In the Gemara, the shamir (Hebrew : שָׁמִירšāmīr) is a worm or a substance that had the power to cut through or disintegrate stone, iron and diamond. King Solomon is said to have used it in the building of the first Temple in Jerusalem in place of cutting tools. For the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which promoted peace, it was inappropriate to use tools that could also cause war and bloodshed. [2]
Referenced throughout the Talmud and midrashim, the Shamir was reputed to have existed in the time of Moses as one of the ten wonders created on the eve of the first Shabbat just before God finished creation. [lower-alpha 1] Moses reputedly used the Shamir to engrave the stones of the priestly breastplate of the High Priest of Israel. [4]
King Solomon, aware of the existence of the Shamir but unaware of its location, commissioned a search that turned up a "grain of Shamir the size of a barleycorn." Solomon's artisans reputedly used the Shamir in the construction of the Temple. The material to be worked, whether stone, wood or metal, was affected by being "shown to the Shamir." Following this line of logic (anything that can be 'shown' something must have eyes to see), early Rabbinical scholars described the Shamir almost as a living being. Other early sources, however, describe it as a green stone. This is supported by contemporary scholars who believe that the Shamir was emery, a blue-green stone mined as an abrasive powder for thousands of years. The word emery comes from Koinē Greek : σμύρις, romanized: smúris, which likely shares the same root as the Semitic shamir. [5]
For storage, the Shamir was meant to have been always wrapped in wool and stored in a container made of lead; any other vessel would burst and disintegrate under the Shamir's gaze. The Shamir was said to have been either lost or had lost its potency (along with the "dripping of the honeycomb") by the time of the destruction of the First Temple during the 587 BCE Siege of Jerusalem. [6]
According to the Asmodeus legend from the Mishnah, the location of the Shamir was told to King Solomon by Asmodeus, who Solomon captured. The Shamir was under the care of a bird, who had been granted it by Rahab, the angel of the sea. [7] [8] Solomon then sent his trusted aide Benaiah on a quest to retrieve it. [4]
King Solomon also used the Shamir to engrave gemstones. He also used the blood of the Shamir worm to make carved jewels with a mystical seal or design. According to an interview with George Frederick Kunz, an expert in gemstone and jewelry lore, this led to the belief that gemstones so engraved would have magical virtues, and they often also ended up with their own powers or guardian angel associated with either the gem or the precisely engraved gemstones. [9]
The Quran mentions a creature thought to be the Shamir, [10] when pointing out the ignorance of the jinn who worked for Solomon concerning the occult, and emphasizing that all knowledge rests only with God:
And when We decreed death for him, nothing showed his death to them save a creeping creature of the earth which gnawed away his staff. And when he fell, the jinn saw clearly how, if they had known the Unseen, they would not have continued in despised toil.Saba' 34:14 [11]
According to commentators such as ibn Abbas, when Solomon died his body remained leaning on his staff for a long time, nearly a year, until "a creature of the earth, which was a kind of worm," gnawed through the stick weakening it and the body fell to the ground. [12] It was then that the jinn knew that he had died a long time before and until then they were working hard thinking he was supervising them. It also became clear to humans who divined and engaged in occult activities or spirit-consulting, or worshiped the jinn, that they do not possess knowledge of the occult. [12]
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including comics, fiction, film, television, and video games. Belief in demons probably goes back to the Paleolithic age, stemming from humanity's fear of the unknown, the strange and the horrific. In ancient Near Eastern religions and in the Abrahamic religions, including early Judaism and ancient-medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered a harmful spiritual entity that may cause demonic possession, calling for an exorcism. Large portions of Jewish demonology, a key influence on Christianity and Islam, originated from a later form of Zoroastrianism, and was transferred to Judaism during the Persian era.
Jinn "Jinnat ", also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies, are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabia and later in Islamic culture and beliefs. Like humans, they are accountable for their deeds and can be either believers (Muslims) or disbelievers (kafir), depending on whether they accept God's guidance. Since jinn are neither innately evil nor innately good, Islam acknowledged spirits from other religions and could adapt them during its expansion. Jinn are not a strictly Islamic concept; they may represent several pagan beliefs integrated into Islam. To assert a strict monotheism and the Islamic concept of tawhid, Islam denies all affinities between the jinn and God, thus placing the jinn parallel to humans, also subject to God's judgment and afterlife. The Quran condemns the pre-Islamic Arabian practice of worshipping or seeking protection from them.
Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was a Jewish monarch of ancient Israel and the son and successor of King David, according to the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. He is described as having been the penultimate ruler of an amalgamated Israel and Judah. The hypothesized dates of Solomon's reign are from 970 to 931 BCE. According to the Bible, after his death, his son and successor Rehoboam adopted a harsh policy towards the northern tribes, eventually leading to the splitting of the Israelites between the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. Following the split, the biblical narrative depicts his patrilineal descendants ruling over Judah alone.
The Talmud is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews.
The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple, refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. According to the Hebrew Bible, the First Temple was built in the 10th century BCE, during the reign of Solomon over the United Kingdom of Israel. It stood until c. 587 BCE, when it was destroyed during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. Almost a century later, the First Temple was replaced by the Second Temple, which was built after the Neo-Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Achaemenid Persian Empire. While the Second Temple stood for a longer period of time than the First Temple, it was likewise destroyed during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Asmodeus or Ashmedai is a king of demons in the legends of Solomon and the constructing of Solomon's Temple.
Shedim are spirits or demons in the Tanakh and Jewish mythology. Shedim do not, however, correspond exactly to the modern conception of demons as evil entities as originated in Christianity. While evil spirits were thought to be the cause of maladies, shedim differed conceptually from evil spirits. Shedim were not considered as evil demigods, but the gods of foreigners, and were envisaged as evil only in the sense that they were not God.
In Islam, Sulaimān ibn Dāwūd is described as a nabī and ruler of the Israelites in the Quran. Since the rise of Islam, various Muslim historians have regarded Solomon as one of the greatest rulers in history. Solomon's rule inspired several Islamic leaders throghout history.
Kodashim is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.
The Seal of Solomon or Ring of Solomon is the legendary signet ring attributed to the Israelite king Solomon in medieval mystical traditions, from which it developed in parallel within Jewish mysticism, Islamic mysticism and Western occultism.
In some occult and similar writings, an archdemon, archdevil, or archfiend is a spiritual entity prominent in the infernal hierarchy as a leader of demons. Essentially, the archdemons are the evil opponents of the archangels.
Rabbinic Judaism, also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Rabbanite Judaism, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbinic Judaism has its roots in the Pharisaic school of Second Temple Judaism, and is based on the belief that Moses at Mount Sinai received both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah from God. The Oral Torah, transmitted orally, explains the Written Torah. At first, it was forbidden to write down the Oral Torah, but after the destruction of the Second Temple, it was decided to write it down in the form of the Talmud and other rabbinic texts for the sake of preservation.
The red heifer, a heifer which is never pregnant, milked, or yoked, also known as the red cow, is a heifer sacrificed by the priests as a sacrifice to God in the Book of Numbers. Its ashes after being sacrificed and burned were used for the ritual purification of corpse uncleanness caused by an Israelite coming into contact with a human corpse, a human bone, or a human grave.
The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses is an 18th- or 19th-century magical text allegedly written by Moses, and passed down as hidden books of the Hebrew Bible. Self-described as "the wonderful arts of the old Hebrews, taken from the Mosaic books of the Kabbalah and the Talmud", it is actually a grimoire, or text of magical incantations and seals, that purports to instruct the reader in the spells used to create some of the miracles portrayed in the Bible as well as to grant other forms of good fortune and good health. The work contains reputed Talmudic magic names, words, and ideograms, some written in Hebrew and some with letters from the Latin alphabet. It contains "Seals" or magical drawings accompanied by instructions intended to help the user perform various tasks, from controlling weather or people to contacting the dead or Biblical religious figures.
Terumah, Terumoh, Terimuh, or Trumah is the nineteenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the seventh in the Book of Exodus. The parashah tells of God's instructions to make the Tabernacle and its furnishings. The parashah constitutes Exodus 25:1–27:19. It is made up of 4,692 Hebrew letters, 1,145 Hebrew words, 96 verses, and 155 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews in the Diaspora read it the nineteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in February and rarely in early March.
Tetzaveh, Tetsaveh, T'tzaveh, or T'tzavveh is the 20th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the Book of Exodus. The parashah reports God's commands to bring olive oil for the lamp, make sacred garments for the priests, conduct an ordination ceremony, and make an incense altar.
Tractate Middot is the tenth tractate of Seder Kodashim of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. This tractate describes the dimensions and the arrangement of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and the Second Temple buildings and courtyards, various gates, the altar of sacrifice and its surroundings, and the places where the Priests and Levites kept watch in the Temple.
Shamir is a Hebrew surname.
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The Gemara returns to the story of how Solomon acquired the shamir... [Solomon's servants] searched until they found the nest of a wild cock that had young,[...]
Asmodeus told Solomon that the Shamir was given by God to the Angel of the Sea, and that Angel entrusted none with the Shamir except the moor-hen, which had taken an oath to oversee the Shamir.