The Book of Splendor

Main Text (Zohar)

Until that voice reaches all those firmaments, until it reaches those authorities appointed over this world; and a voice goes out and proclaims throughout the whole world until it reaches the birds and the sparks and those forms of human beings who do not know.

And there arose a new king—Rabbi Hiyya said: He was literally a new king, for previously he had issued decrees that no other king had issued before him. Rabbi Yose said to him: But have we not learned that all that goodness which Joseph performed was as one with his master, as it is written Genesis 47:14 “And Joseph gathered all the money... into Pharaoh’s house”? And he kept them all in a storehouse in a storehouse because he remembered [the debt], yet he made himself as if he did not know him Referring to the new king "not knowing Joseph.". Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Yehuda were sitting and laboring in the Torah before Rabbi Shimon. Rabbi Yehuda said: This which is written, “And there arose a new king over Egypt,” we have learned that this one "arose" of his own accord; he who was previously insignificant arose, though he was not fit for kingship, yet he strove and arose. Rabbi Shimon said: All of them are like the pattern of those who sinned, who were not fit for sovereignty but rose up of their own accord, and now they are purified and removed from the world. So too here, this one was not fit for a king but rose of his own accord, and he merited to be removed from the world, as it is written Exodus 1:9-10 “And he said to his people... come, let us deal wisely with them.” And when a king arose above A spiritual chieftain or angel of Egypt, a king arose below. He opened and said: Isaiah 19:1 “The burden of Egypt: Behold, the Lord rides upon a swift cloud and shall come into Egypt; and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence.”

Come and see: all the kings of the world and all the nations of the world are considered as nothing before the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is written Daniel 4:32 “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and He does according to His will in the army of heaven.” And here in Egypt, even though all those powers and exalted levels (Dargin) Spiritual ranks or emanations were before the Holy One, Blessed be He, regarding Egypt what is written? “Behold, the Lord rides upon a swift cloud and shall come into Egypt.” Why did Egypt merit this above all nations of the world—that the Holy One, Blessed be He, should be enslaved, as it were, and be under a canopy below with them? For it is written, “And I will pass through the land of Egypt.” This is the Lord Himself! It was only because the King The Holy One comes to the field for the sake of the Matronita (The Queen/Shekhinah) The feminine aspect of the Divine who dwells with Israel in exile who was there. And for the sake of the honor of the Matronita, He came.

And because of this, the Holy One, Blessed be He, desired her honor and came down to her to raise her up and to establish her month, just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, is destined to do at the end of the Exile (Galuta) of Edom The current exile, often identified with Rome/Western Christendom. Rabbi Yose said: If so, that it was for the sake of the Matronita that it was thus in the exile [of Egypt], in every exile where the Matronita is present, why is it not so? Rather, we have learned that the Shekhinah (Divine Presence) is in exile within six crowns, and at times the Holy Covenant (Berit Kayama) is like a free man. Because of this, they are seized from here, hidden and below, to be seen to do for them what was not the case in the exile of Egypt; for all of them were holy tribes, the Assembly of Israel above. When Israel goes out into the exile of Edom, the Holy One, Blessed be He, desires to be honored in the world and to come to raise the Matronita and to shake her from her dust. Woe to whoever happens to be there before Him, like the tossing of the sea! Isaiah 52:2 “Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem; loose yourself from the bands of your neck.” From where shall the King and the people arise before Him? “And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence.” The "idols of Egypt" does not refer to the wise men and sorcerers, but to all those levels appointed over them and over those lower authorities of theirs.

And in every place where Israel dwells, the Shekhinah seeks them out to receive them from those nations. What is written? Isaiah 52:4 “For thus says the Lord God: My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.” This is a complaint that the Holy One, Blessed be He, spoke concerning Assyria. He said: See what Assyria did to Me! For as for Egypt, though I performed all those judgments upon them, My people stayed there to dwell among them, and they [the Egyptians] received them of their own accord and gave them the best of the land, the land of Goshen. They did not act to distress them in the exile; they did not act with evil toward them, as it is written Exodus 8:18 “Only in the land of Goshen, where My people are...” and the best of the land of Egypt it was, as it is written Genesis 47:6 “In the best of the land make your father and brethren to dwell.” And they did not take anything from them, as it is written, “And of the cattle of the children of Israel [not one died].” And afterwards they were scoured with many judgments. But Assyria "oppressed them without cause"—he cast them out...