Lilith (1892)
Atkinson Art Gallery

Lately I've been thinking of making a category called "Old Testament Ellipses," or to be clearer, "Gaps in the Bible." Sometimes the Old Testament leaves out stuff.

For example, in Genesis 2:

18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.

22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

So here's the problem. In 2:18 God states that He'll make a companion for Adam. But instead we read that He is out creating animals and birds. What happened to Adam's companion? Shouldn't He have made a helper first before all the animals and the birds? It's as if something is missing.

The missing thing was filled in by Jesus ben Sirach a thousand years after the Old Testament was written. Before the animals and birds, God created Lilith, the original wife of Adam:

Lilith

While God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone' (Genesis 2:18). He also created a woman, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air.