Lilith & The First Eve

International Women’s Day.  And if you’re wondering when is International Men’s Day, it’s November 19th.  You could have easily googled it yourselves.

According to The Bible, God created the first woman, Eve, out of one of Adam’s ribs (This has led to another myth when people think you can tell the difference between a male and a female skeleton by counting the number of ribs, which is not true.)  But according to some later folk-tales and traditions, Eve was actually God’s third attempt to create woman.  The first was Lilith

The story goes that after attempting to mate with various animals, Adam turned to God and begged for a human partner.  So God made Lilith out of ‘filth and sediment’ (why not a rib, I don’t know.  I guess at that he was just experimenting with all sorts of different materials), and then God left Adam and Lilith to figure what to put where on their own.

Things did not go well, as Lilith refused to lie beneath Adam.  When he tried to force her, she understandably got upset and took off into the desert.  Adam went and bawled to God about it, who sent three angels to try and bring her back.  Gotta say that so far I’m pretty much on Lilith’s side in this story.  Adam really seems like a petulant child who wants his own way all the time and God keeps giving in to him.  Later, after refusing to return, Lilith does turn into a baby strangling demon, so she loses my sympathy a bit there.  She was unfairly punished though, while Adam just gets off scot-free.  Maybe, if God really wanted them to be together, he could have suggested they compromise and take it turns to be on top?

But instead, with Lilith not coming back, God decides to make another woman, and as Adam is clearly his favourite creation decides to let him watch as he put all the bones, tissues, muscles and blood together to create ‘The First Eve’.  Unfortunately seeing all this apparently put Adam off, and so God took The First Eve away (no one knows where.  Maybe another planet where his creations weren’t so insufferable).

This time God waiting until Adam was asleep, then finally created Eve.  This time Adam didn’t throw a tantrum and God saw that it was good.  Then God went back to The Andromeda Galaxy to spend time with his real favourite children.

I’ve added one or two little things there, but the story of Lilith was popular in the Middle Ages among both Christians and Jewish mystics and you’ll easily find sources online detailing this story, others, and the origins of the myth.