapter at verses 18, 19, 23-24 [§§404-411, 427-432].) The man who fathered him there had almost the same name — Methushael — so that the symbolism is almost the same as well. Methushael and Methuselah symbolize something that is dying, and Lamech something destroyed. ¹

Footnotes:

427. Genesis 4:23. And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, "Listen to my voice, wives of Lamech, and with your ears perceive what I say, because I killed a man for my wound and a little child for my bruise."

Lamech as before [§§405, 406] symbolizes devastation. He said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, that they should perceive with their ears what he said, is an admission of guilt, which is made only where the church exists, the church being symbolized by his wives, as mentioned [§409]. He killed a man for his wound means that he destroyed faith, a man symbolizing faith, as before [§§340, 367:1]. Killing a little child for his bruise is destroying charity. The wound and the bruise mean that nothing was sound any longer, the wound meaning that faith had been abandoned and the bruise meaning that charity had been wiped out.