Literature Review
Garden of Eden
What the next world is, however, is far from clear. The rabbis use the term Olam Ha-Ba to refer to a heaven-like afterlife as well as to the messianic era or the age of resurrection, and it is often difficult to know which one is being referred to. When the Talmud does speak of Olam Ha-Ba in connection to the afterlife, it often uses it interchangeably with the term Gan Eden (“the Garden of Eden”), referring to a heavenly realm where souls reside after physical death.
The use of the term Gan Eden to describe “heaven” suggests that the rabbis conceived of the afterlife as a return to the blissful existence of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the “fall.” It is generally believed that in Gan Eden the human soul exists in a disembodied state until the time of bodily resurrection in the days of the Messiah.
One interesting talmudic story, in which the World to Come almost certainly refers to a heavenly afterlife, tells of Rabbi Joseph, the son of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, who dies and returns back to life.
“His father asked him, ‘What did you see?’ He replied, ‘I beheld a world the reverse of this one; those who are on top here were below there, and vice versa.’ He [Joshua ben Levi] said to him, ‘My son, you have seen a corrected world.’”
In the kabbalistic (Jewish mystical) tradition, there is much discussion about the voyages of the human soul to the Garden of Eden and other heavenly realms during one’s life on earth. In the Zohar, the greatest of the medieval mystical works, there are many stories about the soul-ascents of various members of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai’s mystical brotherhood. Most often, these journeys take place at night, while the body is at rest (see, for example, Zohar I: Parashat Vayehi, 217b-218b).
Gehinnom: A Jewish Hell
Only truly righteous souls ascend directly to the Garden of Eden, say the sages. The average person descends to a place of punishment and/or purification, generally referred to as Gehinnom.
The name is taken from a valley (Gei Hinnom) just south of Jerusalem, once used for child sacrifice by the pagan nations of Canaan (II Kings 23:10). Some view Gehinnom as a place of torture and punishment, fire and brimstone. Others imagine it less harshly, as a place where one reviews the actions of his/her life and repents for past misdeeds.
The soul’s sentence in Gehinnom is usually limited to a 12-month period of purgation before it takes its place in Olam Ha-Ba (MishnahEduyot 2:9, Shabbat 33a). This 12-month limit is reflected in the yearlong mourning cycle and the recitation of the Kaddish (the memorial prayer for the dead).
Only the utterly wicked do not ascend to the Garden of Eden at the end of this year. Sources differ on what happens to these souls at the end of their initial time of purgation. Some say that the wicked are utterly destroyed and cease to exist, while others believe in eternal damnation (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Law of Repentance, 3:5-6).
RING OF VESSELS
In Kabbalah, Adam and Eve are viewed as symbols of male and female energy, and as a metaphor for the “primordial Vessel” whose existence came before creation, thus encompassing all the souls of humanity to come.68 The presence of the Serpent, considered a fragmenting force, was necessary for creation; otherwise, all would have remained united with God.69 This gave man the opportunity to earn the Light on his own.70
One of the hidden meanings in the creation story, according to Kabbalah, is that there are two gardens of Eden—one above, and one below—and reuniting these two gardens is the goal of humankind.71 Yehuda Berg believes that the forbidden fruit was a sexual act between Eve and the Serpent.72 Matt interprets Adam’s sin as driving out the Shekhinah by eating only from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and not from the Tree of Life, thus separating the Shekhinah from her “husband,” Tiferet, and separating consciousness from unconsciousness.73 This act caused Adam and Eve to lose their garments of light and fall into a lower physical form, becoming clothed with garments of animal skin.74
Philip Berg’s interpretation of the fall is that Adam and Eve chose with good intentions to have more Light, since this is what the Serpent offered. Their choice was wrong, but because the Serpent’s temptation enhanced the difficulty of their choice, it was also worthy.75 This sounds contradictory, but Berg explains that evil comes from God and serves the Creator. Cooper says that everything, including evil, has a divine nature.76 Adam and Eve took a second bite of the fruit, done out of self-serving motives, thus short-circuiting their ability to receive the fullness of the Creator’s Light and moving them back to the material level with a knowledge of death and evil.77 God’s command that Adam must now work the land was not literal; rather, it meant that he must “rebuild the Vessel of [himself] through [his] own work in the world.”78
The Tree of Life, Kabbalah teaches, is a fountain of God’s light, flowing ever downward. This was free flowing in the garden of Eden, but humankind has disrupted this flow and is in shattered vessels, which it must rebuild on its own. The garden must be regained.
IN THE GARDEN: THE SHATTERING OF VESSELS
In Kabbalah, Adam and Eve are viewed as symbols of male and female energy, and as a metaphor for the “primordial Vessel” whose existence came before creation, thus encompassing all the souls of humanity to come.68 The presence of the Serpent, considered a fragmenting force, was necessary for creation; otherwise, all would have remained united with God.69 This gave man the opportunity to earn the Light on his own.70
One of the hidden meanings in the creation story, according to Kabbalah, is that there are two gardens of Eden—one above, and one below—and reuniting these two gardens is the goal of humankind.71 Yehuda Berg believes that the forbidden fruit was a sexual act between Eve and the Serpent.72 Matt interprets Adam’s sin as driving out the Shekhinah by eating only from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and not from the Tree of Life, thus separating the Shekhinah from her “husband,” Tiferet, and separating consciousness from unconsciousness.73 This act caused Adam and Eve to lose their garments of light and fall into a lower physical form, becoming clothed with garments of animal skin.74
Philip Berg’s interpretation of the fall is that Adam and Eve chose with good intentions to have more Light, since this is what the Serpent offered. Their choice was wrong, but because the Serpent’s temptation enhanced the difficulty of their choice, it was also worthy.75 This sounds contradictory, but Berg explains that evil comes from God and serves the Creator. Cooper says that everything, including evil, has a divine nature.76 Adam and Eve took a second bite of the fruit, done out of self-serving motives, thus short-circuiting their ability to receive the fullness of the Creator’s Light and moving them back to the material level with a knowledge of death and evil.77 God’s command that Adam must now work the land was not literal; rather, it meant that he must “rebuild the Vessel of [himself] through [his] own work in the world.”78
The Tree of Life, Kabbalah teaches, is a fountain of God’s light, flowing ever downward. This was free flowing in the garden of Eden, but humankind has disrupted this flow and is in shattered vessels, which it must rebuild on its own. The garden must be regained.
Reference:https://www.equip.org/articles/kabbalah-getting-back-to-the-garden/
In Tamid (32b) its location is given as the center of Africa. It is related that Alexander of Macedon finally located the door to the Garden, but he was not permitted to enter. The Midrash ha-Gadol (to Gen. 2:8) simply states that “Eden is a unique place on earth, but no creature is permitted to know its exact location. In the future, during the messianic period God will reveal to Israel the path to Eden.” According to the Talmud, “Egypt is 400 parasangs by 400, and it is one-sixtieth of the size of Ethiopia; Ethiopia is one-sixtieth of the world, and the world is one-sixtieth of the Garden, and the Garden is one-sixtieth of Eden …” (Ta’an. 10a). The rabbis thus make a clear distinction between Eden and the Garden. Commenting upon the verse “Eye hath not seen, O God, beside Thee,” R. Samuel b. Naḥamani states, “This is Eden, which has never been seen by the eye of any creature.” Adam dwelt only in the Garden (Ber. 34b., cf., Isa. 64:3). The word le-ovedah (“to dress it”; Gen. 2:15) is taken to refer to spiritual, not physical, toil, and is interpreted to mean that Adam had to devote himself to the study of the Torah and the fulfillment of the commandments (Sif. Deut. 41). Although the eating of meat was forbidden him (Gen. 1:29), it is stated nevertheless that the angels brought him meat and wine and waited on him (Sanh. 59b; ARN 1, 5). In Tamid (32b) its location is given as the center of Africa. It is related that Alexander of Macedon finally located the door to the Garden, but he was not permitted to enter. The Midrash ha-Gadol (to Gen. 2:8) simply states that “Eden is a unique place on earth, but no creature is permitted to know its exact location. In the future, during the messianic period God will reveal to Israel the path to Eden.” According to the Talmud, “Egypt is 400 parasangs by 400, and it is one-sixtieth of the size of Ethiopia; Ethiopia is one-sixtieth of the world, and the world is one-sixtieth of the Garden, and the Garden is one-sixtieth of Eden …” (Ta’an. 10a). The rabbis thus make a clear distinction between Eden and the Garden. Commenting upon the verse “Eye hath not seen, O God, beside Thee,” R. Samuel b. Naḥamani states, “This is Eden, which has never been seen by the eye of any creature.” Adam dwelt only in the Garden (Ber. 34b., cf., Isa. 64:3). The word le-ovedah (“to dress it”; Gen. 2:15) is taken to refer to spiritual, not physical, toil, and is interpreted to mean that Adam had to devote himself to the study of the Torah and the fulfillment of the commandments (Sif. Deut. 41). Although the eating of meat was forbidden him (Gen. 1:29), it is stated nevertheless that the angels brought him meat and wine and waited on him (Sanh. 59b; ARN 1, 5).
Nahmanides adds another insight (Gen 1:26), this time based on the kabbalistic thinking of his time. Before their disobedience, Adam and Eve originally possessed spiritualized bodies that were lost in the second creation story.[13]
This notion is expanded in medieval Kabbalistic teachings into the doctrine of אדם קדמון, the primordial man. In the Tikkunei Zohar, this refers to the idea that when God created light at the beginning of chapter 1, God really emanated the ten Sefirot, which can be visualized as a human being; hence God’s statement that humanity is made in God’s image.[14]
In another kabbalistic take on this story, the lower world is a flawed material world that came into existence because Adam disobeyed God. Adam’s actions affected himself (he lost his spiritual body) and the upper realm as well. Further, Adam and Eve’s separation in the lower world mirrored the separation of God’s male and female parts – the tiferet (masculine) and the malkhut (feminine) – in the upper world. Thus, humankind’s task is to reunite the female with the male, restoring cosmic harmony and balance.[15
The act of eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is not just seen as disobedience. As a crucial step, in the development of human awareness. Adam and Eves choice leads them to understand the dualities in life, such as good versus evil, pleasure versus pain.
The Role of Evil: Evil is considered a necessary aspect of creation, providing a counterbalance that allows for free will and growth (3).
This newfound awareness brings both a sense of downfall and an opportunity for redemption. It introduces the idea of will giving humanity the ability to make choices between lower paths. The journey into the material world despite its difficulties and hardships presents a chance for progress and eventual reunion with the source. The ultimate aim is to transform knowledge into wisdom seeking balance and harmony.
The story of Eden symbolizes a state of purity and potential within each individual. It represents a connection to the presence. Serves as a goal for those on a spiritual quest. The expulsion from Eden signifies losing this state and embarking on a journey, through lifes challenges.
Significance of the Study
Chapter 1:
And behold, there were places prepared for the souls when they leave from their respective bodies, one to rest in it ” if he merits” until the time of the Resurrection, and one to be purged in it, by punishments -if there are sins upon this soul, which prevent it from resting. And the place of rest is called the Garden of Eden, and it has different levels. There is a lower Garden of Eden and an upper Garden of Eden. In the lower Garden of Eden, the souls dwell in the forms of the bodies that they were in, and they enjoy there various types of spiritual pleasures, and the place has been prepared in accordance to the types of pleasures that were decreed to exist there. In the upper Garden of Eden, the souls dwell in their true essence, and enjoy various types of spiritual pleasures that are greater and more exalted than the pleasures of the lower Garden. There are changes of time and seasonal changes for different pleasures that continue to change and there are different levels for those experiencing it. Gehinnom is the place for souls that are suited for punishment, and there they receive pain and suffering in relation to what is applicable to them, in accordance to their respective situations. And there are different levels of pain as there are different levels of pleasure, and with this pain, the sinners shall bear their iniquities. However, if they are worthy of reward, after this, they will be purified from their sin and go to rest. If not, they will be punished until they are obliterated. And this thing will not occur to a descendant of Israel, a Jew, except in the most infrequent of cases.
1.2 Book of Enoch
First Enoch The books that make up 1 Enoch contain several references to hell. Qumran contained fragments from an estimated 15 separate copies of 1Enoch. This large number of duplicate copies suggest that the book was widely circulated and well known at the time. Some of the references to hell occur in Book 2 (chapters 37–71, “the Similitudes”) which some scholars regard as originating later than the NT and perhaps influenced by Christian thought. However, there is now a growing consensus that it is pre-Christian. The fact that no fragments were discovered at Qumran can be regarded as a coincidence with low statistical significance, and the Son of Man mentioned in this section would have been described differently if these passages had a Christian origin. Nevertheless, one should still be cautious about passages from this section. Almost all the vocabulary and ideas about hell that are used by Jesus in the Gospels are already used by Enoch. He describes a place which is prepared for the Watchers (i.e. the angels who sinned in Gen 6:4) where human sinners are also sent: [BL 1-11]
• It is full of fire (10:13; 21:3, 7; 54:1; 91:9; 103:7; 108:4–5).
• It is dark, despite the fire (22:2; 103:7; 108:4, “something like an invisible cloud . . . completely dark yet I could not see the flame”6 ).
• The fire is associated with torment (10:13, “into the bottom of the fire—and in torment”; cf. 108:5).
• The fire is destructive (10:13–15, “into the bottom of the fire . . . they will burn and die . . . destroy all the souls”; 91:9, “into the judgment of fire, and perish”; 38:5–6, “shall perish . . . their life is annihilated,” though fire is not mentioned here).
The inhabitants will suffer torment and pain (10:13; 21:10; 22:11; 103:10; 108:5).
• Torment and destruction can both occur to the same persons (10:13–16; 103:10, “tortured and destroyed”).
• The destruction is described as “to all generations” or “forever” (10:13; 91:9, “thrown into the judgment of fire, and perish . . . in the force of the eternal judgment”).
• By contrast, the Watchers (i.e. fallen angels) are imprisoned forever, and not destroyed (10:13; 21:6, 10, “ten million years . . . detained here forever”).
• It is in a valley or abyss (10:13; 27:1; 54:1, 5).
• The name “Gehenna” is not used.
• Worms (i.e. maggots) are mentioned once (46:4–6, though this may have been subject to Christian editing).7 [/BL 1-11] A useful summary of all this is found in the following passage from the book of the Watchers which is generally dated to the 2nd or 3rd century BCE. The Watchers are imprisoned forever while the sons of the Watchers (who are half human) share the fate of other humans—i.e. torture followed by destruction—while the righteous experience eternal joy. [EXT]In those days they will lead them [the sons of the Watchers] into the bottom of the fire— and in torment—in the prison (where) they will be locked up forever. And at the time when they will burn and die, those who collaborated with them will be bound together with them from henceforth unto the end of (all) generations. And destroy all the souls of pleasure and the children of the Watchers, for they have done injustice to man. Destroy injustice from the face of the earth. And every iniquitous deed will end, and the plant of righteousness and truth will appear forever and he will plant joy. (10:13–16)[/EXT]
The story focuses on the creation of humanity. Little is said about the creation of heaven and earth, except that they are the work of YHWH, and that the earth was not watered initially. The man (adam is the generic Hebrew word for human being) is made from the dust of the ground and animated by the breath of life.
1.3 Babylonian and Christian Mythology
In the Babylonian myth of Atrahasis, humanity is also made from clay, mixed in that case with the flesh and blood of a slain god. In the biblical story, the breath of God is the element of divine origin in the human makeup. In this rather simple understanding, life comes with the breath and ceases when the breath departs. Then human beings return to the state of clay. Two trees are singled out in this garden: the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (The precise meaning of “the knowledge of good and evil” is disputed. It may mean “universal knowledge,” or it may mean the power of discernment between good and evil—cf. Isa 7:15-16, which refers to the age by which a child knows how to choose the good and reject the evil.) Symmetry would lead us to expect that if one tree is the tree of life, the corresponding one should be the tree of death, and sure enough, Adam is told that if he eats of it he shall die. The tree is not introduced to Adam under the negative name of death, however, but in its attractive aspect as the tree of knowledge.
The plot of the story hinges on the idea that God does not want humanity to eat from the tree of knowledge. The idea that gods jealously guard their superiority over humanity is widespread in the ancient world. It is also found in the Greek myth of Prometheus, the hero who was condemned to torture because he stole fire from the gods to benefit humankind. Adam is not initially forbidden to eat from the tree of life. The plot is complicated when the Creator decrees that “it is not good that the man should be alone.” In the J account, the man is allowed responsible participation in the choice of his mate. In the process, he is allowed to name all the beasts, but none of these is found to be a fit partner for him.
God is not an unmoved mover who produces creation fully formed. Rather, the Creator proceeds by a process of trial and error and engages in unsuccessful experiments. This is also the way creation is imagined in the Babylonian Atrahasis myth. Finally, Adam finds a partner in the woman who is formed from his rib. Whether the manner in which the woman is created implies the subordination of woman to man is a matter of heated dispute. For two thousand years, the implication of subordination was thought to be obvious. In the words of St. Paul, in the course of his attempt to argue that women should cover their heads when they pray or prophesy: “man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man” (1 Cor 11:8- 9; cf. 1 Tim 2:13, which forbids women to teach or have authority over men, because “Adam was formed first”).
Even Paul recognized the anomaly of this claim. He added that though woman came from man, “so man comes through woman, and all things come from God” (1 Cor 11:12) and that “in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, or man independent of woman” (v. 11). In the Genesis text, the emphasis is on the closeness of the bond between man and woman: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. . . . Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Gen 2:23-24: Usually in ancient Israel, the woman left her parents’ house to live with her husband; either the Genesis text reflects a time when this was not the custom or it simply means that for a man the bond with his wife takes precedence over that with his parents.) Despite all this, however, the reversal of the natural order of birth, by having the woman taken from the man’s body, cannot be denied. The order of creation surely implies an order of precedence. In the ancient (and modern) Near East, it was assumed that females should defer to males.
But to speak of subordination here is too strong. In the account of the original creation the emphasis is on the closeness of the bond between male and female. The man and wife were naked and not ashamed. This notice alerts us to the sexual overtones of the story. Some interpreters even hold that the “knowledge of good and evil” refers to sexual initiation. Immediately after their expulsion from Eden, we are told that Adam “knew his wife, Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain” (Gen 4:1). The verb “to know” often refers to sexual relations in biblical idiom. Genesis does not say explicitly that Adam “knew” his wife in the garden. Later Jewish tradition insisted that he did not, since the garden was holy, like the temple, because of the presence of God. Nonetheless, the motif of the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3 has always lent itself to a sexual interpretation.
More fundamentally, however, the nudity of Adam and Eve symbolizes their initial innocence and lack of self-awareness—a state in which human beings are not sharply different from animals. By the end of the story they will have put on clothes and become human, for better or worse. The Serpent Genesis 3, however, introduces another character into the story: “the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made” (3:1). In later tradition, the serpent would be identified as Satan, or the devil. According to the Wisdom of Solomon (a Jewish text, written in Greek around the turn of the era, and included in the Catholic canon and Protestant
Theological Misconceptions More than most stories, these chapters of Genesis have been overlain with theological interpretations that have little basis in the Hebrew text. Since the time of St. Augustine, Christian theology has maintained the doctrine of original sin—the belief that human beings after Adam are born in a state of sin. There is a partial basis for this idea in the New Testament, where St. Paul asserts that “one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all” and “by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Rom 5:18-19), but there is no suggestion of this in the text of Genesis.
The story of Adam is paradigmatic, insofar as the temptation to eat forbidden fruit is typical of human experience. One might also suppose that an inclination to sin is inherited from one generation to another. But there is no suggestion in the biblical text that guilt is transmitted genetically. Equally unfounded is the view that the responsibility for sin lay with Eve rather than with Adam. The earliest occurrence of this idea is found in the book of Ben Sira in the early second century BCE: “From a woman sin had its beginning, and because of her we all die” (Sir 25:24). It is repeated in the New Testament in 1 Tim 2:14: “Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” One may reasonably infer from the text of Genesis that the serpent approached Eve first because she was weaker, but Adam still bears the primary responsibility in the story. The command was given to him before Eve was created. Only after they have both eaten are their eyes opened. Adam and Eve suffer equally from the consequences of their action. Finally, the words of God to the snake have been invested with theological meaning in Christianity: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head and you will strike his heel.” Catholic Christianity has traditionally identified the woman as Mary, her seed as Jesus, and the snake as Satan. The passage is then read as a prophecy of the crushing of Satan and has inspired countless statues of Mary with a snake under her feet. Such allegorical interpretation has its place in a religious tradition, but we should be aware that it is not implied by the Hebrew text. Like the preceding verse, about the snake crawling on its belly and eating dust, this one is an etiology, meant to explain a fact of experience—snakes bite people, and people kill snakes.
The Contrast with Modern Values The story of Adam and Eve is a compelling story, largely because the lure of forbidden fruit rings true to human experience, as does the sense that our enjoyment of paradisiac bliss is likely to be short-lived and doomed to frustration. It should be emphasized, however, that the worldview of this story is antithetical to modern Western culture. While Adam has free range over nearly all the garden, the limit imposed by the divine command is crucial. Obedience to a higher authority is an essential element of the biblical ethic. For modern culture, in contrast, the sky is the limit and people are constantly encouraged to “go for it.” One may debate the relative merits of the two approaches to life, but the fundamental difference between them must be acknowledge
Content of the Problem:
Adam & Eve , the Story of Eden has been mixed in with Egyptian, and Babylonian religion mythology . Very similar stories the accuracy will never be 100 percent because of the various versions across the region.
3.1 Book of the Dead & Babylonian Text
Hathor and Nut dwelt in the great tree of heaven and supplied the souls of the dead with celestial food, while Nut appears in a vignette of the Book of the Dead in a sycamore. The olive-tree was the abode of Horus and the date-palm that of Nut designed on a Nineteenth Dynasty relief with human arms and breasts holding a jar from which two streams of water emerge and a tray of food.2 In Sumerian mythology the gishkin tree in the temple of Enki at Eridu “may well represent a tree of life.”3
As for the Babylonian and Assyrian literature, Strangely enough the term “the tree of life” does not occur in any Akkadian text . . . . On the other hand, pictorial representations are found of the king carrying out certain rites with a stylized tree, which in modern literature on the subject is often described as the tree of life.4 However, if no tree of life per se is found in the literature, notice should be taken both of the Gilgamesh epic and the Adapa creation myth. In the latter story Adapa, following the orders of his father Ea, unwittingly refuses the “bread of death” and “water of death” offered to him by the gatekeepers of heaven, not knowing that had he accepted their offer he would thereby have gained immortality. The epic of Gilgamesh is even more instructive. In it the Noah-like figure Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of a magical, life-renewing plant at the bottom of the sea and says, “If thy hands obtain the plant (thou wilt find new life).”
Gilgamesh does a bit of deep-sea diving, secures the plant, and tells Urshanabi, his boatman, “Its name shall be `Man Becomes Young in Old Age.’ I myself shall eat (it) and thus return to the state of my youth.” Gilgamesh’s plans are thwarted, however, by a serpent(!) who steals the plant while Gilgamesh is taking a bath.6 Thus the concept of a life-giving tree in the garden of Eden would not have been strange at all to Israel, given the time and place in which
3.2 Lilith At the same time Jehovah created Adam, he created a woman, Lilith, who like Adam was taken from the earth. She was given to Adam as his wife. But there was a dispute between them about a matter that when it came before the judges had to be discussed behind closed doors. She spoke the unspeakable name of Jehovah and vanished.” In the Alpha Betha of Ben Sira (Alphabetum Siracidis, or Sepher Ben Sira), an anonymous collection of midrashic proverbs probably compiled in the 11th century C.E., it is explained more explicitly that the conflict arose because Adam, as a way of asserting his authority over Lilith, insisted that she lie beneath him during sexual intercourse. Lilith, however, considering herself to be Adam’s equal, refused, and after pronouncing the Ineffable Name (i.e. the magic name of God) flew off into the air. Adam, distraught and no doubt also angered by her insolent behavior, wanted her back. On Adam’s request, God sent three angels, named Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, who found her in the Red Sea. Despite the threat from the three angels that, if she didn’t return to Adam, one hundred of her sons would die every day, she refused, claiming that she was created expressly to harm newborn infants. However, she did swear that she would not harm any infant wearing an amulet with the images and/or names of the three angels on it. At this point, the legend of Lilith as the “first Eve” merges with the earlier legend of Sumero Babylonian origin, dating from around 3,500 BCE, of Lilith as a winged female demon who kills infants and endangers women in childbirth. In this role, she was one of several mazakim or “harmful spirits” known from incantation formulas preserved in Assyrian, Hebrew, and Canaanite inscriptions intended to protect against them. As a female demon, she is closely related to Lamashtu whose evilness included killing children, drinking the blood of men, and eating their flesh. Lamashtu also