Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai boarded a ship bound for Rome on a mission to the emperor. That night, on the water, a figure appeared in his dream. It was Ashmedai, king of the demons.
"Ask me what you will," the demon king said. Rabbi Shimon recoiled. "To Hagar, a servant, God sent a heavenly angel. To me He sends the prince of demons?" Ashmedai was unmoved. "A miracle is a miracle, whether it comes from an angel or from me. Here is what I will do. I will enter the emperor's daughter as a possessing spirit. I will scream your name until they summon you. And I will not leave her body until every decree against Israel is reversed."
Ashmedai flew to the imperial palace and struck. The princess shattered every dish on her father's table. She convulsed. She screamed one name over and over: Shimon ben Yochai! Shimon ben Yochai!
When the rabbi arrived, the emperor begged him to heal his daughter. Rabbi Shimon called out to Ashmedai: "Leave this girl." The demon refused. "Not until the decrees are canceled." The emperor, cornered, summoned his advisors. One minister argued shrewdly: let the Jews keep the Sabbath, because they spend all their money on it and stay poor. Let them circumcise their sons, because most infants die. Every prohibition against Israel was, by this twisted logic, reversed.
Then Rabbi Shimon prayed. Forty days and nights in a cave, crying out to God to reveal when redemption would come. The gates of heaven opened. A voice called his name. The angel Metatron descended, touched him, and woke him like a man stirred from sleep. Trembling, Rabbi Shimon saw visions of kingdoms rising and falling, wars cascading toward the end of days, until at last the Messiah would stand in Jerusalem and God Himself would fight for Israel (Zechariah 14:3).