Midrasch zu Bereschit 4:18

"And Enoch begat Erad..." Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: They all refer to rebellion. Erad - I will drive him out from the world. Mechuya'el - I will erase him from the world. Metusha'el - I will weaken him from the world. Lemech - What do I need with Lemech and his descendents? "And Lemech took for himself two wives, one was named Adah and the second was named Tzilah" (Genesis 4:19). Rabbi Azariah said in the name of Rabbi Yehudah bar Simon: this is what the men of the generation of the Flood would do: each of them would take two wives, one for procreation and one for pleasure. The one who was for procreation would sit as if she was a widow in her own lifetime (in the lifetime of her husband), and the one that was for pleasure would drink a cup for sterility so that she did not bear [children], and would sit by him adorned like a prostitute. As it is written: "He devours the barren that do not conceive, and does not do good to the widow" (Job 24:21). Know that among them the best was Lemech, and he took two wives, as it says "And Lemech took for himself two wives, one was named Adah" - because she became pregnant [adah] "and the second was named Tzilah" - because she sat in his shade [tzel].

(Gen. 6:4, cont.:) THESE WERE THE MIGHTY MEN THAT WERE OF OLD, THE MEN WITH A NAME, < i.e., > men whose names have been specified above (in Gen. 4:18): Mehujael, since the Holy One (i.e., El) blotted (mihah) their names from the world; Methushael (ibid.), since God (El) drove him out (nethasho). THE MEN WITH A NAME,¹¹³Tanh. Gen. 1:12. because they were obstinate and rebellious against the Holy One. Thus it is stated (in Job 21:14): YET THEY SAY TO GOD: DEPART FROM US…. R. Isaac said: Why were they rebellious? Because they would sow one year and it would produce a harvest for forty years. R. Samuel bar Ammi said: Why were they rebellious? Because they were seeing children and children's children; yet they < themselves > were not dying. The Holy One said: From now on (according to Gen. 8:22) WHILE THERE ARE DAYS ON EARTH, < THERE SHALL BE NO CESSATION OF > SOWING AND HARVEST; i.e., they were begetting and burying. (Ibid., cont.:) COLD AND HEAT; i.e., < while > afflictions had not come upon them, from now on they would be afflicted by fire and snow. There is a story about a certain student of R. Aqiva¹¹⁴Tanh., Gen. 1:13; yMSh 4 at the end (55c); see Lam. R. 1:1 (16). who was told in a dream: You are dying in < the month of > Adar, and you shall not see Nisan. That which you have sown you shall not reap. He came to R. Aqiva. He said to him: You will die in glory (addirut), you shall not come to the hands of temptation (nissayon), and that which you have begotten you shall not bury. The Holy One said: In this world, because the evil drive exists, afflictions < also > exist among the children of Adam; but in the world to come I am rooting them out from you. It is so stated (in Ezek. 36:26): I WILL REMOVE THE HEART OF STONE FROM YOUR FLESH. I am also reviving your {ancestors} [wings]; for thus has Isaiah stated (in Is. 40:31): BUT THEY THAT WAIT FOR THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH; [THEY SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS AS EAGLES].

Another interpretation (of Gen. 22:1): NOW IT CAME TO PASS AFTER THESE THINGS. What reflection took place there?¹⁴⁵Tanh., Gen. 4:18; Gen. R. 55:4; cf. Sanh. 89b. There seems to be a play on words here between ‘HR (“after”) and HRHR (“reflection”). Thus the midrash here understands Gen. 22:1 to begin, “Now it came to pass that he reflected over these things.” See also Gen. R. 44:5. Isaac was reflecting on when he had contended with Ishmael. [Now Ishmael had complained] and said: I am older than you. I shall inherit the world because I am my father's first-born, and the first-born always inherits twofold (according to Deut. 21:15-17). Isaac said to him: Tell me, what does the Holy One have of yours? Ishmael said to him: I will tell you what I have done, if I have done nothing else. Because I was thirteen years old when Daddy circumcised me, I could have said: It is not my wish to be circumcised; but I gave my life < blood > and took < circumcision > upon myself. Isaac said to him: See, all that you loaned¹⁴⁶The Buber text omits a letter and reads, “borrowed.” to the Holy One were three drops of blood. But I know that when the Holy One wants me to be slaughtered, now when I am thirty-seven years old,¹⁴⁷See below, 46; Gen. R. 56:8; PRE 31; TDER 25 (27); TDEZ 2; Seder ‘Olam I. and the Holy One is telling daddy to sacrifice me, I will not prevent < him >. The Holy One said to the angels: Now is the hour. He immediately rushed to Abraham. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 22:1): NOW IT CAME TO PASS AFTER ('HR) THESE THINGS. Hence you learn that there were reflections (HRHR) over things there.