Kabbalah Library

77) “Be afraid of the sword; for wrath brings the punishments of the sword.” The sword is the “Sword … that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant.” The sword, Malchut, is about to observe anyone who lies in the covenant, Yesod, for anyone who lies in the covenant blemishes it with incest or with spilling of semen idly. Then the sword takes vengeance from him.

78) “For wrath brings the punishments of the sword,” since anyone who lies in the covenant distances Malchut’s desire to receive abundance from ZA and the one who takes abundance, meaning Yesod, does not take and does not give it to its place—Malchut—since its place did not awaken to it, which is Malchut. This is so because due to the flaw of the covenant, the desire to receive abundance has been taken away from her, and anyone who keeps a covenant causes an awakening of the covenant in his place, in Malchut, and upper and lower are blessed.

79) When there are righteous in the world, there are those who awaken that covenant to its place, as it is written, “And I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their dwelling where they lived.” “Their dwelling” is as it is written, “Be afraid of the sword,” Malchut, since it is a place that casts fear in the world. Thus, the patriarchs evoked the covenant to its place, Malchut, on which it is written, “To give them the land … of their dwelling.”

80) “Where they lived.” Malchut is the quality of fear. Since the day they had come close to the Creator, there were dread and high fear in it to keep His commandments. And if by keeping the covenant, one does not cast fear on one’s head, he will never again fear the Creator in the rest of the Mitzvot [commandments].

81) In an awakening from below, when Israel awakened to the Creator and cried before Him, it is written, “And I have remembered My covenant.” Then the desire awakened to tie everything into one connection. Since the covenant, Yesod of ZA, awakened, the connection of all the Sefirot to ZA awakened. “And I have remembered My covenant” means connecting him to Malchut. This is why it is written, “Therefore say to the children of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,’” that all the Sefirot connected in a single connection to redeem Israel from Egypt.

82) “And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a charge to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh.” “To the children of Israel,” that He commanded to guide them peacefully, as it should be. “And to Pharaoh” means to treat him respectfully.