LILITH. The word occurs only in Isaiah 34:14 , and is rendered in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] by ‘screech-owl’ and in RV [Note: Revised Version.] by ‘night-monster. ’ Belonging to the post-exilic time, it is connected with Jewish ideas on demons which, as foreign influence became felt, were developed on the lines of Babylonian and Persian myths. The Lilith is mentioned in connexion with the desolation which would haunt Edom; it was a hairy monster, and specially dangerous to Infants (cf. Lamia ). Strange stories are told about Lilith by the Rabbins. It was a nocturnal spectre who assumed the form of a beautiful woman in order to beguile and destroy young children. In the Talmud she is associated with the legends of Adam, whose wife she was before Eve was created, and so became the mother of the demons.
T. A. Moxon.