Vulcan (Gen 4:22)

You Can’t Go Home Again

²² Zilla too gave birth וְצִלָּ֣ה גַם־הִ֗וא יָֽלְדָה֙

Mazel tov! But … what do you mean “too”?

Cassuto comments:

Compare v. 26, 10:21, and many more examples of this kind.

Truth be told, there aren’t that many — maybe ten or a dozen. This is the first, so we’d like to know what (if anything) it adds to the story. We did see Abel “too” bringing an offering in v. 4, in a passage that is clearly calculating the equation of Cain = or ≠ Abel. But there’s no interaction between these two women, no storyline asking for a comparison between them. Once Lemekh is done addressing them, both will disappear from the Bible forever (though Esau will marry Ada’s namesake in Genesis 36).

The translations deal with this little word in a variety of ways:

• NRSV: Zillah bore Tubal-cain. [omits it entirely]

• KJV: And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain. [deadpan]

• NJPS: As for Zillah, she bore Tubal-cain. [as if we might have forgotten her]

David Kimhi (quoted here in my Commentators’ Bible translation) is the only one I’ve found who pays some attention to the question of why that little word is here:

As for Zillah. Zillah “also” (OJPS) had a child who had an intense desire to practice a particular craft. Both these women may have had other children, but these are mentioned because each of them brought something new into the world.

Aha! We are not being told about these women’s children for genealogical purposes. After all, even if we somehow imagine starting with just Adam and Eve, by this time hundreds of children have been born. No, we’re being told that both Ada and Zilla gave birth to “culture heroes.” It’s yet another indication that one of the themes of this story is the growth and development of civilization. Quite interesting what two little letters — גם gam — can do.

to Tuval-Cain אֶת־תּ֣וּבַל קַ֔יִן

The final son identified as a culture hero in this story shares a name not only with his two half-brothers — Yaval, Yuval, and Tuval — but also with both of Adam’s two sons, Cain and Abel. The names provide a closing cadence that tells us we are nearing the end of this particular story. I can’t help thinking of Pope John Paul I, who named himself after his two very different predecessors. (He in turn generously gave his name to his successor, from whom Chicago White Sox pitcher Donn Pall got the nickname “Pope,” but that’s another story.)

The Cain/qáyin element of the name is not just a nod to the past; we’ll talk more about it in a moment. First, let’s note that all three of Lemekh’s sons (whom we know about) have names that reflect Abel’s, but unlike his hével their names are derived from יבל y-b-l ‘bring’, in this case apparently because they are bringing something new and productive into the world. Indeed, a noun from this root, יבול y’vul, refers to agricultural produce. Abel’s name hével clearly refers to his role in the story (here today, gone tomorrow), and the names of these brothers do the same, turning Abel’s dead end into three streams of progress in culture and civilization.