창세기 4:17 해설: Rashi, Ramban, Kli Yakar & Radak

ויהי AND HE WAS— Cain was, not Enoch — בונה עיר BUILDING A CITY ויקרא שם העיר AND HE CALLED THE NAME OF THE CITY (named the city) as a memorial of his son — חנוך.

AND HE BUILDED A CITY, AND CALLED THE NAME OF THE CITY AFTER THE NAME OF HIS SON ENOCH. For at first Cain thought that he would be childless on account of his sin, but after a child was born to him he began to build a city for his son to dwell therein. But because he himself was cursed and his works would not prosper, he called the city “Enoch,” thus proclaiming that he did not build it for himself since he has no city or dwelling place in the land because he was a fugitive and wanderer; rather, the building would be for Enoch, and it is as if Enoch had built it for himself.
Now since it does not say vayiven ir (and he built a city) — [but rather, vayehi boneh ir, which literally means “and he was building a city,”] as it says elsewhere, vayiven (and he builded) Nineveh;⁴⁴⁶Genesis 10:11. And the children of Gad built Dibon⁴⁴⁷Numbers 32:34. — it indicates that he was building the city all his days because his works were cursed. Thus he would build a little with effort and toil, and then move and wander off from that place and return there and build a little more, but he would not prosper in his ways.
The descendants of Cain and his works were recorded in Scripture in order to make known that G-d is long-suffering and that He prolonged the time of his punishment,⁴⁴⁸See Exodus 34:6. This constitutes one of the Thirteen Attributes of G-d. for he begot children and children’s children, and then it relates how He visited the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,⁴⁴⁹Ibid., Verse 7. and his descendants perished. Our Rabbis say⁴⁵⁰Koheleth Rabbah 6:3. that Cain lived many years and that he died in the flood. Thus his hoary head did not go down to the grave in peace,⁴⁵¹See I Kings 2:6. rather he saw his destruction and all his seed with him.⁴⁵²Genesis 46:6.
It would appear that Cain’s descendants consisted of only six generations⁴⁵³Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methusael, Lamech, Jabal and Jubal and Tubal-Cain (three brothers). Scripture does not relate any history beyond the children of Lamech for they all perished in the flood. until the flood, while among the descendants of Seth [the third son of Adam] there were an additional two generations before the flood.⁴⁵⁴Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah. [It may be that Cain’s descendants consisted of more than six generations before the flood, but Scripture] had no need to relate anything concerning them. It recorded only the names of those who began the building of cities, the grazing of sheep, the art of music, and the skill of working with metals. Scripture also recorded Lamech’s chastisement of his wives in order to tell us that he did beget children but his sons perished before they begot offspring.

And he was building a city. It doesn’t say “and he built” but rather he was building in the present tense, to indicate that he was continuously building all his days and his building was never completed. For this is their foolish way — that anyone who loves earthly possessions like Cain and his companions is forever building and proceeding, and can never complete his building all his days, because he never has enough of what he lacks. If he has one hundred, he desires two hundred, as is well known about the nature of all those who love money. Therefore, he is forever building and going, and all his days he has no rest, but rather is restless and wandering on the earth like Cain who was restless and wandering. So too is every lover of money — restless and wandering, sitting at home little, as most of his days he chases after wealth as if he were hunting a partridge in the hills. He runs with feet like deer through the desert, mountain, and lowland, crossing ocean paths, all the days of his life — these being the nights too, as even at night his heart does not rest. For he will go to all dangerous places to attain what his soul loves; they will seek but not find, and will never reach their goal, rather all their days they are building and going — cities of poverty that endanger their soul and body, leaving for others the wealth and walls which they built and planted. And a sign for this matter: In the alphabet, the letters spelling “poor” are adjacent and follow the letters spelling “money,” indicating that all who love money are forever poor in their mindset. But that which is said The Lord builds Jerusalem (Psalms 147:2) in the present tense can be explained according to what is concluded in the Gemara (Bava Batra 75a): He saw ministering angels who were cutting precious stones and pearls, etc. He said to them, “For whom are these?” They said to him, “The Holy One, Blessed be He, will set them in the gates of Jerusalem, etc.” If so, at all times The Lord builds Jerusalem, and this is easily understood. Similarly, the language of “building” said regarding Cain hints that he was continuously building forever, as it is written A man to whom God will give wealth and possessions, etc., but God will not enable him to eat from it (Ecclesiastes 6:2). Note that “will give” is in the future tense, when it should have said “gave.” Rather, this is its interpretation: Anyone who is not satisfied with what God has granted him and is always seeking what God will give him — more wealth and possessions beyond what he already has — such a person is surely a scoundrel, a miser, and a penny-pincher, and has no control over his own possessions to eat from them, all the more so to give to others.