Lilith, Lady of the Owls

Isaiah 34:14

Some nations honor eagles. Some celebrate owls.

Is Lilith the Demon Queen or a Night Owl? Lady of the owls and howls or Ruler of the Nether Kingdom?

Many mysteries are contained in the chapters we are entering, including the identify of their author. 

Chapters 34+35 are considered by most scholars to be their own unit, likely not authored by the same Isaiah, son of Amotz, with whom we’ve been traveling these past weeks. 

The style is different and so is the content and its historical context - about a century after the live and death of the original Isaiah. Whoever authored these visions - and however these became part of the Isaiah text - has already seen the demise of Jerusalem by Babylon and is eager for revenge - and for return from exile. It’s likely that these were authored at some point between the first destruction of the Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the early phase of return - under the Persians, almost a century later. 

More about the mysterious ‘other’ or ‘second’ Isaiah in upcoming chapters. For now, our focus is on the bloody days ahead, as YHWH’s sword will demand vengeance not just from Babylon but also from the Edomites - Judah’s neighbors who took sides with Babylon and whose cruelty would be remembered bitterly by this author and Jerusalem’s last remains.  

But before the big days of release and relief, revenge and renewal of life in Jerusalem - there will be wilderness and emptiness where once were living and thriving beings. 

And to make his point the visionary brings the birds - and one of them, especially, may be not just a bird but a famous winged creature with a big role to play in the slow but steady evolution of post patriarchy. 

In verses 13-15 14 he describes this end-of-days scenario, as empty palaces, in ruins, become home for thorns and weeds, wild beasts, birds of prey and possibly demons:

וּפָגְשׁ֤וּ צִיִּים֙ אֶת־אִיִּ֔ים וְשָׂעִ֖יר עַל־רֵעֵ֣הוּ יִקְרָ֑א אַךְ־שָׁם֙ הִרְגִּ֣יעָה לִּילִ֔ית וּמָצְאָ֥ה לָ֖הּ מָנֽוֹחַ׃

“Wildcats shall meet hyenas,

Goat-demons shall greet each other;

There too the Lilith shall repose

And find herself a resting place.”

Isaiah 34:14

Who or what is Lilith? The word shows up here for the first and only time in the Bible. 

Most classical translators preferred to avoid the mythic. Lilith is translated as “screech owl,” “night creature,” “night bird,” “night monster,” or  “night owl”. 

And while she could be a nocturnal bird in the more mystical readings she is viewed as something more complex and way more sinister than an owl. She is way older than this book and will keep appearing in popular culture, feared and desired alike. 

The Hebrew word Lilith comes from Layl or Lailah - meaning 'night.' But she has a richer history in the Semitic world where her name in Akkadian means ‘spirit’ or ‘wind’ or ‘night spirit’, often depicted as an owl.

Lilith is first mentioned 2,500 years BCE in the Sumerian  Epic of Gilgamesh. It’s unclear what her original role was - a goddess perhaps? some sort of nocturnal presence.

But in the centuries that followed she becomes a demon of the night - seducing men and bearing them spirit-demon-children. She becomes a threat to heteronormativity, a wild woman with powers that threaten the domestic order, interrupting childbirth and endangering babies. Amulets against her powers have been discovered going back to Babylonian times. 

 Lilith’s appearance in Isaiah without definition or explanation indicates that Jews of the Isaiah’s age would have known who -- or what -- Lilith was, without needing explanation. By the time of the writing of these visions - Lilith was known and feared in Jewish culture and society.

Her powerful career would only get darker in post biblical days. The Hellenistic work attributed to the school of Ben Sira provides the backstory in which Lilith was the first woman created - equally with Adam, and who refused to be dominated by him, especially in bed, where she did not favor the missionary position. After some back and forth, the first couple split - Lilith literally flying off and Adam left alone in Eden. That’s when Eve comes in - the docile domestic version. But what happened to Lilith - this powerful feminine with a mind of her own? She becomes a night demon, or an owl, or some terror that still haunts the minds of mystics and men who are terrified of her power over them and their desires. She became a tool in the male-centric rabbinic mindset warning women that they must submit - or like Lilith - be wild creatures banishes to the edge of light and life. 

But in modern times, as gender equality is slowly becoming the law of the land, Lilith has been reclaimed  not as a demon but as a power symbol, a feminist icon valued for her wisdom and independence. Finally, after thousands of years, this first woman in our Semitic lore gets respect and recognition. One memorable modern adaptation is Faye Weldon’s 80’s novel “She-Devil” made even more popular as the 1989 movie starring Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr (!) Enjoy.

For Isaiah - or whoever wrote this text, she shows up among the goat-demons and the derelict domestic scenes at the end of time. Perhaps, the residence of Lilith here not as sex fiend but as a valued power symbol of endurance is a nod towards our own eventual demise - as one chapter ends and another rises as each dawn does?

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