Who was Lilith?

Question

Who was she? What did she do? So woman was the first on Earth?
Why is she only in the old, and not the new. Why do you rarely hear about her. Why do so few know of her?

Answer 1

GREAT QUESTION!

The old Testament (aka Torah) in Genesis has TWO creation stories. It say that God created man and woman then later it says God created Adam then took his rib to make him a wife.

It's accepted that Adam was the man from the first story but what happened to his first wife. In some Jewish traditions or folklore Eve is acknowledged as Adam's 2nd wife. Legend has it the first wife was Lilith. She had a mind of her own and wasn't that fond of Adam, which is why Eve was made from a piece of Adam so that that this time he might have better luck.

Lilith was a free thinker and didn't do what Adam wanted. "Adam and Lilith never found peace together; for when he wished to lie with her, she took offense at the recumbent posture he demanded. 'Why must I lie beneath you?' she asked. 'I also was made from dust, and am therefore your equal.' Because Adam tried to compel h obedience by force, Lilith, in a rage, uttered the magic name of God, rose into the air and left him.

Adam complained to God: 'I have been deserted by my helpmate' God at once sent the angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to fetch Lilith back. They found her beside the Red Sea, a region abounding in lascivious demons, to whom she bore lilim at the rate of more than one hundred a day. 'Return to Adam without delay,' the angels said, `or we will drown you!' Lilith asked: `How can I return to Adam and live like an honest housewife, after my stay beside the Red Sea?? 'It will be death to refuse!' they answered. `How can I die,' Lilith asked again, `when God has ordered me to take charge of all newborn children: boys up to the eighth day of life, that of circumcision; girls up to the twentieth day. None the less, if ever I see your three names or likenesses displayed in an amulet above a newborn child, I promise to spare it.' To this they agreed; but God punished Lilith by making one hundred of her demon children perish daily; [5] and if she could not destroy a human infant, because of the angelic amulet, she would spitefully turn against her own. [6]

(e) Some say that Lilith ruled as queen in Zmargad, and again in Sheba; and was the demoness who destroyed job's sons. [7] Yet she escaped the curse of death which overtook Adam, since they had parted long before the Fall. Lilith and Naamah not only strangle infants but also seduce dreaming men, any one of whom, sleeping alone, may become their victim. [8]" (Excerpt from The Hebrew Myths by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai (New York: Doubleday, 1964), pp 65-69.)

*** So some think she is the mother of all demons, the wife of the devil and in more recent fiction the mother of all vampires. Ann Rice hints that The Queen of the Damned was Isis and some form of Lilth.

****Lilth is also the symbol of femal rebellion and empowerment.

**** You do hear about her in the sense of popculture but organized religions for the most part ignore her and veiw her as a myth. She's reached the same status in today's media as those pesky Knights Templar. They were just mysterious enough to be credited or blamed for all sorts of things but in truth their myth is greater than their reality.

Answer 2

Lilith is mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. She is mentioned in the Talmud and in the Midrash--stories and legends of the Jews. She is said to be the first wife of Adam.

Lilith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the demon Lilith.

Lilith is popularly considered to be a female Mesopotamian night demon believed to harm male children. In Isaiah 34:14, Lilith (לִּילִית, Standard Hebrew Lilit) is a kind of night-demon or animal, translated as onokentauros; in the Septuagint, as lamia; "witch" by Hieronymus of Cardia; and as screech owl in the King James Version of the Bible. In the Talmud and Midrash, Lilith appears as a night demon. She is often identified as the first wife of Adam and sometimes thought to be the mother of all incubi and succubi, a legend that arose in the Middle Ages. Lilith is also sometimes considered to be the paramour of Satan.

You should study about Lilith when studying Mysticism and Cabala.

She was not the ideal wife for Adam.

Answer 3

Lilith is a character who appears in passing in the Talmud and in rabbinical folklore. She is a figure of evil, a female demon who seduces men and threatens babies and women in childbirth. She is described as having long hair and wings (Erub. 100b; Nid. 24b). It is said that she seizes men who sleep in a house alone, like a succubus (Shab. 151b). She is also mentioned in midrashim and kabbalistic works, in which she is considered to be the mother of demons. Her name probably comes from the Hebrew word for night (laila). She is similar to and probably based on a pagan demon named Lulu or Lilu that appears in Gilgamesh and other Sumerian and Babylonian folklore.

In recent years, some women have tried to reinvent Lilith, turning her into a role model for women who do not accept male domination or a rival goddess to the traditions that they think are too male-biased. For example, a number of female musical artists participated a concert tour called "Lilith Fair" a few years ago, and the name "Lilith" was clearly chosen to represent female empowerment.

This revisionist view of Lilith is based primarily on a medieval work called the Alphabet of Ben Sira, the significance of which has been widely misinterpreted and overrated. The story of Lilith in Ben Sira claims that Lilith was the first wife of Adam. Lilith insisted on being on top when they were having sexual intercourse, claiming that she was Adam's equal. For this reason, Adam rejected the uppity Lilith, and Lilith was replaced with the more submissive second spouse, Eve. The complete story is presented here.

Many modern commentators have pounced on this story, claiming that it comes from the Talmud and reflects the traditional rabbinical understanding of the roles of men and women. Feminists reject the negative characterization of Lilith's actions in this story, and make Lilith out to be a hero who was demonized by male-chauvinist rabbis who did not want women to have any sexual power.

However, it is important to note that the Alphabet of Ben Sira is not a traditional rabbinical Jewish source. It is not part of the Talmud, nor is it considered to be a midrash. It is not entirely certain what Ben Sira is, but it appears to be a satire or parody, possibly even an antisemitic one. It tells many stories about biblical characters envisioned in non-traditional, often unflattering ways, often with slapstick humor at the expense of traditional heroes. See this critique of the use of Ben Sira to turn Lilith into a feminist hero.

To treat The Alphabet of Ben Sira as a reflection of traditional Jewish thought is like treating Cervantes' Don Quixote as an accurate depiction of chivalry, or Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles as a documentary of the American West.

Answer 4

Lilith, if memory serves, was a sort of "proto-Eve". She was (according to mythology) the first woman created and also an embodiment of less-noble qualities.

Much akin, of course, to the Greco-Roman Pandora, the embodiment of all feminine vices.

;-)

Answer 5

Lilith is a fictional Character, that someone created so it would explain the first creation of man. The Bible does not make mention of her, for one simple fact, she doesn't exist, never has and never will. Except in fictional stories.

Answer 6

Some people believe she was the first woman on earth, not Eve.

Answer 7

She was supposed to be Adam's first wife, both made equally. But she ate the fruit and Adam didn't. She got kicked out and Adam asked god to make him a new wife, one more submissive.
I heard she also had children by Cain after he killed Abel
The reason you don't hear about her is the churchs wants you to believe god wanted women to be sub-servant to men when it was really Adam's bidding.

Answer 8

She was Adams 1st wife. He asked god for a different wife because she was too sexually playful! Just wasn't a good story for their book, so they removed it with alot of other ones. Things your better off not knowing!

Answer 9

presume you're referring to the first wife of Adam who wanted to be on an equal footing with him and not be subservient to his selfish desires and wishes. who later returned and started causing problems for mankind.

Answer 10

there are 2 liliths i am thinking of. which religion are you referring to?