Lilit – między mitem a Biblią

Abstract

In Jewish folklore, from ,,Alphabet of Ben Sira” onwards, Lilith becomes Adamʼs first wife, who was created at the same time as Adam. The idea in the text 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 Adamʼs rib, an earlier passage, 1:27, already indicates that a woman had been made. Whereas there are five references to Lilith in the Babylonian Talmud. According to Talmud Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and begot a son in own likeness, after his own image, from which it follows that until that time he did not beget after his own image. The only occurrence is in the Book of Isaiah 34, 14, describing the desolation of Edom, where the Hebrew word לִילִית appears in a list of eight unclean animals, some of which may have demonic associations. Since the word לִילִית is a hapax legomenon in the Hebrew Bible. As it seems that Lilith was a demon of the night which would coincide with the possible references to the ,,lilītu” in Babylonian demonology. However, this view is challenged by some modern research such as by J.M. Blair who considers that the context indicates animals.