Having problems with message search?
=================================
R. Eleazar said further:' What has been said about Leah having borne six sons and one daughter and Rachel having borne two sons is assuredly correct; but how do the sons of the concubines fit into the scheme? They constitute, as it were, the four joints, the so-called hinder parts, alluded to in the statement: "and all their hinder parts were inward" (I Kings VII, 25). For the right arm contains three joints, the middle one of which is the largest and projects backwards, being as it were outside the body. There is a similar joint in the left arm, as well as in the right thigh and in the left thigh; and when the whole is properly arranged, all of them look inward, in fulfilment of the statement, "all their hinder parts were inward".
Now all the other joints are in the line of the body, but these protrude outside the arms and the thighs. Correspondingly, the sons of the handmaids, although they are within the number, yet are not of the same rank as the sons of Rachel and Leah, and thus remain outside.
According to another explanation, these four are the joints by which all the others are moved.' R. Abba remarked: 'So assuredly it is, and thus the whole is properly constructed.'
[Soncino Zohar, Vayeze, 154a, v2, pg. 95.]
=================================
Observe further that all the twelve tribes are the integral parts of the Community of Israel in this world, to give full strength to the supernal light, enveloped in blackness, and restore the root principle of the Whole to its place. All the worlds are built on the same pattern; and through this relation the lower world was completed on the pattern of the upper world.
By the birth of Issachar and Zebulun there was made complete the number six, symbolic of the six directions of the world. Then again the four sons of the handmaids were associated with them, they being, as it were, the four joints that were linked with them, as already explained. So Scripture says of them: "and their hinder parts were inward" (I Kings VII, 25), to wit, although they were the sons of the handmaids, yet they belonged inward.
[Soncino Zohar, Vayeze, 155a, v2, pg. 98.]
=================================
R. Jesse said: 'The sons of the handmaids represented the four joints which were necessary for the perfecting of the whole.' R. Eleazar remarked: 'It was for that reason that these joints project outwards, despite the fact that they are all organic parts of the body, which otherwise is perfectly straight; and thus all the tribes ascend as a testimony on high, as Scripture says: "Whither the tribes went up, even the tribes of the Lord as a testimony unto Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord" (Ps. CXXII, 4).'
[Soncino Zohar, Vayeze, 158a, v2, pg. 106.]
=================================
My comments...
As explained previously, the twelve 'tribes of Israel' are referred to the twelve Simple Hebrew letter pathways of the Tree of Life.
In my arrangement, they are attached to the four 'directional' sefirot: Hesed (East), Hod (West), Geburah (North), and Netzah (South). The other two directions (i.e. 'Above' and 'Below') are represented by the sefirot: Tifaret and Yesod respectively. These six directions are used by the Sefer Yetzirah, and the Torah, to align the twelve Simple Hebrew letters with the twelve pathways that extend between the six sefirot (i.e. from Hesed to Yesod).
In the Zohar (see the above extracts), the four sons of Jacob by his two concubines (i.e. Zilpah and Bilhah) are singled out as being of a different nature to the other eight sons. These four sons are named: Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
Here is a table that explains the genealogy Jacob's sons...
========================================================
Jacob's Sons:
--------------------------------------------------------
Two Wives:
Rachel: (11) Joseph*, (12) Benjamin
Leah: (1) Reuben, (2) Simeon, (3) Levi*, (4) Judah, (9) Issachar, (10) Zebulun
Two Concubines:
Zilpah: (7) Gad, (8) Asher
Bilhah: (5) Dan, (6) Naphtali
--------------------------------------------------------
*In regard to the 'Twelve Tribes of Israel', Joseph and Levi are replaced by...
Joseph's Sons:
--------------------------------------------------------
(1) Manasseh, (2) Ephraim
========================================================
The bracketed numbers indicate the order in which the sons were born.
When the Zohar describes the twelve "joints" of the arms and legs of the body, it is my understanding that it is speaking of the twelve Simple letter pathways that are attached to the four sefirot that are the four 'limbs' of Adam. There are three paths/joints attached to each limb.
The Zohar states: "Now all the other joints are in the line of the body, but these protrude outside the arms and the thighs." (See first Zohar extract above.) This suggests that the four "middle" joints (i.e. 'elbows' and 'knees') extend into a different dimension than the other eight pathways. These four are said to be associated with the four sons of Zilpah and Bilhah (i.e. Jacob's two concubines).
The four pathways that conform (in my arrangement) to this qualification are the four 'mutable' pathways that extend one from each of the four limbs of Adam (i.e. from the sefirot Hesed, Geburah, Hod, and Netzah) to the sefirah Yesod. These four pathways form the four sides of the 'zodiacal pyramid' (or 'chalice') whose apex is the sefirah Yesod. In other words, these four pathways create another dimension within the Tree of Life diagram (i.e. a third dimension), and therefore they are not "in the line of the body", and they "protrude outside the arms and the thighs". (See attached diagram.)
As you can see (in my diagram), these four 'mutable' pathways (coloured green) "project outwards, despite the fact that they are all organic parts of the body". (See third Zohar quote above.)
As you know, Jacob corresponds with the sefirah Tifaret (i.e. the masculine solar principle), and therefore we can associate his two concubines with the sefirah Yesod (i.e. the feminine lunar principle) to which these four son/pathways are attached.
Similarly Jacob's two wives are associated with the feminine sefirot Binah and Malkut as follows:
Binah = Leah
Malkut = Rachel
Leah gives birth to six sons and a daughter. The six sons represent the six 'male' sefirot below Binah. They are Hesed, Geburah, Tifaret, Netzah, Hod, and Yesod. Leah's daughter symbolises the female sefirah Malkut. (These correspondences are described elswhere in the Zohar.)
Blessings,
Patrick.
Sagittarius-Venus [1/2]
=============================================
Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles.
Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center.
Offline 
Send Email