Did you know that Eve wasn't the first woman created by God? Apparently, not according to Jewish Midrash. It was Lilith.
Last night I watched the History Channel show Banned from the Bible II, and they exposed this possibility that Adam's first wife wasn't Eve, but Lilith. The Jewish Midrash explains it by claiming that God indeed created man and woman on the sixth day, that being Adam and Lilith. However, Lilith did not follow the idea that she should be submissive to Adam, and Adam didn't like that. (And this may explain why Frasier's wife was named Lilith, too--you know Frasier?NBC? Cheers? Okay.)
So, God apparently agreed with Adam and said that he would make Adam a mate from Adam's own rib, so that the woman made with a piece of Adam would know to be submissive to Adam. Thus, the story in Genesis that Adam went into a deep sleep and God made Eve from Adam's rib.
Lilith apparently was banished and made out to be a demon. Or, as the Jewish Midrash describes, that Lilith was made a demon. (Was she being the jealous lover in the guise of a snake? Or did God change Lilith into a snake? For the sake of all humanity, I would hope God was more kind to Lilith than that.)
However, "Everything derives from woman," according to Midrash: Genesis Rabbah, 17. So, how can man dominate woman? Is this the intent of God when He created woman, for man to dominate woman and for woman to completely submit to man? In a perfect world, sure this would work, because man would not be human and do stupid things to subordinate and severely impair woman's gifted role in life.
But, no. God's creation in Eve caused the "original sin," as Adam submitted to Eve's encouragement to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of life. I'm sure God was shaking his head in disbelief that Eve, the woman who was created to be submissive to Adam would be the undoing of the entire human race. Eve was supposed to be submissive to Adam, not to a snake. And Adam was so gullible. I mean, where's Adam's balls here? Why didn't he stand up to Eve and just say NO? (Too bad Nancy Reagan wasn't alive then.)
All our anguish because Adam was a wimp. He couldn't live with God's first creation of woman. (Maybe Lilith was the one with the balls, not Adam??) What was so flawed with Lilith, anyway? Why couldn't God give marriage counseling to Adam and Lilith, so they could work out their differences and learn to love each other? This really throws a wrench into the Catholic thinking that a man and woman are bound for life in matrimony, with no reprival for divorce. Look at it this way: The first man and woman bound together by God, was put asunder (Was God really okay with this?), and God basically scrapped Lilith and then created Eve to mate with Adam. Could this event actually have been the first "original sin"??? Could this have a direct effect on the "original sin" of Adam and Eve? (Someone has got to create a play or Broadway show on this whole drama between Eve, Lilith and Adam.) Did Lilith get a bum rap on this?
Men have been playing this one-up game with women, apparently since the beginning of time. Men in power creating cultures that subdue and diffuse the powerful gift of women. Women were created by God to give life, and most women also have the power to care and nurture that life. Men, when they play their games to force submission on women, forget their own role to provide for women and to provide for their offspring, and men forget their role in relation to God and their world.
Women, being of the mind to care and nurture, have taken up the slack of men. It has been that life-giving power of women that have created the greatest strides in human rights around the world.
It seems that men want to break dance and show off, when God would prefer ballroom dance.
Monday, April 09, 2007
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6 comments:
Don't worry, not all men have forgotten their duties as being the man. And everything said in this post is correct.
Interesting thoughts, but it seems to me when I read Genesis, that Adam isn't really the first man. The man & woman in God's image are created the day before Adam & Eva.
Hi everyone. I really got serious about scripture a few weeks ago and couldnt go further than Genisis because as you all stated Verse 26 And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let "them" have dominion over the fish of trhe sea and over the fowl of the air ect and verse 27 So God created manin his own image in the image of GOd created he him male and female created he THEM.....who is them??
Plural meaning more than one....read further.....you will note that THEY were comanded....meaning there were more people on the earth prior to Adam and Eve.
What about them????
Also in Chapter 6 it talks about giants in the land and it also talks about the ANGELS of god slept and married the daughters of man.......what about that????? There are so many issues in the traditional Bible that arent taught in bible classes not only that but when they dont know an answer I have been told not to try to understand the mysteries..ok well god said to know the mysteries of the b ible is to know him.....
I am confused but still searching..
I have found an inner peace that comes not from the scriptures but from my spiritual growth.........
Anyone with ideas here to throw my way I would love to hear them.
Aletea68.. Well said. You have correct knowledge of this. There are some problems in scripture but the main lessions which are 99%
of the rest of scripture are the best rules for life, given by a loving creator to us out of His Love and Grace.
There is only one slight problem with this theory: The story of Lilith is not actually found in any authentic Rabbinic tradition. Although it is repeatedly cited as a "Rabbinic legend" or a "midrash," it is not recorded in any ancient Jewish text!
The tale of Lilith originates in a medieval work called "the Alphabet of Ben-Sira," a work whose relationship to the conventional streams of Judaism is, to say the least, problematic.
Hi All,
interesting theory, but it has some flaws...
The first chapter of Genesis runs briefly through the 6 days of creation.
Chapter 2 begins and says that on the 7th day, God rested.
Then it jumps BACKWARDS "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew" meaning it goes backwards to see the generations or HISTORY of the heavens and earth.
So keep in mind that we are now looking at history. ie, looking at the history of chapter 1.
It then continues in verse 5 to say this: "for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground."
First of all, the Bible contradicts the lilith theory. Because according to the lilith theory, both man (unnamed) and woman (unnamed or lilith) were created earlier and then adam and eve are created later. Meaning that according to the Bible, the lilith theory does not make sense, because the lilith theory says that Adam was created in the first account, but does not explain the 2nd account where God forms man of the dust of the ground. Therefore, the lilith theory can only be converted to the 2nd adam theory (as Aleta mentioned earlier). ie, men and women were created twice.
Now for the 2nd Adam theory:
Look at Genesis 2:5:
It says that there was NO man to till the earth. Meaning that at this point in the generations (history) of the heaven and earth, there was no man in existence. This proves the fact that we are looking back through the genelogies (as stated in vs 4)
So essentially this "second" account of the creation of humans is actually just retelling in depth history, more specifically what happened on the 6th day. It is not stating that there were 2 separate "creation events".
If anyone has any thoughts on this, please feel free to let me know! I'd be happy to answer questions.
Oh, and aletea68, about the Angels of God and the daughters of men:
Basically the "angels" of God were demons. Why does it call them angels then? because demons are angels.
Here's the reasoning.
God created all angels. Satan (the serpent who tricked Eve - proof: Rev 12:9) rebelled and took 1/3 of the angels with him. Jude 1:6 says God reserved certain angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation in everlasting chains.
The literal translation of the word "habitation" in the hebrew means "a residence, habitation, or house". Notice the word "own" before the word habitation though. This strongly encourages the idea that the "own" residence would be a body of some sort.
Going back to Genesis 6. It says that when these angels had children, they became men of renown (famous or infamous). It stands to reason that if these "men" were famous they had an impact on society. However the next verse tells us that the earth became wicked. This finishes off the proof that these angels were actually in rebellion against God and were following Satan. Had they been angels serving God, it stands to reason that they would have affected some people around them for God. However the opposite is true, and Noah was the only man who found grace (undeserved, unearned, favor and kindness) in the eyes of God when God sent the flood. So looking through all that, the "sons of God" were not serving God, and therefore were demonic angels.
So. In summary, NO EVIDENCE of the lilith theory is found in the Bible, and aletea68, those "sons of God" were actually demonic angels.
Hope you all find this helpful!
Cheers,
Stephen
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