Lilith in the Abrahamic Religions
The First Wife of
Adam, Lilith, is well known throughout Mesopotamia. Many credit her as the progenitor of the
succubus due to the belief that her character has been derived from an earlier
class of female demons found on pre Semitic texts. Her popularity in the Jewish folklore
eclipses her standing in the surviving Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and
Babylonian text even though that’s where it originated. The information concerning her origins,
though copied from the Sumerian text, can be found in apocryphal texts such as
the “Songs of the Sage,” and the Alphabet of Ben Sira. The KJV makes a brief mention of her in the Book
of Isaiah 34:14.
Lilith is known in
“the Songs of the Sage,” which is a manuscript of Jewish magical texts of
incantations and exorcism specifically for the protection against a list of
demons and yes “Lady Night Crawler” is on that list. The Songs of the Sage text
is a narration by “The Instructor” regarding the world that is populated with
evil angels under the power of Belial who is the leader of the Sons of
Darkness. It states, “ And I, the Instructor, proclaim
his glorious splendor so as to frighten and to terrify all the spirits,
destroying angels, all the spirits of the destroying angels, spirits of the
bastards, demons, Lilith, howlers and [desert dwellers…] and those which fall
upon men without warning to lead them astray from the spirit of understanding
and to make their heart and their […] desolate during the present dominion of
wickedness and predetermined time of humiliations for the sons of light, by the
guilt of the ages of [those] smitten by iniquity – not for eternal destruction,
but for an era of humiliation for transgression.”
The Alphabet of Ben Sira, son of
Jeremiah, also speaks of Lilith. The
text is best known for its Lilith reference which is the fifth response of Ben
Sira, son of Jeremiah. According to the folklore, When God created
Adam and Lilith, they began to fight immediately. She said, “I will not lie below” and he said, “I will not lie beneath you,
but only on top for you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am
to be the superior one.” Lilith responded, “We are equal to each other inasmuch
as we were both created from the earth.” Because of the superiority complex of
Adam, Lilith called out the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air. Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!' he
said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy One, blessed be
He, sent these three angels to bring her back.
The sovereign ruler said, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made is
good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to die every day.'
The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in the midst of the Red
Sea. They told her God's word, but she
did not wish to return. The angels said, 'We shall drown you in the sea.' "'Leave
me!' she said. ‘I was created only to cause sickness to infants. If the infant
is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if
female, for twenty days.' Why was Lilith
created to harm infants? Wasn’t she
supposed to be created with Adam? If she
was created for evil purposes, why was she married to Adam? These are important questions that should be
addressed in order to gain wisdom that has been lost through time. Now when the angels heard Lilith's words,
they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the living and
eternal God: 'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I
will have no power over that infant.' She also agreed to have one hundred of
her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons perish,
and for the same reason, we write the angels names on the amulets of young
children. When Lilith sees their names, she remembers her oath, and the child
recovers."
In the KJV bible, the
only reference of her is in the Book of Isaiah 34:14 which describe the misery
of Edom. The Hebrew word lilit (or
lilith) appears in a list of eight unclean animals which may have demonic
associations. The book of Isaiah states,
“Her nobles shall be no more, nor shall kings be proclaimed there; al her princes
are gone. Her castles shall be overgrown
with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She shall become an abode for jackals and a
haunt for ostriches. Wildcats shall meet
with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the Lilith
repose, and find for herself a place to rest.
There the hoot owl shall nest and lay eggs, hatch them out and gather
them in her shadow; there shall the kites assemble, none shall be missing its
mate. Look in the book of the LORD and
read: No one of these shall be lacking, for the mouth of the Lord has ordered
it, and His spirit shall gather them there.
It is He who casts the lot for them, and with His hands He marks off
their shares of her; they shall possess her forever, and dwell there from generation
to generation.” It’s basically
referring to her in a fallen state.
The character Lilith is seen both as good and bad. In modern times, she is seen as a progenitor
of feminism; A woman that didn’t bow down to the male dominant personalities in
her time. There is even a female band
named “Lilith.” How she is portrayed, is
in the eyes of the beholder. Either way,
her name lives on through the ages as the First wife of Adam, Champion of
feminism or Progenitor of the Succubus.
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