Barbara wrote:
> I notice that no-one has picked up on the Lilith story so far. Since it
> is definitely nowhere in the Bible, it would be very interesting to find
> out where it comes from. The only place I have ever read it was in
> Goethe's Faust. Any idea, anyone?
>
Lilith, according to Jewish folklore, is a demon that is an enemy of newborn
children.
The only biblical reference to Lilith is in Isaiah 34:14, in which she is
depicted as a desert demon.
In postbiblical Jewish literature, Lilith came to be identified as the first
wife of Adam. According to the Alphabet of Ben Sira, written between the 7th
and 10th centuries C.E., God created the first woman out of earth in the
same way as he had created the first man.
The pair immediately began to quarrel, because Lilith refused to submit to
Adam.
Lilith fled, and God sent three angels to bring her back.
They told Lilith that if she refused, one of her children would die each
day.
Lilith refused to return and vowed to seek revenge by harming newborn
infants.
silke
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