Adah and Zillah by N. J. E.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 8, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 10.

Adah and Zillah

By N. J. E.

3065.—Adah and Zillah. Gen. 4: 23.—N. J. E.—We have no record anywhere else of Adah and Zillah. They were two wives of Lamech. Polygamy had begun as early as that. The speech is not clear. He may have slain but one person,—“I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me.” Told in poetical style the thought is repeated. Possibly, of course, there were two; but we would gather that it was one. There are those who contend that the man whom Lamech slew was Cain; but that is all guesswork. The thought of the latter part of the song is that if one should be punished for slaying Cain, who killed his brother unprovoked, in cold blood, surely one should be avenged for slaying Lamech, who slew a young man in self-defense. Cain slew out of the pure selfishness of his heart; Lamech slew to save his life; somebody had already wounded him. It might be considered just to slay Cain, inasmuch as he was a manslayer; but it could in no wise be considered just to slay Lamech, when he had only defended his own life, and that resulted in the slaying of a young man.