The King of Demons Stole Solomon's Throne — and Solomon Let Him

Asmodeus is mentioned only once in the canonical Hebrew Bible — obliquely, in the Book of Tobit (preserved in the Apocrypha) — but in Jewish midrashic and Kabbalistic tradition, he becomes a fully realized character: the king of demons who once held the throne of Israel, who argued Talmudic law with the rabbis, and who was both a terrifying supernatural power and a reluctant servant of divine justice.

Who Is Asmodeus in Jewish Tradition?

The name Ashmedai (the Hebrew original) is attested in multiple Jewish sources. The Babylonian Talmud (compiled c. 500 CE), in tractate Gittin, tells the full story of Asmodeus and King Solomon with remarkable narrative detail. The Book of Tobit (2nd century BCE), preserved in the Apocrypha, names him as the demon who kills the seven husbands of Sarah before Tobias defeats him with the help of the angel Raphael.

In rabbinic imagination, Asmodeus is not merely a destructive spirit. He is the king of the shedim — the class of supernatural beings understood in Jewish folklore as intermediate between angels and humans, capable of good and evil. He knows Torah. He has pride. He schemes. And he is, ultimately, subject to the same divine authority that governs everything else.

The Shamir and the Scheme

The Talmudic story begins with a construction problem. Solomon is building the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Torah (Exodus 20:22) specifies that no iron tool may be used to cut the altar stones. Yet the stones must be cut. The solution, according to tradition, is the Shamir — a miraculous worm (or creature) that could split stone by gaze or touch, created at twilight on the sixth day of creation. Only one being knows where the Shamir is hidden: Asmodeus.

Solomon sends his general Benaiah ben Yehoyada to capture the demon king. Benaiah digs up the well where Asmodeus drinks each day, refills it with wine, and waits. Asmodeus, who refuses to drink unclean things, hesitates — but eventually drinks, falls asleep drunk, and is captured with a chain engraved with the divine name. Brought before Solomon, the demon reveals the location of the Shamir. But he does not stop scheming.

How Asmodeus Stole Solomon's Throne

According to the Talmudic narrative (Gittin 68a-b), Solomon made the mistake of uncuffing Asmodeus once the Temple was complete, allowing the demon to sit beside him. Asmodeus asked Solomon for his magic ring — the ring engraved with the divine name that gave Solomon power over spirits. Foolishly, Solomon gave it. Asmodeus immediately threw it into the sea, then hurled Solomon himself four hundred parasangs away from Jerusalem.

Solomon wandered as a beggar for years, telling people he was the king of Israel and being mocked and pitied in equal measure. Meanwhile, Asmodeus sat on the throne wearing Solomon's face. Only the Sanhedrin — the high council — grew suspicious when the entity claiming to be Solomon refused to let his wives approach him. Eventually, Solomon recovered his ring (which a fish had swallowed and returned), reclaimed his throne, and Asmodeus was expelled. The Midrash Aggadah versions of this story emphasize what Solomon learned from the ordeal: that power and wisdom can be taken from a man who trusts his own cleverness more than he trusts the divine.

Asmodeus as a Figure of Ambiguity

What makes the Asmodeus stories distinctive in Jewish literature is their refusal to make him simply evil. The Talmud records Asmodeus correcting a legal error in the rabbinical court. He expresses contempt for human pride and weakness, but also, at moments, something like sadness. He serves God's purposes — sometimes willingly, sometimes not. In the Book of Tobit, he is ultimately defeated not through a battle but through a ritual (burning the heart and liver of a fish, prescribed by Raphael) that drives him to Egypt, where the angel Raphael binds him.

This ambiguity is characteristically Jewish. Demons in the Jewish tradition are not independent powers of evil fighting against God — they are part of the created order, subject to divine law, and sometimes instruments of divine testing or justice.

Read the full Talmudic and midrashic accounts of Solomon, Asmodeus, and the building of the Temple in our Midrash Aggadah collection at JewishMythology.com.