Lilith: Mythology, Origins, and Cultural Impact

Posted on Dec 5, 2024 in Religion

  • Lilith Etymology
      • Hebrew: Lilit
      • Akkadian: Līlītu (nocturnal female being/demon)
    • ASSOCIATED WITH WIND AND MOON
      • Sumerian: lil (air, lady air, goddess of the South wind), itud (moon)
    • ASSOCIATED WITH NIGHT
  • Lilith in Ancient Mythology
    • Assyrian Lilitu: preyed upon children and women
      • Associated with lions, storms, desert, disease
      • Early portrayals: bird talons for feet and wings
      • Sexual predators of men, unable to copulate normally
      • Dwelled in desolate places
    • Babylonian texts: Lilith as prostitute of Ishtar
    • Sumerian accounts: Lilitu as handmaiden of Inanna
    • Lilith’s epithet: “the beautiful maiden” (no milk in breasts, unable to bear children)
  • Other Associations in Art and Literature
    • Late Medieval Art: Lilith as the serpent in Eden
    • Epic of Gilgamesh: Lilith driven from Ishtar’s sacred grove
    • Associated with Anzu bird, lions, owls, serpents
    • Kabbalah: Lilith as serpent in Garden of Eden
  • The Book of Isaiah 34:14 (Hebrew Bible)
    • “The wild beasts… shall meet with the jackals; the scops owl… the tawny owl also shall rest there…”
    • Passage: God’s day of vengeance
      • Land transformed into desolate wilderness
      • Lilith known in ancient Israel (8th century BC)
      • Repose in the desert (allusion to Gilgamesh)
  • First Medieval Lilith
    • Midrash Abkir (ca. 10th century), Zohar, and Kabbalistic texts: Depicted Adam and Lilith
  • Jewish Superstitions Regarding Lilith
    • Nocturnal demon, night-owl, stealing children
    • Permitted to kill sinfully begotten children
    • Child smiling on Sabbath or New Moon: Lilith playing (strike child’s nose, use rough words)
    • Appears to men in dreams; bride of Samael (Zohar ii. 267b)
    • Deceives men, has children by them (infant mortality)
    • Legend: Queen of Sheba, seducing a Jew of Worms
    • Amulets for mother and child (protection against magic and demons)
    • Chief figure on childbirth tablets (East and Eastern Europe)
  • General Notes about Genesis
    • Bereshit: Beginnings
    • Greek: Toledot: “Story” or “Record”
    • Story about various beginnings:
      • Natural world
      • Human culture
      • People of Israel
    • In the Near Eastern world, beginnings disclosed a people’s character and purpose.
  • Chapters 1:1-11:26: The Primeval Story
    • From Creation to Avram’s father’s birth (19 generations)
  • Literary Characteristics of Biblical Primeval Stories
    • Short narratives
    • Loosely strung together
    • Connected by genealogies
    • Doublets and contradictions (two creation stories)
  • Overriding Themes in Biblical Primeval Stories
    • Spread of human wickedness
    • Refusal to accept creaturely status
    • Blurring boundaries between human and divine
    • Bringing on catastrophe
  • Center of Attention: Anthropomorphic God
    • Speaks directly with humans
    • Condemns or spares
    • Announces judgment or mercy
  • Authorship of Bereshit
    • Controversial issue
      • Book names no author
      • No claim of divine revelation or inspiration
    • Indications of a post-Mosaic narrator
    • Second Temple and rabbinic Judaism: Genesis as part of Torah of Moses (tradition)
  • Historical-Critical Scholarship: Three Sources of Bereshit
    • J: YHVH (anthropomorphic God, speaks directly)
    • E: Elokim (distant God, communicates through dreams/intermediaries)
    • P: Priestly material (Elokim, order and boundaries, e.g., Genesis 1)