Commentaire sur La Genèse 4:25

וידע אדם AND ADAM KNEW — Lamech came to Adam Harishon, complaining about his wives. He (Adam) said to them: “Is it for you to be overparticular regarding God’s decrees? You do your duty, and He will do His!” They replied to him: “First correct yourself: have you not lived apart from your wife these 130 years, ever since, through you, death was decreed as a punishment?” At once ‘וידע אדם עוד וגו “Adam knew his wife עוד ” — What signifies the word עוד? It is used here to teach that his love for her was now greater than before (Genesis Rabbah 23:4-5).

וידע אדם עוד את אשתו, this occurred 130 years later than the last time, as is evident from 5,3. During the intervening years Adam had not sired any children because Chavah had been the cause of his being punished. He had kept his distance from her during all these years.

כי שת לי אלוקים זרע אחר תחת הבל, “for G’d has provided me with another seed to take the place of Hevel.” She said to Adam: “Look! Another seed in replacement of Hevel.” Chavah meant that if Hevel had not been slain, Sheth would not now have been born. This is the true meaning of the words תחת הבל, “a substitute for Hevel.” The Torah was careful not to say נפש תחת נפש, i.e. “another soul in replacement of the soul of Hevel.” Had the Torah written words to that effect, Sheth would not have been a true replacement of Hevel. You are aware already that all matters connected with the מעשה בראשית, the report of the creation, are in the realm of special “wisdoms.” This is why the Kabbalists saw themselves forced to look for all these allusions that we have mentioned thus far. Especially did they see allusions concerning משה רבנו, our great leader Moses, when they interpreted the word בשגם as a reference to Moses seeing that the numerical value of the letters in that word (345) is equal to the numerical value of the letters in the name משה. Moreover, the life span of 120 years accorded to man prior to the deluge which was introduced by the word בשגם (Genesis 6,3) is viewed as a reference to the life span of Moses. The word משה itself comprises all three, i.e. שת, הבל, משה (by re-arranging the letters) The fact that this “seed” is attributed by Chavah to G’d (instead of to Adam), was due to the fact that Sheth resembled Hevel extraordinarily. In fact the whole description of his birth indicates that he did not only appear to be a duplicate of Hevel but a duplicate of Adam himself who had been created in the image of G’d. For all these reasons Chavah credited G’d directly with giving her this third son. When she said: “whom Kayin had slain,” she meant that but for this murder she would not have merited to bear Sheth.

Lemech came... You do what you have been commanded... A difficulty arises: According to the first explanation [brought by Rashi above], that Lemech’s wives separated from him because he killed someone, what did Adam answer them? The answer is: Adam said to them, “Just because Lemech transgressed once, by killing, should he transgress further, and refrain from ‘Be fruitful and multiply’? [By way of metaphor,] if someone ate garlic [and has unpleasant breath, should he therefore eat more garlic]?” (Maharshal)

Chawa, die bei der Geburt ihres ersten Sohnes zunächst an sich, an ihren Anteil an dem Kinde dachte, hatte inzwischen tiefe Erfahrungen gemacht. Sie sprach nicht mehr קניתי, sondern שת לי אלדים, und erblickte darin nicht einen איש, sondern זרע, Saat, Boden einer neuen Zukunft; denn indem Kain den Hebel erschlug, hatte er nicht nur Hebel, sondern sich selber und seinem Geschlechte die Zukunft vernichtet, wie dies im vorangehenden Vers sein Urenkel prophetisch ausgesprochen. Im Scheth, שת, Grund, Stütze, (כי השתות יהרסון) erhielt die Hoffnung der Menschheit einen neuen Boden.

ותקרא את שמו שת, “she named him Sheth. Later on we get the impression that Adam had called this son Sheth. (5,3). The reason that there Adam, the father is credited with having named this son is only because when writing history, the Torah always traces the ancestry first and foremost to the father, it was quite in order to do so in that context.

כי שת לי אלוקים זרע אחר, seeing that this time she had given the credit to G’d, saying שת לי אלקים, “G’d gave me,” she named the son שת.

His desire for her was greater. Originally he had desire only when he saw Chavah, but now his desire was greater and he had a burning desire even when he did not see her. How does Rashi know this? Because the Torah should have instead said: “His wife conceived again.” That way, “again” would refer to her curse, the pain of pregnancy. Why does the Torah write “again” regarding “Adam knew his wife”? Obviously [he knew her, for] she could not conceive without relations. Perforce, it teaches “that his desire for her was greater...” Another answer: [Rashi knows this because] עוד is written only when the second action is close to the first. It implies actions in close succession, such as with Leah it is written (29:33): “And she conceived עוד,” meaning right after the first birth. But here, since Adam separated from his wife for 130 years, it should not say עוד, but simply, “Adam knew his wife.” Or, it should be called a second marriage, as with Amram who separated from his wife, and it is written (Shemos 2:1) that he “went and married.” So it seems to me.

שת, a reminder that the entire human race is descended from this man. The word is used in a similar context in the Bible in Samuel I 2,8: וישת עליהם תבל, “He has set the world upon them.” [Compare Chanah’s prayer, saying that G-d set the rocks as the foundation of the earth. Ed.] She hinted that the descendants of the senior brother all perished during the deluge.

כי הרגו קין, seeing that Kayin had killed Hevel she had not had any other seed from him. She perceived the birth of Sheth as G’d’s gift to her, compensating her for the loss of Hevel, who had not even left behind any offspring. This is why the Torah immediately continues telling us that Sheth, as opposed to Hevel, had offspring born to him whom he called Enosh. The meaning of the word גם, “also,” here is that “just as Chavah bore a son, so her son also sired a son, not only that but such offspring endured.” The Torah, significantly, does not tell us about Kayin’s offspring other than what we know about Lemech. The reason is that all of Kayin’s offspring was wiped out during the deluge. Noach was descended through Sheth.