The "Made from the Same Earth" Narrative
The Eve story gets even more compelling with Lilith, Adam's first lover. this helps us reinforce the idea that the bible, the christian "new" bible, taught as progression, really is the little sibling of the larger jewish story, and the elder of the african story thread. we cannot know Jesus without understanding the jewish books he would have known. the new books just drop in Lilith's name assuming we know her, seeing her as evil in a few words, but then we look at jewish books to fill in the details. what else was burned, lost, that tells us that men and women were equal in gods' eyes???
The story about Lilith telling Adam they were made of the same earth comes primarily from a medieval Jewish text called the Alphabet of Ben Sira (written between 700-1000 CE). According to this text: "When the first man, Adam, saw that he was alone, God made for him a woman like himself, from the earth. God called her name Lilith, and brought her to Adam. They immediately began to quarrel. Adam said: 'You lie beneath me.' And Lilith said: 'You lie beneath me! We are both equal, for both of us are from the earth.' And they would not listen to one another." My Jewish Learning
In feminist retellings of this story, such as Judith Plaskow's 1972 "The Coming of Lilith," this equality is emphasized: "In the beginning, the Lord God formed Adam and Lilith from the dust of the ground and breathed into their nostrils the breath of life. Created from the same source, both having been formed from the ground, they were equal in all ways." Sefaria
Origins of Lilith
Lilith (Hebrew: לִילִית, romanized: Līlīṯ) appears to have origins in Mesopotamian mythology. She is theorized in Jewish tradition to be Adam's first wife and a primordial she-demon. Wikipedia However, her origins are complex:
The original Hebrew word from which the name Lilith is taken appears in the Book of Isaiah, though Lilith herself is not actually mentioned in any biblical text as Adam's wife. Wikipedia
When we examine ancient sources, evidence suggests that Lilith has pagan origins rather than biblical ones. Many scholars believe she was inspired by Sumerian myths about female vampires called "Lillu" or Mesopotamian myths about succubae (female night demons) called "lilin." Answers in Genesis
Was Lilith a Female Deity?
The question of whether Lilith was a deity is complicated. From the sources I found:
Lilith is described in Britannica as a "female demonic figure of Jewish folklore" whose "name and personality are thought to be derived from the class of Mesopotamian demons called lilû (feminine: lilītu)," with the name usually translated as "night monster." Britannica
In Jewish tradition, she wasn't typically portrayed as a deity but rather as a demonic figure or spirit.
In Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), Lilith appears "as an evil reflection of the feminine aspect of God along with Samael." Jwa This suggests some connection to divine aspects, though in a negative form.
Contemporary feminist movements have "reclaimed Lilith as a symbol of autonomy, independence, and sexual liberation" since the 1960s. Jwa
It's worth noting that the most detailed stories about Lilith come from medieval sources rather than ancient ones, and the popular narrative about her being Adam's first wife who demanded equality wasn't solidified until the Alphabet of Ben Sira in the early medieval period.
Lilith is consistently portrayed as female across all traditions. The question of whether she was a deity depends on how we define deity; she appears to have evolved from Mesopotamian demon mythology rather than being worshipped as a goddess, though she later gained significant symbolic importance in various traditions.