3.10) Adam Declares Eve was a Second Creation

One of the more astounding evidences for Lilith comes from Adam’s own lips in Ge 2:23.  Although it is not clear from the KJV below, it is in the original Hebrew.  When Adam first awakes from his slumber to discover the newly created Eve, he compares Eve’s creation to a previous one. 

Ge 2:23-24 (KJV)

23 And Adam said, This is now (hapa’am) bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

The key word in verse 23 that implies a previous creation is hapa’am (Mep:h).  The KJV translates this word as “now”, but this is not accurate.  Hapa’am stems from the root pa’am (Mep – Strongs 6471), plus an indefinite heh (h) article.  The KJV often just translates hapa’am and pa’am as simply as “time” or “now” (as in Ge 2:23), but the words more properly mean “occurrence.”  Hapa’am especially refers to the case of something that happened before repeating again at “this time.”  Perhaps the fullest English translation is “at this repetition.” 

The meaning of “at this repetition” is clearly supported by the word’s repeated use throughout the Bible.  The hapa’am variant is used twelve times in the Bible, and in each instance, it used to denote the subsequent repeat of an event after its first occurrence.  For example, the first use of hapa’am elsewhere in the Bible comes in Ge 18:32 below.  The passage follows a long series of questions that Abraham has asked of God.  God has patiently responded to these questions.  In verse 32 Abraham asks God to tolerate his final speaking hapa’am (“at this repetition”, which is rendered “this once” in the KJV).  In the verse hapa’am clearly refers to the latest occurrence of a repeating event, namely Abraham’s continuing series of questions to God. 

Ge 18:32  (KJV)

And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once [hapa’am]: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

The meaning of hapa’am is also demonstrated in its next three uses in Ge 29:34, 29:35, and 30:20.  In these passages Leah is explaining how after the birth of each of her sons, hapa’am (“this time” or “now” in the KJV) something would change.  So once again, we see that hapa’am refers to the latest occurrence of a repeating event.  Note that the birth of Leah’s first son does not use hapa’am.  This is because by the word’s definition it would not be appropriate to use it for the initial event of a sequence, for it has not yet repeated.  The further solidifies hapa’am as meaning “at this repetition.”  The remaining instances of hapa’am in the Bible (Ge 46:30; Ex 9:27, 10:17; Jud 6:39, 15:3, 16:18, and 16:28) demonstrate the same usage.  A study of the pa’am parent word shows it has essentially the same meaning also. 

Ge 29:34  (KJV)

And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time (hapa’am) will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.

Ge 29:35  (KJV)

And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now (hapa’am) will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.

Ge 30:20  (KJV)

And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now (hapa’am) will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.

Given the above understanding of hapa’am, it is clear in Ge 2:23 that Adam’s remark about Eve’s creation being hapa’am is in reference to a previous creation – namely Lilith’s.  My literal translation of the passage is below.  Table 3‑10 gives a word-by-word breakdown of the translation.  Note that Eve is repeatedly referenced by the odd pronoun “this” in the passage, apparently because the origins of her title as woman are being discussed.  The Hebrew word for woman, Ishshah, is thus Eve’s original name, before being renamed Chavah (i.e. Eve) later by Adam. 

Ge 2:23 (My Literal)

And the man said, “This [i.e. Eve] is as this repetition bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh.  For this [i.e. Eve] shall be called Ishshah, because from man this [Eve] was taken.”

Table 3‑10: A Literal Translation of Ge 2:23 (View Pic)

Given the literal Hebrew, the passage must be understood as saying that the man awakes and exclaims, “At this repetition is this [i.e. Eve], bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh.”  From this, it appears that Adam was expecting his replacement mate to be created from the dust of the earth, like Lilith, but instead his new mate was created from his own flesh.  She was not a creation from the dust. 

I find that there is only one semi plausible refutation to the implication of hapa’am referring to Lilith’s creation.  One might argue that Adam may have been referring to his own previous creation with hapa’am.  Adam may have been expecting Eve to be created like him from the dust, but hapa’am (at this iteration) God created her from Adam’s flesh and bone.  However, this counter argument suffers because the grammatical appropriateness of Adam using the term hapa’am is diminished.  The parallelism of a repeating event required by hapa’am is simply weaker in comparing Adam’s creation to Eve’s than it is in comparing Lilith’s creation to that of her replacement, Eve. 

There is one final amusing note to make on the passage.  Verse 23 relates that Adam’s initial name for Eve was Ishshah (hva – Strongs 802), meaning “woman.”  He gave her this name is because she was taken out of iysh (vya – Strongs 376), meaning “man.”  Ishshah is merely a feminine form of Iysh.  Iysh is a very common word to denote a man in the Bible.  It is used 1432 times.  However, verse 23 is the first time it is used in the Bible.  Before that time only the name Adam and the term ha’adam (the man) are used to denote the man.  At this point, would not it have been more appropriate for Adam to say, “I shall call you Adamah, because out of Adam you were taken” (or perhaps “I shall call you ha’adamah, because out of ha’adam you were taken”)?  I assert that maybe he would have, if these more logical names for Eve had not already been taken by Lilith.