Kabbalah Library
Zohar for All, Volume 10
Tohu and Bohu [Chaos], Darkness, and Spirit
74. That Jew opened and said, “And the land was Tohu and Bohu [in chaos], and darkness on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water.” The land that is known above and below is Malchut. It was in chaos, which is a green line that surrounds the world, and it is called the “line of chaos” as it is written, “and stretched on it a line of Tohu and stones of Bohu.” Stones of Bohu are complete stones from which water emerge. Skin and flesh are drawn from Tohu, and bones are drawn from Bohu.
77. Inside Bohu, it is darkness. This is darkness from which the nation of Esau is drawn. It is drawn from Tohu since Bohu depends on darkness. Darkness is Tohu, Malchut of the quality of judgment, but it was sweetened in Bina, and then became darkness, which is blazing fire from Malchut to Bina. However, these complete stones, Bohu, entered in the middle between Tohu and darkness, since the bones were extended from Bohu.
Darkness is a thin extension because it was sweetened in Bina, from which Esau is drawn. The four phases Tohu, Bohu, darkness, and the spirit of God, have already been explained in The Zohar, with four phases stormy wind, great cloud, blazing fire, and Noga.
78. “And the spirit of God is the marrow of the walnut from which Jacob, a whole man, is drawn, like that walnut. It is written, “Behold, a stormy wind comes from the north; a great cloud and a blazing fire, and a Noga [glow/Noga shell] around it. A stormy wind coming from the north corresponds to Tohu. Within it is a great cloud corresponding to Bohu. Within that is a blazing fire, corresponding to darkness. Within that is the Noga around it, corresponding to “and the spirit of God.”
79. From within it, like the HASHMAL, inside everything. Corresponding to this, it is written, “hovering over the face of the water,” a high spirit from upper Ima, Bina, who hovers over everything. The complete Jacob is the marrow of the walnut. The Creator will find him in a desert land, and then the Creator made all those shells of theirs, so that all will be enslaved to it.
