Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sources — John Shaqi
Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sourcesBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sources
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends
That Eve was Adam’s second wife was a common Rabbinic speculation;
certain of the commentators on Genesis having adopted this view to
account for the double account of the creation of woman in the sacred
text,—first in Genesis i. 27, and secondly in Genesis ii. 18; and they
say that Adam’s first wife was named Lilith, but she was expelled from
Eden, and after her expulsion Eve was created.
Abraham Ecchellensis gives the following account of Lilith, and her
doings:—“There are some who do not regard spectres as simple devils, but
suppose them to be of a mixed nature, part demoniacal, part human, and
to have had their origin from Lilith, Adam’s first wife, by Eblis, the
prince of the devils. This fable has been transmitted to the Arabs from
Jewish sources, by some converts of Mahomet from Cabbalism and
Rabbinism, who have transferred all the Jewish fooleries to the Arabs.
They gave to Adam a wife, formed of clay, along with Adam, and called
her Lilith; resting on the Scripture, ‘_male and female created He
them_:’[55] but when this woman, on account of her simultaneous creation
with him, became proud and a vexation to her husband, God expelled her
from Paradise, and then said, ‘_It is not good that the man should be
alone; I will make him a help meet for him._’[56] And this they confirm
by the words of Adam when he saw the woman fashioned from his rib,
‘_This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh_,’[57] which is as
much as to say, Now God has given me a wife and companion, suitable for
me, taken from my bone and flesh, but the other wife he gave me was not
of my bone and flesh, and therefore was not a suitable companion and
wife for me.
“But Lilith, after she was expelled from Paradise, is said to have
married the Devil, by whom she had children, who are called Jins. These
were endued with six qualities, of which they share three with men, and
three with devils. Like men, they generate in their own likeness, eat
food, and die. Like devils, they are winged, and they fly where they
list with great velocity; they are invisible, and they can pass through
solid substances without injuring them. This race of Jins is supposed to
be less noxious to men, and indeed to live in some familiarity and
friendship with them, as in part sharers of their nature. The author of
the history and acts of Alexander of Macedon relates, that in a certain
region of India, on certain hours of the day, the young Jins assume a
human form, and appear openly and play games with the native children of
human parents quite familiarly.”[58]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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