Chapter Six Miracles and Wonders: Magic, Satan, and Demons

The correspondence between Solomon and Jesus also took place in the spheres of the esoteric and supernatural world of miracles and wondrous acts, even though, at this point, the two parted ways. Solomon did not work miracles or deal in magic, though he is a hero in many tales of wonders, while Jesus did work miracles and the mere mention of his name sufficed to overcome demons621; as a magician, he appears in both pagan and Jewish anti-Christian polemics. In Mendele Mocher Sforim’s622 novel Susati (My Mare), a classic of Yiddish and Hebrew literature, the narrator encounters witches, demons, and the demon king Ashmedai in a forest. A demon, formerly one of King Solomon’s servants, relates his account of ‘What King Solomon Did’: a mix of legends of the Sages and the author’s imagination. Upon finishing his story, the demon informs his listener that “I have many more tales from Solomon’s life; however, since I see in you signs of a non-believer—begging your forgiveness, one who casts doubt on everything, and you do not believe the words of an old demon —I would do well to hold my tongue. And nevertheless, I am not angry at you. For, after all, you are a descendant of the sons of the sons of Solomon...”.623

No one other than Solomon has so inspired the creative imagination to invent and create ap lenitude of legends and fantasiesa nd has become the hero of as extensive avariety of folktales and folklore.⁶²⁴ He is famous for his ability to converse with animalsand fowl. The sourcefor the attribution of this skill is in 1Kings 4:33: "And he spoke of trees…he spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creepingthings, and of fishes".That verse gave rise to the Midrashic understanding that Solomon knew "what an ass braysa nd what ab ird twitters".⁶²⁵ He has the marvelous ability to communicate with fowl, includingwild turkeysand the hoopoe, and even ants, and make them his messengers. One story tells how an ant taught Solomon al esson about humility:a na nt warns her fellows to hurry into their nest to avoid being trampledbySolomon'sarmy. The king calls the ant, places it on his palm, and asks its name. "Repentance" [teshuva], she replies, and when he asks whether there exists anyone greater thanh im, she replies that she herself is the greater: "If Iw eren ot greater than you, the Almighty would not have sent me to be held by youinyour palm".F uriousatthe ant,Solomon throws it to the ground and declares: "IamSolomon, son of KingDavid". The ant replies: "Know that youc ame from ap utrid drop and that yous hould not be proud".S olomon falls on his face in shame and commands the wind to carry him away from there.⁶²⁶ The ant parts from him with these words: "Go, but do not forgett he blessed Almighty and do not take great prideinyourself".
Solomon was not alone in his ability to converse with beingso fa ll kinds. Apollonius of Tyanai ss aid to have learned the languageo fb irds in his travels in "the East".⁶²⁷ R. Johanan ben Zakkai was known to be fluent in the "speech of spirits" and the "speech of palm trees",⁶²⁸ and it wassaid of Hillel the Elder "that he had not omitted to studya ny of the words of the Sages, even all languages, even the speech of mountains, hills and valleys, the speech of trees and herbs, the speech of wildbeasts and cattle, the speech of demons and parables. Why[did he study] all these? Because it is stated the "Lord is wellpleased, for his righteousness' to make the teaching [of the Torah] great and glorious".⁶²⁹ Nothing, however,i ss aid about the use R. Hillel or R. Yohanan made of this ability.The New Testament,for its part,does not attribute to Jesus the knowledge of the languages of animals. It was Christian hagiographyt hatb egan to ascribes uch knowledge to the saints: Francis of Assisi is said to have spoken with birds,and Anthonyo fP adua with fish.⁶³⁰ And what of miracles?⁶³¹ UnlikeJesus, neither the biblical nor the legendary Solomon walked on water,o rt urned water into wine, or worked am iracle like that of the bread and fish.⁶³² Jesus' fame spread with his miraculous demonstrations: "Then he gotupand rebuked the winds and the sea; and therewas agreat calm. [The people] wereamazed, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!'"⁶³³ Nor was fame the onlyr esult, but ac onfirmation of Jesus' holystatus: "Trulyyou are the Son of God".⁶³⁴ TheInfancyGospel of Thomas,f rom the first or second century,r elates another miracle worked by Jesus. As ab oy,h ew as playing on the Sabbath and fashionedt welve sparrows from clay. AJew who observedhim at work hastened to tell his father Joseph that his son was desecratingthe Sabbath. Joseph rebuked Jesus; the boy then clapped his handsand the birds flew away.⁶³⁵ The priest Nestor sawnoreason to be overly impressed by Jesus' miracles or to call him Lords implyb ecause he "turned water into wine⁶³⁶… and fed at housand people with eight loaveso fb read and fish".H en otes that "Christ'sd eeds are no more marvelous than the deeds of Moses".N or did Jesus outdo Joshua ben Nun, who "made the sun and the moon stand still in the skyawhole day. The Jordan Riverd ried up for him and aflowing river, gushing with water, stopped in its course for him".The miracles of walking on the water and the miracle of the bread and fish werenot equal to the wonders worked by the prophet Elisha, who returned two people from the dead, walked atop the Jordan River, and made an ax headfloat. It is worth noting that Nestor did not count Solomon among the miracle workers.⁶³⁷  Regarding St.F rancis,s ee St.S aint Bonaventure( 2010). On Anthony, see Heywood (1924, pp. 101-103). The collection is fromthe fourteenth century.This skill was also ascribed to others. See, for example,B ohak (2016).  See van Dam (1993);Theissen (1983Theissen ( [ 1974); P. Brown (1970). According to IbnKhaldūn, "a miracle is adivine powerthat arouses in the soul [the ability] to exerciseinfluence.The worker of miracles is supported in his activity by the spirit of God…miracles arefound (to be wrought by good persons for good purposes and by souls that areentirelydevoted to good deeds".Ibn Khaldūn( 1958, Vol. 3, p. 167 The Bible does relatem iracles thath appened to the Israelites, as does the Talmud. It is said of R. Simeon ben Yoḥai that he was "experienced in miracles",⁶³⁸ and of the Tanna R. Ḥanina ben Dosa that,t hanks to his blessing,a poor woman'sm eager cubits of wood sufficed to cover her house,⁶³⁹ and that when he died, "miracle workers came to an end".⁶⁴⁰ Miracles, however,d on ot occur to individuals,and the Talmud cautions against dependence on miracles: "Am an should never stand in ap lace of danger and sayt hat am iracle will be wrought for him, lest it is not.And if amiracle is wrought for him, it is deducted from his merits".⁶⁴¹

Sorcerers and Magicians ⁶⁴²
While the arts of sorcery werec arefullyk ept shrouded, exhibitionso fs orcery wereo ftenp erformed in public.⁶⁴³ The reason for this, IbnK haldūnw rites, was that the laws of religion forbade all types of sorcery;t he purpose of acts of sorcery was usually to cause harm or damage, for example, to turn humans into animals, or to raise the dead from their graves.
The Bible condemns acts of sorcery and biblical lawdeclaresanall-out war against them: "No one shallb ef ound among youwho makes as on or daughter pass through fire, or practicesdivination, or is asoothsayer, or augur, or sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead"⁶⁴⁴;i tc ommands that "Yous hall not permit af emales orcerer to  Me'ilah 17b. R. Shimon livedd uringt he second century C.E.  Ta'anit 25a.  Mishnah Sotah 9[ trans.N eusner].  Shabbat 32a. See also Guttman (1947). The fantastic tales attributed to Solomon arenumerous.One example, out of many: Solomonh ad agreat robe "of green silk, wovenofg old thread with all manner of pictures, sixty miles in length and sixty in breadth,a nd Solomon would sit wearingi ta nd movew ith the wind throughout the world, eatingb reakfast in Damascus and supper in Medea…" )in One Thousand and One Nights,t he robe turned into ac arpet).  Forg eneral survey see Harari (2017). On Solomon, see Sasson (2003,p p. 129 -160).  Sanhedrin 67b. IbnK haldūnw rote that sorcery unlikem agic was the scienceo fi mbuing human souls with the ability to influencethe material world, without anyoutside help: "The sorcerer possesses ap articular quality in potentiality,a si st he case with all human powers. It is transformed[from potentiality] to actuality by exercise. All magical exerciseconsists of directing oneself to the spheres, the stars,the higher world, of the demons by means of various kinds of veneration and worship and submissiveness and humiliation".H owever, "sorcery… is found (practiced) onlyb ye vil persons and as ar ule is used for evil actions": TheM uqaddima (6:27),I bn Khaldūn ( 1958, Vol3 ,p p. 159,167).  Deuteronomy1 8:10 -11. live".⁶⁴⁵ Daniel regarded the acts of magicians,a strologers, and sorcerers⁶⁴⁶ as dependent on unacceptable Chaldean wisdom, and when Simeon ben Shetaḥ was elected president of the Sanhedrini nt he first century C.E., he sent eighty men wrapped in prayer shawls to capturew itches and instructed them: "When youe nter,e ach of yous hall choose one and lift her from the ground, since the nature of this sorcery is that separatedfrom the earth it cannot do anything… They lifted them, took them away,a nd crucified them".⁶⁴⁷ The severe prohibitions against sorcery indicate that belief in the power of magic was widespread among the Jews from ancient times. Hence, they fought against it,n ot always with success.⁶⁴⁸ "R. Johanan said: Whya re [sorcerers] called Kashshafim? Because they diminish the power of the Divine agencies"⁶⁴⁹; "While R. Abbaye bar Nagri cited R. Ḥiyya bar Abba to distinguish magic performedt hrough the agencyo fd emons from sorcery,w hich was accomplished without external aid".⁶⁵⁰ Yet, at the sametime, Jews exhibited an ambivalent attitude towards acts of magic. The Talmud also contains manyt ales of magic⁶⁵¹: some are humorous,and some tell of the power of thoseskilled in magic and of conflicts between them and witches.⁶⁵² The latter sort,f or example, includes three stories about the power of R. Joshua ben Hananiahasasorcerer.One presents aforeign magician as atrickster; in another,R.Joshua orders the ruler of the sea to swallow one min (heretic); in the third, he mocksR.Yannai, who became involved in actso fm agic and was hurt.⁶⁵³ Sanhedrin 17ac ontains ar emarkable statement: "R. Johanan said: None are to be appointed members of the Sanhedrin, but men of stature, wisdom, good appearance, mature age, with knowledge of sorcery".The words mayh aveb een said in jest,o rp erhaps theygaver ise to the tale (the sourceo fw hich is otherwise unknown) about the Sanhedrin that wanted to replace as agew ho had died with another.B ut since the new sage lacked anyk nowledge of sorcery,t he Sanhedrin decided to send him to Egypt which was "known for its witches and magicians".T he owner of the inn wheret he sages tayedo nh is wayt oE gypt offered to teach him sorcery,a nd 

Sorcerersa nd Magicians
when the sage wasdoubtful, the innkeeper demonstrated his ability:abarrel of water turned into ar iver and the sage found himself in ab oat sailing with men from Persia and Medea (countries also famousfor their magicians) and arrivedin their country whereh ew as appointed am inister and judge.Iwill not relatea ll his adventures; suffice it to sayt hata fter spending threem onths with the innkeeper he returned to Jerusalem "more proficient in sorcery thanh is elderly brethren".⁶⁵⁴ One of manyworks that attest to the Jews' knowledge and practice of sorcery in the Middle Ages is TheChronicle of Ahimaaz (inspired by Apuleius's TheGolden Ass), in which local witches,against whom none can protect themselvesa nd who are respected even by the dead, robgravest ou se the bones to cause harm to theirneighbors.⁶⁵⁵ It relates how AbuAaron of Baghdad savedaboy who had been turned into an ass by aw itch.⁶⁵⁶ Yetn one of the tales of witches,s orcery,a nd magical acts that are found in Talmudic literature, wheres ages encounter witches in their dailyl ives and contend with them,⁶⁵⁷ depict Solomon displaying his power at magic, as Moses and Aaron did in the palace of Pharaoh (though Josephus makes it clear that Moses did not practice magic, but rather worked miracles "by the providence and power of God".⁶⁵⁸ Onlyt he Quran statese xplicitlyt hat Solomon did not engage in sorcery: "Solomon disbelieved not; but the demons disbelieved, teaching mankind magic"⁶⁵⁹). In the Middle Ages, the magical powers attributed to Solomon wereu sed in the polemic against Aristotelianism and its denial of the "supernatural" and the "spiritual".F or example, the Kabbalist and rabbiN a ḥ manides (1194 -1240) of Catalonia believed thats orcery wasa ncient wisdom that could not be denied, and hence King Solomon'sw isdom included sorcery.⁶⁶⁰  The tale, called "The Knowledge of Sorcery",isfound in Berdyczewski (1913,pp. 166 -165).  Apuleius, TheG olden Ass,t rans. Robert Graves (1951,p p. 62 -63).  Salzman (1966,p .64).  On this subjects ee Sperber ( 1994). Sorcery and sorcerers have been present in the Christian world since the inception of Christianity,⁶⁶¹ and the name of Jesus was invoked as ameans of combating them and their influence. Thus, for example, Father Euthymius of a laura in the Judean desert rescued his relative Romanus from the claws of as orcerer who, acting in the service of am an who craved Romanus'sp roperty,i nfected him with ad isease. When Euthymius openedR omanus'ss tomach, he removed from it at in plate bearing magic letters;t hereafter,h er ubbed the sick man's stomach, erasingt he incisioni ni t, and Romanus wasr estored to good health. The tale is told by Cyril of Scythopolis, of the second half of the sixth century; he claimed thatE utumusw orked the miracle through the power of God who is benevolent towards saints",a nd simultaneouslym aintained that the miracle was wrought with the help of magic, without noticing ac ontradiction between these claims.⁶⁶² Augustine, we will recall, regarded magic as deception and Tertullian considered it fraudulent trickery (miracula circulatoris).⁶⁶³ It was onlyi nt he tenth century that the Church began to persecute those accused of engagingi nm agic, particularlyw itches-launching an infamous chapter in western culture, which also producedw ritingst hat provided instructions on how to identify anyone dabblinginmagic. The best-known of these are the tenth-century Canon Episcopi and the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witches), published by the Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer in 1486.⁶⁶⁴ The pagan polemic against Christianity,meanwhile, accused both Christians and Jews of engagingi ns orcery.E mperor Julian described Paul as "surpassing all the charlatans and all the magicians of every place and every time",⁶⁶⁵ while accordingt oC elsus, Jesus and his disciples werec apable of working the miracles attributed to them onlyt hrough sorcery,a nd that they learned magic from the Egyptians.O rigen rejected that claim; he trusted in Jesus' superior power:C hristians trusted Jesus' superior power as Savior,G od, teacher,S on of  The sacrifices offered by the Gentiles aremade to demons and not to God: "Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils:yecannot be partakers of the Lord'stable, and of the

Sorcerers and Magicians
God".⁶⁶⁶ Of Solomon as asorcerer,inany event,nomention is made in the pagan polemic.
In Jewisha nti-Christian tradition, Jesus also appears as as orcerer.⁶⁶⁷ The "biography" of R. Joshua ben Peraḥyahr ecounts how Simeon ben Shetaḥ,a leader of the Pharisees in the first century CE, called upon R. Joshua, who had been forced to escape to Egypt,tocome back to Israel. On his return, he was accompanied by Jesus, who accordingt ot he tradition wash is student.Astory in Sotah 47aalso describes Jesus as R. Joshua'spupil and relates that the latter dismissed him: "AM asterh as said: The disciple practised magic and led Israel astray".All of Jesus' attempts to appease his teacher failed.⁶⁶⁸ Perhaps the similarity between the two namesJoshua and Yeshua inspired the creative imagination to link the two, who werenot contemporaries; and perhaps this affinity wascreated because R. Joshua ben Peraḥyah is invoked as aperson possessingmagical powers on incantation bowls in Aramaic, Syriac, and Mandaic.⁶⁶⁹ It seems, however,that the accusation thatJ esus engaged in sorcery playedo nlyaminor role in the Jewish anti-Christian polemic, and was expressed mainlyinthe book Toledot Yeshu,w hich in its various versions contains several depictions of Jesus' studyo fm agic during his stayi nE gypt,w henceh er eturned to Palestine with knowledge with which he tried to save himself at his crucifixion. He spoke words of sorcery,f lew into the air,h id in ac ave, turned himself into ar ooster; ultimately, he was apprehended and taken to R. ben Peraḥyah. When Judah the gardenerw as questioned by Pilate, in the presenceo fb en Peraḥyah, as to whether he knew Jesus, he replied thatJ esus dealt in magic and trickery by employing the books of the Egyptian magicians. There was, after all, no better place to learn magic than Egypt.A bout thatc ountry,i tw as said: "Tenm easures of witchcraft wereg iven to the world, nine taken by Egypt and one [by] the rest of the world…"⁶⁷⁰ Accordingtoanother version, John the Baptist was questioned by ag roup of sages led by Joshua ben Peraḥyah, who asked whereh eh ad obtained the magic writingsinhis possession, and John repliedthey had been writ- (6:30), Origen (1965, p. 346 (2013).  Qiddushin 49b.T hat imagei sr epeated,f or example, by the third-century Church Father Clement of Alexandria, whow rote "it is said that mystery originatedi nE gypt" (Stromata 1960,p .1 53), and by the tenth-century Muslim historian al-Nadīm, whos tated that in Egypt manym en and womenw ere sorcerers and exorcists,who claimed they possessed seals,t alismans,a nd the like. Rabbenu Gershom on Menahot 85a: "So to al and full of sorceryy ou brings orcery". ten by Jesus and his disciples.⁶⁷¹ Andi ny et another account,J esus wrought his miracles through the power of holyletters he had stolen from the Temple: "and wrotethe [holy] name on paper,mentioned the Name so it would not harm him, and cut his flesh, hid in it the paper with the Name, again mentioned the Name, and put the flesh back in place. Andusing magic and the name of defilement,he entered the Temple…".⁶⁷²

Satan and Demons ⁶⁷³
The power of Satan and the demons is said, in Jewish and Christian (and Muslim) traditions, to encompass more thanthe mere possession of mortals, and the imaginary biographies of Solomona nd Jesusa lso correspond in this context, which stems from the extensive presenceo fS atan and the demons in thoset raditions. Satan and the demons differ from magicians and sorcerers in that the latter are humans; hence, demons and Satan (or in his other names: Asmodeus, Samael, and Lucifer)must be dealt with differently. Their existenceexplains why the forces of evil and sin exist in the human world and underscorethe challenge they pose to the faithful. Their presence, and the struggle against their attempt to gain control of the human soul, intensifies the need to believei nG od, or in Jesus.⁶⁷⁴ Satan and the demons are material creatures active in human society, even conducting adialogue with it.⁶⁷⁵ It is no wonder then that they playanimportant role in theological discussions, in bookso fe thics, in legends, and in folklore.⁶⁷⁶ One cannot saya bout demons "Thou shalt not suffer ad evil to live" (as was written of witches) because demons are not humans. Likee vil spirits (mezikin)a nd demons, demons are perceiveda sd ating back to the Crea-tion⁶⁷⁷ and depicted as active in the environment and society of humans. They  Yaacov Deutsch (1997, p. 8).  Limor (1998b).  See Giversen (1972); Särkiö (2004); Bohak (2017). According to Origen, Satan is "an adversary to the Son of God whoi sr ighteousness,t ruth, and wisdom: (6:44), Origen (1965, p. 361).  See J. B. Russell (1984,1991).  Of the literature on Satan Iw ill onlyc iteh ere: H. A. Kelly( 2006); Boureau( 2013).  AGod-hatingdemon entered intothe JewAquila whowent around the synagogues preaching that "the one whom we Christians now worship is not the Messiah,but he was aman even as we are. He was condemned to be crucified as ab lasphemer because he said that he was God" (1.2-1.5,i nV arner (2004,p .1 41).  According to Mishnah Avot 5:6, the destructive spirits were created on the eveo ft he (first) Sabbath at twilight,populated the imaginary reality of the ancient world, and took human form. The insides of clayincantation bowls found in Iraq and Palestine and datingfromthe fourth to have been described as "the angels of service";t hey "have wings,f ly from one end of the world to the other,k now the future, and like human beings they eat and drink, procreate like human beings, and die like human beings".⁶⁷⁸ It has been said thatt here are threet imes as manyd emons in the world as humans; they live in deserts, forests, ruins,a nd the like, and "can changei nto manyc olours" and they employ various tricks in attempts to incite humans to engageinevil acts, but alsohavebeen recruited to assist them. Demons are mentioned in the Bible, and the Israelites are denounced for sacrificing to demons (false gods).⁶⁷⁹ Belief in theirexistence and activity spread throughout the Jewish culturea pparentlyu nder Persiani nfluence,⁶⁸⁰ and their attributes and actions are frequentlymentioned in the literatureofthe Sages.⁶⁸¹ In medieval Jewish philosophy, demons wereregarded as real creatures,but also as apersonification of internal forces acting within ap erson.⁶⁸² The struggle between the rule of God and the rule of Satan⁶⁸³ takes on various forms and in it,S atan appears in various guises. The Akkadian sageS aturnus asks Solomon: "How manys hapes will the devil and the Pater Noster take when they contend together?" Solomon replies: "Thirty shapes" and describes them (the last is the "likeness of death"), and the Pater Noster does not win out over him.⁶⁸⁴ In the Bible, it is Satan who suggests to God that he ought to test Job⁶⁸⁵;inthe New Testament,heappears to Jesus in the desert and challenges him to work amiracle ("If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread",tothrow himself from ahighplace, and to bow down to him, in return for which he will gain all the kingdoms of the word. Jesus rejects Satan and leavesh im, whereupon "suddenlya ngels came and waited on him".⁶⁸⁶). It is told thatt he Pharisees claimedJ esusw as exorcisingd emons with the aid of Beelzebub, and Jesusr epliedt ot hem: "And if Ib yB eelzebub casto ut devils, by whom do your children castt hem out?T herforet hey shallb ey our judges. But if Ic ast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come seventh centuries were decorated with incantations and drawingsofAsmodeus,Lilith, and other demons.S ee Vilozny (2017).  Hagigah 16a.  Deuteronomy3 2:15 -18, and more.  unto you".L uker elates thatw hen the seventy-two messengers sent by Jesus to "every town and place where he himself intended to go" returned, they reported: "Lord, in your name even the demons submittedtous".And Jesus said: "Iwatched Satan fall from heavenlike aflash of lightning".⁶⁸⁷ Satan is mentioned in Revelation: "When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison…and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth".⁶⁸⁸ Satan figured frequentlyinthe Christian world of the imagination.⁶⁸⁹ St.Anthony, for example, struggled against Satan'sv arious effortst of orcefullyd ivest him of his belief in Christ'ssuffering,⁶⁹⁰ and Cyril describes the hermit Father Cyricus, who in avision sawSatan gainingcontrol over two monks and savedthem, since Satan and the "tricks of the devils" are merelyapersonification of sorrow. And there is also the crowd of demons who hid on ahill nearthe Castellion monastery and weredrivenout by the monkSt. Sabbas,who anointed the place with "the oil of the most revered cross".⁶⁹¹ It is difficult to reconstruct the development of, and the various forms taken by,t he demonological tradition. In anye vent,a tacertain stage, stories about Solomon and the demons wereinbroad circulation. Forexample, in Citharismus Regis David contrad aemonum Saulis,K ing David warns the demons that as on was born to him who will rule over them.⁶⁹² This tradition appears at great length in the syncretic and enigmatic Testament of Solomon,which was perhaps written in Roman Egypt in the first or second centuries C.E., and expandeda nd edited over several centuries thereafter.The book is an "encyclopedia of demonology", containing numerous tales and at least three thematic elements: belief in the existenceo ft he world of spirits and demons as part of human existence, the exploits of KingS olomon in the wondrous supernatural world, and the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Solomon'sc ontrol over demons is also mentioned in the Gnosticliteraturefound at Nag Hammadi, in the Epistle to Rehobam,a nd TheA pocalypse of Adam,which enumerates thirteen false explanations for the birth of the redeemer, Photor. Accordingt ot he fourth explanation: "Solomon himself sent his armyofd emonst os eek out the virgin. And they did not find the one whom they sought, but the virgin who was giventothem. It was she whom they fetched. Solomon took her,the Virgin became pregnant and gave  Luke 10:1.  Revelation 20:7-8.  J. B. Russell (1981).  Gibson (1995).  Cyril of Scythopolis (1991,p p. 25-27.119 -121).  Charlesworth (1983, Vol. 1, p. 546). birth to the child there".⁶⁹³ In TheT estament of Solomon,J esus displays greater power over the demons than does Solomon. When the devil is asked who drove him away,h er eplies: "He who wasb orn of av irgin and was crucified by the Jews".The king also states in his "testament" that he commanded each of the thirty-six demons and interrogated them. "Tell me, Od emon, to what zodiacal sign thou art subject?" Later,h ec ommanded thirty-six otherc elestialb odies and questioned them, revealing his knowledge of astrology.T hey said: "We are the thirty-six elements, the world-rulers of this darkness. But,OKing Solomon, thou wilt not wrongu sn or imprison us, nor layc ommand on us; but since the LordG od has givent hee authority over every spirit,i nt he air,a nd on the earth, and under the earth, thereforedowealso present ourselvesbefore thee like the otherspirits".⁶⁹⁴ Later,Solomon imprisons the demons with the aid of aring and recruitsthem for various tasks, includingbuilding the foundations of the Temple. Solomon supposedlycomposed the Testament before his death so that the Israelites "might know the powers of the demons and theirshapes, and the names of their angels, by which these angels are frustrated,⁶⁹⁵ and that Jesus was Solomon'ssuccessor and would rule over the demons.⁶⁹⁶ In the Dialogue Between Timothya nd Aquila,J esus is depicted as greater thanS olomon: Solomon submits to the demons while Jesus subdues them and will rule them forever.⁶⁹⁷ In the Talmud, Solomon rules over Satan and the demons, but is also ruled over by them; he is at once strongera nd weaker than they are.P erhaps this is meant to expresst he view that even ar uler like Solomon, who reigned over both the lower and the upper realms,h as human weaknesses that overpower him, weaknesses that Jesus does not possess. Thus, the Talmud (as well as the Quran)⁶⁹⁸ relates that Satan oustsS olomon from his throne and replaces him and thatSatan is sent to punish Solomon, to humiliate him and succeed him.⁶⁹⁹ An encounter between Satan and Solomon appears in am edieval Christian folk tale about at rial at which Satan is the prosecutor; Mary or Moses are wit-  This text was widelycirculated in the first centuries C.E.; whether it was the source for the tales about Solomonand the demons in the literatureofthe Sages (and later in the Quran), Conybear (1898); Duling ( 1983, p. 987);McCown (1922b);Schwarz (2007); and Klutz (2005).  Ancient Jewish-Christian Dialogues: Timothy and Aquila,Varner (2004,p p. 14 -15.)  In the Tales of the Prophets,Satan hears adivine voicetellinghim of the birth of Solomon, David'ss on, "at whose hands will be your destruction and your seeds",a l- Kisāʾī (1997, p. 289).  On the scores of versions of this story that appeared in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,s ee Kushelevsky (2011, pp. 272-288). Forf urther detail, see Sasson (2003,pp. 129 -160). nesses for the defense, and Solomon is the judge.Though Satan quotesfrom the HolyS criptures,h ei ss entenced to Hell.
Demons are not always depicted as negative characters.Inthe medieval Musare Haphilosophim (The Teachingso ft he Philosophers), Solomon learns of an island wherew ise demons live.T he king,w ho wishest oh ear what they have to say, commands the wind to carry him there. On his arrival ah undred and twenty demonsg ather around him, each speakingap rofound thought. And "when they werethrough, Solomon son of David wrotedown theirwords of wisdom and returned to his home".⁷⁰⁰

Asmodeus and the DemonsB uild the Temple
Demons brought water from India to the King'sgardens and orchards: "Solomon made use of the spirits and sent them to India from wheret hey brought him water with which to water[ the pepper-plant] here [in the land of Israel] and it produced fruit",⁷⁰¹ and others were part of Solomon'sa rmy, who helpeda ssist in constructingt he Temple that Solomon built for the Almighty-at emple whose construction was perceiveda st he completion of the six days of the Creation. Solomonwas said to have been aided by demons, while one of the sins of the Israelites wast hatt hey sacrificed to them ("They sacrificed to devils, not God"⁷⁰²). In addition to the 30,000 demons who worked in threes hifts of ten thousand am onth cutting down trees in Lebanon, others worked on the construction of the Temple ("besides Solomon three thousand and three hundred, as upervisor who wereo vert he work").⁷⁰³ Josephus adds, based on the account in Chronicles accordingt ow hich the reference is to all those who remained in the land who weren ot Israelites, "Then Solomon took ac ensus of all aliens who werer esidingi nt he land of Israel (2 Chronicles 2:16) that the workers who quarried the huge stones and carried them and the 'other materials' to the city were "strangers who werel eft by David".⁷⁰⁴ Legends of how the Temple built itself, quarried stones loweringthemselves into position, or of how birds,spirits, and thousands of angels participated in the construction, werei ntended to imbue the undertaking with aw ondrous aspect, rather than to simply saythat the Temple was reallybuilt on the labor of agreat  MusareH aphilosophim,P art 2, Chapter2 1. And see ChapterE ight.  MidrashR abbah: Ecclesiastes,I I.2, §4-5, §I ,5 5. Cohen (1939).  Deuteronomy3 2:16.  1K ings 5:16.  Antiquities 8:59.J osephus (1963). manyw orkers,o ftena tt he cost of their lives. One account claims thato vert he course of the seven yearso fc onstruction, not as ingle builder died;a fter the work was completed, however,a ll the rest died so they would not be tempted to build palaces for the practice of idolatry,a nd they receivedt heirw ages from the Almighty in the next world.⁷⁰⁵ This story about the workers perishing mayhavecome into being to explain how the Temple was built without making use of iron: "The house was built with stones finished at the quarry, so that neither hammern or ax nor anyt ool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built".⁷⁰⁶ It seems more likelyt he intent was to claim that the Temple was not built by forced laborers, but rather by demons. MidrashR abbah on Song of Songs describes how spirits and angels helped Solomon construct the Temple: "all assist the king […]; even spirits, even demons, even ministeringangels".R.Berekiah said: "the stones carried themselvesand placed themselveson the row".⁷⁰⁷ Accordingt ot he fourth-centuryG nostic work TheG ospelo fT ruth,⁷⁰⁸ Solomon built Jerusalem with the help of demons; after they completed their work, he held them captive in seven jugs,f rom which they escaped after the Romans conquered the city. TheT estamento fS olomon expandedi ts account of the construction by integratingvarious elements from the Bible and from Egyptian and Hellenist astrology with magic formulae. Accordingt ot hat work, Solomon receivedfrom LordSabaoth, viathe archangelMichael, asignet ring made of aprecious stone, on which apentagram was engraved. With the aid of that ring,Solomon defeats the demon Ornias, who offers, in exchangef or his release, to bring to the king all mannero fd emons, male and female. The king recruitst he demons for various jobs-digging the foundations for the Temple, quarrying the stones,c arryingt hem, creatingg old and silver, and more. Some of the demons are sealed in jugs.One, Ephippas, the wind demon, is caught in the Arabian Peninsula to set up ah ugec ornerstone,t oo heavy for the other demons to lift; he carries out the task with the help of the demon of the Red Sea.⁷⁰⁹ These versions of this text werecirculated in the first centuries C.E. is evident from its citation in TheD ialogue between Timothya nd Aquila. Ap opularJ erusalemt radition from the earlyB yzantine period further shows how prevalentt he motif of Solomon's rule over the demons and their participation in the construction of the Temple was at the time. An anonymous pilgrim from Bordeaux, for example, recounts his journey in Itinerarium burdigalense: he arrivedi nJ erusalem in the year 333, where, in the area of the Temple ruins, he sawthe vault "whereSolomon used to torture590 demons".⁷¹⁰ We have no wayofknowing whether he knew the stories of Solomon'srule over the demons before he arrivedi nJ erusalem, or first heard them in thatcity. In anyevent,the brevity of the description maysuggest thatthe author assumed his readers would be familiar with the tradition that Solomon sealed demons in ac avea nd tormented them. Another description of aj ourney in the earlys ixth century contains the informationt hat "ad ozen silverj ugsi n which Solomon sealed the demons" weref ound in the Church of the HolyS epulcher (related in Gospel of Truth,a nd thatt he ring "with which Solomon sealed the demons" was found at Golgotha.⁷¹¹ It is difficult to tracethe path by which the legend of Solomon'srule over the demons found its wayi nto the midrashim and aggadot. At anyr ate, since demons and spirits werepart not onlyofthe popularculturebut of the Sages' general understanding of the world, accepting the help of demons was not regarded as aw rongful act if done for the sake of Heaven: "Huna in the name of Rabbi Yosef said: Everyone helps the king,s oe venm ore so everyone helps for the honor of the King of Kings, the HolyO ne blessed be He.E vent he spirits and even the demons and even the angels".⁷¹² Solomon himself, in al etter he was said to have sent to the Queen of Sheba via ah oopoe bird, boasts about the fact that the Almighty appointed him to reign over the demons and spirits.⁷¹³ In the long Talmudic tale about Solomon and Asmodeus,⁷¹⁴ Solomon learns from amale and femaledemon that onlyAsmodeus knows the secret of the shamir,⁷¹⁵ namelyhow it maybeusedtosplit building stones without the aid of iron tools.Hesends Benaiahu, son of Jehoiada, to obtain it by trickery and bring it to him. Thus, Asmodeus was (after avariety of digressions and sub-plots) cunningly trapped and brought before Solomon, upon which he disclosedt he whereabouts of the shamir-ahoopoe bird thatpossessed the power to split and chisel stones,w ithout which it would have been impossiblet ob uild the Temple".⁷¹⁶  Wilkinson (1999,p .2 9).  Wilkinson (1999,p .199).  Song of Songs Rabbah 1:1,5. Neusner (1989).  Targum Sheni Esther,1 :2.  Gittin 68a-b.  The reference is probablytoadiamond. Mishnah Avot 5:6has it that the shamir was created on the eveo ft he Sabbath.  In Tales of the Prophets,the story is extended by elements from Gnostic literature, the Testament of Solomon, and Talmudicliterature. According to al-Kisāʾī,the angel Gabriel convened for Solomon four hundred and twenty groups of all types of demons and devils,males and females, that he instructed to engagei nv arious work "in iron,c opper,wood, and stones, as well as in The Talmudic legend regarding the iron-less construction of the Temple found its way, probablyfrom Byzantium, into the Paleia,acollection of tales based on the holyscriptures and apocrypha from the fourteenth century. In this version of the tale, Asmodeus transformed into a kitovar (a centaur). Solomon sent someone to trap the kitovar and geth im drunk. He was then brought before Solomon to inform the king how to build the Temple from stones not chiseled with iron tools. He claimedtherewas a kokot (a rooster)who, with the divine help of the shamir, knew how to split rocks and plant trees on desolate mountain tops,a nd was hence known as the "artist of the mountains";t his rooster knew wheret of ind the shamir. The King'sm essengers arriveda tt he rooster'sn est and smeared it with white glass; when the rooster wanted to return to his chicks he found the nest sealed, and flew off to bring the shamir in order to cut the glass.T he King'sm en yelled to frighten it,a nd when the wondrous worm fell from its mouth, they took it and broughti tt oS olomon.⁷¹⁷ It is temptingtoread manyofthese legends about Solomon as an expression of his greatness,asseen in his control over demons and Satan; they mayalso be interpreted as an explanation for the destruction of the Temple.Yet,intheir own discussion of the destruction, the Sages do not mention the use of demons to build it,⁷¹⁸nor is their assistance whyt he Sages reject the idea that God requires aphysical home in one specific place (a view that inspired Christianity'sattitude towards the Temple, as well as the idea of the Ecclesia as at emple). Nor is the buildingvillages, cities and fortresses".Finally, he set them to work buildingthe Temple. In this version, the residents of the city complained about the noise made by the cuttingo fr ocks, so Solomon sent for Sakar,ad emon whoh ad rebelled, whot old him of an eagle whok new where to find am ountain of diamonds.F rom theret he demons brought the necessary quantity of diamonds with which the rocksc ould be cut without makingany sound. In this version, the construction took forty days,s ince each dayS olomon employed "at housand demons,at housand devils and at housand human builders".a l- Kisāʾī (1997, pp. 516 -517). On the Islamic traditions on this subject see Soucek (1976,p p. 73 -123).  Raba (2014, pp. 152-155). The lateDr. Joel Raba generouslyprovided me with the texts. The monstrous birdappears in part of the Old English poem "Solomonand Saturn II".ABabylonian sage,S aturn, asks Solomon to tell him about am ournings pirit (gemorende gast)w hich had aroused his curiosity for fifty years.Solomon responds with an obscurereference to amonstrous bird called vasa mortis held in chains in the heart of Philistine until the sound of Judgment Day is heard. Several suggestions have been offered in the research literatureregarding the source of this text'si nspiration and its meaning( see ChapterE ight).  It would be onlyaconjecture to infer that these tales were inspiredb yA ugustine and his successors,who describedthe Synagoga as "the bastion of Satan" and the "domicile of demons and idolatry".See "The SynagogueasFoe in EarlyChristian Literature",inRutgers, Making Myth (2009,p p. 79 -115). aid of Asmodeus and the demonsdescribed in the Gospels or Christian literature as af lawt hat marred Solomon'sT emple from its inception.
Whyi tw as Solomon specificallyw ho became the protagonisto fn umerous midrashim and tales of occulta dventure is am ystery.B et he reason as it may, such tales belonged primarilyt oJ udaism'si nward-facing literature, rather than to its correspondence with Christianity.However,between the figure of Solomon as the author of the Song of Songs,P roverbs, and Ecclesiastes,a nd the figure of Solomon who consorted with demons and Satan, there lies an abyss; no less an abyss divides Solomon from Jesus. The latter rejects Satan'st emptations, and the mere mention of his name suffices to overcome the devil.