Kabbalah Library
Zohar for All, Volume 9
Abraham Will Surely Become
) “And Abraham will surely become a great nation.” “Will become” is thirty in Gematria. One day, Rabbi Shimon came out and saw that the world was dark and dim, and its light was blocked. He said to Rabbi Elazar, “Let us go and see what the Creator wants.” They went and found an angel who resembled a great mountain and emitted thirty flames of fire from his mouth.
2) Rabbi Shimon said to him, “What do you wish to do?” He replied, “I want to destroy the world because there aren’t thirty righteous in the generation, for so the Creator sentenced Abraham, as it is written, ‘And Abraham will surely be.’ ‘Will be’ is thirty in Gematria.’” Rabbi Shimon told him, “Please go to the Creator and tell him, ‘Rabbi Shimon is in the world, and his merit is as great as thirty righteous.’”
3) The angel went to the Creator and told Him, “Master of the world, what Rabbi Shimon told me is revealed to You.” The Creator told him, “Go, destroy the world, and do not look at Rabbi Shimon.”
4) When he came, Rabbi Shimon saw the angel. He told him, “If you do not go to the Creator by my mission, I will sentence that you will not enter heaven and you will be in the place of Aza and Azael, whom the Lord cast down from heaven to earth. When you come before the Creator, tell Him, ‘If there aren’t thirty righteous in the world, there will be twenty.’ This is why it is written, ‘I will not destroy for the twenty.’ And if there aren’t twenty, there will be ten, for afterwards it is written, ‘I will not destroy for the ten.’ And if there aren’t ten, there will be two, Me and my son, for this is what is written, ‘By two witnesses shall a matter be verified.’ And there is nothing but the world, as it is written, ‘By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.’ And if there aren’t two, there is one, and I am he, as it is written, ‘And a righteous is the foundation of the world.’”
At that very moment, a voice came out of heaven and said, “Happy are you, Rabbi Shimon, for the Creator sentences above, and you revoke below. It is written about you, ‘He will fulfill the wish of those who fear Him.’”
