When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days.’ 'I was created only to cause sickness to infants. The angels said, 'We shall drown you in the sea.’ They told her God's word, but she did not wish to return. 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 sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were destined to drown. Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made is good. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air.Īdam 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 Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, to bring her back. 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.' But they would not listen to one another. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. Lilith claims that since she and Adam were created in the same way, they were equal, and she refuses to submit to him:Īfter God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. He forms Lilith out of the clay from which he made Adam, but the two bicker. "The idea that Adam had a wife prior to Eve may have developed from an interpretation of the Book of Genesis and its dual creation accounts while Genesis 2:22 describes God's creation of Eve from Adam's rib, an earlier passage, 1:27, already indicates that a woman had been made: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him male and female created he them." The text places Lilith's creation after God's words in Genesis 2:18 that "it is not good for man to be alone". He was also aware of another story, possibly older, that may be conflicting. Moses de Leon, was aware of the folk tradition of Lilith. According to Gershom Scholem, the author of the Zohar, R. However, the idea that Lilith was the predecessor is exclusive to Sira. The concept of Eve having a predecessor is not exclusive to Ben Sira, and is not a new concept, as it can be found in Genesis Rabbah. The amulets used against Lilith that were thought to derive from this tradition are in fact, dated as being much older. Its real author is anonymous, but it is falsely attributed to the sage Ben Sira. Scholars tend to date Ben Sira between the 8th and 10th centuries. Whether this certain tradition is older is not known. "The Alphabet of Ben Sira is considered to be the oldest form of the story of Lilith as Adam's first wife. Lilith is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess/demon.
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