I heard on the radio yesterday that Jews believe Adams first wife was Lilith and Eve was his second wife. I’d like to know where this came from and why since we received our old testament from jews why our bible does not even mention her. Thanks in advance for you response!
I wouldn’t go so far as to say “jews believe this” - but among the volumes and volumes (literally tens of thousands) of pages of commentary and discusisons by rabbis of old in the Talmid, there are a few that discuss Lilith - a mythical demon based upon a passage in Is 34:14 (not translated as “lilith” in many modern translation) and at least one which speculates she was the first wife of adam.
See the insert from the New Bible Dictionary below:
LILITH (Heb. lîlîṯ, Is. 34:14, rvmg., jb; lxx onokentauros; Symm., Vulg. lamia (Jerome, ‘avenging fury’); av ‘screech owl’; avmg., rv ‘night-monster’; rsv ‘night hag’; niv ‘night creatures’).
This name appears in a description of the terrible desolation of Edom, and presents great difficulties of interpretation. At a time when Bab. and Persian influence was developing, Lilith appears evidently as a loan-word derived from the Assyr. female demon of the night, Lilitu.
It may, however, be misleading to regard the creature as necessarily associated with the night: the darkness which some demons were said to love was that caused by desert storms (cf. Sumerian LIL.LÁ, ‘storm-wind’; and also a possible conclusion from Jerome’s translation cited above). Some scholars regard it as the equivalent of the English vampire.
Later Jewish literature speaks variously of Lilith as the first wife of Adam, but she flew away and became a demon; as a fabulous monster which stole and destroyed newly-born infants; and as a demon against which charms were used to keep it from the haunts of men, lest it enter and bring disease.
There is, however, no real evidence for insisting on a mythological interpretation of the word, and it is perhaps significant that most of the other creatures listed in Is. 34 are real animals or birds. If the lxx rendering is understood as something akin to a tail-less monkey (cf. G. R. Driver, loc. cit., p. 55), it seems an unlikely habitui of a desolate place. A similar objection applies also to both the tawny and the night owl, neither of which is a desert bird. Driver suggests a goat-sucker or nightjar (neb), several species of which are found in waste land.
Wood, D. R. W. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary (691). InterVarsity Press.
