Kabbalah: Lilith, Queen of the Demons

There are at least two demonesses named Lilith, and numerous others with similar jobs on the dark side. Samael and his wife Lilith the greater rule over all

Targum, Job 1:15

Lilith, the Queen of Zemargad, launched an attack and seized [the sons of Job] and killed the young men.... (Patai81:465)

School of the RaShBA

Then came two women harlots to King Solomon. They were Lilith and Igrat. Lilith who strangles children because she cannot make of them a veil for herself to serve as a hiding place for her. And the second is Igrat. On night King David slept in the camp in the desert, and Igrat coupled with him in his dream. And he had emission, and she conceived and bore Adad [king of Edom]. When they asked him, "What is your name?" he said, "Sh'mi Ad, Ad Sh'mi [My name is Ad, Ad is my name]," and they called him Ashm'dai. He is Ashmodai, king of the demons, who deprived Solomon of his kingship and sat on his throne, and therefore he was of the seed of the king of Edom (1Ki. 11:14), for he came from the side of the kingdom of evil. These two women strangled the son of the Shunamite woman....    All [the four queens of the demons, Lilith, Igrat, Mahalath and Naamah] and all their cohorts give birth to children, except Lilith alone, who does not bear, but is just a fornication in the world.... (Patai81:459)

Meir Arama, Sefer Meir T'hillot, p. 91b

And know that the kabbalists have written that the woman from the land of Egypt whom his mother took for Ishmael was the daughter of Kasdiel the Egyptian sorcerer. And when Ishmael divorced her, according to the instructions of his father [Abraham], as it is mentioned in the Pesiqta, she was pregnant. And she bore a daughter, and she was Mahalath daughter of Ishmael. And the mother and the daughter participated in that desert in many sorceries. And a spirit ruled over it, Igratiel by name. And that spirit was attracted to Mahalath, who was very beautiful, until she conceived from him and bore a daughter, and called her name Igrat, after the name of the spirit. And thereafter Mahalath became the wife of Esau, and she left the desert. Not so her daughter Igrat, for she and Naamah and Lilith and Nega' rule over the four tequfot [the two solstices and the two equinoxes]. And they said that Lilith fornicates with all men, and Naamah only with the Gentiles, and Nega' only with Israel, and Igrat is sent out to do harm on the nights preceding the Sabbaths and Wednesdays. And behold, Lilith is the scant measure that is abomination (Mic. 6:10), which Igrat and Naamah carry to the Land of Shinar, as Zechariah (5:11) said[1]. And about this it is said to the fearers of God, neither shall any plague [Nega'] come nigh thy tent (Ps 91:10). (Patai81:459f)

Nathan Nata Poira, Tuv haAretz, p 19

Know that there are seventy heavenly patrons, one appointed over each nation, and they all are under the rule of Samael and Rahab. Rahab was given as his share all the borders of Egypt, which measures 400 by 400 parsangs Samael was given four kingdoms, and in each of them he has a concubine. The names of his concubines are: Lilith, whom he took as his consort, and she is the first one; the second is Naamah; the third, Even Maskit; and the fourth, Igrat daughter of Mahalath. and the four kingdoms are: first the kingdom of Damascus, in which is found the house of Rimmon; the second, the kingdom of Tyre, which is opposite the land of Israel; the third, the kingdom of Malta, which formerly was called Rhodos (?); and the fourth, the kingdom called Granata [Granada], and some say that it is the kingdom of Ishmael. And in each of these four kingdoms dwells one of the four aforementioned concubines. (Patai81:460f)
Note in the following passages that there are two different characters that go by the name of Lilith. This is also present in the Kohen Brothers

R. Ya'aqov and R. Yitzhaq

Grandmother Lilith the Great--Samael the great demon and great king over all demons has intercourse with her. And Ashmodai king of the demons has intercourse with Little Lilith.    The demon whose name is Qaftzefoni, on rare occasions, when permission is granted him, has intercourse with, and attaches himself to, and loves, a creature whose name is Lildtha [Lilith], and she resembles Hagar the Egyptian.    A great jealousy sprang up between Samael the greater prince of all and Ashmodai king of the demons over Lilith who is called Lilith the Maiden, and who has the form of a beautiful woman from the head to the navel, and from the navel down [she is] flaming fire. Like mother like daughter... And there is no good intention in but only to arouse wars and all kinds of destruction. And they are occupied with war, the war between Lilith the Daughter, and Grandmother Lilith.... (Patai81:464)    And they say that of the offspring of Ashmodai and Lilith his wife was fashioned a great prince in heaven who rules over eighty thousand destroyers and despoilers, and he is called Sword of Ashmodai the King. And his face flames like the fire of flame. (Patai81:469)

Moses Cordovero, Pardes Rimmonim 186d

The ancient ones explained that there are two Liliths, one little and one great. The great one is the spouse of Samael, and she is a woman of harlotry, and the little one is the spouse of Ashmodai. And about this Lilith, the bride of Samael, the Geonim explained the she controls 480 legions as is the numerical value of her name. And on the Day of Atonement they go forth into the deserts, they march, and she screeches for she is the princess of screeching And Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, she too is a concubine of Samael, and the two [Lilith and Mahalath] go forth with 478 legions. She goes and sings in the Holy Tongue songs and paens. And when the two meet on the Day of Atonement they quarrel there in the desert. They strive, the one with the other, until their voices rise up to heaven, and the earth shakes with their clamor. And all this is brought about by the Holy One, blessed be He, so that they should not accuse Israel while they [Israel] pray. And others wrote that that husk [i.e., demoness] is called Meshullahel [Messenger of God], and the reason is that she sends out evil angels, may the Merciful One destroy them! And we found it written that the wicked Samael and the evil Lilith have the likeness of a couple which, with the intermediacy of a groomsman, receives an emanation of evil and insolence, flowing from the one to the other. And about this mystery it is written, And on that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the Slant Serpent, and Leviathan the Tortuous Serpent, and He will slay the Dragon that is in the sea (Isa. 27:1). Leviathan is the connection and the coupling between the two who have the likeness of serpents.[2] Therefore it is doubled: the Slant Serpent corresponding to Samael, and the Tortuous Serpent corresponding to Lilith.... (Patai81:464f)    The DragonAbove is the BlindPrince who has the likeness of an intermediary groomsman between Samael and Lilith, and his name is Tanin'iver, BlindDragon. And he is like a blind dragon...and it is he who brings about the adhesion and coupling between Samael and Lilith. Had he been created whole, in the completeness of his emanation, he would have destroyed the world in one minute. (Patai81:458)

Yalqut R'uveni 147a

And the Kabbalists said that the prince who serves before her is called Sariel [My Prince is God], and they have received the tradition that this prince is the greatest king of the demons who rule in the air.    In the middle of the night of Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement], forced by the acts of the sages and elders, Sariel comes against his will, together with 131 warriors, flying in the air, and their faces are aflame with sparks of fire. And the scribe whose name is Pifiron brings, written and sealed by the hand of Sariel, all the secrets of the firmament, and reveals them to the elders.    And from the emanation of Lilith's prince come spirits and demons and Lilin, and evil spirits who have the likeness of humans.    And just as all that time Adam was separated from Eve he begot spirits and demons and Lilin and all kinds of harmful spirits, likewise Above, so to speak, a spirit of spiritual seduction emerged from Lilith and brought accusations against the attribute of the Foundation of the World[3]. And from that time on alien and evil cohorts were born, destroyers of the world of Above and of Below. And the Holy Seed had no power to materialize, except in two or three persons such as Seth, Enoch, Metushelah, Noah, Sem and Eber, but most of the world were idolaters. (Patai81:467)

Bacharach, 'Emeq haMelekh, 179d-180a

The Lilin multiply like humans, eat and drink and die. And they are from the six earths which lie beneath us. And Lilith came against the will of Adam and became hot[C] from him. And they [the inhabitants of Adama, the second from below of the seven earths] are always sad, full of sorrow and sighs, and there is no joy at all among them. And those cohorts can fly up from there to this world on which we stand, and they become harmful demons. And then they return there and offer prayers to God, the Creator of the world.... (Patai81:469)
[1] The author identifies the "two women" mentioned by Zechariah with Igrat and Naamah, just as he identifies "Wickedness" with Lilith. [Patai, n. 11]
Zechariah 5:5-11 reads:
   Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, "Look up and see what this is that is coming out."
   I said, "What is it?"
   He said, "This is a basket coming out." And he said, "This is their iniquity in all the land." Then a leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket! And he said, "This is Wickedness." So he thrust her back into the basket, and pressed the leaden weight down on its mouth.
   Then I looked up and saw two women coming forward. The wind was in their wings; they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and sky. Then I said to the angel who talked with me, "Where are they taking the basket?"
   He said to me, "To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it; and when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base." [NRSV]
[2] On BlindDragon as the sexual go-between for Lilith and Samael see Lilith, Samael and BlindDragon"
[3] One of the divine attributes. [Patai, n. 12]


----------

Return to Lilith Page
© Copyright 1995-2011 Alan Humm.
Comments and corrections: