an interesting read:
LILITH
The First Wife of Adam?
Everyone has been told from the day they were born that Adam was the first man and Eve was the first woman to walk on this earth, but is that true?
The Hebrew's mystify that the first woman was Lilith. Adam cried to God, "Every creature but I have a proper helpmate." Some say God created Lilith out of filth and sediment instead of pure dust. And others say she and Adam were born back to back from the same dust. Lilith and Adam quarreled consistently, because she refused to accept Adam "the man" as her superior. She also disapproved of the posture he demanded when making love. Lilith said, "Why must I lie beneath you when we were made from the same dust and therefore are equal?'
But Adam, not listening to her, tried to force her to obey. Lilith, enraged, uttered the 'Ineffable Name' of God, rose into the air, left Adam and Paradise. But according to Moslem tradition, before leaving, she cohabited with the Devil and gave birth to the jinn (spirits of Mohammedan mythology, supposedly able to assume the forms of men and animals). It is also said that before leaving, she slept with Adam and gave birth to the Shedim or evil spirits.
Adam complained to God, "I have been deserted by my helpmate." So God dispatched three angels (Sennoi, Sansanui, and Samangluf) to go find Lilith and bring her back. They found Lilith by the Red Sea, a region alive with lustful demons and insisted that she return.
I will call the Sirens from the sea,
And ye Liliths, come ye from the desert,
And ye Shedim and dragons (Tannim) from the forests.
Lilith asked them, "How can I return to Adam after my stay by the Red Sea?" The angels told her that she will die. Lilith said, "How can I die when God has made me in charge of all newborn children?" The angels responded saying, "For not returning to Adam, God has placed upon you the most incurable penalty of losing one hundred of your offspring each day".
Outraged over God's punishment, she seeks her revenge by strangling newborn children while they sleep: boys up to the eighth day and girls up to the twentieth day of life. But if Lilith finds an angelic amulet or a circle drawn with the names of the three angels over the infants cradle, she must spare their lives. For it was a promise she made to the angels. But when God was told about the promise by the angels, he threw in an added punishment. If a child is spared, Lilith would have to turn against one of her own children.
To get through the curse that was placed upon her, she not only seeks the houses of women in child-birth, she would also attack men sleeping alone.
He against whom the wicked Utukku hurled himself,
Whom in his bed the wicked Alu covered,
Whom the wicked ghost by night overwhelmed,
Whom the great Gallu assaulted,
Whose limbs the wicked god lacerated,
Whom Lamashtu possessed with a seizing hand,
Whom Labasu overwhelmed,
Whom the Seizer Fastened upon,
Whom The Maid of Lilu chose,
The man, whom the Maid of Lilu pressed to her bosom .
Her offspring from these unions were Lilim or Lilin, demons with human bodies.
Names of Lilith
There are many names to describe Lilith: Lilu, Lillu, Maid of Lilla, Lilitu, bogey-wolf, night hag, screech owl, the flying one, nightjar, winged, she-wolf, child stealing witch, Maid of desolation.
In doing my research, there is no mention of Lilith in the KJV (King James Version), NIV (New International Version), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible) or JPS (Jewish Public Society) as being the wife of Adam. The KJV Bible only mentions a reference of Lilith in Isaiah 34: 14&15:
14) The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr (a mythical creature, half man, half goat) shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there and find for herself a place of rest.15) There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch and gather under her shadow; there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
Another translation written in Modern Hebrew language:
Isaiah 34:14
Wildcats shall meet hyenas,
Goat-demons shall greet each other;
There too the lilith shall repose
And find herself a resting place. ysh`yh 34, 14
wpgshw Syym `t -`yym
ws `yr `l - r `hw yqr`
`k - shm hrgy`h lylyt
wmS ` lh mnwH
The New English Bible translates:
Marmots shall consort with jackals, and he-goat shall encounter he-goat. There too the nightjar shall rest, and find herself a place for repose.
The Interpreter's Bible only comments on certain verses of Isaiah's chapter 34. They are 1-6, 8-11, 14 etc. The comment for chapter 14 says:
The demons of popular superstition, including Lilith, the storm demon or night hag, which haunt ruins and waste places, have taken possession of the former homes of men.
Lilith's Development
The story of Lilith's development began from "maid of desolation" (ardat lili) of Babylonian tradition, a demon of waste places who originally lived in the garden of the Sumerian Inanna. As the name of demon, Lilit (Hebrew) is etymological related to the Sumerian lil "wind" and not as some once supposed, to the Hebrew laylah "night".
It is said that Lilith is a notable figure in Gnostic heresy. The heresy is based on Genesis 1:27, which says, "male and female created he them." Whereas the version in Genesis 2:18-22 says, "God made Eve from the ribs of Adam." Jewish narration often went on a thematic basis: they would discuss along a theme, and sometimes get ahead of themselves in an attempt to keep the theme clear, and then go back and fill in the blanks. The discussion quoted in the Treatise on the Left Emanation by the Rabbi Isaac Ben Jacob Ha-Kohen is an example.
The Testament of Solomon, surviving in a Greek text, which is estimated to have been written between the first century and the fourth century, has the earliest version of what became the Lilith legend. It also serves as the earliest summary of demons, who appear to King Solomon in succession at his invocation, and is the earliest text to cast King Solomon in the role of sorcerer, which became primary model for him in subsequent Jewish lore. Among the demons compelled to appear is one who has all the witch like characteristics of Lilith.
After using his magic powers to summon demons, King Solomon commands them to identify themselves. Among them is Obizuth, who describes herself in terms virtually identical to those later associated with Lilith:
At night I sleep not, but go my rounds over all the world and visit women in childbirth. Divining the hour I take my stand, and if I am lucky I strangle the child...I am a fierce spirit of myriad names and many shapes.
At this point, Solomon demands to know by which angel she can be defeated (as every demon has an opposing angel that is its nemesis), and Obizuth replies: "By the angel of God called Afarol, also known as Raphael, If any man knows his name and writes it on an amulet for a woman in childbirth, then I shall not be able to enter her". This is the earliest text referring to the amuletic tradition of warding off this demoness, which became so central a part of the Lilith legend. This description links Obizuth even closer to Lilith because the name Lilith has long been associated with laylah "night."
Could Lilith still be killing the infants of today?
For more than four decades, scientists have been searching without success for a solution to the agonizing mystery of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS has traditionally been defined as the silent killer of any infant or young child sleeping in its crib that is unexplained by history, and in which a through post-mortem examination fails to demonstrate an adequate cause for death. A baby who dies under these mysterious circumstances did not choke, smother, or strangle. Nor was a slight cold the cause of death. It is known there are more males who have died from SIDS then females. It's emphasized that because SIDS is a diagnosis of exclusion, it is possible that the true incidence of SIDS is over-reported. For example, SIDS is often listed as a cause of death in the absence of an autopsy.
Lilith is no longer an object of fear. Since the mid- 1970's, however, she has reappeared in various guises, in Jewish poetry and fiction alike, she has been reclaimed by American Jewish women as a model of female strength and independence. A Jewish feminist magazine named Lilith has been in print since 1976, and a number of Jewish female theologians, re-examining the accounts of creation in Genesis 1:27. These reclamations of Lilith may, therefore, be seen as a part of a more general awakening of interest in female images and symbols within tradition. The magazine, Lilith, was started because of "the Jewish eminist: conflict in identities," in the Jewish woman.
from:
http://users.erols.com/bcccsbs/lilith1.htm