Texts in Conversation
Tobit introduces the demon Asmodeus, who in Jewish tradition was thought to kill a bride’s husband on their wedding night. This is based on earlier traditions such as the Song of Solomon, which describes Solomon’s bed guarded against night terrors.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Song of Solomon 3:8
Song of Songs
Hebrew Bible
7 Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch! It is surrounded by sixty warriors, some of Israel’s mightiest warriors. 8 All of them are skilled with a sword, well trained in the art of warfare. Each has his sword at his side, to guard against the terrors of the night. 9 King Solomon made a sedan chair for himself of wood imported from Lebanon. 10 Its posts were made of silver; its back was made of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple wool; its interior was inlaid with leather by the maidens of Jerusalem.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Tobit 3:8
Deuterocanon
7 On this day it happened to Sarah the daughter of Raguel who was in Ecbatana of Media, that she also heard reproaches by one of her father’s maidservants; 8 because that she had been given to seven husbands, and Asmodaeus the evil demon had slain them, before they had been with her as it is appointed for women. And the maidservant said to her, It is you that slay your husbands; behold you have already been given to seven husbands, and you have not been named of one of them. 9 Why do you scourge us on account of your husbands because they have died? Go your -o ways with them and let us see neither son nor daughter of yours for ever.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... There are widespread reports from people in the Middle East that on the first wedding night they believed a demon would threaten the married couple. In the apocryphal book Tobit that devil was identified as Asmodaeus (Tobit 3:8). In the Song of Songs we read that ‘sixty of Israel’s picked warriors’ stood round Solomon’s bed ..."
Marten Stol, Women in the Ancient Near East, trans. Helen and Mervyn Richardson (Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2016), 96–97.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,