Thank you for the biblical interpretation question on Isaiah 34:14, “Who is Isaiah 34:14 talking about? Who’s Lilith?”
The broader context says this, “Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.
11 The desert owl[b] and screech owl[c] will possess it; the great owl[d] and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation. 12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom, all her princes will vanish away. 13 Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls. 14 Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also lie down and find for themselves places of rest. 15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons will gather, each with its mate” (NIV).
As one reads various translations of the Bible, the word, Lilith is found only in Isaiah 34:14. Some translators capitalized the Hebrew word while other translations described that word differently. Thus, there are two main interpretations: a person or an animal.
As one reads the above context of Isaiah 34, God is pronouncing a judgment on the country of Edom. The fortress and location will become desolate without any human inhabitants. The text states that her nobles will have nothing and her princes will vanish away. They kingdom has ended and will not rise again.
If it is abandoned, then who will inhabit it? God declares that the animals will inhabit that place instead of humans. God lists the animals who be present in the location: the jackals, the owls, the hyenas, wild goats and even the falcons. The context is clear in the references of animals living in the abandon royal city.
In verse 14, the Hebrew word is based on the Hebrew word liyliyth (Strong’s Concordance #H3917) from which the English word translates it as Lilith or lilith. As mentioned before, if a biblical translator or interprets it as a person, then that word is capitalized and if it is not, it is referring to an animal.
Since this is the only word in Hebrew, one can’t do a word comparison in other contexts. One has to rely on the context. My observation of the text leads to a great preponderance that liylith is referring to an animal, not a human being. There is the absence of people whereby animals are living in it.
What sort of animal is the liylith? It is unclear. Scholars suggests that it may be a crawling creature perhaps a lizard type or a snake like creature.
Summary: The Hebrew word, liyliyth, refers to an animal, not to a person.
-Kingston