Gittin - Daf 68
- The capture of Ashmedai and the shamir
The Gemara relates the story of Shlomo capturing Ashmedai, king of demons, in his quest to obtain the shamir for building the Beis Hamikdash. Ashmedai had a pit of drinking water dug into a mountain, which was covered and sealed with his signet. Benayahu ben Yehoyada, the head of the Sanhedrin and commander of Shlomo’s army, dug a pit below Ashmedai’s, and siphoned the water out, then dug another pit above Ashmedai’s, and poured wine from there into Ashmedai’s pit, leaving the seal intact. Ashmedai eventually drank the wine and fell asleep, and Benayahu placed a chain with Hashem’s name upon him. When he woke and struggled to break free, Benayahu called out, שמא דמרך עלך שמא דמרך עלך – The Name of your Master is upon you! The Name of your Master is upon you! Ashmedai informed Shlomo that the shamir was entrusted to the Master of the Sea, who only gives it to the תרנגולא ברא – wild rooster, who is sworn to return it (after using it to crack open mountains to cultivate them with seeds). They found a wild rooster which had a nest with young and covered it with glass. When it returned and was unable to reach its young, it placed the shamir on the glass to break it. Shlomo’s servant frightened it, and it dropped the shamir, which the servant took. The wild rooster strangled itself, having violated its oath to return it.
- Ashmedai’s activities on the way to Shlomo
The Gemara relates that while being brought to Shlomo, Ashmedai destroyed a palm tree and then a house, but when a widow pleaded with him not to destroy her hut, he twisted away to avoid it, breaking a bone. He commented with the passuk, "ולשון רכה תשבר גרם" – and soft speech can break a bone. The Gemara then relates five actions of Ashmedai, which he later explained to Benayahu. (1) He assisted a lost blind man back to his way because there was an announcement in Heaven that he was perfectly righteous, and whoever assists him merits עולם הבא. (2) He assisted a drunken man, who was completely wicked, back to his path, so the drunk would consume his reward for his good deeds. (3) He cried at a wedding celebration, because the groom was fated to die within thirty days, leaving the bride to wait thirteen years for the infant yavam. (4) He laughed at a man requesting shoes to last seven years, saying: ההוא שבעה יומי לית ליה – That [man] does not have seven days to live, מסאני לשב שנין בעי – yet he wants shoes which will last for seven years?! (5) He laughed at a sorcerer, who, despite his magic, was unaware of a king’s treasure house right underneath him.
- Ashmedai deposes Shlomo, and Shlomo’s return
Shlomo said to Ashmedai: "כתועפות ראם לו" – The passuk says, “The lofty and the towering are His,” ואמרינן כתועפות אלו מלאכי השרת – and we explain, “The lofty,” these are the מלאכי השרת, ראם אלו השדים – “the towering,” these are the demons. He asked Ashmedai what demons’ superiority is, that Hashem is praised with them. Ashmedai responded that if Shlomo would remove his chain and Shlomo’s ring (both engraved with Hashem’s Name), he would show him. Shlomo complied, and Ashmedai swallowed him, placed one wing in Heaven and one on earth, and flung him four hundred parsahs away. Shlomo said about this time, "וזה היה חלקי מכל עמלי" – And this was my portion for all my toil, referring to being left with either just his staff or his cloak. He proceeded to go door to door saying he was Koheles ben Dovid, former king of Yerushalayim. When he came to the Sanhedrin, they noted that a madman does not repeat the same claim, and after inquiring of Benayahu and the queens about the “king’s” behavior, realized that this was truly Shlomo. They gave him a chain and ring engraved with Hashem’s Name, and Ashmedai fled when he saw Shlomo. Still, Shlomo lived in fear of Ashmedai thereafter, surrounding his bed with sixty warriors. Rav and Shmuel disagree if Shlomo fully regained his status as king.
