This chapter puts forth the Biblical argument for identifying the Serpent as Lilith. It presents 23 Biblical evidences that I have discovered which support her case. Although each evidence considered individually may make an inconclusive argument, when they are weighed together as a whole, they form a cogent and hefty case for such a conclusion. The first ten evidences support the notion that a woman was co-created with Adam before Eve and that she was in rivalry with Adam. The next ten support the notion that this first created woman was the Serpent of the garden and that this Serpent later came to be called Leviathan, the fleeing serpent. The next two establish that there was a demoness named Lilith in Isaiah and titled Alukah in Proverbs who matches all of the critical features of Lilith’s legend. Isaiah places Lilith at the crux of the Yom Kippur judgment of the nations. The final evidence establishes that the demon Azazel in the Yom Kippur ceremony of Leviticus was the infamous seed of the Serpent Lilith.
The collected evidences do not support all facets of the Lilith legend, but they do support most. Many of the few unsupported elements of the legend are easily assumed extrapolations of events that must have taken place. The evidences are briefly outlined below. Each evidence will be covered in more detail in a section dedicated to it in this chapter.
- Genesis recounts of the creation of a man and woman four times. Three (Ge 1:26-29, 2:4-8, and Ge 5:1-2) imply the co-creation of a woman with the man from the dust of the earth. The creation account of Eve comes in a forth passage in Ge 2:21-25. That passage clearly indicates that Eve came later and was taken from the man’s side.
- A careful reading of the Hebrew of the second creation account of Adam in Ge 2:4-8 reveals that “the woman” (ha’adamah) was created at the same time as “the man” (ha’adam). The woman was animated by a mist which erupted from the ground and watered her face, whereas the man was animated by the breath of Jehovah which entered his nostrils. The passages declare that these two are the heads of two rival generations — the generations of the heavens and the generations of the earth.
- The first and third creation accounts of a man and woman in Ge 1:26-29 and Ge 5:1-2 clearly state that when the male and female were created, only the male was created in God’s image. The female not being created in God’s image is consistent with her being Lilith. She was created by God, but not in His image, for a demonic mist arouse from the ground and animated her in its image instead (Ge 2:6). Eve would bear God’s image, for she was taken out of Adam’s side.
- The first creation account of a man and woman in Ge 1:26-29 states that God’s original intent was to create the woman in his image. However, as 3) above explains, only the male was created in God’s image. Only the Lilith legend explains this thwarting of God’s intentions. The mist arose and preemptively animated the woman in Lucifer’s image.
- Conflicting commands from God to the first woman and Eve indicate they must be different individuals. Ge 1:26-29 states that after God created the first woman and Adam, God gave freedom to both to eat the fruit of every However, Eve could have never received permission to eat of every tree. This is because before God creates Eve in Ge 2:18-25, God warns Adam that he may no longer eat of every tree. Adam could not eat of the tree of knowledge. Thus, the prohibition against eating of all trees is already in place before Eve’s creation.
- Ge 5:2 implies a dual creation from the ground for the first created male and female because the common name of Adam was given to both of them. Only the Lilith legend explains the simultaneous creation of both the male and female from the ground.
- Lilith’s rebellion explains why God suddenly rescinded permission to eat of every tree, why the tree of knowledge came to exist, and why Adam had to guard the garden.
- Lilith’s departure explains how Adam suddenly “became alone” in Ge 2:18. The literal Hebrew of the verse reveals that God did not create Adam alone, but rather that Adam “became alone” after some time. Lilith explains how Adam became alone.
- In Ge 2:18 the literal Hebrew states that Eve was made as a helpmate for Adam “like one shown before him.” This implies that a woman companion was physically shown to Adam before Eve existed. It even implies that Eve was made as a replacement for this first woman. Only Lilith can explain this.
- After Eve’s creation in Ge 2:23, Adam awakes and exclaims upon seeing her, “This time is this!” The Hebrew word for “this time” is only used when an event repeats, and the subsequent event is being compared to the first. Adam’s use of this word implies that he is comparing Eve’s creation to a previous creation, namely Lilith’s. The point of his comparison is that “this time” the result was “bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh”, as opposed to Lilith’s creation from dust, or rather mud.
- The Serpent was not a snake, but rather the most cunning mammal. Ge 3:1 clearly states that the Serpent was the most cunning “beast of the field.” In the Bible this term refers to higher mammals that are soulish creatures with developed minds capable of emotions. Lilith best fits the unique description as the most cunning of these mammals. She is considered a beast and not human because she does not bear the spirit and image of God, but rather that of her father Lucifer. Moreover, with the brain of man and animating spirit of Lucifer, she is certainly the most cunning.
- The Serpent’s extreme intelligence and ability to speak is best explained by it being human. The Lilith legend provides the only explanation for the origins of this human. The general tenor of Genesis implies that the Serpent’s intelligence and ability to speak is not supernatural or unexpected, but rather the natural created state of the being. It certainly did not surprise Adam or Eve to see the Serpent talking. It is inconceivable that they would express no surprise over seeing an animal speaking.
- Ge 3:1 states that the Serpent “became crafty” above all beasts of the field. This means the Serpent had to have a human intellect. The Hebrew word for “crafty” literally means “naked.” It also means crafty because a “naked” mind that is exposed to devious thoughts can acquire those thoughts. Only a human mind can become crafty. Furthermore, the Serpent was not always crafty, but through some transformative event, it “became” crafty. The serpent’s act of making its mind naked and becoming crafty mirrors Adam’s act of becoming naked and coming to know both good and evil through the eating of the tree of knowledge. The two words used in Genesis are the same. This strongly hints at the Serpent being human and on par with Adam. Only Lilith can explain this other human.
- The Hebrew noun translated “Serpent” is strongly suggestive of a soothsayer, which is a human speaking through an indwelling demonic spirit. In the Bible inhabited soothsayers are predominately women. Lilith provides the only possible origin of a human soothsayer.
- The strong parallels between God’s curses against Eve and against the Serpent in Ge 3:15 imply that the Serpent, like Eve, was a woman and a would-be mother. They were to be the source of two rival seeds. The Serpent’s seed would bruise the heel of Eve’s seed, but Eve’s seed would crush the head of the Serpent.
- The curses handed out to the Serpent and to Eve in Ge 3:14-16 are the same as those of the bitter water trial for a wayward adulterous wife in Nu 5:10-31. The Serpent’s curses match those of the adulterous wife, and Eve’s curse in childbirth matches that experienced by the innocent woman of the trial. The Serpent, in her role as the defiled Sotah, eats dust and is cursed in her belly, and she shall be slain by the promised seed of the innocent woman. Eve, as the innocent woman in trial, shall temporarily endure the pains of the curse in childbirth, but she shall be saved by her seed. This strong parallelism further solidifies the identification of the Serpent as an adulterous female who has gone astray from under her husband, Adam. This could only be Lilith.
- Isa 34 discusses a demon named “Lilith” who fulfills the critical end-time role of the Serpent as a rival against Eve and her seed. Isaiah places Lilith at the crux of God’s final judgment of the nations in the end times. In that great day, when the lots of Yom Kippur are cast, Lilith is eternally damned to a land of withering drought, cursing, and fire. Her seed perishes and comes to naught. Isaiah contrasts Lilith’s eternal punishment with that of a woman named Ishshah. Ishshah shares Lilith’s hellish abode for a time and suffers the same curses, but Isaiah reveals that God redeems Ishshah from that situation. She inherits God’s kingdom. Ishshah was the name Eve bore during her cursing alongside the Serpent (Adam later renamed Ishshah Eve). Isaiah is clearly discussing the ultimate end of the rivalry established in the garden between Eve and the Serpent Lilith.
Isaiah not only confirms Lilith’s critical role as the Serpent in the end times judgment of Yom Kippur, the prophet also corroborates many other mundane details of her legend. He confirms that Lilith dwells in the midst of the sea; that she is a deadly birdlike creature; that she is the slayer of stray younglings; that she is closely associated with a snake, and that she is the mother of failed seed that perishes from a cursing of God. - Lilith best explains Leviathan, which is commonly recognized as Lucifer in the form of the Serpent of the garden. Leviathan is described in Job 26:13 and Isa 27:1 as a Serpent fleeing from before God and dwelling in the seas. This matches Lilith’s legend of fleeing on wing from the garden and her subsequent oceanic abode. First Enoch confirms that Leviathan dwells in the seas, and adds that Leviathan is female. This again matches Lilith. Psalm 74:14 speaks of God crushing the head of Leviathan. This matches God’s curse on the Serpent in Genesis that Eve’s seed in the form of Messiah would crush the head of the Serpent.
- Job 26:13 implies the Serpent Leviathan’s creation was analogous to that of Adam – that it was fashioned by God through twisting and manipulating of earth into a golem. This similar creation supports the notion that the Serpent was created at the same time as Adam and in a similar fashion. This is consistent with the Serpent being the first woman, Lilith, created from dust of the earth.
- The literal meaning of the name Leviathan is “joined one.” It implies a continual and eternal connection between Lucifer and the Serpent Leviathan. The Serpent being fathered by Lucifer and animated in his likeness best explains this continual connection. This is because a simple possession of the Serpent by Lucifer would be a temporary and reversible condition. The Lilith legend provides an explanation for this irreversible fusing event with the Serpent. Lucifer became the animating father spirit of the Serpent Lilith when his mist broke through from the depths of the earth and watered the ground of her creation.
- Job 3:8 implies that the Serpent Leviathan is especially suited for instigating abortions of fetuses. This matches a critical feature of Lilith in Isaiah 34, which intimates that she is a slayer of children. This also matches a key feature of Lilith’s legend, namely that she is a danger to pregnant women in childbirth.
- Proverbs 30 describes a demoness titled Alukah who is very similar to Lilith. Alukah is described as having a mystical power like that of the bitter water cursing agent in a Sotah trial, which is the spirit of Lilith. Proverbs declares that when two types of barren women are given over to the power of Alukah’s curse, two different outcomes are possible. For the woman who survives the ordeal, Alukah’s curses somehow grant her a promised seed, but to the other barren woman of the ordeal, Alukah brings the curses of death. In rabbinic tradition, Alukah’s rich and detailed mythos matches enumerable aspects of Lilith. Alukah was the mother of estries, which are female vampires. Common attributes between estries and the spirit of Lilith include: 1) both had winged flight and a birdlike appearance, 2) both engaged in the murder of children, 3) both of their powers were activated by unleashing their hair, 4) both of their cursed powers could be revitalized by deceitful eating, 5) both were constrained by an oath, 6) saying “amen” concerning either women was dangerous, 7) the death or banishment of both was effectively brought about by filling her mouth with earth.
- Lilith best explains the origins of the demon Azazel in the Yom Kippur ceremony of Leviticus 16. In that ceremony, Azazel plays a rival role to Messiah. As such, Azazel is the Serpent’s infamous seed, which God prophesied would bruise the heel of Eve’s promised seed, Messiah.
With the summary of evidences complete, let us study each in detail.