Notes on the Zohar VIII - The Seventy-two Names

 

It's been a long time since I've written in this series. Being guided by Spirit has me skipping around. I was drawn to look into the "Seventy-two Names of God."

First of all, they are not names. Why should God, the combined and interconnected Consciousness of the creatures of the Cosmos, need a name? Truly, no name could be limitless or universal enough.

What, then, are they? In my view, they are groups of Hebrew letters into which many souls have poured their energy and consciousness for centuries. In that sense, they are like batteries. They are charged and ready for us to use as needed.

So what is the origin of the Seventy-two Names? The answer is in the Zohar (Beshalach), though it is not as explicit as it could be. There are several Youtube videos that deal with this subject, and I recommend those of Daily Zohar.

These "names" are derived from Exodus 14:19-21. These are crucial verses in the account of the parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of Pharaoh's chariots and soldiers, and the passing over of the Israelites out of Egypt. It is striking that each of these three verses has seventy-two letters, and the old kabbalists attached great significance to this, an inner meaning. Being experts at extracting inner meanings, they devised a way to extract this one.

To test the method of the ancient kabbalists, and to become imbued with it, I tried it for myself. It took hours of careful and detail-oriented work. The result is the table below.

This table gives the "Seventy-two Names." I have checked it against internet sources, and it is correct. It was not, however, copied from any source. It was created in the following way:

1) Into each cell of the table, beginning in the upper-right, place a letter of Exodus 14:19 (in Hebrew, of course, and in order). When this step has been completed, there will be one Hebrew letter in each cell of the table. These are the initial letters of the "names."

2) Now, be sure that your word processor is set for right-to-left writing (at first I neglected to do this). Then, following Exodus 14:20 IN REVERSE ORDER, beginning in the upper-right cell, place one Hebrew letter at a time into the cells of the table. I suggest checking your work at the end of every eight letters. If you end up using the exact number of letters, your work MAY be correct, but it has to be proofed. Note: Up to this point we have not used any "sopheet" (final) forms of letters, even if they so appear in the original verse. Because you are working backwards through the Hebrew verse and it's easy to get lost, this is the most difficult step. You now have the initial and medial letters of each "name."

3) Now, following Exodus 14:21 (in normal order) place one Hebrew letter at a time into each cell of the table. This will give you the final letters of the "names." Since they are final letters, you must use the "sopheet" form of each letter that has such a form. When you have finished, the table will have a three-letter "name" in each cell, and you will not have any letters left over, nor will you be short any letters. Now check all of your work.

In case you don't have a Tanakh handy, here are the verses in question:

This image is from the Pentateuch that belonged to Israel Regardie, which I've mentioned before in this series. The book fell open to the beginning of Exodus 14, not from my use, but from his.

Copyright © MMXXII by Donald C. Traxler aka Yakov Bloom Traxler.