Demonology Glossary KING SOLOMON by Lux Ferre25 July 2017 Share this Facebook X Telegram Bluesky Whatsapp Email King Solomon (10th century B.C.E.) was the legendary king of the Israelites, son of David, builder of the Temple of Jerusalem, and commander of an army of Demons or Djinn. The actual existence of Solomon and his father, David, remains unproved, but they are among the most important figures of the Old Testament. Solomon is granted great wisdom and understanding by God, far surpassing the wisdom of any other man. He knows the lore of plants, animals, and everything in the natural world. Men from far away seek him out for his counsel. In legend, his wisdom expands to include formidable magical knowledge, and his name (including Son of David) is used to control both good and bad spirits. In 1 Kings, Solomon takes the throne upon his father, David’s, death. The Lord goes to him in a dream and says, “Ask what I shall give you” (3:5). Solomon replies that he wishes to be given an understanding mind for governing and for discernment between good and evil. Pleased that he has not asked for riches, God says, “Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you” (3:12). God also grants him incomparable riches. Thus does Solomon become famed for his wisdom. In the fourth year of his reign, Solomon builds his famed Temple of Jerusalem, and his palace and administrative complex. In the temple, he places two gilded olivewood Cherubim in the innermost part of the sanctuary. He positions them so that a wing of one touches one wall and the wing of the other touches the other wall, and their other wings touch each other in the middle of the house. When the temple is dedicated, priests place the ark of the covenant, containing the two stone tablets of Moses upon which are written the Ten Commandments, underneath the wings of the Cherubim. Solomon has another vision, in which the Lord promises that his house will prosper as long as the commandments are kept and no other gods are worshipped. If there are any transgressions, God will cause the ruination to the kingdom. For most of the 40 years of his reign, Solomon prospers: “Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind” (10:23–24). He rules over the natural world as well as people. By his later years, he has acquired 700 wives and 300 concubines. Some of his wives convince him to turn away from God and worship pagan deities, especially the goddess Ashtoreth. Angry, God sends adversaries against him. In the end, God decides not to wrest his kingdom away from Solomon but instead to take it away from all but one of his sons. One day, Solomon went to a person described as “the Jebusite” and fell in love with his daughter, who is called the Shulamite (Soumanitis). The priests of Moloch, however, said, “Thou canst not have her to wife except thou worship the great gods Remphan and Moloch.” Solomon refused, but they gave him five locusts and said, “Crush these upon the altar of Moloch, and it will suffice.” Solomon said, “And so I did, and immediately the Spirit of God departed from me . . . and I became a laughingstock unto the idols and to the Demons. Therefore have I written this my Testament that ye which come on it may pray and take heed to your latter end and not to your beginning, that ye may find grace perfectly for ever.” Other texts expand upon Solomon’s wisdom; he becomes the greatest of magicians, a ruler over the realm of nature, able to summon angels and command Demons. Such details are found in the Testament of Solomon, Odes of Solomon, and Psalms of Solomon, all part of the pseudepigrapha, and in the Wisdom of Solomon, part of the apochrypha. Josephus’ Antiquities credits Solomon with writing 1,500 books of odes and songs and 3,000 books of parables and similitudes and knowing how to exorcize Demons. The Sefer Raziel, a magical text, says that Solomon was heir to the famed book (also called the Book of Mysteries), which enabled him to become the source of all wisdom. From the time of Origen, Solomon becomes more prominent in Christian lore than in Jewish lore, appearing on Amulets, talismans, and lintels and in numerous incantations for protection against and removal of Demons. His magical seal is a pentagram or hexagram. In Islamic lore, Solomon becomes the greatest of world rulers, a true apostle and messenger of Allah, and the prototype of Muhammad. His magical powers against Demons, the Djinn, are famous. Solomon acquired his power over the Djinn by asking for “soverignity not allowed to anyone after me” (sura 38:35). Allah responds by granting him unique power: “Then We subjected the wind to his power, to flow gently by his order wherever he wished, and also the evil Jinns, every builder and diver as well as those bound together in chains” (sura 38:...