Chaggigah, fol. 16, col. 1.

The Talmud is particularly rich in demonology, and many are the forms which the evil principle assumes in its pages.  We have no wish to drag these shapes to the light, and interrogate them as to the part they play in this intricate life.  Enough now if we mention the circumstance of their existence, and introduce to the reader the story of Ashmedai, the king of the demons.  The story is worth relating, both for its own sake and its historical significance.

In Ecclesiastes ii. 8, we read, “I gat me men singers and women singers, the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.”  These last seven words represent only two in the original Hebrew, Shiddah-veshiddoth.  These two words in the original Hebrew translated by the last seven in this verse, have been a source of great perplexity to the critics, and their exact meaning is matter of debate to this hour.  They in the West say they mean severally carriages for lords and carriages for ladies, while we, says the Babylonish Talmud, interpret them to signify male demons and female demons.  Whereupon, if this last is the correct rendering, the question arises, for what purpose Solomon required them?  The answer is to be found in 1 Kings vi. 7, where it is written, “And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither,” etc.  For before the operation commenced Solomon asked the Rabbis, “How shall I accomplish this without using tools of iron?” and they remembering of an insect which had existed since the creation of the world, whose powers were such as the hardest substances could not resist, replied, “There is the Shameer, with which Moses cut the precious stones of the Ephod.”  Solomon asked, “And where, pray, is the Shameer to be found?” To which they made answer, “Let a male demon and a female come, and do thou coerce them both; mayhap they know and will reveal it to thee.”  He then conjured into his presence a male and a female demon, and proceeded to torture them, but in vain, for said they, “We know not its whereabouts and cannot tell; perhaps Ashmedai, the king of the demons, knows.”  On being further interrogated as to where he in turn might be found, they made this answer:  “In yonder mount is his residence; there he has dug a pit, and, after filling it with water, covered it over with a stone, and sealed with his own seal.  Daily he ascends to heaven and studies in the school of wisdom there, then he comes down and studies in the school of wisdom here; upon which he goes and examines the seal, then opens the pit, and after quenching his thirst, covers it up again, re-seals it, and takes his departure.”

Solomon thereupon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, provided with a magic chain and ring, upon both of which the name of God was engraved.  He also provided him with a fleece of wool and sundry