Once a week I'll be researching a creature of lore and posting my findings for you lovelies. Let's start the Halloween season off with my favorite demon Lilith. I decided to re-research Lilith and write about her. Especially with the upcoming Diablo 4 release which mentioned Lilith "the mother of all demons" being included in the game.
According to Rabbi Jill Hammer (2020), Lilith first appeared in a Sumerian myth called "the descent of Inanna". Lilith later ended up in Israelite tradition and quite possibly the Bible. Growing up as a Christian, I never heard of Lilith before. It wasn't until I was researching vampires when I stumbled upon her name. Imagine my confusion when I found out she wasn't a vampire at all, but according to lore the mother of demons.
"In Genesis Rabbah, we encounter a brief midrash that claims that Adam had a first wife before Eve. This interpretation arises from the two creation stories of Genesis: In Genesis 1, man and woman are created at the same time, while in Genesis 2 Adam precedes Eve. The rabbinic tale suggests that the first creation story is a different creation, in which Adam has a wife made, like him, from the earth. For some reason, this marriage doesn’t work out, and so God makes Adam a second wife, Eve" (Hammer, 2020). It's interesting how in a way there's divorce within the Bible yet in the first Christian faith Roman Catholicism divorce was wrong. In many faiths, it is still believed that divorce is wrong.
According to Hammer, "when the first man, Adam, saw that he was alone, God made for him a woman like himself, from the earth. God called her name Lilith, and brought her to Adam. They immediately began to quarrel. Adam said: "You lie beneath me." And Lilith said: "You lie beneath me! We are both equal, for both of us are from the earth." And they would not listen to one another. As soon as Lilith saw this, she uttered the Divine name and flew up into the air and fled.
Adam began to pray before his Creator, saying: "Master of the universe, the woman that you gave me has fled." God sent three angels and said to them: "Go bring back Lilith. If she wants to come, she shall come, and if she does not want to come, do not bring her against her will." The three angels went and found her in the sea at the place where the Egyptians were destined to drown. There they grabbed her and said to her: "If you will go with us, well and good, but if not, we will drown you in the sea."
Lilith said to them: "My friends, I know God only created me to weaken infants when they are eight days old. From the day a child is born until the eighth day, I have dominion over the child, and from the eighth day onward I have no dominion over him if he is a boy, but if a girl, I rule over her twelve days."
They said: "We won't let you go until you accept upon yourself that each day one hundred of your children will die." And she accepted it. That is why one hundred demons die every day. They would not leave her alone until she swore to them: "In any place that I see you or your names in an amulet, I will have no dominion over that child." They left her and she is Lilith, who weakens children of men" (Hammer, 2020).
That is the story I read, except that in the story I read Lilith ate the children she created with Adam out of rage for how she was treated by him. However, in this version, Hammers' explanation indicates how Lilith confronted both God and Adam. "She defies patriarchy, refuses a submissive sexual posture, and in the end refuses marriage altogether, preferring to become a demon rather than live under Adam's authority. Notice that Lilith flees to the Sea of Reeds which is the place where the Hebrews will one day go free from slavery. In this version of the Lilith story, Lilith becomes what all tyrants fear: a person who is aware she is enslaved...The frightening character of Lilith grew, in part, out of repression: repression of sexuality, repression of the free impulse in women, repression of the question “what if I left it all behind?” As modern Jews begin to ask questions about sex, freedom, and choice more directly, Lilith becomes a complex representation of our own desires. " (Hammer, 2020).
Has anyone read or heard other stories of Lilith? Did they depict her in a different light? Why do you think Lilith has become a popular figure today? Do you agree or disagree with Hammer's idea surrounding Lilith?
Resources and additional information about Lilith:
Hammer, J. (2020) Lilith: Lady Flying in Darkness.
Gaines, H. J. (2019). Lilith: Seductress, Heroine, or Murderer?
Lesses, R. (2020) Lilith
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