SANDRA - I just heard the story of Lilith being the first wife of Adam. Is this truth or is it myth? If it is truth, what is the real story about Lilith and Adam?

JOEL - The character of Lilith is about as real as Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny. There was a legendary figure named Lilith, who first appeared in a document called The Alphabet of Ben Sira, sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. In this document Lilith is portrayed as being Adam's first wife. Hugh Nibley describes the account of Lilith as follows:

"According to the Hebrew tradition, which is very early and very widely testified, he [Adam] had a wife at this time, and she was Lilith. She represents promiscuity. She didn’t like Adam. She did everything she could to keep him from entering into the covenant and marrying in the covenant. Eve wasn’t around then. Her name means “night,” Layla. Way back in the Alphabet of Rabbi Aqiba, a very early writing, we are told about her. She was his mate, but she stands for everything that is promiscuous. She doesn’t want to get married, but she wants to play around; that’s Lilith. Adam was living in an animal state of innocence. He had become as a little child. I guess he would be a pushover for Lilith. But she is a sinister character because she is irresponsible. She is married to him and she has children, but she doesn’t want to be responsible for them, or anything like that. She is regarded as the woman who tries to do everything she can to prevent marriage, to prevent childbirth, and to kill babies in their cribs. That’s Lilith. There are all sorts of early charms from Babylon and elsewhere against Lilith to keep her from her shenanigans. She’s a rather important figure. She represents the sort of sexual license we have in the world today-the anything goes, just have fun." (Hugh Nibley, Ancient Documents and the Pearl of Great Price, edited by Robert Smith and Robert Smythe, p.13).

So Lilith is nothing more than an old Hebrew myth. There is of course nothing in the Bible or any of the other standard works about her.