Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASMODEUS

(Gk. Asmodaíos)

A demon in the book of Tobit who kills Sarah’s husbands on her wedding night. According to one Greek recension of Tobit, Asmodeus is motivated by jealousy (4QToba 6:15, “because he loves her”), but he could also be acting simply out of malice. In the Testament of Solomon (1st-3rd century c.e.), Asmodeus says, “I am always hatching plots against newlyweds; I mar the beauty of virgins and cause their hearts to grow cold” (T. Sol. 5:7). Following the angel Raphael’s instructions, Tobias causes Asmodeus to flee to Egypt, where he is bound by Raphael.

A derivation for the name Asmodeus from the Persian Aeshma Daeva, the demon of violence and wrath, was once thought to be virtually certain. However, the Asmodeus of the book of Tobit lacks Aeshma’s cosmic proportions. Moreover, the philological evidence is ambiguous, and an alternative Hebrew derivation from šmd, “to destroy,” has found increasing favor. But even if the name is not Persian, Asmodeus was probably regarded as a “local” demon active in Persia and Mesopotamia (cf. T. Sol. 5:10).

Will Soll

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASMODEUS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)