Musar sobre I Reyes 3:16

When Joshua was about to conquer the land of Israel, he sent out two spies who, due to their lofty spiritual level, overcame and humbled the two "harlots" mentioned by the Zohar. Once the Holy Temple was built in the days of King Solomon, when the fortunes of the Jewish people were at their peak [the 15th generation after Abraham. Ed.], these two "harlots" were defeated absolutely, and this is one of the reasons Solomon is described as sitting "on the throne of G–d" (Chronicles I 29,23). This is the mystical dimension of the two נשים זונות, harlots, who approached him, each claiming that the surviving baby was hers (Kings I 3,16-27). The above is all based on the Zohar, and elaborated on in the book קול בוכים.

It is related in the Zohar (2:178b; 3:60b) and in the writings of the Ari, z”l (Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar 49, 113b) that the two prostitutes of Shlomo’s day (I Melachim 3:16) were actually the two female demons Machalas and Lilis. Machalas is accompanied by four hundred and seventy- eight camps, the numerical value of her name, while Lilis is accompanied by four hundred and eighty camps, the numerical value of her name. When a person rejoices in the performance of a commandment he subdues Machalas and her cohorts. And when he mourns at a time that he is commanded to do so he subdues Lilis. I believe that this is the meaning of the verse, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting” (Koheles 7b), for through mourning a man subdues two more camps than he does through rejoicing.