Solomon pressed Beelzeboul further. "If you want a respite from your labor, tell me about the things in heaven."
The prince of demons leaned forward. "If you burn gum, incense, and sea-bulbs with nard and saffron, and light seven lamps in a row while in a state of ritual purity — then at dawn, when the sun rises, you will see the heavenly dragons winding themselves along the sky, dragging the chariot of the sun."
Solomon rebuked him. "Be silent. Continue sawing the marble as I commanded." He praised God and called for the next demon.
What came before him was barely a creature. A spirit whose face floated high in the air while the rest of its body curled away like a snail. It burst through Solomon's soldiers, kicked up a terrible dust storm, and hurled it into the air to terrify the court. Solomon stood, spat on the ground, and pressed the ring of God into the dust. The wind stopped instantly.
"Who are you?" Solomon demanded.
"I am Tephras, the spirit of ashes. I bring darkness upon men. I set fire to fields. I destroy homesteads. I am busiest in summer, creeping into the corners of walls by night and day."
"Under what star do you dwell?"
"At the very tip of the moon's horn, when it hangs in the south."
"By what angel are you defeated?"
"By the archangel Azael." Solomon summoned Azael, sealed the demon, and commanded Tephras to hurl great stones up to the workers on the higher levels of the Temple.
Then came something stranger still. Seven spirits appeared before Solomon, bound together — female demons, fair in appearance, who spoke with a single voice: "We are of the thirty-six elements of the cosmic ruler of darkness."
The first said: "I am Deception. I weave snares and excite false beliefs. The angel who defeats me is Lamechalal."
The second: "I am Strife. I bring weapons — timbers, stones, blades. The angel Baruchiachel defeats me."
The third: "I am Klothod, which means Battle. I turn the well-behaved against each other. The angel Marmarath defeats me."
The fourth: "I am Jealousy. I make men forget sobriety. I tear husbands from wives, children from parents, brothers from sisters. The great angel Balthial defeats me."
The fifth: "I am Power. I raise up tyrants and tear down kings. I furnish strength to every rebel. The angel Asteraoth defeats me."
The sixth: "I am Error. I will make you err, O Solomon, as I once caused you to slay your own brother (1 Kings 2:25). I lead souls into necromancy and away from all righteousness. The angel Uriel defeats me."
The seventh spoke last and coldest of all: "I am the worst. I will impose upon you the bonds of false worship. The sacrifice of locusts to Moloch will set me free — and through that act, your kingdom will shatter."
Solomon heard them all. He sealed the seven with his ring and — because they were formidable — set them to the heaviest work of all: digging the foundations of the Temple, which stretched 250 cubits in length. With a single murmur of protest, the seven cosmic demons began to dig.
But I Solomon questioned him, saying: "If thou wouldst
gain a respite, discourse to me about the things in heaven."
And Beelzeboul said: "Hear, O king, if thou burn gum, and
incense, and bulb of the sea1, with nard and saffron, and light
seven lamps in an earthquake2, thou wilt firmly fix thy house.
And if, being pure3,
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thou light them at dawn in the sun alight,
then wilt thou see the heavenly dragons, how they wind themselves
along and drag the chariot of the sun."
1. Perhaps the "sea-bulbs" were the balls
of hair-like texture which the sea washes up on Mediterranean
shores, e.g. in Tunisia.
2. Perhaps "in a row," should be read.
3. For the condition here insisted on cp. Dieterich,
Abrasax, p. 141, where in an incantation ceremonial purity
is similarly insisted on. The ritual of a magic papyrus given
by Dieterich, p. 169, is very similar to that here prescribed
in the Testament.
And I Solomon, having heard this, rebuked him, and said: "Silence
for this present1, and continue to saw the marbles as I commanded
thee." And I Solomon praised God, and commanded another demon
to present himself to me. And one came before me who carried his
face high up in the air, but the rest of the spirit curled away
like a snail. And it broke through the few soldiers, and raised
also a terrible dust on the ground, and carried it upwards; and
then again hurled it back to frighten us, and asked what questions
I could ask as a rule. And I stood up, and spat2 on the ground
in that spot, and sealed with the ring of God. And forthwith the
dust-wind stopped. Then I asked him, saying: "Who art thou,
O wind?" Then he once more shook up a dust, and answered
me: "What wouldst thou have, King Solomon?" I answered
him: "Tell me what thou art called, and I would fain ask
thee a question. But so far I give thanks to God who has made
me wise to answer their evil plots."
1. So Luke xxii. 51.
2. For the use of spittle to produce a cure or other
effect in a magical way, cp. Mark vii. 33 and viii. 23. In John
ix. 6, Jesus, we read, "spat on the ground, and made clay
of the spittle, and anointed the eyes with the clay." Of
this magic use of spittle Pliny, in his Natural History,
gives numerous examples. It was common in antiquity.
But [the demon] answered me: "I am the spirit of the
ashes (Tephras)." And I said to him: "What is thy pursuit?"
And he said: "I bring darkness on men, and set fire to fields;
and I bring homesteads to naught. But most busy am I in summer.
However, when I get an opportunity, I creep into corners of the
wall, by night and day. For I am offspring of the great one, and
nothing less." Accordingly I said to him: "Under what
star dost thou lie?" And he answered: "In the very tip
of the moon's horn, when it is found in the south. There is my
star. For I have been bidden to restrain the convulsions of the
hemitertian fever; and this is why many men pray to the hemitertian
fever, using these three names: Bultala, Thallal,
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Melchal. And
I heal them." And I said to him: "I am Solomon; when
therefore thou wouldst do harm, by whose aid dost thou do it?"
But he said to me: "By the angel's, by whom also the third
day's fever is lulled to rest." So I questioned him, and
said: "And by what name1?" And he answered: "That
of the archangel Azael." And I summoned the archangel Azael,
and set a seal on the demon, and commanded him to seize great
stones, and toss them up to the workmen on the higher parts of
the Temple. And, being compelled, the demon began to do what he
was bidden to do.
1. Cp. Acts iv. 7.
And I glorified God afresh who gave me this authority, and
ordered another demon to come before me. And there came seven
spirits1, females, bound and woven together, fair in appearance
and comely. And I Solomon, seeing them, questioned them and said:
"Who are ye?" But they, with one accord, said with one
voice2: "We are of the thirty-three elements of the cosmic
ruler of the darkness3." And the first said: "I am
Deception." The second said: "I am Strife." The
third: "I am Klothod, which is battle." The fourth:
"I am Jealousy." The fifth: "I am Power."
The sixth: "I am Error." The seventh: "I am the
worst of all, and our stars are in heaven. Seven stars humble
in sheen, and all together. And we are called as it were goddesses.
We change our place all and together, and together we live, sometimes
in Lydia, sometimes in Olympus, sometimes in a great mountain."
1. The Pleiades seem to be referred to. Cp. Job
xxxviii. 31, in the Revised Version: "Canst thou bind the
cluster of the Pleiades?" They had a malign influence. The
grouping of evil spirits by sevens is common in Babylonian and
Jewish folk-lore. As examples I may cite the Testamentum
of Reuben, ch. 2, and the seven evil spirits of the N.T. Possibly,
however, the Seven Planets are here in question; though this is
unlikely, for they do not tally with the description given.
2. Rom. xv. 6 has the same phrase. For "thirty-three"
we should read "thirty-six" elements. Note that later
in the Testament these seven spirits are not among the
Kosmokrators, a proof that the document before us is a composite
one.
3. Paul speaks of the Kosmokrators in Eph. vi. 12:
"Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against
the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers
of this darkness." See Iren. Haer. I. i. 10.
So I Solomon questioned them one by one, beginning with the
first, and going down to the seventh. The first said: "I
am Deception, I deceive and weave snares here and there. I whet
and excite heresies. But I have an angel who frustrates me, Lamechalal."
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Likewise also the second said: "I am Strife, strife of
strifes. I bring timbers, stones, hangers, my weapons on the spot.
But I have an angel who frustrates me, Baruchiachel."
Likewise also the third said: "I am called Klothod1,
which is Battle, and I cause the well-behaved to scatter and fall
foul one of the other. And why do I say so much? I have an angel
that frustrates me: "Marmarath."
1. Fabricius, Cod. Pseudepigr. V.T. vol.
I, p. 1047, reads Klothon, which must be i.q. Kludun, which Hesychius
explains thus: ...
Likewise also the fourth said: "I cause men to forget
their sobriety and moderation. I part them and split them into
parties; for Strife follows me hand in hand. I rend the husband
from the sharer of his bed, and children from parents, and brothers
from sisters. But why tell so much to my despite? I have an angel
that frustrates me, the great Balthial."
Likewise also the fifth said: "I am Power. By power I
raise up tyrants and tear down kings. To all rebels I furnish
power. I have an angel that frustrates me, Asteraôth."1
1. D: Asteraoth. Cp. 1Kgs 11:5. -JHP
Likewise also the sixth said: "I am Error1, O King
Solomon. And I will make thee to err, as I have before made thee
to err, when I caused thee to slay thy own brother2. I will
lead you into error, so as to pry into graves3; and 1 teach
them that dig, and I lead errant souls away from all piety, and
many other evil traits are mine. But I have an angel that frustrates
me, Uriel."
1. Cp. Testam. of Symeon, ch. 3.
2. See I Kings ii. 25.
3. A reference to necromancy, of which the object
was to oblige the spirit of the dead to enter oneself.
Likewise also the seventh said: "I am the worst, and
I make thee worse off than thou wast; because I will impose the
bonds of Artemis. But the locust1 will set me free, for by
means thereof is it fated that thou shalt achieve my desire .
. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . For if one were wise, he would
not turn his steps toward me."
1. This refers to the closing incident narrated
in the Testament, the sacrificing by Solomon of five locusts
to Moloch. Tatian, Orat. ad Graecos, cap. 12, speaks of
Artemis magos. She is the same as Hecate.
So I Solomon, having heard and wondered, sealed them with
my ring; and since they were so considerable, I bade them dig
the foundations of the Temple of God. For the length of it was
250 cubits. And I bade them be industrious, and with one murmur
of joint protest they began to perform the tasks enjoined.
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