According to Jewish mythology, Adam’s first wife was not Eve. The Adam from the Book of Genesis was first wed to a woman named Lilith; however, she was not quite on board with her expected station in the Garden, so she was summarily banished, ejected, kicked out. The insurrection in heaven had already taken place, which meant that Lilith, in her exiled state, was not exactly alone. She was among fallen angels or demons who, like ravenous sharks, circled Eden, looking for ways to get in. To spite Adam and, of course, God, Lilith, at this point, chose to copulate with these creatures. The results? The things that go bump in the night. If you subscribe to the myth, there is room to subscribe to the existence of vampires and werewolves – hideous offspring of a vindictive woman and her once-angelic, now defiled hook-ups.
I share this story to put the worldview of early Europeans settlers to the so-called New World in its proper context. In his letters to the King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, Christopher Columbus described the land he stumbled upon in idyllic terms. The forests were lush and filled with resources and game, the weather, temperate; the natives, compliant. He had, in a phrase, rediscovered Eden – a happy bit of news to a Europe wracked by disease, war, and poverty. The New World, as a result, took on two new monikers: the New Eden and the New Jerusalem. It was a chance to start over, to start afresh, and zealots representing the world powers of the 15th and 16th centuries were quick to get a foothold.
John Winthrop’s “City on a Hill” sermon is well-known for articulating how many Europeans saw themselves acting out a Divine mission. The New Jerusalem would be home to a new type of people, not those imbued with old ways of thinking that would simply serve to replicate what they were fleeing from in the Old Country, but those who would be determined to elevate the human experience by living out their spiritual selves. This explains the fanaticism of the Pilgrims. God had provided a way, and they only had to take hold with both hands.
The reality of the conditions in North America, however, very quickly prompted them to reconsider their characterization of the New Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, the answer was already present. The barrier between what was Holy and what was not was compromised. It was a repeat of the story of Lilith. The demons were among them as were Lilith’s horrifying progeny. Life was so hard, in other words, because of pride. They could not escape their nature. No ocean was large enough to separate them from the fallenness that was inside of every human heart.
Our prelapsarian selves – Adam and Eve before the fall – characterize our American ideals. These are determined by what we could have retained, what we might regain, still; however, as I look around at the chaos of our times, I have to wonder how much Lilith still speaks. Yes, Adam and Lilith and, later, Eve were all given the gift of free will, just as we all have the same gift. We are free to love God or not, which, itself, is the very essence of love because we get to keep our agency. However, with Adam’s first wife, it is difficult not to ignore what can only be described as spite. When Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, they loved God and kept moving forward. When Lilith was banished, she made it her mission to create more evil.
Where does this leave us? I cannot be sure. I can only look at myself and at the people around me to see what we do with our sin. The New Eden, the New Jerusalem never existed. The City on a Hill was only wishful thinking. What might really define America moving forward are the choices we make. Are we Adam? Are we Eve? Our first parents who, despite their loss, bravely pushed forward. Or are we Lilith? Ready to turn sin into more sin until this sin literally walks among us, terrorizing the innocent, pulling the whole lot to deeper, more agonizing depths.
