Zillah: Midrash and Aggadah

An engraving print of the Biblical ancestor Lamech and his two wives, Zillah and Adah.

This 1583 engraving print by Jan Sadeler depicts Lamech (center), an Israelite ancestor, and his two wives Zillah and Adah, seated at left. It is part of a series of prints titled "The Story of the First Men." Source: The British Museum, via Wikimedia Commons.

In Brief

Zillah was a wife of Lamech. According to one tradition, Zillah was designated to bear children, but in another tradition she was said to solely provide intercourse for Lamech. Nonetheless, she bore two children. Later, she and Lamech’s other wife, Adah, discover Lamech after he unwittingly kills Tubal-Cain. They refuse to have sex with him because of the deaths he caused, on the pretext that they do not desire to give birth to cursed offspring. The three go together to the tribunal of Adam; Adam rules that they must obey their husband since he killed unwittingly. This midrashic tradition portrays Adah and Zillah as respected women, whose position is considered in all seriousness by the court.

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