are the true and faithful followers of the holy law of whom it is said: "Let the beauty of the Lord, our God, lie upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it" (Ps. xc. 17), signifying or referring to the work of circumcision, which is a sign marked on the human body. Rabbi Hammenuna, the aged, has said: "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin" (Eccles. v. 5). Never allow thy lips to give expression to evil words and thus sin against thy flesh which has been sanctified with the seal of the holy covenant, for by so doing thou incurrest the danger of being cast into the hell of evil and wrong-doing (Gehenna), the ruler of which is called Duma and is always attended with destroying angels, observing those who keep the covenant over whom they have then no power to injure or afflict. It is further written: "Neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error; that is, speak nothing that will cause the angel Duma to prevail against and overcome thee. "The firmament showeth his handiwork." These are the companions of the heavenly spouse, whose names are marked and inscribed in the firmament. What firmament? The visible heaven in which are the sun and moon, stars and constellations, and is the true Book of God. In it are found and written the names of all who have kept themselves pure and undefiled.
"Day unto day uttereth speech." (Ps. 19:2) This refers to the great holy day of the King who applauds his companions and commends the words of learning and wisdom uttered by each of them. "Night unto night showeth knowledge." That is, each night communicates to the following one the mystery of the esoteric knowledge which enlightens all intelligences. "There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard," meaning they discourse not of worldly matters and vanities in presence of the King, who taketh no delight in such. "Their line is gone out through all the earth" refers to the dimensional archetypes according to which the heavens and the earth were measured and formed. If the question be asked who resides in them? Scripture declares: "In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun," that is, the Holy One has fixed his mansion or tabernacle in the heavens wherein he is adorned and is then as a bridegroom (Ps. 19:5) coming out of his chamber rejoicing to run on his course, which when finished, he mounteth on high and runneth another course elsewhere. "His going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it." (Ps. 19:6) that is, he descendeth from the higher to the lower world, which is expressed by the word outhqonphatha in which is included the idea of rotundity. For this reason the duration of a year is termed, thqouphatha-shana, for during that period the earth has travelled round the sun, and been the recipient of the whole of its rays of light and heat. "And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." Every created thing, whether visible or not, is affected by the warming rays of the sun, which occultly represents the universality of the secret doctrine operating everywhere and is described as "the law of the Lord is perfect."
From the beginning of this Psalm (19th) the tetragrammaton or holy name I. H. V. H. is found six times, showing the mystery contained in the word Brashith (in the beginning), which has six letters. Bra-shith. (He created six) and these six letters correspond to the six first words of scripture which express the work of creation. Bra, Alhim, eth, hassamayim, veath, aaretzs (Alhim created the substance of the heaven and the earth) or thus: Alhim created the substance of fire, water and earth.
At this moment Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Abba entered the assembly. On beholding them, Rabin Simeon exclaimed: Truly is the presence of the Schekinah with you and therefore I have called you Peniel, for ye have seen the Schekinah face to face, and now that I have explained the esoteric meaning of Benaiah, Son of Jehoida, I will explain to you the mystical meaning of yet another biblical verse: "And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature five cubits high" (I. Chron. xii. 23). The word Egyptian refers to Moses, of whom we said that he was very "great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh's servants and the people of the land" (Ex. xi. 3), the mystical meaning of which is that he was distinguished more by his intellectual endowments and gifts than by his stature, similar to Adam, the first man, of whom it is metaphorically said that his stature was of the number of cubits separating the east from the west of the world. So when it is said of Moses that he was five cubits in height, it means that he was an adept practised in the five virtues leading to spiritual perfection, viz., love to God, chastity, charity, humility and perseverance in meditation and study of the secret doctrine. "And in the hand of the Egyptian was a spear like a weaver's beam," meaning the rod of God on which was engraved the holy name of forty-two letters, as was the shuttle of Bezaleel since we read: "He hath filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship, and to devise curious works, in gold, silver and brass--all manner of work of the engraver, of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer" (Ex. xxxv. 31-35). "Happy was the lot of Moses!" Come, therefore, dear friends; come and let us meditate and evolve new thoughts and ideas from out of the secret doctrine, for whoever on this night doeth thus shall be preserved from evil, and live in peace hereafter, "for the angel of the Lord campeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him" (Ps. xxxiv. 8-9).
Again, on another occasion, Rabbi Simeon spake and said: "Bereshith bara Alhim" (In the beginning created God). These words require great thought and consideration, for everyone that says there is another God is cut off from the world, as it is written: "Thus shall he say unto them, the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens" (Jer. x. 11), for there is other God beside the Holy One.
This verse is in the Chaldee tongue excepting the last word, Aleh (these) which is in Hebrew. Why? It might be said, in order that the holy angels should not comprehend its signification of the divine unity. The true reason is that they might not become envious of man and thus cause him to suffer, for in the words, "the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth" have reference to certain angels who fell from heaven and set themselves up as gods.
Now the word earth which in Hebrew is arqa, in the Chaldee is arca; why so? Because it is one of the seven lower worlds where reside the descendants of Cain. After his expulsion from the earth, he went thither and begat children. This arqa was partly lighted and partly enshrouded in darkness and governed by two chiefs who were constantly warring against each other. On the arrival of Cain, however, they entered into an alliance of friendship for they perceived that it was to him they owed their existence. They became one body with two heads, the name of the one was Aphira, and Qastimon, the name of the other; this ruled over the dark, that over the light parts of Arqa. Before becoming joined together, they were like angels with six wings, Aphira having the form of an ox, Qastimon that of an eagle. On their union, they took on them the human form and begat offspring like unto themselves. When they found themselves in darkness, they became changed into the form of a serpent with two heads, and crawling as a serpent they plunged into the great sea, the abode of demons, where they found the decadent angels Azar and Azael and expelled them from their lurking places. These then fled and hid themselves in dark mountains thinking that the Holy One was about to execute vengeance open them for their evil doings and conduct. After this, the two chiefs Aphira and Qastimon swam through the great sea and went to visit Naamah, the mother of the demons, and the first deceiver and seducer of holy angels, who after their fall took different human forms and in their turn became corruptors of mankind. After roaming through the world they returned to Arqa, and now their great object is to corrupt the descendants of Cain and lead them into sin. Respecting this Arqa, the heaven with its various constellations and stars is altogether different from our visible heavens at night. The seasons for sowing and reaping are not the same as ours in their sequence and regularity, being separated by a considerable number of years; these two chiefs of Arqa are they to whom the Scripture refers, who posing as gods shall become exterminated from our Thebel or earth on which they shall not exercise any dominion, nor afflict the children of man during the night, but as saith the Scripture: "They shall be destroyed by Aleh, by whom the heavens and the earth have been created". This is why Aleh in this verse is written in Hebrew, designating the holy name untranslatable into the Chaldee language.
Then said Rabbi Eleazar to his father: What meaneth the words: "Who would not fear thee, Oh King of nations?" (Jer. x,, 7). Who is this King of Nations or Gentiles?
Said Rabbi Simeon:
