The First Feminist Was a Myth And Men Made Her a Demon

Lilith is one of the oldest female figures in human mythology, her story tracing back to Mesopotamian texts, long before she appeared in Jewish folklore. Her name originates from the Sumerian and Akkadian lilû or lilītu, meaning wind or night-spirit and in these earliest mentions,she was associated with storms,the wilderness and danger to infants a figure both feared and respected as a supernatural entity.

In the Hebrew Bible, she is briefly mentioned in Isaiah 34:14 as a "night creature" or "screech owl," though the text itself does not expand on her character. Here, the scribes include her as part of a desolate,chaotic wilderness,symbolically aligning her with danger and otherness.

The name Lilith appears in Isaiah 34:14 in some Hebrew-based translations, like the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) Tanakh. In these versions, it is presented as a proper noun, referring to a night demon or spirit, often associated in later Jewish folklore with a female demon who harms infants or haunts desolate places.

In most modern English Bibles, however, the word is translated more generically as "night creature," "screech owl," or "night demon" so the name "Lilith" itself doesn't appear.

Her most well-known story, however, comes from the Alphabet of Ben Sira, a non-canonical Jewish text dating from roughly the 8th–10th century CE.

The Real Story of Lilith

And it came to pass, when the Holy One, blessed be He, formed man from the dust of the ground from the red earth called Adamah .. He said, "It is not good for man to be alone." So He shaped for him a companion, also from the same soil. And her name was Lilith. (Alphabet of Ben Sira 23a)

Lilith was made from the same Adamah as Adam not from his rib, not from his flesh, but from the same living ground. Because of this, she saw herself as his equal. She said to Adam, "We are both made from the earth; we are equals." But Adam sought to rule over her. He said, "Lie beneath me." And she refused, replying, "I will not lie beneath you, for we are both from the same ground." (Alphabet 23b)

Their conflict was not about desire it was about dominion. Adam demanded submission; Lilith demanded equality. When he would not listen, she spoke the Ineffable Name of God the sacred Name forbidden to human tongues and in that moment, she grew wings and rose from the Garden of Eden. She left behind the man who could not see her as his equal and fled toward the Red Sea.

Adam fell before the Creator and said, "The woman You gave me has fled." So the Holy One sent three angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to bring her back. They found her resting by the Red Sea and said, "Return to Adam or we will drown you in the sea." But Lilith answered, "Leave me be. I was created to be free."

The angels warned her, "If you refuse, a hundred of your children will die each day." And Lilith wept, yet she did not yield. She made a covenant, saying, "Wherever I see your names or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that child." (Alphabet 23b) From that moment, the scribes rewrote her story. They called her the mother of demons, the night spirit, the slayer of infants. Later, in the Talmud (Erubin 100b), she was described as a winged creature. In Isaiah 34:14, her name was whispered as Lilith, "the night creature." And so, the woman who once stood beside Adam became the shadow men warned each other about.

But beneath those fearful words lives another truth….Lilith was not cursed she was free. Her wings, which men said marked her as evil, were symbols of liberation. Her flight from Eden was not rebellion; it was self-preservation. She refused to live in a paradise built on submission. The Red Sea, where she made her home, became the border between captivity and freedom. The hundred children she lost each day echo the sacrifices women make when they choose autonomy the things the world takes from them when they refuse to kneel. Even her title as the night demon carries meaning. In patriarchal language, the night represents mystery, disobedience, and the unknown. To call her a creature of the night was to mark her as uncontrollable but that was precisely her truth. She could not be contained, confined, or rewritten to fit a man's comfort.

They demonized Lilith not because she did evil, but because she refused to bow. They erased her from the story of creation because she threatened the hierarchy that kept men above women. Before she was called a demon, she was the first woman to say no. Before she was turned into a warning, she was the embodiment of freedom. And before she became a myth whispered in fear, she was a revelation that a woman made from the same earth as man owes him neither obedience nor silence.

And when Lilith was gone when equality took flight Adam was left alone. So the Holy One caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, and from his rib He shaped another woman. Not from Adamah this time, but from Adam himself. Flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone. (Genesis 2:21-22) Eve was created not as an equal from the earth, but as a companion from his body molded to be near his heart yet beneath his hand. Where Lilith's wings symbolized freedom, Eve's rib symbolized containment. She was made to be loved, yes but also to be ruled. And yet, even within submission, consciousness stirred.

When Eve took the fruit, it wasn't rebellion it was awakening. She bit into awareness itself. She opened the door to knowledge, to self-awareness, to the ability to question, to doubt, to think. Lilith freed the body; Eve freed the mind. The serpent did not tempt her with sin he offered her consciousness. He gave her what patriarchy fears most: a woman who knows. A woman who questions. A woman who sees. That was Eve's defiance .. the birth of human awareness.

So while Lilith rose in flight, Eve rose in thought. One opened the skies; the other opened the mind. Together, they are the two faces of womanhood freedom and knowledge both punished by men who could not handle either.

(Alphabet of Ben Sira 23a-b; Babylonian Talmud Erubin 100b; Isaiah 34:14; Genesis 2:21-22; Genesis 3:6-7)