Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Jewish Fables
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Genesis 1:27-28
In Jewish folklore, Adam's first wife was not Eve but a goddess named Lilith, who refused to submit to Adam in the name of equality. The legend of Lilith long pre-dates Judaism. According to Janet Howe Gaines in her article "Lilith" (Bible Review), her dark origins lie in Babylonian demonology, first mentioned in an epic poem about Gilgamesh. Her name derives from a class of demons called lilitu, usually translated as "night monsters," who were believed to inhabit desolate areas. Lilith is reputed to seduce and otherwise abuse young men and attack pregnant women. Blamed for miscarriages and infant mortality, she was cast as the patron of abortions as her legend grew. Time passed, and the Babylonian Empire faded, but this night-demon's myth spread to other nations that embellished her legend. The Hittites, Egyptians, and Greeks picked up the story, and everywhere Lilith went, she represented chaos, seduction, and ungodliness. Among the Jews, the Essene community at Qumran was enthralled by demonism. Lilith shows up in some Dead Sea Scrolls, mentioned in a hymn apparently used in exorcisms. Centuries later, Lilith also appears in the Babylonian Talmud, where she is portrayed very much like Babylonian depictions of her. One Talmudic reference even warns that people should not sleep alone at night because Lilith might slay them. When she was reconceived as the original woman during the Middle Ages, the Lilith story took off. The myth of Lilith became an answer to something that puzzled some scholars: When they compared the Genesis 1 creation of man and woman with the Genesis 2 story of Adam and Eve, they saw more differences than similarities. They perceived that Adam and Eve's story happened much later than the sixth day of creation, so they reasoned that the Genesis 1 account must refer to a different woman since God created Eve from Adam later. Lilith conveniently came out of the shadows of legend and stepped into the role of the original woman. The scholars answered the later need for Eve by supposing that Lilith felt she was being treated as man's inferior despite being made at the same time and from the same dust. She claimed her independence by going into the wilderness, and since it was not good for man to be alone, God created a helper from Adam's side—or so the medieval story goes. Like comic book and movie superhero tales, the story of Lilith went through different retellings, each adding a bit more to her myth. Lilith received a major retelling in the collection of writings known as the Zohar. Written in the thirteenth century, the Zohar is the seminal work of Kabbalah, basically a commentary on the Torah through the lens of mysticism. The Zohar reinforces Lilith as the first woman, an abuser of men, and a breeder of evil spirits. It provides Lilith with a companion, Samael, the male personification of evil, associated with the serpent, the leader of fallen angels. After cohabiting with Samael, Lilith is punished and turned into a demon goddess. Lilith and Samael ally and embody the dark realm. When we constrain ourselves to what the Bible says, one unambiguous interpretation or picture arises. But if we start looking to myths or folklore to fill perceived gaps, something very different emerges. If we allow them, such fables will attach to Scripture like parasites and twist the meaning of God's Word. Because of such deviations, Paul warns of false doctrine and heeding fables (I Timothy 1:3-4). He counsels Timothy, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons . . .. But reject profane and old wives' fables . . ." (I Timothy 4:1, 7). A few verses later, he admonishes him to "give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine . . .. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine" (I Timothy 4:13, 16), instructing him to "[avoid] the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge" (I Timothy 6:20). In his second epistle to his protégé, he warns against those who "will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (II Timothy 4:4). The apostle similarly exhorts Titus about "not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth" (Titus 1:14).
David C. Grabbe
Inventing Goddesses and Demons (Part One)
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Leviticus 16:10
The New King James Version (NKJV) translates Leviticus 16:10 as: But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat [azazel] shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat [azazel] into the wilderness. Contrast this with the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation: . . . but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. Did you catch the shocking difference? The NKJV reads that the live goat was chosen to be the azazel. In this translation, azazel describes the role that this goat fills: to be taken away, bearing the nation's sins, so they are completely removed. However, the NRSV (along with some other modern translations) reads that this goat was to be sent to Azazel. In other words, the translators do not interpret the goat as the azazel, but rather that the goat is sent to a personality named Azazel! Some scholars see "Azazel" as a name because compound nouns—nouns made of two words—are often proper nouns (names) in Hebrew. The Hebrew word azazel appears to be a compound noun, so the possibility exists that it is a name. While the Hebrew allows for it, it does not require it. What tips the scale for modern translators is Jewish folklore. Between the testaments, Jewish folklore invented a lesser demon named Azazel, who was blamed for all human sin (see The Book of Enoch). A millennium after Leviticus 16, the word azazel had been turned into a name. Many Jews of this time used a saying that reveals how they intertwined Scripture with folklore: "On the day of atonement, a gift to Sammael" (see The Judgment, Its Events and Their Order by J.N. Andrews, pp. 78-81). These Jews viewed the live goat as an offering sent to Samael, the Devil, who blended with their myth of Azazel, as folklore is wont to do. A significant difference exists between the goat being chosen "to be" the azazel and it being "sent . . . to" a personality, a demon, named Azazel! Let this sink in: If, at God's command, the Israelites sent a sacrificial animal to Azazel—if this biblical ritual was designed to appease or even acknowledge a demon—the Israelites would be committing gross idolatry at God's instigation! It is an appalling assertion. Regardless of the thoughts of some Jews in the centuries before Christ or what translators think the Hebrew suggests, the live goat could not possibly represent a gift or offering sent to a demon. Not only is sacrificing to demons directly prohibited in the very next chapter (Leviticus 17:7), but God says right in the covenant not even to mention the names of other gods (Exodus 23:13). In Deuteronomy 12:3, He commands Israel to destroy the names of false gods wherever they find them. He declares in Exodus 22:20, "He who sacrifices to any god, except to the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed." Yet, modern translators and other scholars would have us believe the holy God not only enshrined the name of a demon in the instructions for this solemn day, but He also intended His people to acknowledge or even placate this false god with a sacrificial animal. He did not. Instead, He commanded an Israelite to lead a substitutionary animal bearing the nation's sins away from the camp, prefiguring the Messiah. God called that animal azazel, "complete removal." If we stick to God's Word, we get a single, cohesive scenario. If, however, we borrow ideas from this anti-God world, something very different and destructive emerges, twisting the truth of God. As Paul writes, such doctrines of demons lead to people departing the faith (I Timothy 4:1). We must reject the cup of demons and drink only from the cup of the Lord (I Corinthians 10:21).
David C. Grabbe
Inventing Goddesses and Demons (Part Three)
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Isaiah 34:13-14
Lilith, a demon goddess of the night and the alleged first wife of Adam, found her way into Jewish folklore from the ancient Babylonians. Lilith and her companion, Samael (a Satan figure), are prominent characters in Jewish mythology but not in the Bible. However, some scholars believe that Isaiah 34:13-14 refers to this night demon and supports her legend. In the New King James Version, the Hebrew word underlying "the night creature" is lilith, which derives from the root laylah, meaning "night." Isaiah 34:14 is the only place lilith occurs in Scripture, so its meaning is somewhat obscure aside from the implication of nocturnality. Strong's Concordance suggests it means "screech owl," and based on the context of wild animals in abandoned places, this definition would be a natural fit. The Bible uses lilith as a common word. Nothing ties it to the Babylonian myth of Lilith, not even a suggestion that lilith is an individual's name. Even so, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) capitalizes Lilith, turning the word into a personality. Apparently influenced by the Jewish legend of Lilith, the NRSV translators believed that Isaiah included a demon goddess in this prophecy of Edom's desolation. Since the prophet and his audience would have been aware of the Lilith myth, Isaiah 34:14 must refer to the infamous night demon, they allege. This reasoning is flimsy, to say the least. The translators assume Isaiah refers to a personality simply because a similarly named character appears in contemporary folklore. A modern parallel demonstrates how absurd this reasoning is. In a sermon, John Ritenbaugh off-handedly referred to Esau as a "joker." Was he saying that Esau is an incarnation of one of Batman's enemies, the Joker, in today's comic mythology? Of course not. The creators of Batman used the word "joker" as a name for an invented personality, but it has no connection to the subject of John's sermon. Likewise, the Hebrew word lilith looks like the Babylonian word lilitu, its word for "night monsters." Because of the similar spellings, some scholars perceive an overlap and insert a demon goddess into Isaiah's prophecy, despite the Bible containing nothing else to support it. Isaiah 34 prophesies of God's judgment on Edom. Much of the chapter deals with the future desolation of the land of Edom, which will be fulfilled around the time of Christ's return. At that point, the angel from heaven will bind Satan and his demons in the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-3). Edom's territory will be empty, except for the wild animals Isaiah names. The wilderness will not be a haunt for a demon named Lilith because Christ will have restrained all the demons. Verse 14 is about a nocturnal animal, not a night monster. Notice that when we constrain ourselves to what the Bible says, one unambiguous interpretation or picture arises. But if we start looking to myths or folklore to fill perceived gaps, something very different emerges. If we allow them, such fables will attach to Scripture like parasites and twist the meaning of God's Word. Because of such deviations, Paul warns of false doctrine and heeding fables (I Timothy 1:3-4). He counsels Timothy, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons . . .. But reject profane and old wives' fables . . ." (I Timothy 4:1, 7). A few verses later, he admonishes him to "give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine . . .. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine" (I Timothy 4:13, 16), instructing him to "[avoid] the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge" (I Timothy 6:20). In his second epistle to his protégé, he warns against those who "will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (II Timothy 4:4). The apostle similarly exhorts Titus about "not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth" (Titus 1:14). The myth of Lilith eminently qualifies as a Jewish fable, profane and idle babbling, and a contradiction.
David C. Grabbe
Inventing Goddesses and Demons (Part Two)
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Titus 1:12-16
The Apostle Paul mentions the Cretans, but then quickly shifts his focus to “Jewish fables.” Of what is he accusing these people? Of a practice that follows the Israelites throughout their history: believing that God indeed exists but showing by their conduct that they do not truly believe Him. He charges them with exposing in their behavior that they do not believe that they are truly, personally answerable to the sovereign God. In other words, they do not fear Him. The reality of what God truly is and requires has not affected them enough to make a difference in how they live their lives in actual day-to-day practice. Since we live within this environment, it brings up a question for us to resolve: How can we live by faith if we do not have sufficient knowledge of the greatness, the closeness, and the awesome grace of God shown in the mercy He has already given? It is this mercy that allows us to begin even the barest of a relationship with Him, build on it, and come to know Him and fear Him. A recent Barna poll revealed that over 80% of Americans believe God exists, but that belief has little influence on their conduct. Just about anything goes in this nation anymore. The great immorality of the American people reveals that they are not very concerned about being answerable to Him. Considering what has happened in Israel's history, should we not be concerned about what this might lead to in the near future?
John W. Ritenbaugh
Fully Accepting God's Sovereignty (Part One)
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