asked Benaiah, “didst thou jeer when thou sawest the conjuror at his tricks?” “Because,” said Ashmedai, “the man was at that very time sitting on a princely treasure, and he did not, with all his pretension, know that it was under him.”

Having once acquired a power over Ashmedai, Solomon detained him till the building of the Temple was completed.  One day after this, when they were alone, it is related that Solomon, addressing him, asked him, “What, pray, is your superiority over us, if it be true, as it is written (Num. xxiii. 22), ’He has the strength of a unicorn,’ and the word ‘strength,’ as tradition alleges, means ‘ministering angels,’ and the word ‘unicorn’ means ’devils’?” Ashmedai replied, “Just take this chain from my neck, and give me thy signet-ring, and I’ll soon show thee my superiority.”  No sooner did Solomon comply with this request, than Ashmedai, snatching him up, swallowed him; then stretching forth his wings—­one touching the heaven and the other the earth—­he vomited him out again to a distance of four hundred miles.  It is with reference to this time that Solomon says (Eccl. i. 3; ii. 10), “What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?  This is my portion of all my labor.”  What does the word this mean?  Upon this point Rav and Samuel are at variance, for the one says it means his staff, the other holds that it means his garment or water-jug; and that with one or other Solomon went about from door to door begging; and wherever he came he said (Eccl. i. 12), “I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.”  When in his wanderings he came to the house of the Sanhedrin, the Rabbis reasoned and said, if he were mad he would not keep repeating the same things over and over again; therefore what does he mean?  They therefore inquired of Benaiah, “Does the king ask thee into his presence?” He replied, “No!” They then sent to see whether the king visited the hareem.  And the answer to this was, “Yes, he comes.”  Then the Rabbis sent word back that they should look at his feet, for the devil’s feet are like those of a cock.  The reply was, “He comes to us in stockings.”  Upon this information the Rabbis escorted Solomon back to the palace, and restored to him the chain and the ring, on both of which the name of God was engraven.  Arrayed with these, Solomon advanced straightway into the presence-chamber.  Ashmedai sat at that moment on the throne, but as soon as he saw Solomon enter, he took fright and raising his wings, flew away, shrieking back into invisibility.  In spite of this, Solomon continued in great fear of him; and this explains that which is written (Song of Songs, iii. 7, 8), “Behold the bed which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel; they all hold swords, being expert in war; every man has his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night.” (See Gittin, fol. 68, cols, 1, 2.)

Ashmedai is the Asmodeus of the Book