Asmodeus

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Asmode´us ( Tobit 3:8), a demon or evil spirit, mentioned in the Apocryphal book of Tobit as having beset Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, and killed the seven husbands whom she had married before Tobit. The Rabbins call Asmodeus, as well as Beelzebub, 'the prince of devils,' whence the two names have been supposed to refer to the same demon. But this title they also give to 'the angel of death,' as the destroyer of all mankind. Thus the story in Tobit means no more than that the seven husbands died successively on their marriage with Sarah.