Did Adam and Lilith Have Children?

We are often taught that The Bible says Adam and Eve were the first humans. However, Genesis seems to contradict this teaching. According to Genesis Adam and Eve, of the Garden, were not the first humans. Adam had another wife before Eve, named Lilith. Did Adam and Lilith have children? If so are they mentioned in Biblical text? What happened to them? A close reading of Genesis 1-5 provides answers to these questions.

The Two Tales Of Creation

Genesis has two creation stories. In the first creation story in Genesis 1:27 we read that G-d created man in his image male and female he created them. In this tale, man and woman are created simultaneously and equally.

However, we again see mankind created in Genesis 2. In the Genesis 2 version man is made first from the dust of the ground and woman is created later from the man’s rib.

Did Lilith and Adam Have Children?

Most Christian preachers ignore that there are two creation tales and Christian theologians have argued it is due to different writers. However, the Jewish sages offered another explanation. According to the Midrash, Genesis 1 refers to the creation of Adam and his wife Lilith, while Genesis 2 refers to the creation of Adam’s second wife, Eve.

According to the sages Lilith wanted to be “on top” and Adam was not happy about this so Lilith fled the garden to gain her independence. This is the part of Lillith’s story that some people know, but the story doesn’t end there. According to the Rabbis, G-d sent three angels after Lillith and they found her in a cave giving birth. That means the world’s first children were not children of Eve. The First children born into this world were children of Lilith.

Cain’s Wife: A Child of Adam and Lilith?

This theory of Adam having other children before his children with Eve might answer many of the questions that most of us have when reading Genesis. In Genesis 4:15-17 we learn that Cain is cast out of G-d’s presence and he finds a wife in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Most of us are perplexed by this the first time we read The Bible. If Adam and Eve were the first people and they had no other children who had been cast out, how did Cain find a wife? Where did the woman he married come from? There are several theories, but one that has not been thoroughly explored is that Cain married one of Lilith’s children.

How Did Cain Know Of Other People?

There is a lot of Biblical support for this theory. Genesis 4 makes it clear that Cain knows there are others outside of the land he lives in. Therefore, there had to have been other people on the Earth at that time, who his family somehow knew about. If his family had never left the area where they were under G-d’s protection, how would they know of any other people? If the others were the children of Adam and Lilith, it can be assumed that Adam told them. Otherwise, we have no answer to this question.

Why Did Cain Assume The Others Were Violent?

Further support for this theory is that Cain seems to know these people are violent. He says to G-d in Genesis 4:14 that they will kill him without G-d’s protection.  This makes sense if the other people are the children of Lilith. This is because, in most versions of Lilith’s story, her children are considered demonic.

Given these facts, it seems likely that the people outside of Adam and Eve’s area were the children of Lilith. Therefore, Cain married his half-sister, the daughter of Lilith and Adam.

Children of Lilith In Today’s World?

If Adam and Lilith had a child who mated with Cain, son of Eve, a more interesting question arises. Do those children have descendants in modern times? Did they survive the flood? To answer that we have to closely examine the descendants of Adam and Eve.

When we examine Adam and Eve’s descendants, we find that the children of Cain and the children of Adam’s youngest son Seth have very similar names. In fact, the only real difference in their lineages seems to be where in the lineage of descendants Enoch and Methushael occur. In one Methushael was older and in the other Enoch was the elder.

This similarity raises a question about whether or not Seth is actually Cain. In the Biblical text, when a character repents and makes a covenant with G-d, G-d often changes their name: Sarai/Sarah, Abram/Abraham, Jacob/Israel. Is Seth a returned and forgiven Cain? This is an important question because Noah is descended from Seth’s line, in the Biblical text. If Seth is Cain, the line of Lilith’s daughter and Cain lives on post flood.

Is There Redemption For the Children Of Lilith and Adam?

That might answer another big theological question. If we all are children of G-d why are some people so evil? Why do we have serial killers? Why did G-d say that every inclination of man was evil? That could be because we descended from the union of a demon and a killer. If so, can we rise above our genetics and become again holy? As surely as some humans follow the actions of Cain, many have also risen to be holy and walk with G-d. While some of Lilith has survived so has some of Eve and Adam.

Did Lilith and Adam have children before Adam and Eve? Biblically this theory seems to track and tie up many of the loose ends in the Biblical tale of creation. Adam and Eve were not the first humans. Rather, Adam and Lilith were the first humans. The children of Eve are not the only children on Earth.