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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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