Lemekh and His Wives in Art/0/he

למך ונשיו באמנות

סקירה

דמותו של למך מוזכרת בתורה רק בקצרה, בסצנה בה הוא נושא נאום לנשותיו, בו הוא רומז על מעשה רצח, אך לא מפרט מעבר לכך. ארבעת היצירות המובאות כאן, הציור של ויליאם בלייק,¹ תחריט העץ של יוליוס שנור פון קרולספלד,² החריטה של אלכסנדר מאסטרס,³ והמיניאטורה מתוך Speculum Humanæ Salvationis,⁴ כולן מתארות אירוע זה. היצירות נבדלות זו מזו בכמעט כל פרט, מבחירת הדמויות הכלולות ביצירה, עד לרגשות אותם הן מביעות והמעשים אותם הן עושות. המגוון הרחב מהווה עדות לכך שישנם דרכים רבות מאוד להבין סיפור זה.

Contrasting Images

Blake

Blake's image is full of pathos,with a grief-stricken Lemekh taking center stage.  Lemekh pulls his hair in anguish as he looks at the dead body sprawled on the floor by his feet.  His wives stand to the side, embracing each other in their shared sorrow as they look at both their husband and his victim.

Schnorr

Schnorr's Lemekh stands in stark contrast to that of Blake.  He is not tormented and distraught, but rather proud and defiant.  He runs home to his waiting wives and family, his bloody sword raised in a sign of victory.  They look up at him with admiration.

Alexander Master

Alexander Master depicts Lemekh as a hunter.  He stands to the viewer's left, holding his bow and arrow, aiming to shoot.  Near him a young boy lies face down on the ground, while a second man lies a bit further away with an arrow through his heart.  This Lemekh's emotions are hard to read, and contain neither signs of despair nor of pride.

Speculum

This depiction differs from the others in that it contains no hints of violence on the part of Lemekh at all, no sword and no dead bodies.  Instead, a somewhat foolish-looking Lemekh stands in between his two wives, who raise their fists at him and pull on his hair.  Lemekh lifts his hands as if to say, "enough, what do you want from me?"

Relationship to the Biblical Text

The artists' choices reflect certain ambiguities in the Biblical text and different possible interpretive stances:

How Many Dead Bodies?

While Alexander Master depicts two dead bodies, and Blake includes just one, Schnorr and the Speculum do not portray any at all.⁵  Which choice is most supported by the Biblical text?  Lemekh's words, "כִּי אִישׁ הָרַגְתִּי לְפִצְעִי וְיֶלֶד לְחַבֻּרָתִי" are ambiguous.  Taken literally, one might assume that both a child and older man were killed,⁶ but it is also possible that the two halves of the verse are simply poetically parallel and speak of but one victim.⁷ Alternatively, Lemekh's words do not constitute a statement at all but rather a rhetorical question, "Have I killed a man...", in which case there should be no deaths to view.⁸

Boast or Lament?

Blake's Lemekh is dismayed at his actions, whereas Schnorr's figure seems proud, and happy to share his feat.  What was the Biblical Lemekh feeling?  Again the text is ambiguous, and depends both on how one interprets the phrases "לְפִצְעִי" and "לְחַבֻּרָתִי" and what tone one ascribes to Lemekh's words. Thus, for example, ספורנובראשית ד׳:כ״גאודות ר' עובדיה ספורנו reads Lemekh as expressing sincere regret and explains that he is telling his wives, "I have killed a man and it will be a wound to me" (I will always hurt for my deed).  ר׳ יוסף אבן כספיבראשית ד׳:כ״גאודות ר' יוסף אבן כספי, in contrast, asserts that Lemekh is boasting to his wives that to retaliate for a mere bruise, he has killed a man.

Lemekh's Wives

In Blake's image Lemekh's wives appear almost as distraught as he, hugging each other in their pain.  In the Speculum, such anguish is absent, replaced by aggression, as the two wives torment their husband.  Though Bereshit shares nothing of Adah and Zilah's reactions, both depictions fit various commentaries on the story.  The תנחומאבראשית י״אאודות התנחומא suggests that Lemekh had killed his own relatives, his ancestor, Kayin, and his son, Tuval Kayin.  As such, a mournful response by his wives is expected.  According to ר׳ יוסף קראבראשית ד׳:כ״גאודות ר' יוסף קרא and שד״לבראשית ד׳:כ״גאודות ר' שמואל דוד לוצאטו, though, Lemekh is reacting to his wives and not vice versa.  Due to their constant harassment, he questions why he deserves such a fate if he is an innocent man, never having killed another.⁹

Murder Weapon

Schnorr depicts Lemekh wielding a sword while Alexander Master accouters him with a bow and arrow. Blake's image, in contrast, shows no weapon at all.  Here, too, Tanakh is not explicit. When Lemekh says, "אִישׁ הָרַגְתִּי לְפִצְעִי וְיֶלֶד לְחַבֻּרָתִי" is he speaking of the motivation for the murder or the method thereof?  מ״ד קאסוטובראשית ד׳:כ״גאודות פרופ' משה דוד קאסוטו suggests the latter, asserting that Lemekh killed the man by just bruising or wounding him, using no weapon at all.  Alternatively, the context of the verses, the creation of metallurgy, might suggest that actually weapons had just been invented, and the killing was done via sword or the like.

¹ ויליאם בלייק (1827-1752) היה צייר ומשורר בריטי, ומזוהה עם התנועה הרומנטית. ציור זה נמצא כיום במוזיאון טייט שבלונדון.

² שנור (1872-1794) היה צייר גרמני מתנועת נצרת. התחריט היה אחד מתוך מעל מאתיים תחריטי עץ שהוא הכין בשביל התנ"ך המאויר, Die Bibel in Bildern.

³ יצירה זו נלקחה מתוך התנ"ך ההיסטורי,(KB, 78 D 38 I), משנת 1430 לספירה, המכיל מעל 50 מיניאטורות. הוא נמצא כיום בספרייה הלאומית של הולנד, ההאג.

⁴ ה"Speculum humanæ salvationis" או, מראת ישועת האנושות, הינו חיבור אנונימי אך בעל השפעה רבה, המתוארך לימי הביניים המאוחרים. החיבור מציג את רעיון הטיפולוגיה, על פיו ניתן למצוא סמלים ורמזים לאירועי הברית החדשה, בתיאורים הנמצאים בברית הישנה. כמה מאות עותקים הוצאו לאור במאות 16-15 לספירה. גרסה זו היא משנת 1360 לספירה, ונמצאת כיום בULB בדרמשטאדט.

⁵ Schnorr, though, alludes to the murder through the blood stained sword in Lemekh's hand.

⁶ See, for instance, תנחומאבראשית י״אאודות התנחומא who identifies these as Kayin and Tuval Kayin, or the נצי״בבראשית ד׳:כ״ג-כ״דאודות ר' נפתלי צבי יהודה ברלין who agrees that two people were killed but leaves them anonymous.

⁷ See מ״ד קאסוטובראשית ד׳:כ״גאודות פרופ' משה דוד קאסוטו who reads the verse in this manner.

⁸ For two variations of this approach see בראשית רבה and ר׳ יוסף קרא.  The former assumes that Noach's wives refused to have relation with him, knowing of the impending flood.  R. Yosef Kara, in contrast, has Lemekh responding to the noisy quarreling between his wives. Either way, Lemekh questions them why they are punishing him, if he has done no wrong and killed neither boy nor man..

⁹ One might alternatively suggest that the Speculum is also depicting the wives' reaction to the killing.  Their grief, though, is expressed through anger and the beating of their husband.