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218 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Asmodeus water.

Solomon would not give him his liberty fierce demon Asmodeus knew even

"because that the future

" (ib. p. 21).

Tobit, and possesses on the other many points of contact with the Ashmedai of rabbinical literature,

especially in his relation to Solomon and the building of the Temple. The Haggadah relates that Sol-

omon, when erecting the Temple, did

Haggadic

not

know how

to get the

blocks of

Legend,

marble into shape, since, according to the law (Ex. xx. 26), they might not lie worked by an iron tool. The wise men advised him to obtain the " shamir " CVO£>), a worm whose mere touch could cleave rocks. But to obtain it was no slight task; for not even the demons, who knew so many secrets, knew where the shamir was to be found. They surmised, however, that Ashmedai, king of the demons, was in possession of the secret, and they told Solomon the name of the mountain on which Ashmedai dwelt and described his manner of life. On this mountain there was a well-head from which the arch-demon obtained his drinking-water. He closed it up daily with a large rock, and secured it in other ways before going to heaven, whither he went every day in order to take part in the discussions in the celestial house of study ("Metibta"). Thence he would presently descend again to the earth in order to be present invisibly at the deThen, after bates in the earthly houses of learning.

—

—

investigating the fastenings of the well, to ascertain if they had been tampered with, he drank of the water. Solomon sent his chief man Benaiah ben Jehoiadah to capture Ashmedai. For this purpose he provided him with a chain, a ring on which the Tetragrammaton was engraved, a bundle of wool, and a skin of wine. Benaiah drew off the water from the well through a hole that he bored, and, stopping up the source with the wool, filled the well with wine. When Ashmedai deBenaiah. Captures scended from heaven, to his astonishAshmedai. ment he found wine instead of water in the well, although everything seemed untouched. At first he would not diink of it, and cited the Bible verses against wine (Prov. xx. 1, and Hosea iv. 11), in order to inspire himself with moral courage. At length Ashmedai succumbed to his consuming thirst, and drank until his senses were overpowered and he fell into a deep sleep. Benaiah then threw the chain abont the demon's

Ashmedai on awaking tried to free himself, but Benaiah called to him " The Name of thy Lord neck.



is

path, and a similar kindness he did for a drunkard.

He wept when

a wedding company passed them, who asked his shoemaker to make him shoes to last for seven years, and at a magician who was publicly showing his skill. Having finally arrived at the end of the journey, Ashmedai, after several days of waiting, was led before Solomon, who told him that he wanted nothing of him but the shamir. Ashmedai thereupon informed the king where it could be obtained. Solomon then questioned him about his strange conduct on the journey. Ashmedai answered that he judged persons and things according to their real character and not, according to their appearance in the eyes of human beings. He cried when he saw the wedding company, because he knew the bridegroom had not a month to live; and he laughed at him who wanted shoes to last seven years, because the man would not own them for seven days; also at the magician who pretended to disclose secrets, because he did not know that under his very feet lay a buried treasure. Ashmedai remained with Solomon until the Temple was completed. One day the king told him that he did not understand wherein the greatness of the demons lay, if their king could be kept in bonds by Ashmedai replied that if Solomon would a mortal. remove his chains and lend him the magic ring, he

and laughed

Thus, in the Testament of Solomon, Asmodeus is connected on the one hand with the Asmodeus of

upon thee." Though Ashmedai now permitted himself

led off unresistingly, he acted

at one

(Ashmedai) would prove his own greatness. Solomon agreed. The demon then stood before him with one wing touching heaven, and the other reaching Snatching up Solomon, who had to the earth. parted with his protecting ring, he flung him four hundred parasangs away from Jerusalem, and then

palmed himself off as the king. After long wanderings Solomon returned





to be

most peculiarly on the

from her hut, he broke a bone, and asked with grim humor: "Is it not written, 'A soft tongue [the

A blind

man going





Haggadah is fairly large, must not be disregarded that Elements many details grouped about him are of the of later origin and do not pertain to Ashmedai- Ashmedai at all. Ashmedai, as the

Ashmedai

related

by

this

Solomon

false

Legend.

ration of the

the bone '? " (Prov. xxv. astray he set in the right

Solomon,

is

a Babylonian elabo-

Palestinian

Haggadah

concerning Solomon's punishment for



15).

to re-

claim his throne. At first the people thought him mad; but then the wise men decided it would be well to regard Ashmedai more ciosely. It appeared on inquiry that not even Benaiah, the first in the service of the king, had ever been admitted to his presence, and that Ashmedai in his marital relations had not observed the Jewish precepts. Moreover, the declaration of the king's women that he always wore slippers, strengthened suspicion; for demons Solomon, provided proverbially had cocks' feet. with another magic ring, at length suddenly appeared before Ashmedai, who thereupon took flight (Git. 68 parallel passages, Midr. Teh. on Ps. lxxviii. 45 Yalk. ii. 182 compare Num. R. xi. 3 Targ. on Eccl. i. 12, and the extract from a manuscript Midrash in "Z. D. M. G." xxi. 230, 221). Although the number of incidents concerning the fact

way to Solomon. He brushed against Ashmedai's a palm-tree and uprooted it; he Journey knocked against a house and overto Solomon, turned it and when, at the request of a poor woman, he was turning aside

woman's entreaty] breaketh

218

which punishment consisted in the assumpby an angel; Solomon meanwhile having to wander about as a beggar (Yer. Sanh. ii. his sins,

tion of the throne

6; Pesik., ed. Buber, 169a; Tan., ed. Buber,

Eccl. R.

ii.

2



Simon

b.

Yohai of the middle

iii.

55;

of the