Na’ama (Gen 4:22)

You Can’t Go Home Again

²² Tuval-Cain’s sister was Na’ama. וַֽאֲח֥וֹת תּֽוּבַל־קַ֖יִן נַֽעֲמָֽה׃

Na’ama is the first character we’ve met in these four chapters of Genesis who has no apparent role in the story. She does not speak and is not spoken to, does not give birth, is not “the godmother” of any particular activity. Says Robert Alter:

One might expect an identification that would align Naamah with her siblings as a founder of some basic activity of human culture, but if such an identification was part of the original epic roll call, it has been either lost or deleted.

There’s nothing about this phrase that’s different in any of the textual “witnesses” — that is, the ancient translations and manuscripts — to suggest any deletions, nor to suggest that this was an addition. It’s just something our text wanted to say. But why? There’s a place called Naama in Josh 15:41; unless our author happened to come from there, what reason would there be to mention it?

There is one other biblical character with this name, a relatively important one: the mother of Solomon’s son Rehoboam, first king of Judah and therefore the first in his line (after David and Solomon) not to rule over the Kingdom of Israel. 1 Kgs 14:21 & 31 and 2 Chr 12:13 all tell us that “his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.” Still, it’s hard to see why she would deserve a shout-out here.

The stories of David and Solomon are in fact hovering in the background of the stories in Genesis about the patriarchs. I’m not aware of anyone who’s suggested there are references to them in the Primeval History (Genesis 1–11), nor of any point that would be made by evoking Rehoboam’s mother’s name now.

But — ask your own P.R. guy — it ain’t that easy to get your name mentioned in the Bible. Here’s Nahum Sarna:

This surprising note, with no further information about her, implies some once well-known personage.

This is red meat for the “rabbinic fan fic” (as some like to describe it) called midrash. She’s in the Bible … must be important … other biblical clues can give us more information. Here is Sarna’s own effort, more scholarly than fictional, but still an exercise of imagination rather than of research:

The stem n-ʿ-m means “good, lovely,” and the name may express either her beauty or her character. The same stem also means “to sing.” Targum Jonathan makes her a professional singer.

Indeed it does:

She was a composer of dirges and music.

היא הות מרת קינין וזמרין

And so does Robert Alter:

The Midrash recognized that the root of her name can refer to song: perhaps Naamah is meant to be associated with her half brother Jubal, the founder of instrumental music he as accompanist, she as singer.

Why dirges specifically? Because the Hebrew/Aramaic word (קינין) includes Cain’s name, the reference to him that wasn’t quite there in Yuval’s own verse.

There is another way to explain the inclusion of her name here, more tied into the actual biblical story:

• Rashi: She was Noah’s wife.

• Ibn Ezra: Perhaps she is mentioned because she married one of Noah’s sons and survived the flood.

Nahmanides elaborates:

For other women who are listed in similar contexts as “sisters,” see 36:22, Num. 26:59, and 1 Chron. 7:15. According to Genesis Rabbah, some think she became Noah’s wife. Why was she called Naamah? Because everything she did was sweet and pleasant (naʾim). The point of this midrash is that she was well known in her time as a righteous woman who produced righteous children; this is why the text mentions her. If that is so, then Cain does have some slight remnant on earth. Certainly if she was not the woman who bore Noah’s three sons there would be no obvious reason to mention her. Another midrash says that she was the woman alluded to in 6:2 who led the “divine beings” astray (see Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer). Still others say that she became the wife of Shamdon and the mother of Ashmedai and therefore the ancestress of all the demons. Indeed, her name is found in manuals for summoning demons. The text alludes tersely to secrets of this kind.

(All three men are quoted from the English translations in my Commentators’ Bible series.)

The other “sisters” don’t really fall into this same category, however: