Before I continue, it is important to explain the principals involved. Though these concepts developed well after the Second Temple had been destroyed (in 70 AD), the Temple itself plays a large role in the Mythos. Also involved are Adonai (The Lord), and His Bride the Shekinah (Hebrew for "Presence").
This mythos is a development of earlier Pagan ideas, where the union of the Male and Female aspects of the universe are seen as paramount to the continued existence of all Creation. This was known as the Sacred Marriage. In the middle Eastern cultures, a newly anointed King was ritually married to the Goddess, and thus to the Kingdom itself. Likewise, the Qabalists depicted Adonai as a King, and the Shekinah was [the people of] Israel herself.
There was one single place where Adonai would join with the Shekinah, one place holy enough to sustain the Divine Sex. That place was the Temple of Solomon. Once in the year, the Couple had joined together within it's walls, and the Divine Light of goodness shone throughout the world.
However, the Temple had been destroyed, and its treasures carried into foreign and Pagan lands. With it went the perfect union of Adonai and His Kingdom. He withdrew from the world, refusing to meet the Shekinah in an impure fashion. The Shekinah Herself was taken captive by the foreign peoples and was there raped by them continuously. The Shekinah is the physical plane, and therefore could not retreat from it. Her rape was symbolic of mankind's rape of the world and the Israelite people.
And here, once again, enters Lilith. As before stated, Lilith symbolized the very foreign people who held the Shekinah captive. Lilith was their evil ways—and now those evil ways were in control. How? Because Adonai could not be without a female partner. There could be no God without—in some sense—Goddess. Thus, in an effort to sustain a balance, Adonai took Lilith Herself as His consort. Being what She was, Adonai felt no pity in uniting with Her in impurity. She was, quite simply, His harlot.
Thus it was that one half of the Divine Force which sustained the Universe was tainted—allowing the evil of mankind to be supreme and unstoppable. Lilith was the Dark Shekinah—the polar opposite of that Holy Goddess. She had made Her final jump from demoness to Goddess—the Wife of God.
The Qabalist felt his duty was to strive to reunite the Shekinah with Adonai, and thus cast Lilith away forever. The Sabbath was on example of this. Because of the holiness of this day, Lilith had no power to remain with Adonai, and was forced to retreat to the desert where She screamed in pain until the day came to an end. It was during this time that Adonai had the best chance of reuniting with the Shekinah—and the Qabalist did all he could to help through purity and godly living. This symbolism is even hinted at in the Christian Revelation, where the Whore of Babylon is supplanted in power by the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.
This was the final outcome of Lilith, and here you have Her mythos in full: First wife of Adam, wife of Asmodeus, wife of Samael, the Serpent of the Tree of Knowledge, and finally the wife of God. From here, I will briefly explain the modern interpretation of Her, and you will see why I disagree with most of it so strongly:
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