According to some scholars, the purpose of the Lamech periscope is to draw an unfavorable comparison between the Canaanite and Sethite lines. Lamech was the seventh Adamite generation via Kayin. He was a violent and lascivious man. He boasted of killing a young boy. He had multiple sexual conquests. Lamech’s masculine machismo stands in stark contrast to the Bible’s characterization of Enoch. The seventh Adamite generation via Seth, Enoch was a virtuous man who “walked with God” (5:24). Whereas Lamech excelled at fisticuffs and carnality, Enoch’s achievements were spiritual.
The best-known exposition of the Lamech periscope focuses on Lamech’s polygamy. The Creation narrative strongly hints that the preferred marital arrangement is heterosexual monogamy. “Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh (2:24).” Adam and Chavah maintain a monogamous relationship; so did the survivors of the Flood. Noah and his three sons each had one wife (7:13). Lamech was the first man to depart from the Divine plan by taking two wives. He introduced bigamy to the world. For that reason, his reputation has been irrevocably besmirched.
The Midrash claims that each of Lamech’s wives served a different purpose. Lamech married Adah exclusively for the sake of procreation. He had no other relationship with her; she lived like a scorned widow. Her name connotes pregnancy (Onkelos Genesis 4:1). Tragically, that was the entirety of her existence. Lamech married Zillah to satisfy his unbridled sexual urges. She drank a contraceptive elixir so that unwanted pregnancy did not ruin her appeal. She adorned herself like a harlot. Zillah’s name connotes that she was constantly in her husband’s company and sat in his shadow. The Midrash claims that Lamech was not alone in having two types of wife. Rather, this was a common practice of the corrupt generation of the Flood, and was one of the reasons those people were considered worthy of destruction (Bereshis Rabbah 23:2).
[The Jerusalem Talmud has a different recension of the Aggadah about Lamech. In this version, Adah was the trophy wife and Zillah was the wife designated for childbearing. The name Adah homiletically is connected to the Hebrew מתעדן, meaning to overindulge in pleasure. The name Zillah is favorably expounded upon to mean that intercourse with her husband was always effectuated modestly, in shaded or private areas (Yerushalmi Yebamoth 7c). However, the account in Genesis Rabbah seems more accurate. A late Midrashic work notes that Esau took multiple wives, Adah for procreation and Oholibamah for gratification (Genesis Rabbati Vaylishlach 160). In both Lamech’s (4:20) and Esau’s (36:4) cases, respectively, the wife named Adah is recorded as the first wife to give birth, implying that that was her purpose. Moreover, concerning Zillah’s giving birth, Scripture uses the term גם היא (4:22), implying that it was an afterthought or a secondary consideration for her.]
Kli Yakar noted that Adah, the scorned woman considered useless but for her fertile womb, gave birth to virtuous children who excelled as shepherds and musicians. The Biblical heroes took up those estimable professions. Zillah, the sexually objectified wife, gave birth to an ironsmith who fashioned weapons of war. Kli Yakar considered it fitting that someone who copulated too frequently – an activity regarded in antiquity as deleterious to one’s health and causing an earlier death – would bring into the world someone whose trade was to produce implements that shortened lives.
A final approach to the appearance of the Canaanite line in Scripture focuses not on Lamech and his wives but on their children. In many ancient cultures, many aspects of civilization and technological progress were attributed to gods or demigods. In rejecting the pagan creation myths popular among Israel’s neighbors, the Hebrew Bible emphasizes that all advancements in human civilization are the product of human inventiveness. It was a person who discovered agriculture; another person discovered animal husbandry; another discovered/invented metalsmithing; and another discovered the art of music. Though humanity would not ultimately descend from that particular genealogical line, Scripture teaches that we all benefit from the collective genius of those who came before us.
