Kabbalah Library
Zohar for All, Volume 9
Hewn Her Seven Pillars
240. The earth stands on seven pillars, which are the seven Sefirot HGT NHYM, as it is written, “She has hewn her seven pillars.” They are hanging on the water, Hassadim, for the Hassadim control them. With respect to them, King David said seven voices, as it is written, “The voice of the Lord over the water.”
241. Everything depends on seven. The pillars of heaven are seven, the firmaments are seven, and the stars are seven virtues, seven nations above, seven nations below, which are seven nations that governed the Land of Israel before Israel’s conquest, and opposite them there are seven nations surrounding the Land of Israel of above, which is Malchut.
Seven lands, seven seas, seven rivers, seven days of creation, all those are the seven Sefirot HGT NHYM, which are in every one according to his degree. And the seventh, Malchut, is Sabbath to the Lord, a day that is all Shabbat [Sabbath].
242. Its seven spread out garments, the seven Sefirot of ZA, were engraved in thirty-two thousand parts, and he was measuring in them one measure of the world until he stretched it into four kinds of brightness and had it standing on its stands, as it is written, “I am the Lord, who makes all things, who stretches out the heaven all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by Myself.”
Hochma that is extended through the left line, which is Bina that returned to being Hochma, is called “the thirty-two paths of wisdom.” Its seven spread out garments, the seven Sefirot of ZA, were engraved in thirty-two thousand parts, meaning received thirty-two paths of wisdom since Hochma is called by the name “thousands,” from the words “And I will teach you wisdom” [in Hebrew: “teach” is spelled similar to one thousand].
He was measuring in them—meaning extending—one measure of the world, an illumination of only one light from the three lines, only the illumination of Hochma from the left line. At that time, the world was crumbling, until He stretched it into four kinds of brightness, extending all three lines and the Malchut that receives them, and then He established the world in persistence.
