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Eating from the Tree of Life: A Course on the Zohar

Translated Texts

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON

INTRODUCTION

This selection begins with a scene of three rabbis travelling together, led by the hero of the Zohar, Rabbi Shim'on bar Yochai. This is a typical narrative episode in the Zohar (a different genre from the Petichta we have seen in the module the Rose). It may give us a glimpse of how the authors of the Zohar would spend time together, going on hikes in the Spanish countryside while talking about the mysteries of the Torah. In some scenes like this the rabbis come to a dramatic landscape which reminds them of episodes in the Torah; in others they encounter strangers who unexpectedly speak words of greatest wisdom.

In this scene, nothing dramatic happens to the rabbis: after moving along quickly for a while, they sit quietly and begin to speak in praise of calm settledness as a way to wisdom. They may be referring to a practice of sitting in meditation, or, more conventionally, to sitting down and studying.

Once they are in a state of calm, the rabbis begin a discourse whose imagery is anything but peaceful, focused on personified Wisdom.

Rabbi Shim'on also refers to a mysterious figure whom he initially calls "a youth". There are enough clues provided that learned readers in the time of the Zohar, even if they did not know Kabbalah, would have understood who this is. It is the angel Metatron, who is also called "the lad" (na'ar). Today not everyone knows that there are Jewish traditions about angels, but in fact there are many of them, and they speak about a great many angels, who fill the spaces, so to speak, between God and the world.

Metatron is mentioned mainly in lesser-known books of Midrash and early mystical texts, but there are references to him in the most mainstream, widely studied Jewish texts as well. Here are two examples from the Talmud, which give some sense of his power and importance -- and the danger of coming close to him.

A heretic challenged Rabbi Idit: It is written, "(God) said to Moses, 'Go up to YHVH'" {Exodus 24:1}. (Since God was speaking), it should say 'Go up to Me!'

Rabbi Idit answered: (YHVH) here means Metatron, whose name is the same as the name of his Lord. As it is written, "Behold, I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way... My name is in him" {Exodus 23:20-21}.

Talmud, Sanhedrin 38b

What happened (to turn Elisha ben Avuyah, a great rabbi, into a heretic)?

He had a vision of Metatron, who had received permission to sit and write down the merits of the Jewish people. He said: We have learned that on High there is no sitting... Perhaps there are two Powers!

(The heavenly court) cast out Metatron and beat him with sixty whips of fire. They said to him: When you saw (Elisha ben Avuyah) why did you not stand up?

Then they gave him permission to erase the merits of Elisha ben Avuyah.

Talmud, Chagigah 15a:

As Rabbi Shim'on speaks about Metatron and about Wisdom, responding to Rabbi Abba's question, Rabbi Yehudah is present but says nothing. In a way Rabbi Yehudah is the representative for us, the readers, just paying attention.

Because he became a heretic, Elisha ben Avuyah is usually called Acher, "the other one".

"There is no sitting": Angels are always in a standing position, out of respect in the presence of God.

"Two Powers": two Gods.

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON
Zohar I (Vayechi) 223a-b

It is taught: One day Rabbi Shim'on was going from Kapotkia to Lud, and Rabbi Abba and Rabbi Yehudah were with him. Rabbi Abba was exerting himself, running after Rabbi Shim'on, who was riding.

Rabbi Abba said, "Truly, 'They will go after YHVH, who will roar like a lion'."

Rabbi Shim'on got down, and said to him, "Truly, it is written: 'I settled on the mountain forty days and forty nights'.

The rabbis are travelling to Lud from Kapotkia, a village in Galilee. This village is known only from the Zohar. According to Gershom Scholem, its name is based on a misunderstanding of a reference, in the Talmud, to Cappadocia in Asia Minor.

Rabbi Abba sees his teacher, Rabbi Shim'on, as embodying the presence of God.

Hosea 11:10-11:
Acharei Adonai yeil'chu k'aryei yish-ag, ki hu yish-ag v'yecherdu vanim miyam. Yecherdu ch'tsipor miMitsrayim uch'yona me-erets Ashur, v'hoshavtim al bateihem, n'um Adonai.

"They will go after YHVH, who will roar like a lion; roar, indeed, like a lion, till the children of the West come trembling. Trembling like a bird, from Egypt, and like a dove, from the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their homes, declares YHVH."

Deuteronomy 9:9:
Ba-aloti hahara lakachat luchot ha-avanim, luchot habrit, asher karat Adonai imachem, va-eishev bahar arba-im yom v'arba-im laila, lechem lo achalti umayim lo shatiti.

"When I (Moses) went up onto the mountain to take the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant which YHVH made with you, I settled (or "sat") on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread, I drank no water."

"Truly, wisdom does not become settled except when a person settles down, not going but standing still. Everything that has been established about why it is written 'I settled' still stands, but now everything depends on calm."

They settled themselves.

Rabbi Abba said: It is written, "The wisdom of Solomon: she grew from the wisdom of all the Children of Before and from all the wisdom of Egypt."

What really is the "wisdom of Solomon"; what really is the "wisdom of Egypt"; what really is the "wisdom of the Children of Before"?

(Rabbi Shim'on) said to him:

Come and see! We have explained, in many contexts, this name of the Moon when she is blessed by all. It is written that she "grew" in the days of Solomon, because she increased and was blessed and remained full.

We have been taught: A thousand mighty mountains, in front of her, are just one bite for her. She has a thousand great rivers -- she swallows them in one gulp.

Her fingernails clutch a thousand and seventy shores, her hands grasp twenty-four thousand shores. Nothing can get away from her to this side, nothing can get away from her to another side.

Thousands and thousands of shields are tangled in her hair.

One youth, whose measure is from the height of the world to the end of the world, emerges between her legs. He is clothed in sixty whips of fire. This is his appearance when he is appointed over those below on (all) four sides. This is the lad who holds six hundred and thirteen exalted keys from the domain of Mother, and all these exalted keys hang on the point of the sword girded to his belt.

In the Baraitot, this lad is called Enoch son of Yered.

As it is written, "'Enoch' refers to the lad, in accordance with his way".

And should you say that this is a teaching from the Mishnah, and not a Baraita: we have established these things in our Mishnah, and this has been stated, and all (the teachers) contemplated one thing.

Under (the lad) shelter the living things of the field.

Come and see: holy Israel on high is called the son of his mother, as it is written, "For I am a son to my father, the dear only one of my mother", and it is written, "Israel is my firstborn son".

So too below, this one is called his mother's lad, as it is written, "Israel is a lad and I love him".

And in many aspects he is called the son of Yered], and this has been established. But come and see: he really is the son of Yered/Descending, as we have been taught: "With ten descents, the Shekhinah descended to earth", and the friends have established what they all were, and this has been said before.

And below this stand many living things, who are called the living things of the Field, itself.

Below these living things, the hairs of the Moon are tangled with each other. They are called shooting stars -- they do indeed shoot. Lords of strife, lords of weighing in the balance, lords of harshness, lords of arrogance; all of them are called hairs of royal purple.

"Everything that has been established..." refers to discussions of this verse in earlier midrash (e.g. Exodus Rabbah 43:4), where the Sages are disturbed by the possibility that Moses was sitting in the presence of God, because "we have learned that on High there is no sitting..."

[There is some wordplay in the text of the Zohar here, which the translation imitates.]

I Kings 5:10:

Vateirev chochmat Shlomo meichochmat kol b'nei kedem umikol chochmat Mitsrayim.

More conventional translation:

"The wisdom of Solomon grew beyond the wisdom of all the Children of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt."

Both translations reflect possible meanings of the Hebrew words.

"This name of the Moon": the name "Wisdom of Solomon".

"Lad": na'ar.

"Six hundred and thirteen": the traditional number of mitzvot in the Torah.

"Baraitot" (plural of "Baraita") are teachings from around the time of the Mishnah (c. 200 C.E.), which were not included in the Mishnah itself. The Zohar is actually alluding to somewhat later midrashim and mystical texts; calling them Baraitot enhances their authority.

Proverbs 22:6:
Chanoch lana-ar al pi darko...

Usual translation:
"Train (chanoch) the lad, in accordance with his way."

The Zohar's translation is far-fetched, but not impossible.

"Our Mishnah": The Zohar often alludes to a hidden, mystical Mishna, suggesting that the Zohar itself is a commentary, a Talmud, to this hidden Mishnah.

"Living things": chayot. This can also be translated "animals". It is also what the prophet Ezekiel calls the angels with human and animal faces which he sees in his great vision of God's chariot, Ezekiel 1:5-15.

Proverbs 4:3-4:
Ki lekach tov natati lachem, torati al ta-azovu. Ki vein hayiti l'avi, rach v'yachid lifnei imi.

"Indeed, I have given you good instruction; do not forsake my Torah (or 'my teaching'). For I am a son to my father, the dear only one of my mother."

(The first sentence, "Indeed, I have given you..." is sung during prayers after the Torah is read, with the speaker understood to be God.)

Exodus 4:23:
V'amarta el Par-o, b'ni b'chori Yisra-eil.

"Say to Pharaoh: Israel is my first-born son."

Hosea 11:1:
Ki na-ar Yisra-eil va-ohaveihu, umiMitsrayim karati livni.

Israel is a lad and I love him, and I have called my son out of Egypt.

Avot deRabbi Nathan 34:5:

Eser y'ridot yarda [from the same root as Yered] Shekhinah al ha-olam. Achat b'gan Eiden...

With ten descents, the Shekhinah descended onto the world. The first was in the Garden of Eden...

"The friends": chavrayya. This means the rabbis, who are part of a fellowship, friends who learn Torah together.

Her hands and her feet seize hold, like a powerful lion that seizes its prey. About this it is written, "he tears and none can rescue".

All her fingernails call to mind the debts of human beings, writing and inscribing their debts with the authority of harsh judgement. About this, it is written, "The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, with a fingernail of shamir".

What is shamir? That which inscribes and pierces stone -- splitting it in all directions.

The clippings of her fingernails are all those who do not cling to the body of the King, and suckle from the domain of uncleanness, when the Moon is waning.

And because King Solomon inherited the full Moon, he wanted to also receive her in her waning, and so he set to work acquiring knowledge of spirits and demons, to receive the Moon in all her aspects.

Micah 5:7:
V'haya sh'eirit Ya-akov bagoyim, b'kerev amim rabim, k'aryei b'vahamot ya-ar, kichfir b'edrei tson, asher im avar v'ramas v'taraf v'ein matsil.

"The remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep; where he passes through, he tramples; he tears, and none can rescue."

Jeremiah 17:1:
Chatat Yehuda k'tuva b'eit barzel, b'tsiporen shamir, charusha al luach libam, ul'karnot mizb'choteichem.

"The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, with a fingernail of shamir, engraved on the tablets of their hearts and on the corners of their altars."

Shamir is sometimes translated as "diamond" or "adamant".
There are various midrashic legends about the shamir. Tosefta Sotah 15:1:

Rabbi Yehudah says: What was the nature of the shamir? It was a creation from the six days of Genesis. As soon as you place it on stones, or on beams of wood, they open up before it, like the covers of a book. Furthermore, when you put it on iron, the iron splits and falls down before it. Nothing can stand up to it... and with it King Solomon cut the stones for the Temple.

And in the days of King Solomon the moon shone over all. As it is written, "The Wisdom of Solomon grew" -- indeed grew.

"From all the Children of Before" -- this is an exalted mystery, as it is written, "These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom..."

So they are called the Children of Before, since none of them endured, except for the one that includes male and female, called Hadar (Beauty), as it is written, "And Hadar ruled after him..."

And we have been taught that even though the Moon shone, she did not shine in her fullness until Solomon arrived. He was her fitting counterpart, as we have established, and that is why his mother was Bathsheba.

"And from all the wisdom of Egypt" -- this is the lower wisdom, called the maidservant behind the millstones.

All was included in the Wisdom of Solomon -- the wisdom of the Children of Before and the wisdom of Egypt.

Rabbi Abba said: Blessed is the Compassionate, that I asked this question before you, that I have been privileged to hear all these words!

Rabbi Shim'on said: These are words we have already established, and all this has been said before.

Genesis 36:31:
V'eileh ham'lachim asher malchu b'erets Edom lifnei malach melech l'vnei Yisra-eil...

"These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled the children of Israel."

Genesis 36:39:
Vayamot Ba-al Chanan ben Achbor, vayimloch tachtav Hadar, v'sheim iro Pa-u, v'sheim ishto M'heitav-eil bat Matreid bat Mei Zahav.

"And Baal-Chanan son of Achbor died, and Hadar (Beauty) ruled after him; the name of his city was Pa-u, and the name of his wife was Mehitabel daughter of Matred daughter of Mei-Zahav (Waters of Gold)."

"Bathsheba": Bat-Sheva, meaning "daughter of seven".

The Zohar is alluding to Exodus 11:5:

Umeit kol b'chor b'erets Mitsrayim, mib'chor Par-o hayosheiv al kis-o ad b'chor hashif'cha asher achar hareichayim, v'chol b'chor beheima.

"Every first-born in the land of Egypt will die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the maidservant who is behind the millstones, and all the first-born cattle."


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	INTRODUCTION This selection begins with a scene of three rabbis travelling together, led by the hero of the Zohar, Rabbi Shim'on bar Yochai. This is a typical narrative episode in the Zohar (a different genre from the Petichta we have seen in the module the Rose). It may give us a glimpse of how the authors of the Zohar would spend time together, going on hikes in the Spanish countryside while talking about the mysteries of the Torah. In some scenes like this the rabbis come to a dramatic landscape which reminds them of episodes in the Torah; in others they encounter strangers who unexpectedly speak words of greatest wisdom. In this scene, nothing dramatic happens to the rabbis: after moving along quickly for a while, they sit quietly and begin to speak in praise of calm settledness as a way to wisdom. They may be referring to a practice of sitting in meditation, or, more conventionally, to sitting down and studying. Once they are in a state of calm, the rabbis begin a discourse whose imagery is anything but peaceful, focused on personified Wisdom. Rabbi Shim'on also refers to a mysterious figure whom he initially calls "a youth". There are enough clues provided that learned readers in the time of the Zohar, even if they did not know Kabbalah, would have understood who this is. It is the angel Metatron, who is also called "the lad" (na'ar). Today not everyone knows that there are Jewish traditions about angels, but in fact there are many of them, and they speak about a great many angels, who fill the spaces, so to speak, between God and the world. Metatron is mentioned mainly in lesser-known books of Midrash and early mystical texts, but there are references to him in the most mainstream, widely studied Jewish texts as well. Here are two examples from the Talmud, which give some sense of his power and importance -- and the danger of coming close to him. A heretic challenged Rabbi Idit: It is written, "(God) said to Moses, 'Go up to YHVH'" {Exodus 24:1}. (Since God was speaking), it should say 'Go up to Me!' Rabbi Idit answered: (YHVH) here means Metatron, whose name is the same as the name of his Lord. As it is written, "Behold, I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way... My name is in him" {Exodus 23:20-21}. Talmud, Sanhedrin 38b
	What happened (to turn Elisha ben Avuyah, a great rabbi, into a heretic)? He had a vision of Metatron, who had received permission to sit and write down the merits of the Jewish people. He said: We have learned that on High there is no sitting... Perhaps there are two Powers! (The heavenly court) cast out Metatron and beat him with sixty whips of fire. They said to him: When you saw (Elisha ben Avuyah) why did you not stand up? Then they gave him permission to erase the merits of Elisha ben Avuyah. Talmud, Chagigah 15a: As Rabbi Shim'on speaks about Metatron and about Wisdom, responding to Rabbi Abba's question, Rabbi Yehudah is present but says nothing. In a way Rabbi Yehudah is the representative for us, the readers, just paying attention.		Because he became a heretic, Elisha ben Avuyah is usually called Acher, "the other one". "There is no sitting": Angels are always in a standing position, out of respect in the presence of God. "Two Powers": two Gods.
	THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON Zohar I (Vayechi) 223a-b It is taught: One day Rabbi Shim'on was going from Kapotkia to Lud, and Rabbi Abba and Rabbi Yehudah were with him. Rabbi Abba was exerting himself, running after Rabbi Shim'on, who was riding. Rabbi Abba said, "Truly, 'They will go after YHVH, who will roar like a lion'." Rabbi Shim'on got down, and said to him, "Truly, it is written: 'I settled on the mountain forty days and forty nights'.		The rabbis are travelling to Lud from Kapotkia, a village in Galilee. This village is known only from the Zohar. According to Gershom Scholem, its name is based on a misunderstanding of a reference, in the Talmud, to Cappadocia in Asia Minor. Rabbi Abba sees his teacher, Rabbi Shim'on, as embodying the presence of God. Hosea 11:10-11: Acharei Adonai yeil'chu k'aryei yish-ag, ki hu yish-ag v'yecherdu vanim miyam. Yecherdu ch'tsipor miMitsrayim uch'yona me-erets Ashur, v'hoshavtim al bateihem, n'um Adonai. "They will go after YHVH, who will roar like a lion; roar, indeed, like a lion, till the children of the West come trembling. Trembling like a bird, from Egypt, and like a dove, from the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their homes, declares YHVH." Deuteronomy 9:9: Ba-aloti hahara lakachat luchot ha-avanim, luchot habrit, asher karat Adonai imachem, va-eishev bahar arba-im yom v'arba-im laila, lechem lo achalti umayim lo shatiti. "When I (Moses) went up onto the mountain to take the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant which YHVH made with you, I settled (or "sat") on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread, I drank no water."
	"Truly, wisdom does not become settled except when a person settles down, not going but standing still. Everything that has been established about why it is written 'I settled' still stands, but now everything depends on calm." They settled themselves. Rabbi Abba said: It is written, "The wisdom of Solomon: she grew from the wisdom of all the Children of Before and from all the wisdom of Egypt." What really is the "wisdom of Solomon"; what really is the "wisdom of Egypt"; what really is the "wisdom of the Children of Before"? (Rabbi Shim'on) said to him: Come and see! We have explained, in many contexts, this name of the Moon when she is blessed by all. It is written that she "grew" in the days of Solomon, because she increased and was blessed and remained full. We have been taught: A thousand mighty mountains, in front of her, are just one bite for her. She has a thousand great rivers -- she swallows them in one gulp. Her fingernails clutch a thousand and seventy shores, her hands grasp twenty-four thousand shores. Nothing can get away from her to this side, nothing can get away from her to another side. Thousands and thousands of shields are tangled in her hair. One youth, whose measure is from the height of the world to the end of the world, emerges between her legs. He is clothed in sixty whips of fire. This is his appearance when he is appointed over those below on (all) four sides. This is the lad who holds six hundred and thirteen exalted keys from the domain of Mother, and all these exalted keys hang on the point of the sword girded to his belt. In the Baraitot, this lad is called Enoch son of Yered. As it is written, "'Enoch' refers to the lad, in accordance with his way". And should you say that this is a teaching from the Mishnah, and not a Baraita: we have established these things in our Mishnah, and this has been stated, and all (the teachers) contemplated one thing. Under (the lad) shelter the living things of the field. Come and see: holy Israel on high is called the son of his mother, as it is written, "For I am a son to my father, the dear only one of my mother", and it is written, "Israel is my firstborn son". So too below, this one is called his mother's lad, as it is written, "Israel is a lad and I love him". And in many aspects he is called the son of Yered], and this has been established. But come and see: he really is the son of Yered/Descending, as we have been taught: "With ten descents, the Shekhinah descended to earth", and the friends have established what they all were, and this has been said before. And below this stand many living things, who are called the living things of the Field, itself. Below these living things, the hairs of the Moon are tangled with each other. They are called shooting stars -- they do indeed shoot. Lords of strife, lords of weighing in the balance, lords of harshness, lords of arrogance; all of them are called hairs of royal purple.		"Everything that has been established..." refers to discussions of this verse in earlier midrash (e.g. Exodus Rabbah 43:4), where the Sages are disturbed by the possibility that Moses was sitting in the presence of God, because "we have learned that on High there is no sitting..." [There is some wordplay in the text of the Zohar here, which the translation imitates.] I Kings 5:10: Vateirev chochmat Shlomo meichochmat kol b'nei kedem umikol chochmat Mitsrayim. More conventional translation: "The wisdom of Solomon grew beyond the wisdom of all the Children of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt." Both translations reflect possible meanings of the Hebrew words. "This name of the Moon": the name "Wisdom of Solomon". "Lad": na'ar. "Six hundred and thirteen": the traditional number of mitzvot in the Torah. "Baraitot" (plural of "Baraita") are teachings from around the time of the Mishnah (c. 200 C.E.), which were not included in the Mishnah itself. The Zohar is actually alluding to somewhat later midrashim and mystical texts; calling them Baraitot enhances their authority. Proverbs 22:6: Chanoch lana-ar al pi darko... Usual translation: "Train (chanoch) the lad, in accordance with his way." The Zohar's translation is far-fetched, but not impossible. "Our Mishnah": The Zohar often alludes to a hidden, mystical Mishna, suggesting that the Zohar itself is a commentary, a Talmud, to this hidden Mishnah. "Living things": chayot. This can also be translated "animals". It is also what the prophet Ezekiel calls the angels with human and animal faces which he sees in his great vision of God's chariot, Ezekiel 1:5-15. Proverbs 4:3-4: Ki lekach tov natati lachem, torati al ta-azovu. Ki vein hayiti l'avi, rach v'yachid lifnei imi. "Indeed, I have given you good instruction; do not forsake my Torah (or 'my teaching'). For I am a son to my father, the dear only one of my mother." (The first sentence, "Indeed, I have given you..." is sung during prayers after the Torah is read, with the speaker understood to be God.) Exodus 4:23: V'amarta el Par-o, b'ni b'chori Yisra-eil. "Say to Pharaoh: Israel is my first-born son." Hosea 11:1: Ki na-ar Yisra-eil va-ohaveihu, umiMitsrayim karati livni. Israel is a lad and I love him, and I have called my son out of Egypt. Avot deRabbi Nathan 34:5: Eser y'ridot yarda [from the same root as Yered] Shekhinah al ha-olam. Achat b'gan Eiden... With ten descents, the Shekhinah descended onto the world. The first was in the Garden of Eden... "The friends": chavrayya. This means the rabbis, who are part of a fellowship, friends who learn Torah together.
	Her hands and her feet seize hold, like a powerful lion that seizes its prey. About this it is written, "he tears and none can rescue". All her fingernails call to mind the debts of human beings, writing and inscribing their debts with the authority of harsh judgement. About this, it is written, "The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, with a fingernail of shamir". What is shamir? That which inscribes and pierces stone -- splitting it in all directions. The clippings of her fingernails are all those who do not cling to the body of the King, and suckle from the domain of uncleanness, when the Moon is waning. And because King Solomon inherited the full Moon, he wanted to also receive her in her waning, and so he set to work acquiring knowledge of spirits and demons, to receive the Moon in all her aspects.		Micah 5:7: V'haya sh'eirit Ya-akov bagoyim, b'kerev amim rabim, k'aryei b'vahamot ya-ar, kichfir b'edrei tson, asher im avar v'ramas v'taraf v'ein matsil. "The remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep; where he passes through, he tramples; he tears, and none can rescue." Jeremiah 17:1: Chatat Yehuda k'tuva b'eit barzel, b'tsiporen shamir, charusha al luach libam, ul'karnot mizb'choteichem. "The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, with a fingernail of shamir, engraved on the tablets of their hearts and on the corners of their altars." Shamir is sometimes translated as "diamond" or "adamant". There are various midrashic legends about the shamir. Tosefta Sotah 15:1: Rabbi Yehudah says: What was the nature of the shamir? It was a creation from the six days of Genesis. As soon as you place it on stones, or on beams of wood, they open up before it, like the covers of a book. Furthermore, when you put it on iron, the iron splits and falls down before it. Nothing can stand up to it... and with it King Solomon cut the stones for the Temple.
	And in the days of King Solomon the moon shone over all. As it is written, "The Wisdom of Solomon grew" -- indeed grew. "From all the Children of Before" -- this is an exalted mystery, as it is written, "These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom..." So they are called the Children of Before, since none of them endured, except for the one that includes male and female, called Hadar (Beauty), as it is written, "And Hadar ruled after him..." And we have been taught that even though the Moon shone, she did not shine in her fullness until Solomon arrived. He was her fitting counterpart, as we have established, and that is why his mother was Bathsheba. "And from all the wisdom of Egypt" -- this is the lower wisdom, called the maidservant behind the millstones. All was included in the Wisdom of Solomon -- the wisdom of the Children of Before and the wisdom of Egypt. Rabbi Abba said: Blessed is the Compassionate, that I asked this question before you, that I have been privileged to hear all these words! Rabbi Shim'on said: These are words we have already established, and all this has been said before.		Genesis 36:31: V'eileh ham'lachim asher malchu b'erets Edom lifnei malach melech l'vnei Yisra-eil... "These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled the children of Israel." Genesis 36:39: Vayamot Ba-al Chanan ben Achbor, vayimloch tachtav Hadar, v'sheim iro Pa-u, v'sheim ishto M'heitav-eil bat Matreid bat Mei Zahav. "And Baal-Chanan son of Achbor died, and Hadar (Beauty) ruled after him; the name of his city was Pa-u, and the name of his wife was Mehitabel daughter of Matred daughter of Mei-Zahav (Waters of Gold)." "Bathsheba": Bat-Sheva, meaning "daughter of seven". The Zohar is alluding to Exodus 11:5: Umeit kol b'chor b'erets Mitsrayim, mib'chor Par-o hayosheiv al kis-o ad b'chor hashif'cha asher achar hareichayim, v'chol b'chor beheima. "Every first-born in the land of Egypt will die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the maidservant who is behind the millstones, and all the first-born cattle."