148 myths · Page 2 of 5
The Ark burned a path through the desert, leveled mountains, killed anyone who peeked inside, and refused to enter Solomon's Temple until David was honored.
Solomon's golden throne was a machine of restrained beasts, and a herald cried a forbidden law at every step he climbed toward judgment.
Moses stands at Og's border gripped by a fear older than the battle. And God speaks before a single spear is thrown.
When Moses's final day arrived, Devarim Rabbah says the sun refused to set and the day itself filed a complaint before God about being forced to end.
A queen who ruled a land Solomon had never seen crossed the known world with riddles, gold, and spices to find out whether the reports were exaggerated.
A demon was draining life from a child on Solomon's building crew. Solomon prayed and Michael arrived with a ring that bound every demon on earth.
Solomon bound a prince of demons and made him confess his secrets. Then he put the entire court of the underworld to work cutting marble for God's house.
Solomon kept the demon king chained as a trophy. When he handed Asmodeus his ring to prove a point, he lost his throne for years.
To build the Temple without iron, Solomon needed the shamir worm. It was guarded by a bird who had sworn an oath to an angel. Solomon got it by trickery.
A boy of eight inherits a kingdom his father nearly destroyed, reunites Israel for the first time in centuries, and dies in a battle he had no reason to fight.
Pharaoh marked the men fated to die and shipped them off to build Solomon's Temple. Solomon sent them home wearing the shrouds Pharaoh planned to bury them in.
Seven men had one job: remind Solomon of Torah's rules for kings before he sat down each day. The wisest man alive still needed people to keep him honest.
Solomon commanded demons, spoke to eagles, and ruled the world. Then one ant told him he was wrong about something, and she was right.
Benaiah stole one chess piece and won. Solomon answered with a treasury trap that made the general confess in front of the court.
Solomon asked for a listening heart, then proved it with mothers, riddles, and proverbs that kept multiplying beyond the first answer.
The Testament of Solomon records how the king built a catalog of demons by interrogating them one by one, turning each confession into an antidote.
The rabbis compared Abraham to a vessel struck by a potter. Ten times the tests hit him hard, and still his faith rang true.
A yearly visitor refused Solomon's treasure and asked for the speech of birds and beasts, a gift the king wrapped in a death warning.
Solomon could command birds, letters, and kingdoms, but a request to crush five locusts stripped him of divine spirit and wisdom.
Not one hammer blow was heard while Solomon built the Temple. He also wove two gates in so mourners and bridegrooms each had a door to walk through.
God told Solomon to ask for anything. Solomon asked only to judge his people. What God gave him in return was everything he had not asked for.
On the night Solomon finished the Temple, Pharaoh's daughter hung stars above his bed. He slept through the morning sacrifice while Israel stood and waited.
On the night Solomon dedicated the Temple, his new wife danced eighty dances in the streets while he slept with the Temple keys beneath his head.
On the Temple dedication night, Solomon sleeps under false stars while Gabriel plants the reed that will become Rome from the sea.
Benaiah trapped Asmodeus with wool, wine, and the holy Name, but the demon king turned the road to Jerusalem into a trial of wisdom.
A headless demon named Envy wanted Solomon's head. Soon Asmodeus wore the king's face, while Solomon begged to be recognized.
Solomon flew on a carpet 60 miles wide and praised his own power. The wind dropped 40,000 men until the king learned one word again.
Solomon found a silver plate in a statue's throat, but its dead king's warning only made sense after his own crown was taken away.
Solomon drew his flesh with wine while his heart held wisdom. The Zohar says he was tracing the posture every soul must learn before the King.
Solomon reached for wisdom, folly, and desire until his memory emptied, but creation still answered him with dangerous goodness.
