3.6) The Common Name of Adam for both the Male and Female

Ge 5:2 provides more strong evidence for Lilith.  As we have already seen, the brevity of the account and the fact that both the male and female were created and blessed in the same day implies that they were fashioned at the same time.  However, there is further evidence for a co-creation.  The common name of Adam given to both the male and female alludes to their common creation from the ground.  Only the Lilith legend explains the simultaneous creation of both the male and female from the ground. 

Ge 5:2 states that in the day God created the male and female, he gave them both the name Adam.  This common name of Adam has long puzzled scholars and led ancient rabbis to bizarre conclusions.  For them the phrase implied that at Adam’s creation, both the female and male existed and were complete.  This meant a co-creation of male and female in the same instant.  Recognizing the conflict of this with Eve’s later creation, the rabbis attempted to address the problem with assorted odd scenarios.  Surprisingly it was rather widely held that Adam was originally created androgynous (i.e. with both male and female organs) or, as the Zohar and others hold, that Eve was somehow attached to his side.  With the Lilith legend, no such outrageous arguments are required.  Both the male and female were created at the same time from soil, and they were separate beings. 

The common name of Adam in the passage also suggests a common creation of the male and female from the ground.  This is because the name Adam is the masculine form of adamah (hmda – Strongs 127), which means “ground.”  God gave the name of Adam to the dual creature to reflect its origin from the ground.  It is interesting to note that if one were addressing the female half of the dual Adam creature, one would call it Adamah (woman).  Likewise, one would address the male half as Adam (man). 

Where and when the Serpent Adamah might have acquired her latter name of Lilith is subject to speculation.  One fascinating possibility is that Adam named her this in Ge 2:19-20.  Those passages cover Adam’s naming of all the animals in his search for a companion.  The passages relate that “every beast of the field” (higher animals with minds and emotions) was summoned unto him to be named.  This would certainly include the Serpent Lilith, whom is specified as a beast of the field in Ge 3:1.  Thus, according to the literal reading of Ge 2:19-20, God must have summoned the Serpent to Adam, and Adam must have named her.  Is it possible Adam gave her the name Lilith?  The passages state that Adam gave names to the creatures that reflected their nature.  Thus, if he named her as Lilith, her new name must have somehow fit her nature.  Lilith, or Liyliyth, comes from the root layil (lyl – Strongs 3915), which means “night.”  One possibility is that Adam perceived the darkness surrounding the Serpent, and named her after this.  Another possibility is that she resisted his summoning for quite some time, and when she was finally compelled to arrive, it had become dusk or night.  This notion has some support from the Lilith legend, which states that she repeatedly resisted Adam’s call.