John Calvin Commentary Genesis 4:23

"And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for bruising me:" — Genesis 4:23 (ASV)

Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech. The intention of Moses is to describe the ferocity of this man—who was, however, the fifth in descent from the fratricide Cain—in order to teach us that, far from being terrified by the example of divine judgment he had seen in his ancestor, he was only more hardened.

Such is the obduracy of the impious that they rage against God's chastisements, which ought at least to make them gentle. The obscurity of this passage, which has led to a variety of interpretations, mainly arises from this: because Moses speaks abruptly, interpreters have not considered the purpose of his speech.

The Jews have, according to their custom, invented a foolish fable: namely, that Lamech was a hunter and blind, and had a boy to direct his hand; that Cain, while concealed in the woods, was shot by his arrow because the boy, mistaking him for a wild beast, had directed his master’s hand towards him; and that Lamech then took revenge on the boy, who by his imprudence had been the cause of the murder.

Ignorance of the true state of the case has caused everyone to conjecture whatever they pleased. But to me, the opinion of those seems true and simple who interpret the past tense as future and understand its application to be indefinite, as if he had boasted that he had enough strength and violence to slay anyone, even the strongest enemy.

I therefore read it thus: ‘I will slay a man for my wound, and a young man for my bruise,’ or ‘in my bruise and wound.’ But, as I have said, the reason he had this conversation with his wives should be noted. We know that bloodthirsty men, as they are a terror to others, are also hated by everyone everywhere.

Lamech’s wives, therefore, were justly alarmed because of their husband, whose violence was intolerable to the whole human race, fearing that if a conspiracy were formed, everyone would unite to crush him as someone deserving of public hatred and execration. Now Moses, to show Lamech’s desperate barbarity—seeing that the soothing influence of wives often tends to soften cruel and ferocious men—declares that Lamech unleashed the venom of his cruelty into the very hearts of his wives.

The sum of it all is this: he boasts that he has enough courage and strength to strike down anyone who dares to attack him. The repetition in the use of the words ‘man’ and ‘young man’ is according to Hebrew phraseology, so no one should think different persons are meant by them. He only amplifies his furious audacity in the second part of the sentence, when he boasts that young men in the flower of their age would be no match for him, as if to say, ‘Let the mightiest man come forward; there is no one I will not kill.’

Far from calming his wives with the hope that he would lead a more humane life, he erupts with threats of sheer, indiscriminate slaughter against everyone, like a furious wild beast.

From this it is clear that he was so filled with ferocity as to have retained nothing human. The nouns wound and bruise can be read in various ways.

If they are rendered ‘for my wound and bruise,’ then the sense will be: ‘I confidently take full responsibility for any danger; whatever happens will be at my own risk, for I have a ready means of escape.’ Then what follows must be read in connection with this: If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

If the ablative case is preferred for ‘in my wound and bruise,’ there will still be two possible explanations. The first is: ‘Even if I am wounded, I would still kill the man; what then will I not do when I am unhurt?’ The other, and, in my judgment, the sounder and more consistent explanation, is: ‘If anyone provokes me by injury, or attempts any act of violence, he will feel that he has to deal with a strong and valiant man; nor will anyone who injures me escape without punishment.’

This example shows that people continually slide from bad to worse. The wickedness of Cain was indeed awful, but Lamech’s cruelty advanced so far that he was unsparing of human blood.

Besides, when he saw his wives terrified, instead of becoming mild, he only grew sharper and more confirmed in his cruelty. Thus, the brutality of cruel men increases as they find themselves more hated, so that instead of being touched by penitence, they are ready to bury one murder under ten others.

From this it follows that once they have become steeped in blood, they shed it and drink it without restraint.