21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Legend

Genesis 4:21-24

 

א וְשֵׁ֥ם אָחִ֖יו יוּבָ֑ל ה֣וּא הָיָ֔ה אֲבִ֕י כָּל־תֹּפֵ֥שׂ כִּנּ֖וֹר וְעוּגָֽב:

כב וְצִלָּ֣ה גַם־הִ֗וא יָֽלְדָה֙ אֶת־תּ֣וּבַל קַ֔יִן לֹטֵ֕שׁ כָּל־חֹרֵ֥שׁ נְח֖שֶׁת וּבַרְזֶ֑ל וַאֲח֥וֹת תּֽוּבַל־קַ֖יִן נַֽעֲמָֽה:

כג וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לֶ֜מֶךְ לְנָשָׁ֗יו עָדָ֤ה וְצִלָּה֙ שְׁמַ֣עַן קוֹלִ֔י נְשֵׁ֣י לֶ֔מֶךְ הַֽאֲזֵ֖נָּה אִמְרָתִ֑י כִּ֣י אִ֤ישׁ הָרַ֨גְתִּי֙ לְפִצְעִ֔י וְיֶ֖לֶד לְחַבֻּֽרָתִֽי:

כד כִּ֥י שִׁבְעָתַ֖יִם יֻֽקַּם־קָ֑יִן וְלֶ֖מֶךְ שִׁבְעִ֥ים וְשִׁבְעָֽה:

 

Translation: The name of his brother was Yuval; he was the father of all playing the harp and ugav.

Tsillah, she gave birth to Tuval Qain sharpening every tool of bronze and iron; the sister of Tuval Qain was Naamah.

Lemekh said to his wives “Adah and Tsillah, obey me, wives of Lemekh hearken to my saying; if I killed a man [was it] for my wounding? or a boy, for my injury?

If Qain is avenged shivataim; then Lemekh seventy seven.”

 

I said I would tell you what it meant that both the Qain episode and the Lemekh episode use yuqam.  Actually, it’s more than that, isn’t it? Lemekh knows the Qain story as an oral narrative among his people and quotes what Gd said to Qain.

 

The Lemekh episode is what Axel Olrik calls a legend. It’s short. It’s one episode. There’s only one important character; all that about his wives and children is partly a distinction between him and somebody else we’ll meet soon.

 

A legend ends with an exclamation that sums up the main character, or sums up the main issue of the episode. In this case it does both. It shows that Lemekh is presumptuous enough to think he’ll get away with his killing far longer than Qain did. This is an example of one of Axel Olrik’s principles called the Law of Ascent. Oral traditions often have repeated stories about an important issue, like killing. One of them will sometimes be more extreme than the other, like here, and that is what Olrik mean by “ascent”. Both the extremity and the walk through the generations show that the tradition places Lemekh after Qain, as does the technological advance of using iron.

 

This is one of two types of legend; it’s an anecdote. There are also origin legends, about the origin of a custom.  We don’t have that here. The idea that a killer is going to get away with it for what amounts to several centuries, is not part of the Jewish concept of fairness. That’s not why this anecdote is here.

 

Why it’s here is that people killing each other is not how society should work and that’s how the Qain and Lemekh stories relate. They also contrast with the next part of Torah, which is where we’ll find that word yoled I told you about.