Adam’s first wife wasn’t Eve but Lilith.
According to the Jewish, Islamic and Christian theologies, Adam and Eve were the first humans created by God to populate the earth and take care of His creation.
Let’s delve a little into the story – Adam and Eve had to take care of the Garden of Eden and the animals. They were the parents of humanity and the first people to go against God’s will. The biblical reference can be found in Genesis, which is at the beginning of the Bible. But did you know that there was another woman in the picture? We rarely hear about the story of Lilith.
Some religions believe that Lilith was the snake that tempted Adam and Eve. While we do not know much about her, she remains significant.
Lilith, The First Woman.
In Genesis 1: 27, the King James Version of the Bible states,
“So God created man in his image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female, he created them.”
This verse makes people believe that Lilith was created in the same manner as Adam compared to Eve, who was created from his ribs. The fact that she was not created from Adam but as a whole different human being makes her at the same level as him. And for some, Lilith is the symbol of equality between men and women.
It is also believed that Lilith was expelled from the Garden because she was trying to dominate Adam. In contrast, others think that she voluntarily left Adam because of the submissive role she had to take on as Adam’s wife.
In The Bible
“Wildcats will meet hyenas
the goat demon will call to his friends,
and there Lilith will lurk and find her resting place.”
This passage is very scary; it describes a place that seems lifeless and horrifying. The word Lilith appears only once (Isaiah 34:14) in the Bible to designate a nocturnal bird, most likely the hooting cat, and popular belief gradually took this word to designate a kind of nocturnal monster.
Lilith – The First Feminist?
Despite the very little that we know of Lilith, one thing that theologians seem to agree on is the fact that she was a rebellious and wild woman who refused to bow to any man – much like how feminists are portrayed today. For instance, rabbis credit Lilith’s influence on the demands of change in customary Jewish law (halakha) to allow women to study and worship on the same level as men.
Tales
Some tales talk about how Lilith cannot have children of her own. Thus later developments in Rabbinic Judaism thought that Lilith was the first unfaithful wife of Adam, the first of the four wives of the devil, and the persecutor of newborns. Lilith was said to hate the offspring of Eve, whom Adam had replaced her with.
Other schools of thought believe that Lilith is the mother of a particular group of demons referred to as Lilim, which she conceived through her union with the angel Samael.
Myth
Lilith is still believed to be a myth by many, where her name is associated with various things such as witchcraft, snakes, or demons. It is also said that Lilith herself either was or influenced the serpent that caused the fall of humanity through Adam and Eve.
Lilith had various names in our time: the persecutor of newborns, queen of demons, the Lamia, and even consort of Samael. She has a lot of names, but there is no direct and specific evidence that she existed. Let us know in the comments what do you think about Lilith…