Kabbalah Library

19. “And He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden.” “And He drove out is the king’s throne, Malchut, who is called “the”. Woe that she was banished; woe that she fell. The man, the one who controls the throne, as it is written about him, “And on the image of the throne, an image in the likeness of a man,” ZA, HaVaYaH filled with letters Aleph, which is Adam [man] in Gematria (45). The throne, Malchut, fell; everything fell.

20. “And He placed”: The one who drove out Malchut and ZA, namely Bina, placed and instilled another settlement, opposite from what it was. This is so because when the Temple was ruined, ZA ascended to the high glory above, to Bina, and diminished his image from what it was. And the throne, Malchut, journeyed from him and was separated.

21. It is as though He placed the Garden of Eden, Malchut, with the Cherubim below, Matat and Sandalphon, and ZA parted from that high glory, Malchut, and placed that blazing of the sword, the shell, to stand instead of the mistress, to guard and to draw and to hide that way that is extended from the tree of life.

22. King Solomon shouted and said, “Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear: a slave when he becomes king, … and a maidservant who succeeds her mistress.” The maidservant, the shell, is inside. The mistress, Malchut, is outside. This is the meaning of the words, “How lonely sits the city.” “Lonely,” as it is written, “He shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” “Alone” means that Malchut sits aside, on the outside.