Banished from his home, deprived of his realm, Solomon wandered about
in far-off lands, among strangers, begging his daily bread. Nor did his
humiliation end there; people thought him a lunatic, because he never
tired of assuring them that he was Solomon, Judah's great and mighty
king. Naturally that seemed a preposterous claim to the people. (86)
The lowest depth of despair he reached, however, when he met some one
who recognized him. The recollections and associations that stirred
within him then made his present misery almost unendurable.
It happened (87) that once on his peregrinations he met an old
acquaintance, a rich and well-considered man, who gave a sumptuous
banquet in honor of Solomon. At the meal his host spoke to Solomon
constantly of the magnificence and splendor he had once seen with his
own eyes at the court of the king. These reminiscences moved the king
to tears, and he wept so bitterly that, when he rose from the banquet,
he was satiated, not with the rich food, but with salt tears. The
following day it again happened that Solomon met an acquaintance of
former days, this time a poor man, who nevertheless entreated Solomon
to do him the honor and break bread under his roof. All that the poor
man could offer his distinguished guest was a meagre dish of greens.
But he tried in every way to assuage the grief that oppressed Solomon.
He said: "O my lord and king, God hath sworn unto David He would never
let the royal dignity depart from his house, but it is the way of God
to reprove those He loves if they sin. Rest assured, He will restore
thee in good time to thy kingdom." These words of his poor host were
more grateful to Solomon's bruised heart than the banquet the rich man
had prepared for him. It was to the contrast between the consolations
of the two men that he applied the verse in Proverbs: "Better is a
dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."
For three long years Solomon journeyed about, begging his way from city
to city, and from country to country, atoning for the three (88) sins
of his life by which he had set aside the commandment laid upon kings
in Deuteronomy not to multiply horses, and wives, and silver and
gold. At the end of that time, God took mercy upon him for the sake of
his father David, and for the sake of the pious princess Naamah, the
daughter of the Ammonite king, destined by God to be the ancestress of
the Messiah. The time was approaching when she was to become the wife
of Solomon (89) and reign as queen in Jerusalem. God therefore led the
royal wanderer to the capital city of Ammon. (90) Solomon took service
as an underling with the cook in the royal household, and he proved
himself so proficient in the culinary art that the king of Ammon raised
him to the post of chief cook. Thus he came under the notice of the
king's daughter Naamah, who fell in love with her father's cook. In
vain her parents endeavored to persuade her to choose a husband
befitting her rank. Not even the king's threat to have her and her
beloved executed availed to turn her thoughts away from Solomon. The
Ammonite king had the lovers taken to a barren desert, in the hope that
they would die of starvation there. Solomon and his wife wandered
through the desert until they came to a city situated by the sea-shore.
They purchased a fish to stave off death. When Naamah prepared the
fish, she found in its belly the magic ring belonging to her husband,
which he had given to Asmodeus, and which, thrown into the sea by the
demon, had been swallowed by a fish. Solomon recognized his ring, put
it on his finger, and in the twinkling of an eye he transported himself
to Jerusalem. Asmodeus, who had been posing as King Solomon during the
three years, he drove out, and himself ascended the throne again.
Later on he cited the king of Ammon before his tribunal, and called him
to account for the disappearance of the cook and the cook's wife,
accusing him of having killed them. The king of Ammon protested that he
had not killed, but only banished them. Then Solomon had the queen
appear, and to his great astonishment and still greater joy the king of
Ammon recognized his daughter. (91)
Solomon succeeded in regaining his throne only after undergoing many
hardships. The people of Jerusalem considered him a lunatic, because he
said that he was Solomon. After some time, the members of the Sanhedrin
noticed his peculiar behavior, and they investigated the matter. They
found that a long time had passed since Benaiah, the confidant of the
king, had been permitted to enter the presence of the usurper.
Furthermore the wives of Solomon and his mother Bath-sheba informed
them that the behavior of the king had completely changed it was not
befitting royalty and in no respect like Solomon's former manner. It
was also very strange that the king never by any chance allowed his
foot to be seen, for fear, of course, of betraying his demon origin.
(92) The Sanhedrin, therefore, gave the king's magic ring to the
wandering beggar who called himself King Solomon, and had him appear
before the pretender on the throne. As soon as Asmodeus caught sight of
the true king protected by his magic ring, he flew away precipitately.
Solomon did not escape unscathed. The sight of Asmodeus in all his
forbidding ugliness had so terrified him that henceforth he surrounded
his couch at night with all the valiant heroes among the people. (93)