Solomon Trapped Asmodeus and Lost His Throne

The Wine Trap at the Well

Benaiah son of Jehoiada stood at the mouth of a well in the wilderness with an unusual kit: a chain inscribed with the Name of God, a ring bearing the same inscription, a bundle of wool, and a skin of wine. He had been sent by King Solomon himself, and his orders were to bring back the king of demons alive. The task was to find Asmodeus at his regular watering hole and catch him.

Benaiah bored a hole from below to drain the well, filled it with wine, and hid in the nearby trees. Asmodeus came down from the sky at his usual hour, saw the wine instead of water, and hesitated. He knew something was wrong and refused it at first, quoting scripture against intoxication. But thirst eventually won. He drank deeply, fell asleep, and Benaiah bound him with the engraved chain before he could wake. When Asmodeus stirred and found himself chained, he did not rage. He submitted. He knew the Name on the chain. There was nothing to do but walk to Jerusalem in chains behind a human soldier.

The Shamir and What It Cost

Solomon needed Asmodeus because of a problem no craftsman could solve. The Torah forbade the use of iron tools on the altar's stones, but the Temple required perfectly cut stones from the quarry. No chisel could touch them. The scholars reminded Solomon that Moses had once possessed the shamir, a creature of extraordinary power, a worm no larger than a barleycorn whose gaze could split granite as easily as parchment.

Solomon asked Asmodeus where the shamir could be found. The demon explained that God had given it to the Angel of the Sea for safekeeping, and the Angel of the Sea had entrusted it to a moor-hen, a desert bird that had sworn on oath to guard it. The moor-hen used the shamir to split open mountainsides so she could plant vegetation in rocky soil and feed her young. Solomon's men found the moor-hen's nest, covered it with glass while she was away, and waited. She returned, found her nest sealed, and flew off to fetch the shamir to cut through the glass. When she applied it, Solomon's agent rushed from hiding and she dropped the shamir in shock. She had broken her oath. The legends say she killed herself rather than live with the failure. The Temple could now be built in silence, stone shaped by a worm's touch rather than iron.

The Throne That Made Men Fall

With the Temple complete, Solomon built himself a throne that the world could not duplicate. It stood on six golden steps, each guarded by paired animals in gold: lions and eagles, oxen and bears, and at the top, two golden lions flanking the seat. When Solomon placed his foot on the first step, the lion and eagle at that step lifted his foot forward. At each level, the animals repeated the gesture, bearing him upward to his seat. Twelve golden lions lined the steps, and above the throne hung a golden eagle with a lamp in its beak. When foreign kings came to visit and saw the animals move, they fell forward onto their faces in astonishment. No craftsman in any nation could reproduce it.

Solomon kept Asmodeus in chains after the Temple was finished. He kept him as a curiosity, as proof of his mastery over the spirit world, and perhaps because he could not resist the possession. Asmodeus submitted with apparent patience. He had learned what patience could accomplish.

The Ring in the Sea

Asmodeus proposed a test one afternoon. He told Solomon that a true king should not fear to release his captive for a moment, if only to see how great Solomon truly was compared to the king of demons. Solomon removed his ring and handed it over. The instant the ring left his finger, Asmodeus stood at his full height, which reached from earth to the clouds. He seized Solomon with one hand, flung him four hundred leagues away, and installed himself on the throne wearing Solomon's face and voice.

Solomon wandered as a beggar for years, carrying nothing but his staff, announcing in every town that he had once been king of Israel. Nobody believed him. He eventually worked his way to a kitchen and from there, through acts of skill and courage, back into the palace. He recovered his ring, which had been swallowed by a fish that ended up in the kitchen. He touched the ring to the throne and Asmodeus fled. Solomon sat down again, but he was quieter. He had learned what a ring is worth and what its absence costs.

What Remains After Mastery

In his old age, Solomon looked back at everything he had accumulated: the Temple, the throne, the wisdom, the seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, the golden lions, the controlled demon. He wrote down what he saw. The book records his conclusion: vanity of vanities, all is vanity. The breath dissipates. The striving leaves nothing behind. Not even a throne that moves by itself is permanent. The demon had gotten free. The ring had changed hands. The king had slept in ditches. What remained after all that wisdom was the question itself, unanswered, blowing like vapor through an otherwise empty room.