Kabbala: Lilith as
God's Consort
In this striking passage we see Lilith
becoming the consort of God! This resulting from God's
regular consort, the Matronit, being in exile. While they
are apart, the Matronit is abused by the left emanations
(bad guys) while Lilith takes her place at God's side. Keep
in mind here that 'God' in this context refers to one of
the emanations of God, not the absolute (Ein Sof). Of
course, it would be tempting to combine this with the
'Adam's first wife' streams of the tradition, leaving us
with a story in which Lilith is at first rejected by Adam
only to be elevated to be the mate of God himself.
I
suspect, however, that these stories come from different
places and cannot be justifiably combined.
Zohar
3:69a
One day the companions were walking with Rabbi
Shim'on bar Yohai. Rabbi Shim'on said: "We see that all
these nations have risen, and Israel is lower than all of
them.
Why
is this? Because the King [God] sent away the Matronit from
Him, and took the slave woman [Lilith] in her
place.
Who
is this slave woman? The Alien Crown, whose firstborn the
Holy One, blessed be He, killed in Egypt. At first she sat
behind the handmill, and now this slave woman inherited the
place of her mistress." And Rabbi Shim'on wept and said:
"The King without the Matronit is not called king. The King
who adhered to the slave woman, to the handmaid of the
Matronit, where is his honor? He lost the Matronit and
attached Himself to the place which is called slave woman.
This slave woman was destined to rule over the Holy Land of
below, as the Matronit formerly ruled over it. But the Holy
One, blessed be He, will ultimately bring back the Matronit
to her place as before. And then, what will be the
rejoicing? Say, the rejoicing of the King and the rejoicing
of the Matronit. The rejoicing of the King because He will
return to her and separate from the slave woman, and the
rejoicing of the Matronit, because she will return to
couple with the King. (Patai81:468)