326 THE ZOMAR “and what will the Companions say? For this verse is difficult, sine {a8 it should ings before not have been written so, because we see that there were numerous kings the Children of Israel appeared and before they had a king; so what is in here? Wel, it is mystery of mysteries, which humans cannot know or perce arouse in their minds.'° “tr has been taught: Before the Ancient of Ancients, Concealed had prepared adornments of the King and crowns of crowns, beginning nor end. He engraved and gauged within Himself, and spread intended jive oF J of the Concealed, there was neither before adorn- Himself one curtain, in which He engraved and gauged kings, but His “ a ments did not endure. As is written: These are the kings who reigned in the of Edom before a king reigned—Primordial King—over the Children of Israe! -d by Primordial One (Genesis 36:31). All those who had been engraved were calle name, but they did not endure, so He eventually put them aside J, the and concealed 20 them. Afterward, He ascended in that curtain and was arrayed perfectly: ne “And it has been taught: An impulse arose in the Will to create Toraby s ° : ie and generated her. Immediately, she said before Him, ‘He who wishes to a¥ranB° . ‘and years form should first arrange His own array—concealed for two thousand Ye question posed by heretics: “If the world had its beginning in time, what was God doing before the world began®” Origen replies, “Not then for the first time did God begin to work when He made this visible world; but just as after its destruction there will be another world, so also we believe that others existed before the present one came into being.” See Origen, De Princpiis, 5:5: ‘On the phrase “mysteries of mysteries,” ef above, p. 317. 1. 84. Bin (Edom), “Edom,” represents Judgment partly because the nearly identical word ot (adom) means “red,” the color of Judgment. On the nega- tive valence of Edom, see also above, a P64 19, For this verse is difficult... Why does the verse in Genesis specify that certain kings of Edom reigned before a king reigned ‘over the Children of Israel? After all, various other kings also reigned before the Children of Israel appeared and before they had a king, (See, for example, Genesis 14.) “Arouse” renders wn (le-mirhast), ‘The root wm (st) means “to creep, move, be aroused, arouse, generate.” See Psalms 45:25 Zohar 3287b (IZ); Scholem. Fs habeas hace of OI, ‘The primordial manifestation of Fn through Keter is known as the Holy Ane One (or the Ancient of Ancients) Before Te primal power had emanated any of the OU sefirotic adornments, there was nothing Infinity. The Ancient of Ancients al not royal images (“kings”), but these 4 endure, E cee mntually, He was arrayed fully in sefirotie configurations. ug ‘The title Primordial King may TOT, Bia, who was to rule over the lowe TN which can be pictured as the CHIT Israel, namely of Tif'eret Yisra’el ~ vara Israel), *the Primordial On Vital (in Hadrat Melek. in On the names of the kings wh? vgn hr the land of Edom, see Genesis 36:3" a = 3a35b (IR). On the verse in G me ‘Zohar above, note 18. On the curtain, $ 426505 2:165b, 259 (Heikl). will 21. An impulse arose in the Within the primordial Will of bie A yoreh According to rabbinic tradition og sand antedated the world by two thousa” o