Komentarz do Rodzaju 4:17

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.

[Kayin] was building a city. The verb is in the present tense to indicate that he continued building it his entire life, in the way of the avaricious who are never satisfied with what they possess.

וידע קין...ויהי בונה עיר, at the time when a son was born for him he was engaged in building a town to serve as residence for himself and his children in subsequent generations. All of this was east of Eden. This is why he named the town the same as he named his son, i.e. Chanoch.

ויהי בונה עיר, “he became a builder of a city.” Nachmanides explains that originally Kayin had not entertained the idea of building anything permanent as he was afraid he would both remain childless and a wanderer. After a son had been born for him, he built the city and named it after his son. Seeing that he himself was cursed and his efforts were doomed to failure, he did not name the city after himself but after his son. This would create the impression that his son had built it, and it would have a chance to endure. Seeing that the Torah writes the words ויהי בונה עיר, in the present, ongoing tense, instead of writing the words ויבן עיר, “he built a city,” we learn that henceforth Kayin continuously engaged in building cities, habitations for human beings, the backbone of any civilization. He had to keep doing this as whatever he accomplished was short-lived. The reason why the Torah bothers to list the descendants of Kayin and their accomplishments although all of them perished in the deluge, is to show for how long G’d’s patience lasts and for how long He gives successive generations a chance to repair the spiritual damage inflicted by their forbears. It is likely that only six generations of Kayin existed before the deluge, although it is possible that the Torah saw no point in mentioning any additional generations as none of its members distinguished themselves in any manner. The reason why the Torah details Lemech’s admonitions to his wives may be because Kayin and his sons already had died before Lemech fathered any children. [whereas the Torah mentions the death of each of the founders of the generations born to Sheth, it does not do so with the descendants of Kayin, indicating that none of these people were missed when they died. Ed.]

ויהי בונה עיר, “he became a city-builder.” He did not build the city for himself but for his son, seeing that he himself did not have a fixed abode on earth. Seeing that he was cursed and whatever he undertook did not succeed, the Torah uses the expression ויהי בונה עיר in the present tense instead of saying “he built a city,” to show that he kept on building the same city, never completing it successfully.
Kayin’s descendants and their occupations are recorded to show that G’d is very patient and allowed Kayin to live a long time during which he became a father, a grandfather and a great-grandfather many times over. This is Nachmanides’ view of this paragraph

Kayin was building. Rashi is explaining that Kayin is the one who “was building a city,” not Chanoch although his name is mentioned immediately before. Otherwise, why would it say: “He named the city after his son Chanoch”?

Es heißt nicht ויבן עיר, er erbaute eine Stadt, sondern: er ward ein Stadterbauer. Mit ihm beginnt eine neue Bestrebung: die Stadt. — Kain war losgelöst vom Boden, der Acker trug ihn nicht mehr, losgelöst von Gott und seinen Nebenmenschen, was blieb ihm? Er selbst bleibt sich, der Fonds von geistigen Kräften und Fähigkeiten, den der Mensch in seiner Persönlichkeit trägt, und daraus ging ganz natürlich das Städtebauen hervor. Die Stadt, im Gegensatz zum Lande, ist durch völliges Loslösen vom Acker, vom Landbau bedingt. Sie ist ein KompleO von Menschen, die nur aus Menschenkräften ihre Existenz schaffen. Die von dem Lande produzierten Stoffe werden in der Stadt zu Menschenzwecken umgewandelt und erhalten aus der Hand der Kunst und Industrie den Stempel der Menschenintelligenz. Des Städters Acker sind seine Kräfte, sein Geist und seine Fähigkeiten. Daher werden diese entwickelt, wie dies sogleich weiter erzählt wird. Auf dem Lande wird der Acker, in der Stadt der Mensch "kultiviert". In der Stadt werden alle im Menschen schlummernden Kräfte geweckt, der Mensch wird wach; vielleicht heißt darum die Stadt עיר von עור, wachwerden, und ist es eine buchstäbliche Wahrheit, ויציצו מעיר כעשב הארץ, die Menschenblüte entfaltet sich in der Stadt, wie die Blüte der Pflanzen auf dem Felde (Ps. 72, 16). Dieser Gegensatz von Stadt zu Land tritt auch in späteren Gesetzen hervor. Der Stamm Levi, der keinen Anteil am Boden haben sollte, bekam Städte; der Mörder, der vom heiligen Boden verscheucht werden sollte, wie Kain von dem Gesamtboden, wurde in Städte verwiesen. Ebenso werden בתי ערי הומה als vom Boden abgelöst betrachtet und wandern bleibend von Hand zu Hand wie mobiles Gut. Es ist somit tief charakteristisch, dass das erste Städteleben mit Kain, dem vom Boden Gelösten und auf sich Verwiesenen, beginnt. Sein erster Sohn gab ihm das Bedürfnis, eine Zukunft zu gründen, und es gab für ihn kein anderes Mittel, als der Anfang einer Städtegründung.

...and he built a city: As Cain now understood the will of God: That it is good to deal much with his needs, and not to live like an animal or beast by way of only working the ground - but rather to pursue a particularly human life. Therefore he built himself a city.