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Is It True That Lilith is In The Bible as The First Wife of Adam?
- No, Lilith is not in the bible.
- Lilith is not the first wife of Adam - Eve is! That is Jewish folklore made up by heretical individuals that have not been corroborated by Jewish Orthodoxy or Biblical Scholars. There is no evidence of that anywhere in The Holy Scriptures.
Fact-Checking The False Story of Lilith
Who is Lilith? And why isn't Lilith in The Christian Bible?
Because she is not the first wife of Adam- Eve is. Ungodly men have stated that she is the first wife of Adam, which contradicts scripture, and the relationship between Christ and the Church.
For it is one man Christ Jesus who will be married to one woman, The Church. So Adam was married to one woman, Eve, who was taken out of Adam, just as the Church proceeds from Christ.
Quick Facts About Lilith and What We Know About the word lilith in the Bible
- She doesn't appear in the Book of Genesis.
- She is thought to be mentioned in Biblical Hebrew in the Book of Isaiah, but the word lilith is just referring to a dweller in waste places in Isaiah 34:14
- In mythology, she's a demon who possesses people, mainly women into thinking that they are above men, going against God's design. This is very close to the Canaanite false goddess or idol, Asherah or Ashtherah whom God strictly forbids the Israelites from worshipping.
- Lilith isn't in the Bible.
- Lilith is a female demonic figure of Jewish Folklore.
- In folklore, Lilith appears as Adam's first wife which is incorrect scripturally.
Scholars On Lilith:
| Category | Details | Scholarly Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| Biblical Reference | Isaiah 34:14 — לִילִית (lilith) | Many scholars argue that the term lilith in Isaiah 34:14 refers not to a personal demon but to a night-creature, fitting the desolate-judgment imagery of the chapter. Franz Delitzsch notes the word appears in a list of desert beasts rather than personified beings. He argues that Isaiah’s usage likely reflects poetic symbolism rather than demonological doctrine. (Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on Isaiah) |
| Earliest Mesopotamian Cognates | Sumerian lilitu, Akkadian līlītu, ardat līlî | Assyriologist Samuel Noah Kramer notes that Mesopotamian lilitu spirits were associated with storm winds, infertility, and nocturnal disturbances, but were not a singular “Lilith.” They functioned more like a class of wind spirits. The Israelite term may reflect distant linguistic memory rather than theological borrowing. (Samuel Noah Kramer, Sumerian Mythology) |
| Ugaritic & ANE Parallels | Night-spirits in boundary rituals | Mark S. Smith observes that ANE literature often portrays wilderness spaces as inhabited by hybrid and chaotic beings. The lilith of Isaiah fits this genre of “desert demons” that symbolize divine judgment. Such expressions are more literary than literal. (Mark S. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism) |
| Rabbinic Development | Lilith as a child-harming demon | In the Talmud, Lilith evolves into a female night-demon associated with harming infants and seducing men. Scholars like Raphael Patai highlight that this post-biblical portrayal is far removed from Isaiah’s poetic usage. The rabbinic Lilith reflects folkloric expansion rather than exegetical interpretation. (Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess) |
| Alphabet of Ben Sira (8th–10th cent.) | Lilith as Adam’s first wife | The medieval pseudepigraphon Alphabet of Ben Sira invented the narrative of Lilith being Adam’s rebellious first wife. Gershom Scholem emphasizes that this is folklore, not theology, and holds no canonical standing. This text is the primary source for modern pop-culture Lilith. (Gershom Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition) |
| Medieval Demonology | Lilith as a succubus figure | Medieval Jewish communities used amulets to ward off Lilith, reflecting belief in her as a nocturnal child-stealer. Joseph Dan explains that these traditions, while deeply embedded in folklore, have no biblical basis. They represent the merging of Babylonian demonology and Jewish mysticism. (Joseph Dan, Jewish Mysticism and Jewish Ethics) |
| Kabbalistic Expansion | Lilith as Queen of Demons | In Zoharic literature, Lilith is given a cosmic role connected to Samael and the forces of impurity. Moshe Idel notes that these mystical portrayals are symbolic dramatisations of moral and spiritual danger. They should not be read as literal biblical exegesis. (Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives) |
| Christian Medieval Reception | Lilith in moral allegory | Christian writers rarely reference Lilith explicitly, but sometimes drew on similar demonological traditions. Jeffrey Burton Russell notes parallels between Lilith and Christian ideas of succubi, though the traditions developed independently. Lilith became more of a literary motif than a theological figure. (Jeffrey Burton Russell, Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages) |
| Modern Linguistic Scholarship | Lilith as “night bird/creature” | Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner classify lilith linguistically as a nocturnal creature rather than a demon. Most modern lexicons follow this judgment. The context of Isaiah suggests zoology, not demonology. (Koehler & Baumgartner, Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament) |
| Modern Critical Bible Interpretation | Lilith as poetic symbol | John Day highlights that Isaiah 34 belongs to a genre of “apocalyptic desolation texts.” In this genre, bizarre creatures symbolize total devastation under divine judgment. Lilith is thus a poetic inhabitant of cursed land, not a doctrinal entity. (John Day, God’s Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea) |
Lilith: Apocrypha Quiz Calculator
References:
Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on Isaiah
Samuel Noah Kramer, Sumerian Mythology
Mark S. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism
Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess
Gershom Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition
Joseph Dan, Jewish Mysticism and Jewish Ethics
Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives
Jeffrey Burton Russell, Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages
Ludwig Koehler & Walter Baumgartner, Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament
John Day, God’s Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea
