Genesis 4:23

_AND LAMECH SAID UNTO HIS WIVES, ADAH AND ZILLAH, HEAR MY VOICE; YE WIVES OF LAMECH, HEARKEN UNTO MY SPEECH: FOR I HAVE SLAIN A MAN TO MY WOUNDING, AND A YOUNG MAN TO MY HURT._ Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah. The passage which follows is poetical, as is evident from the use of certain forms of expression in the original, as well as from the parallelistic strophes, which are a characteristic of Hebrew poetry. The insertion of such a rhapsody, which apparently contains neither doctrine nor fact worthy of historical preservation, has greatly puzzled commentators. But as it is the most ancient piece of poetical composition in the world, perhaps this primitive inartificial chant was intended to prove that Lamech was the father of poetry, as his sons were the founders or inventors of other arts. Whether it comprised the whole effusion, or is merely the fragment of a longer poem,...

23._Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech_. The intention of Moses is to describe the ferocity of this man, who was, however, the fifth in descent from the fratricide Cain, in order to teach us, that, so far from being terrified by the example of divine judgment which he had seen in his ancestor, he was only the more hardened. Such is the obduracy of the impious, that they rage against those chastisements of God, which ought at least to render them gentle. The obscurity of this passage, which has procured for us a variety of interpretations, mainly arises hence; that whereas Moses speaks abruptly, interpreters have not considered what is the tendency of his speech. The Jews have, according to their manner, invented a foolish fable; namely, that Lamech was a hunter and blind, and had a boy to direct his hand; that Cain, while he was concealed in the woods, was shot through by his arrow, becau...

19-24 One of Cain's wicked race is the first recorded, as having broken the law of marriage. Hitherto, one man had but one wife at a time; but Lamech took two. Wordly things, are the only things that carnal, wicked people set their hearts upon, and are most clever and industrious about. So it was with this race of Cain. Here was a father of shepherds, and a father of musicians, but not a father of the faithful. Here is one to teach about brass and iron, but none to teach the good knowledge of the Lord: here are devices how to be rich, and how to be mighty, and how to be merry; but nothing of God, of his fear and service. Present things fill the heads of most. Lamech had enemies, whom he had provoked. He draws a comparison betwixt himself and his ancestor Cain; and flatters himself that he is much less criminal. He seems to abuse the patience of God in sparing Cain, into an encouragement...

Verse Genesis 4:23. _AND LAMECH SAID UNTO HIS WIVES_] The speech of Lamech to his wives is in hemistichs in the original, and consequently, as nothing of this kind occurs before this time, it is very probably the _oldest piece of poetry in the world_. The following is, as nearly as possible, a literal translation: "And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Tsillah, hear ye my voice; Wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech; For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for having bruised me. If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, Also Lamech seventy and seven....

- XIX. The Line of Cain 17. חניך _ch__e__nôk_, Chanok, “initiation, instruction.” 18. עירד _‛__ı̂yrād_, ‘Irad, “fleet as the wild ass, citizen.” מחוּיאל _m__e__chûya'el_, Mechujael, “smitten of ‘El, or life of ‘El.” מתוּשׁאל _m__e__tûshā'ēl_, Methushael, “man of ‘El, or man asked.” למך _lāmek_, Lemek, “man of prayer, youth.” 19. עדה _'ādâh_, ‘Adah, “

EXPOSITION GENESIS 4:17 Domiciled in Nod, whither, impelled by woman's love, his wife had accompanied him, the unhappy fugitive began to seek, if not to find, relief from the gnawing agonies of remorse in the endearments of conjugal felicity and the occupations of secular industry. AND CAIN KNEW HIS WIFE. Who must have been his sister, and married before the death of Abel, as "after that event it can scarcely be supposed, that any woman would be willing to connect herself with such a miserable fratricide" (Bush). Though afterwards forbidden, the tendency of Divine legislation on the subject of marriage being always in the direction of enlarging rather than restricting the circle of prohibited relationships, the union of brothers and sisters at the first was clearly indispensable, if the race was to multiply outwards from a common stock. ...

AND LAMECH SAID UNTO HIS WIVES, ADAH AND ZILLAH,.... Confessing what he had done, or boasting what he would do should he be attacked; or in order to make his wives easy, who might fear from his fierceness and cruelty; and the murders he had committed, or on account of Abel's murder, Genesis 4:15 that either the judgments of God would fall upon him and them, or some man or other would dispatch him and his; wherefore calling them together, he thus bespeaks them, HEAR MY VOICE, YE WIVES OF LAMECH, HEARKEN UNTO MY SPEECH; this he said in an imperious manner to them, demanding their attention and regard, and as glorying in, instead of being ashamed of his polygamy, and in a blustering way, as neither fearing God nor man; or rather speaking comfortably to them, to remove their fears: FOR I HAVE SLAIN A MAN TO MY WOUNDING, AND A YOUNG MAN TO MY HURT; which, as

TO MY WOUNDING Or, who wounded me. Cain had slain an unoffending man and yet was protected by Jehovah; how much more Lamech, who had slain in self-defence....

CHAPTER 4 After the Fall and the Two Seeds _ 1. Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1)_ 2. Their offerings (Genesis 4:3) 3. The divine remonstrance (Genesis 4:6) 4. Abel slain by his brother (Genesis 4:8) 5. Cain's judgment (Genesis 4:9) 6. Cain and his offspring and the progress of the world (Genesis 4:17) 7. Seth in place of Abel (Genesis 4:25)...

Cainite and Sethite Genealogies. Genesis 4:17 probably belongs to the earliest stratum of J, in which the progress of civilisation is not interrupted by the Flood, and the human race is derived from Adam through Cain. When the story of the Deluge was added and the race of Cain was believed to have been exterminated in the Flood, a Sethite genealogy was required. Only a fragment (Genesis 4:25 f) of this is given from J, the redactor having omitted the rest since it was given with dates by P (5). The Sethite table is modelled on the Cainite, for several of the names recur in the same or a slightly altered form. While P gives a bare list, J adds interesting details. This section, moreover, does not belong to the same stratum of J as the story of Cain and Abel. In the latter, Cain is a homeless wanderer in the de