Here's what I had written in the Gray Matters thread a while back...
First, again, I'd like to give Wikipedia a nod, because they actually happen to have so many articles about her, they have a Disambiguation page for her. This gives you a glimpse at just some of her influences.
The one who you are asking about is no doubt #1 on that list; the ancient demoness "conjectured" (I love that word) to be the first wife of Adam, hinted at in Genesis 1:27.
Darby Translation (1890): "And God created Man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
It isn't until Gen 2:18 that it describes that Adam was alone and that Eve should be made for him. Of course, we know that the Bible is a collection of very old stories. We also know that not every story was the same, and a lot of interweaving of the stories was done.
This is the case with Genesis, among others. To appease all of the tribes, two versions of Genesis are combined. (This is seen again in the tale of Noah's flood, and more, but I digress.) But because of this discrepancy, we like to believe that it is Gen 1:27 that suggests Adam was not created alone. He was created with a woman who was not Eve. At some point, this woman must have left Adam alone. This woman was Lilith.
However, depending on your version of the Bible, she is only mentioned once, in Isaiah 34:14. And in modern versions, it isn't flattering.
Darby Translation (1890): "And there shall the beasts of the desert meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; the lilith also shall settle there, and find for herself a place of rest."
The other more common translations have "the lilith" as "the night hag" or "the screech owl". But the word in Hebrew is li-li-th, "לילית". Interesting to note, in the Latin vulgate, the word is "lamia", one of the mythical forms of vampires.
The primary reference however for Lilith as Adam's first wife actually comes from a medieval text known as the The Alphabet of Ben Sira. That link there is the first time I've found the whole section complete. (I am still trying to find a copy of this in a book, if anyone has come across it.) The website it comes from is one of the most complete collections of stories of Lilith.
The Alphabet is a collection of stories detailing the life of Ben Sira, a Hebrew mystic, but leads us to believe he had quite a wild life. At any rate, near the end, he explains how Lilith flew away from Adam after he imposed his will upon her. When Adam whined to God about this, He sent three angels Snvi, Snsvi, and Smnglof to bring her back to Adam. They found her near the Red Sea getting it on with a few demons and having many cute baby demons, aka the Lilin/Lilim. Confronted by the angels, she refused to go back with them to Adam. When they could not change her mind the angels passed on God's judgment against her, that 100 of her children would die each day. In retaliation, she claimed she would cause human infants to become sick and die, however she would not harm those who bore an amulet with the name of those three angels upon it.
This is very close to a Mesopotamian myth, where a night demon named Lilitu killed children. It is believed the legend of this demon was adopted by the Hebrews, who protected children by placing amulets around their necks with the names of the three holy angels. This practice is still in place. Another legend you may not know; the act of singing a child to sleep in order to protect them from Lilith was once known as a Lilith-Bye to cast her out from the nursery. This song eventually became known as a lullaby.
Regarding how Lilith flew away from Adam, I've heard another tale, but this one I have not seen a source for. At any rate, apparently, Lilith was quite beautiful to behold. I'm sure Adam was quite the specimen of human males, but we're talking about Lilith. ;-) Any ways, some of the angels in heaven found her to be quite remarkable. They mused, "she is so beautiful she is almost angelic." On their own they decided the only thing missing were wings, so they blessed her with wings of her own.
No doubt this ended up being one of many reasons Adam was jealous of Lilith, but he still demanded to be her superior. Lilith was created from the same earth as Adam so she did not believe herself to be inferior. Some sources say they were made at the same time, others that she was made second. But remember, none of this is in the account of Genesis. The way it is written, it could go either way.
Quite possibly you are familiar with her because she is described quite well in White Wolf's original Vampire: The Masquerade, and given fine form in The Book of Nod and in Revelations of the Dark Mother. It is in WW's original story line, that Lilith is described as Adam's first wife, but she found solitude after leaving him. Eve was created to take her place (from his rib) and she bore Adam two sons, Cain and Abel. After Cain slew Abel, Adam cast him into the land of Nod, just as God had cast Adam and Eve out of Eden.
After wandering alone in the land of Nod, marked as a murderer, Lilith found him and sheltered him. It was Lilith here who shares her magical essence with Cain, making him the first vampire, Caine. He was the first to "create" vampires, known as the Second Generation.
Lilith makes a comeback in the first (and best IMHO) story line of "Gehenna" (WW's chronicle of the Final Nights) to kick everyone's ass. Actually the story idea is good, but is not very well fleshed out -- left up to the Storytellers of course.
And this is just the part of her being Adam's ex.
