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Asmodeus
is described in the Talmud[1]
as the "king of the demons." According to the scholar Rapoport,[2]
the concept of such a personage originated in Babylonian myth, though the
name is Hebrew, derived from the root [sh-m-d], to destroy. It is more
likely, however, that the name derives from the Persian aesma daeva
or aesmadiv.
i.e., "the
spirit of anger" which accompanies the god of evil.
Asmodeus
first appears in the aprocryphal book of Tobit[3],
which describes how in a fit of jealousy he slew the successive husbands of
a young girl. He is again depicted as a malefactor-and in particular as the
sower of discord between husband and wife-in the Testament of Solomon.[4]
 Throughout
the later aggadah, however, Asmodeus is a gay creature, inclined at worst
to drunkenness, mischief, and licentiousness. The Talmud nowhere identifies
him as an evildoer, and in fact often assigns him the speific function of
preserving the ethical order of the world. Asmodeus does, to be sure, usurp
the throne of Kind Solomon in the celebrated talmudic account of his confrontation
with the king [5].
But even here the demon is not vindictive: his actions are presented as opening
the king's eyes to the emptiness and vanity of worldly possession. What
is more, the Asmodeus of this story is the source of considerable benefit
to Solomon. He provides the king with the shamir,
a worm whose touch cleaves rocks, and so enables Solomon's builders to hew
stones for the Temple without the use of prohibited iron tools.
Asmodeus
is described in the Talmud as "rising daily from his dwelling place on the
mountain to the firmament" where he "studies in the academy on high."[6]
As a result of this practice, he possesses exact foreknowledge of the fate
of human beings, knowledge which often prompts him to act in a seemingly inexplicable
fashion. While on his way to Solomon, for example, Asmodeus weeps at the sight
of a wedding party, only later explaining that the bridegroom has but a short
time to live. Similarly, one the same journey, the demon goes out of his way
to set a drunkard on the right path; "it
was proclaimed in heaven," he later reveals, "that he is wholly wicked, and
I have conferred a boon upon him in order that he may consume his share in
the world to come in this world."[7]
"
Asmodeus, king of the demons..."
Such stories of Asmodeus' enigmatic behavior provided the model for
a long line of Jewish folktales in which the apparently unjust acts
of an angel or prophet are eventually justified by circumstances and
thus demonstrate the infinite wisdom of God. In Jewish folklore, though
still the king of demons, Asmodeus often appears as a degraded hero-the
butt of popular irony and humor. Typical stories relate how he is
duped by the men with whom he enters into a partnership, or how his
various lusts and loves on earth are exposed.
For
the most part, however, Asmodeus is regarded as a beneficent demon
and a friend of man. He plays a similar role in the Kabbalah, where
his name is frequently invoked in spells and incantations. The story
of Asmodeus' enigmatic deeds and sayings[8]
are the narrative nucleus of the widespread international style type,
known as "Angel and Hermit." The talmudic and the Jewishoral traditions
of the Solomon-Asmodeus cycle penetrated the early Russian apocryphal
literature and became the narrative archetype of the Solomon-Kitrovas
folk-legends.
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[1]
BT Pesahim 110a [back]
[2] Solomon Judah Leib Rapoport (1790-1867),
rabbi and scholar, pioneer of Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment
movement) and Wissenschaft des Judentums. Born in Galicia,
where he became known for his brilliance as a talmudist, he
took an early interest in Haskalah and secular learning,
studying classical, Semitic and modern languages, as well
as science. One of his most important publications (and in
which his discussion of Asmodeus appears) was Erekh Millin,
a talmudic encyclopedia dealing mainly with historical and
archaelogical aspects of the Talmud (1852, later completed
1914). [back]
[3] Book of Tobit 3:817 [back]
[4] first century CE [back]
[5] Git. 68a-b; Num. R. 11:3 [back]
[6] BT Git. 68a [back]
[7] BT Git. 68b [back]
[8] BT Git. 68a-b [back] |
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Asmodeus,
Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol 3.
Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972. |
FANTASTIC
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