My grandma is basically a hardcore bible thumper lol. But the other day she was talking about the story of Adam & Eve... and I brought up how I'd heard that Adam had a first wife named Lilith he was cast out of Eden and became queen of the demons (that's what ive heard) and everyone looked at me like I was stupid and scoffed at me.
So is there anything about Lilith in the bible?... If not then what story is she from?
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Favorite Answer
It might depend on the translation you're using. My translation has "screech owl," but the footnote concerning the phrase mentions Lilith. You're more informed than "everyone." I applaud you for that.
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Some of the older KJV and NIV bibles have a passage that mentions Lilith as a demon haunting waste places.
Isaiah 34:14
Newer bibles have all edited her out.
The only other place you find her is in some rather misogynist rabbinical writings from about 900 to the 1500 AD
However if you look at Genesis 1 you have Adam and Eve created at the same time from the same stuff, and then in Genesis 2 you have Adam being transported into den, put to sleep and Eve being created out of Adams flesh (rib).
So I would guess Lilith is Genesis 1 and Eve is Genesis 2 after Lilith eloped with the demon or angel or whatever.
I also suspect that Lilith if Lilith had been in Eden she would never have tempted Adam with an apple
She would have told him to get his own damn dinner instead..
Eclectic Heretic
No, she is not. However, you do have, in Genesis 1:26-27 where "god" created male and female simultaneously and then a couple centuries later in late Genesis 2 you get the "rib story".
So what happened to the original (unnamed) female? Jewish folklore has it that that was Lilith and that since she WAS co-created with the first male, she refused to be subservient to him and was banished from the Garden of Eden.
Some stories do have Lilith going on to become a mother of demons, but others do not. To some, she is seen as a symbol of female equality and if she was indeed banished from Eden for insisting on her own equality, it says much about how fragile Adam's ego must have been.
Blessings on your Journey!
Anonymous
She's not mentioned in the Holy Bible but it is written in other templates found. Some books of the bible were with held from the bible. The texts on Lilith are somewhere overseas but because I have studied her I know that she is supposedly Adams first wife who rebelled against God's decision to place Adam over her so she made an alliance with Lucifer AKA the devil. You would have to do a hebraic study to find more info on her.
Anonymous
Now, a brief footnote in Modern Times. You can imagine that modern feminists would latch on to the rabbinic story of punishment for resisting male domination, and use Lilith as a symbol. It's a two-edged symbol, of course, since Lilith as a demon who destroys newborns pre-dates the medieval explanation of Lilith as a rebellious wife. However, the modern use of Lilith as a symbol of oppressed womanhood is quite strong.
For tons more information, check out http:/www.lilitu.com/lilith/
A warning, though: because Lilith is used a modern symbol, some websites have distorted the legends to meet their political agendas. That's OK, we're not quibbling with that, that's one of the reasons that legends and mythologies persist is that they can grow and develop. We're just saying, be careful to separate modern interpretations from earlier historic ones.