בראשית, פרק ד׳, פסוק י״ט

The development of humanity and the structure of the family take a dramatic turn with Lamech, marking a sharp moral decline in the era before the Flood. By introducing the first recorded instance of polygamy [רד״ק, שד״ל, שטיינזלץ], Lamech shatters the natural norm of monogamy to satisfy his personal desires [העמק דבר]. This disruption immediately breeds jealousy, competition, and domestic strife, eventually forcing him to appease or threaten his wives in his famous song [רד״ק, שד״ל, ביאור יש״ר]. Detailing his family at this juncture also sets the stage for the conclusion of Cain's story, as Lamech will later kill him accidentally, prompting a necessary apology to his household [רש״י, מזרחי, תולדות יצחק].

The primary approach among commentators is that Lamech's household reflects a corrupt social custom prevalent in his generation, where men married two women for entirely separate purposes: one for childbearing and one for physical pleasure [רש״י, כלי יקר, הכתב והקבלה]. The wife designated for pleasure was given a sterilizing potion so that pregnancy would not ruin her beauty. She was endlessly pampered, fed delicacies, and adorned like a bride, while the wife meant for procreation was despised, isolated, and left to mourn like a widow [רש״י, צאינה וראינה]. Conversely, a minority view suggests that Lamech actually defied this wicked custom, taking both wives for the sake of procreation as a spiritual rectification. Because of this, his descendants merited integration into Noah's family and survived the Flood [אדרת אליהו]. Another tradition asserts that Lamech violently abducted his wives from the family of Seth after murdering their husbands, which explains their profound alienation and his later need to pacify them [חומת אנך].

While some consider the wives' names to be standard personal names without hidden meaning [אבן עזרא], or names simply indicating beauty and a pleasant voice [קאסוטו], most commentators view them as direct reflections of their grim roles within this distorted family structure [הכתב והקבלה]. Adah was the wife designated for procreation. Her name is rooted either in the Aramaic word for pregnancy [כלי יקר, תורה תמימה] or in the concept of distancing, as her husband would abandon her as soon as she conceived, leaving her lonely and rebuked [רש״י, הכתב והקבלה]. Because her role served the proper and necessary goal of sustaining humanity, she was rewarded with decent sons who pursued peaceful professions, including music designed to praise God and awaken spiritual inspiration [כלי יקר].

Zillah, on the other hand, was the wife kept purely for pleasure. Her name indicates that she constantly sat in her husband's shadow, shielded, groomed, and kept close by his side [רש״י, הכתב והקבלה, תורה תמימה]. Although Lamech gave her the sterilizing potion to preserve her youth, God's will and the forces of nature overpowered the drug, and she conceived [מלבי״ם, דעת זקנים, משכיל לדוד]. However, because her relationship was built exclusively on physical lust—a drive that naturally diminishes human vitality—her son, Tubal-Cain, became a manufacturer of swords and weapons, tools designed to shorten human life [כלי יקר]. God performed the miracle of overriding the potion not to bring this weapon-maker into the world, but for the sake of Zillah's future daughter, Naamah, a righteous woman who would go on to marry Noah [דברי דוד].