A few months ago, I was invited to speak at Dr. Sharon Mar Adams’ “Women and Religion” course at University of Colorado at Boulder. I gave my spiel: John Milton is complicated, Paradise Lost’s Eve practically rewrites herself, and…Lilith?
Despite Paradise Lost’s Eve having nothing to do with Lilith, it’s a common question I receive: Isn’t an empowered Eve just Lilith?
In my Paradise Lost retelling, Eve’s empowerment and Lucifer’s seductions come straight from Milton’s lines. In fact, our images of Heaven, Hell, and Eden are largely Milton’s invention! But, I digress…and I’ll bite: Let’s talk Lilith.
I had Dr. Sharon Mar Adams’ “Women and Religion” students answer three questions:
Why do you think modern culture has glorified Lilith as a “Biblical” feminist icon despite her absence from canonical scripture?
What are the dangers in elevating Lilith as a feminist symbol at the expense of Eve’s central, widely accepted biblical role?
In what ways does Eve’s story provide a model of female empowerment and agency that Lilith’s narrative does not?
A novel, Lilith, came out a few years earlier than my Eve. Its tagline: “Before Eve, there was Lilith.” On the cover a woman is displayed lifting a forbidden-looking fruit framed by branches of a tree with a serpent:
“BEFORE EVE, THERE WAS LILITH”?
Yes, the original Lilītu appeared significantly earlier than Eve. She was a Sumerian demon/nocturnal wind spirit of sexuality & infertility (part of a larger group of demon spirits associated with wind/night/disease). She did not have her own myth and appeared mostly in incantation texts, threatening pregnant women and babies. She was responsible for miscarriages—also a seductress, preying on men in their sleep (the one to blame for nocturnal emissions).
Then, around 800 CE (many years after Eve) the Lilith narrative we know today, appeared in the medieval satirical text known as the Alphabet of Ben Sira**. In this text, Lilith is created by God from the earth at the same time and in the same way as Adam, not from his rib but as his equal. Adam wants Lilith to lie beneath him during sex, and Lilith refuses, arguing that since they were created equally, she didn’t need to submit to his rule. In the end, she grows wings and flies away from Eden to the shores of the Red Sea. She refuses to return, and she becomes (like Lilitu) the one responsible for newborn death, miscarriage, and (again) succubus-like seducing. The Zohar and other mystical texts expand on her Queen of Demons narrative.
Today, Lilith is lauded by feminists, especially by us Jewish women, who reclaim Lilith’s refusal to submit to Adam as a symbol of independence. I love this! I’m all for female liberation and empowerment. However, much of the glorification of Lilith has come at the expense of Eve.
From Lilith magazine to Lilith Fair, Lilith has risen as a symbol for feminist resistance. Though, in glorifying Lilith, we’ve abandoned Eve (the true victim of patriarchal theology). Displacing Eve’s rebellion onto Lilith (the sexual demon/uncontrollable feminine threat) allowed Eve to remain palatable as Adam’s wife and the mother of humanity; Lilith took on what could not be reconciled in Eve by religious male leaders.
Eve is fully absorbed into the biblical narrative, recognized by Abrahamic religions across the board as the first woman and mother of humanity. She is central to our understanding of humanity, morality, and knowledge. Lilith, doctrinally, is peripheral; she’s introduced late and accepted selectively.
And Lilith does not take from the forbidden tree. It is Eve who critically evaluates the serpent’s claims, desires knowledge, does NOT consult Adam, and acts independently–taking from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve chose knowledge over obedience, and she accepted, like a badass heroine, the consequences of that choice. That is EVE’s story.
Many lists of “Badass Women from the Bible” include Lilith, yet Lilith is not from the bible. Many art pieces depict Lilith reaching up into the branches for forbidden fruit. That’s Eve’s plotline! Lilith never had anything to do with the forbidden fruit; taking the forbidden fruit was Eve’s bravery. Medieval Jewish mysticism (~13th century) began to borrow from the Eden narrative, casting Lilith as returning to Eden after her exile, sometimes as a seductive presence lurking around the garden. In some strands, Lilith is linked to the seduction of Eve—all later theological moves, not something in Genesis or even in the earlier Lilith legends.
Eve from the three major monotheistic religions must be interpreted properly. She must be properly recognized as the hero who chooses to know. Inside the context of Genesis, Eve cannot be the origin of sin (in a shallow, moralized sense), but, instead, Eve is the mother of autonomy, of free will and choice. Feminist theology must reclaim Eve from millenia of patriarchal interpretation. She is the first thinker, the first risk-taker, the first to desire knowledge, at whatever cost. The original monotheistic rebellion belongs to Eve.
There is actually a robust, empowering movement (from LDS to rabbinic interpretations of scripture) that work to redeem Eve. From Phyllis Trible’s work, The Woman’s Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eve and The Choice Made in Eden by LDS writer Beverly Campbell to Rabbi Kushner’s bold claims in How Good Do We Have to Be?
TLDR:
Recasting Eve’s rebellion as Lilith’s feat erases the radical agency of the Bible’s first woman. Eve was the true first rebel: she sought knowledge, questioned authority, and made her own choice. Lilith is a late rewrite, often stripping Eve of her radical power: a patriarchal subversion of monotheism’s first woman’s defiance.
**“…the very introduction of Lilith to the creation story rests on the rabbinic myth.” The Alphabet Ben Sira is, “a Hebrew and Aramaic composition conceived between the eighth and tenth centuries CE, comprising three essential parts.”
Some truly insightful, thought-provoking student responses from Dr. Sharon Mar Adams:
1. Why do you think modern culture has glorified Lilith as a “Biblical” feminist icon despite her absence from canonical scripture?
“She is simple and can be emotionally satisfying to the readers, whereas Eve is a lot more complicated. B/c she’s not in any scripture, people can reimagine her freely. Lilith is very feminist/feared as dangerous (kind of like Medusa).”
“Modern culture heavily associates Eve with conformity and a lesson in compliance to the Father God, a symbol of submissive, controlled women. Since her existence seems rooted in the degradation of women to elevate the patriarchy, it takes more effort and explicit intentions to reclaim her as a symbol of feminism. Meanwhile Lilith’s story provides an alternative route, as her legends are grounded in independence from men, control of men, and Goddess symbols like cycles of death and rebirth. While her absence from canonical scripture presents a challenge in relating feminism to traditional religious women, the purpose of feminism is to uplift women and help them come into their power. Lilith provides an example of a strong, empowered woman who was demonized, and this speaks to the villainization of feminism.”
“Lilith provides a convenient lynchpin for the modern feminist movement. This movement elevates female freedom, and, especially, the separation of the woman from the man…”
“I think in some religious cultures it could feel as though the story is owned by men, so Eve is made out to be unrepresentative of feminist ideals. Lilith isn’t in the Bible and therefore isn’t claimed by men, so she offers women an opportunity to have their own say in the narrative.”
“I believe modern culture glorifies Lilith as a Biblical feminist icon despite not being mentioned once in the Bible because, from my experience growing up in a Christian church, Eve was barely mentioned there and Adam was praised as the first of mankind, naming all the animals, God’s favorite creation, so on and so forth. Because Eve wasn’t the central point in either the Bible or a church, Lilith stood out with her origin story to religious and non-religious women.”
“I think Lilith has been glorified because her narrative aligns more with contemporary feminist values. She is easy to frame as a symbol of resistance against patriarchy. The story is rebellious and empowering, so it translates well into modern feminist movements. There’s also, I feel, a psychological aspect about recovering a suppressed woman from history. Because Lilith exists outside of official scripture (folkloric rather than canonical), she is reshaped more freely. Eve is harder to reinterpret because there are years of established interpretations throughout Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”
2. What are the dangers in elevating Lilith as a feminist symbol at the expense of Eve’s central, widely accepted biblical role?
“Eve is very important to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Billions of people know her story.”
“Elevating Lilith at Eve’s expense perpetuates a patriarchal form of control in which women fight amongst themselves and tear each other down. Literally, this means traditional, religious women who don’t believe in Lilith will become alienated by those who do believe. Both sides have cause to tear each other down: one who labels the other as a sacrilegious Christian-hater, and the other who thinks Eve was the perfect example of what not to do. Lilith may be too niche to speak to those who accept Eve, and so her elevation at the expense of Eve’s alienates people raised with Eve as their central female symbol.”
“Firstly, ignoring the primary narrative is dangerous. We have to remember that Christianity is inherently misogynistic, and forgetting Eve could cause us to forget that. Secondly, Eve was a powerful figure in herself; she defied the Lord and gained knowledge of good and evil. Dismissing her is to dismiss this role, somewhat similar to that of Prometheus. When Lilith is viewed as a feminist symbol over Eve, Eve’s role in the Bible gets reduced to her being docile and under control of Adam, rather than emphasizing her own actions that highlight her autonomy or wish for it.”
“A danger I see is misrepresenting religions that follow the Bible, and the misunderstanding of Eve and devaluing of her roles. It makes her a foil to others and removes her agency in her story (it villainizes her). This unfortunately reinforces similar structures that the patriarchy created. Eve has historically been blamed and scrutinized, while Lilith had embodied the “dangerous” qualities of female independence and sexuality. Making Lilith powerful and Eve passive leaves Eve diminished and repeats the pattern of erasing women’s complexity. Also, ignoring Eve means abandoning the primary text that has shaped Western moral frameworks. Elevating Lilith as biblical when she is not can blur historical and textual accuracy as well.”
“…Also, Lilith’s image as a person who steals kids or kills them is not conducive, as it twists the meaning of mother, which is a central part. By removing Eve, the first true woman’s story is unheard and it breaks the core ideal/model for women and cuts away at the depth it has created. Also, the exile may twist the meaning of independence and harm those thinking that empowerment means going away from society.”
“...I believe that because of the story of Genesis, it gave way into how women were treated for thousands of years, and reverence needs to give a voice to Eve.”
“...it is pitting two women against each other (Lilith and Eve), which is not being very ‘feminist.’”
3. In what ways does Eve’s story provide a model of female empowerment and agency that Lilith’s narrative does not?
“Lilith leaves, Eve stays. Eve’s character is very intellectual and curious. She knowingly steps into the unknown. Lilith leaves Eden before the story unfolds, whereas Eve is said to have initiated self-awareness and adulthood.”
“Eve chooses knowledge, which is power, over subservience. Then when Eve is cast out, she begins building civilization. Lilith and Eve differ where Lilith left, Eve stayed and shaped how the world was built.”
“Eve takes on roles and responsibilities that Lilith abandoned, showing how empowerment doesn’t need to come at the cost of everything, and also shows how women are multi-faceted and not just simple beings. Eve is also seen as a powerful motherly figure for women.”
“Eve is recognized universally across all Abrahamic religions as the first woman and mother of humanity. Eve represents rebellion within the system, which makes her reclamation more difficult but also more transformative.”
“I would like to connect Eve to the story of Prometheus: like him, Eve stole knowledge (the fruit/fire) for humanity, and like him, she was punished by the divine for it. However, Prometheus is celebrated as a hero, while Eve is looked down upon. The difference is that the Gospel is told from the perspective of the divine. God is the protagonist and defiance of Him is blasphemy. In Greek mythology, stories are told by humans, often with human (albeit male) protagonists. Defiance of the gods is not always wrong, for the divine is flawed. Lilith, on the other hand, had a much less active role. In theory she was Adam’s equal, but in reality she lacked the achievements of Eve. Another quality of Eve is that she made her achievements in spite of inequality, much like modern women would have to.”
I can imagine an overheard conversation between Lilith and Eve might be very interesting...