Pt2 Solomon, Ashmedai, and the Shamir: Demonology, Temple-Building, and the Reversal of Royal Power (Gittin 68a-b)

This is the second part of a three-part series. Part 1 is here; the outline of the series can be found at Part 1.

Transit to Jerusalem: destructive force, restraint, and a proverb applied

As Benayahu brings Ashmedai toward Jerusalem, Ashmedai casually knocks down a palm tree and a house by rubbing against them. He then reaches a small shack belonging to a widow who begs him not to knock it down. Ashmedai bends his body away, but in doing so breaks one of his own bones. He applies Proverbs 25:15 to this event: “Soft speech can break a bone” (treating the widow’s plea as the “soft speech” that produced a physical effect).

Destructive power and restraint - Ashmedai casually fells a palm and a house

כי נקיט ליה ואתי,

• מטא דיקלא –

  • חף ביה, שדייה;

• מטא לביתא –

  • שדייה;

When Benayahu took Ashmedai and came to Jerusalem

• he reached a palm tree

  • and Ashmedai rubbed (חף) against it and knocked it down.¹

• He reached a house

  • and knocked it down.

Confronted by a widow’s plea, he physically bends away and breaks a bone - Prov 25:15

מטא גבי כובא דההיא ארמלתא,

נפקא

איחננא ליה.

כפא לקומתיה מיניה,

איתבר ביה גרמא.

אמר:

היינו דכתיב:

״ולשון רכה תשבר גרם״.

He reached a small shack [kuva] belonging to a certain widow.

This widow emerged,

and she begged (איחננא) him not to knock down the house.

He bent his body away from her,

to the other side, and broke one of his bones (גרמא).

He said:

This is as it is written:

“Soft speech can break a bone” (Proverbs 25:15).

Five observed actions on the road (help, cry, laugh)

The narrative lists five actions that Benayahu observes without explanation at first:²

1. Ashmedai guides a blind man (סמיא) who is lost back to the road.

2. He guides a drunk (רויא) who is lost back to the road.

3. He cries at a wedding celebration.

4. He laughs when someone orders shoes intended to last seven years.

5. He laughs at a sorcerer (קסמא) performing magic.

A List of Ashmedai’s 5 inexplicable acts - guides a blind man and a drunk to safety; cries at a wedding; laughs at a shoe-order for seven years; laughs at a sorcerer

1. חזא סמיא דהוה קא טעי באורחא,

   1. אסקיה לאורחיה.

2. חזא רויא דהוה קא טעי באורחא,

   1. אסקיה לאורחיה.

3. חזא חדוותא דהוו קמחדי לה,

   1. בכה.

4. שמעיה לההוא גברא דהוה קאמר לאושכפא: “עביד לי מסאני לשב שני”

   1. אחיך.

5. חזא ההוא קסמא דהוה קסים,

   1. אחיך.

1. Ashmedai saw a blind man who was lost on the road

   1. and he brought him to the correct road.

2. He saw a drunk who was lost on the road

   1. and he brought him to the correct road.

3. He saw the joy of a wedding celebration in which they were celebrating,

   1. and he cried.

4. He heard a certain man say to a shoemaker [ushkafa]: “Make me shoes that will last for 7 years”,

   1. and he laughed.

5. He saw a certain sorcerer performing magic,

   1. and he laughed.

The three-day delay and brick pantomime (drink more; reduce food)

Upon arrival in Jerusalem, Ashmedai is not brought before Solomon for three days. Each day he asks why. The attendants give a reason tied to excess:

• Day 1: the king was overcome by drink.³ Ashmedai stacks one brick atop another; Solomon interprets: “Give the king more to drink.”

• Day 2: the king was overcome by food. Ashmedai removes the brick and places it on the ground; Solomon interprets: “Reduce his food.”⁴

Symbolic communication about Solomon - While delayed three days from meeting Solomon, Ashmedai uses bricks as pantomime to signal “give him more drink”

כי מטא להתם,

לא עיילוה לגביה דשלמה עד תלתא יומי.

When Ashmedai arrived there, in Jerusalem,

they did not bring him before Solomon until 3 days had passed.

יומא קמא אמר להו:

אמאי לא קא בעי לי מלכא לגביה?

אמרו ליה: אנסיה מישתיא.

שקל לבינתא אותיב אחברתה.

אתו אמרו ליה לשלמה.

אמר להו:

הכי אמר לכו:

הדור אשקיוה.

On the first day he said to them:

Why doesn’t the king want me to come to him?

They said to him: He drank too much and was overcome by drink.

Ashmedai took a brick and placed it on top of another brick.

The servants came and told Solomon what he had done.

Solomon interpreted the action and said to them:

This is what he said to you through this allusion:

Return and give the king more to drink.

... and then “reduce his food”

למחר אמר להו: ואמאי לא קא בעי לי מלכא לגביה?

אמרו ליה: אנסיה מיכלא.

שקל לבינתא מחברתה,

אותבה אארעא.

אתו אמרו ליה לשלמה.

אמר להו,

הכי אמר לכו:

נגידו מיניה מיכליה.

The following day Ashmedai said to them: And why doesn’t the king want me to come to him?

They said to him: He ate too much and was overcome by food.

Ashmedai took the brick off the other brick and placed it on the ground.

The servants came and told Solomon what Ashmedai had done.

He interpreted Ashmedai’s actions and said to them:

This is what he said to you through this allusion:

Take his food away from him.

Before Solomon: the four cubits rebuke (grave allotment vs conquest)

After three days Ashmedai is brought before Solomon. He measures “four cubits” with a reed and throws the measurement before him. He frames it as a memento mori: when Solomon dies, he will have nothing in this world except the four cubits of his grave. Ashmedai then rebukes Solomon’s ambition: Solomon has “conquered the entire world”,⁵ yet is not satisfied until he also conquers Ashmedai.

Solomon clarifies his stated need: not conquest for its own sake, but the Temple’s construction and the shamir.

Memento mori rebuke: Before Solomon, Ashmedai measures four cubits (a grave’s allotment) to rebuke imperial overreach - even world-conquest ends in a minimal burial plot

לסוף תלתא יומי עייל לקמיה.

שקל קניא,

ומשח ארבעה גרמידי,

ושדא קמיה

At the end of 3 days Ashmedai came before Solomon.

Ashmedai took a reed

and measured 4 cubits [garmidei],

and threw it before him.

אמר ליה:

מכדי

כי מיית ההוא גברא,

לית ליה בהדין עלמא אלא ארבעה גרמידי;

השתא כבשתיה לכולי עלמא,

ולא שבעת עד דכבשת נמי לדידי?!

He said to Solomon:

See, when that man, i.e. you, Solomon, dies,

he will have nothing in this world except the 4 cubits of his grave.

Now you have conquered the entire world

and yet you are not satisfied until you also conquer me?!

The shamir’s custodian and the hoopoe stratagem (oath, glass, theft, suicide)

Ashmedai says the shamir was not given to him but to the “ministering angel of the sea,” who entrusts it only to a “wild rooster”,⁶ trusted because of its oath to return it.

The hoopoe uses the shamir for an inhabitation function: it brings it to uninhabited mountains, places it on a rocky crag, and the mountain splits. It then brings seeds and scatters them there so the place becomes habitable. The sugya links this to translation/etymology: ‘dukhifat’ is rendered as “cutter of mountains”.⁷

Solomon’s agents locate a hoopoe nest with chicks and cover it with translucent (or: “white”) glass so the parent cannot enter. The bird brings the shamir to crack the glass. A servant throws a clump of dirt, causing the shamir to fall; the servant takes it. The hoopoe then kills itself over the violated oath (due to its failing to retain and guard the shamir).

Access to the shamir: Ashmedai says the shamir is held by the sea’s ministering angel and entrusted to the hoopoe (wild rooster/dukhifat)

אמר ליה:

לא קא בעינא מינך מידי;

בעינא דאיבנייה לבית המקדש,

וקא מיבעי לי שמירא.

Solomon said to him:

I need nothing from you.

I want to build the Temple

and I need the shamir for this.

אמר ליה:

לדידי לא מסיר לי,

לשרא דימא מסיר ליה;

ולא יהיב ליה אלא לתרנגולא ברא,

דמהימן ליה אשבועתיה.

Ashmedai said to him:

The shamir was not given to me,

but it was given to the angelic minister of the sea.⁸

And he gives it only to the wild rooster, also known as the dukhifat or the hoopoe,

whom he trusts by the force of his oath to return it.

... who uses it to split mountains and make them habitable by seeding

ומאי עבד ביה?

ממטי ליה לטורי דלית בהו ישוב,

ומנח לה אשינא דטורא,

ופקע טורא;

And what does the wild rooster do with it?

He brings it to mountains that are not fit for habitation,

and he places the shamir on the craggy rock

and the mountain splits.

Etiology for “cutter of mountains”

ומנקיט מייתי ביזרני מאילני,

ושדי התם,

והוי ישוב.

והיינו דמתרגמינן:

״נגר טורא״.

And he takes and brings seeds (ביזרני) of trees,

throws them there,

and it becomes fit for habitation.

And this is why we interpret the word dukhifat as

“a cutter of mountains”⁹

Solomon’s agents exploit the bird’s parental care with glass over the nest

בדקו קינא דתרנגולא ברא דאית ליה בני,

וחפיוה לקיניה זוגיתא חיורתי.

כי אתא,

בעי למיעל

ולא מצי.

They investigated and found the nest of a wild rooster in which there were chicks,

and he covered its nest with translucent glass.¹⁰

When the rooster came --

it wanted to enter the nest

but was unable to do so.

... the bird brings the shamir to crack it, they steal it, and the bird commits suicide for violating its oath

אזל אייתי שמירא,

ואותביה עלויה.

רמא ביה קלא,

שדייה,

שקליה.

אזל חנק נפשיה אשבועתיה.

It went and brought the shamir

and placed it on top to crack the glass.

Solomon’s servant threw a clump of dirt at the rooster

and the rooster knocked over the shamir.

The man took it

and the wild rooster went and strangled (חנק) itself over the fact that it had not kept its oath, by not returning the shamir.

Decoding the five actions: heaven’s proclamations and hidden knowledge

Benayahu asks Ashmedai to explain the five actions:

1. Blind man: heaven proclaims he is “completely righteous”; whoever does good for him merits the World-to-Come.

2. Drunk: heaven proclaims he is “completely wicked”; Ashmedai helped him so that he will consume reward in this world and have none in the World-to-Come.

3. Wedding: the groom will die within thirty days; the bride will need to wait for a minor brother-in-law to reach the age of 13 to be released by ḥalitza.

4. Shoes for seven years: the man has fewer than seven days to live.

5. Sorcerer: he sits atop a king’s treasury (בי גזא); Ashmedai mocks him for not using his powers to discover what lies beneath.

Decoding Ashmedai’s 5 odd reactions: Ashmedai explains

1 - The blind man is proclaimed wholly righteous (helping him gains World-to-Come)

אמר ליה בניהו:

מאי טעמא כי חזיתיה לההוא סמיא דהוה קא טעי באורחא --

אסיקתיה לאורחיה?

אמר ליה:

מכרזי עליה ברקיעא דצדיק גמור הוא,

ומאן דעבד ליה ניחא נפשיה --

זכי לעלמא דאתי.

Later, Benayahu said to Ashmedai:

What is the reason that when you saw that blind man who was lost on the road --

you brought him to the correct road?

Ashmedai said to him:

They proclaim about him in heaven that he is a completely righteous man,

and anyone who does good for his soul --

shall merit to enter the World-to-Come.

2 - The drunk is wholly wicked - helping him exhausts reward in this world

ומאי טעמא כי חזיתיה לההוא רויא דקטעי באורחא --

אסיקתיה לאורחיה?

אמר ליה:

מכרזי עליה ברקיעא דרשע גמור הוא,

ועבדי ליה ניחא נפשיה

כי היכי דליכליה לעלמא.

Then Benayahu asked: And what is the reason that when you saw the drunk man who was lost on the road --

you brought him to the correct road?

Ashmedai said to him:

They proclaim about him in heaven that he is a completely wicked man.

And I did good for his soul

so that he will consume his reward in this world and not have any reward in the World-to-Come.

3 - The groom will die within 30 days leaving a young widow who needs to wait for levirate marriage (tragic future)

מאי טעמא כי חזיתיה לההוא חדוותא --

בכית?

אמר ליה:

בעי מימת גברא בגו תלתין יומין,

ובעיא מינטר ליבם קטן תליסרי שנין.

Benayahu continued and asked him: What is the reason that when you saw that joy of the wedding --

you cried?

Ashmedai said to him:

I knew that this man will die within 30 days.

And his wife is required to wait for the yavam, the husband’s brother, who is a minor, to reach the age of 13 years,

the age of majority, so that he can release her through ḥalitza, the ritual through which the yavam frees the yevama of her levirate bonds.

4 - The shoe-buyer has <7 days

מאי טעמא כי שמעתיה לההוא גברא דאמר ליה לאושכפא: ״עביד לי מסאני לשב שנין״ --

אחיכת?

אמר ליה:

ההוא, שבעה יומי לית ליה,

מסאני לשב שנין בעי?!

In addition, he asked: What is the reason that when you heard that man say to a shoemaker: “Make me shoes that will last for 7 years” --

you laughed?

Ashmedai said to him:

That man does not have 7 days to live;

does he need shoes that will last for 7 years?!

5 - The sorcerer sits atop the royal treasury without knowing it

מאי טעמא כי חזיתיה לההוא קסמא דהוה קסים --

אחיכת?

אמר ליה:

דהוה יתיב אבי גזא דמלכא,

לקסום מאי דאיכא תותיה!

Benayahu then asked: What is the reason that when you saw that sorcerer performing magic you laughed?

Ashmedai said to him:

Because he was sitting on the king’s treasury [bei gaza].

Let him use his magic to know what there is buried underneath him!

1. שדייה - literally: “threw it”.

2. This list is later revisited for decoding.

3. אנסיה מישתיא - i.e. drunk and/or hungover.

4. The episode presents Ashmedai as communicating by gesture, and Solomon as decoding the gestures into directives. On using pantomimes to communicate information, compare my piece on the anecdote of R’ Yehuda HaNasi and Antoninus: “Symbolic Dialogues and Strategic Counsel: Six Stories of Antoninus and R’ Yehuda HaNasi (Avodah Zarah 10a-b)”.

5. On this, see my piece on tractate Megilla; on the biblical kings who conquered the entire world: “Ahasuerus and the Kingship of the World (Esther 1:1; Megillah 11a-b)”, section “Other Historical World Rulers Omitted from the List and the Reasons Why“, sub-section “Solomon (I Chronicles 29:23)“.

6. תרנגולא ברא - later identified with the ‘dukhifat’ - hoopoe.

7. naggar tura - literally: “carpenter of mountains”.

8. שרא דימא.

For another Talmudic mention of the “minister of the sea”, see Bava_Batra.74b.9-10:

ואמר רב יהודה אמר רב:

בשעה שביקש הקדוש ברוך הוא לבראות את העולם,

אמר לו לשר של ים:

פתח פיך

ובלע כל מימות שבעולם

And Rav Yehuda says that Rav says:

At the time when God sought to create the world,

He said to the minister of the sea:

Open your mouth

and swallow all the waters of the world,

so that there will be room for land.

אמר לפניו:

רבונו של עולם!

די שאעמוד בשלי.

מיד בעט בו והרגו,

שנאמר:

״בכחו רגע הים ובתבונתו מחץ רהב״

The minister of the sea said before Him:

God!

it is enough that I will stay within my own waters.

God immediately struck him and killed him;

as it is stated:

“He stirs up the sea with His power,

and by His understanding He smites through Rahab” (Job 26:12).

אמר רבי יצחק:

שמע מינה,

שרו של ים ״רהב״ שמו;

ואלמלא מים מכסין אותו –

אין כל בריה יכולה לעמוד בריחו

R’ Yitzḥak said:

Conclude from here that

the name of the minister of the sea is “Rahab”,

and were it not for waters of the sea that cover him —

no creature could withstand his smell,

as his corpse emits a terrible stench.

שנאמר:

״לא ירעו ולא ישחיתו בכל הר קדשי וגו׳,

כמים לים מכסים״

אל תקרי ״לים מכסים״,

אלא ״לשרה של ים מכסים״

As it is stated:

“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain;

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of YHWH, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).

Do not read this phrase as “cover the sea”;

rather read it as: “Cover the minister of the sea”,

i.e., the term sea is referring to the minister of the sea, not to the sea itself.

9. naggar tura.

Ed. Steinsaltz explains:

i.e., the Aramaic translation of the word dukhifat in the Bible is naggar tura, cutter of mountains.

The dukhifat (דוכיפת) is mentioned twice in the Bible: Leviticus.11.19 and Deuteronomy.14.18. For its identity, see the overview in Hebrew Wikipedia, “דוכיפת“, section “אטימולוגיה“.

And compare also Chullin.63a.3:

אמר רב יהודה:

• שלך

  • זה השולה דגים מן הים

• דוכיפת

  • שהודו כפות

Rav Yehuda says:

• As for the shalakh, listed as a non-kosher bird (see Leviticus 11:17),

  • this is the bird that scoops [sholeh] fish out of the sea.

• The dukhifat (see Leviticus 11:19)

  • is the bird whose comb seems bent [hodo kafut] due to its thickness.

תניא נמי הכי:

דוכיפת —

שהודו כפות

וזהו שהביא שמיר לבית המקדש

The Talmud notes: This is also taught in a baraita:

The dukhifat —

is the bird whose comb seems bent,

and this is the bird that brought the shamir to the Temple.

As recounted in tractate Gittin (68b), King Solomon required a unique worm called the shamir to carve stones of the Temple, as the verse states: “There was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (I Kings 6:7).

10. זוגיתא חיורתי - literally: “white glass”.