Chapter Three

JEWISH MYSTIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Kabbalah is the traditional Jewish mystical system which is said to have been handed down orally through Moses.  It presents  two porcesses.

1.            "Maaseh B'reshit" or "Work of Creation" - offers reasoned arguments with regard to the problem of the presence of Evil.  The basic theodicy problem is how if God being an Absolute Unity of the Divine could make possible the existence of separate intelligences with the capacity of total free will, with the ability to choose  "Evil" (which is moving in opposition to God) or "Good" (which is moving in consonance with God).   

2.      "Maaseh Merkavah" or "Work of the Chariot" - is a process  of Life through which Redemption and Return ("Tshuvah") of the deviant beings are effectively accomplished whereby the Kingdom of God is re-established  to make all things new.   

In the Kaballah, the Kingdom of God consists of four dimensions of existence within the unknowable God who is above and beyond these four.  However our comos which interact with each other are the dimensions of Kingdom, Mind, Spirit and Divine.  The last three form the three heavens. The supreme God interacts with these realms of existence and its being through his emanations.  It should be however understood that emanations are not really creations of God or themselves God.  Emanations are special parts or limbs of God which reaches down.  However we can understand God only through these emanations which acts as the means of understanding. This is in direct contrast to the concept of emanations in the Gnostic thought where they form lower gods. These  emanations are named after specific principal characteristics.

Even though these emanations are not mentioned directly as in Jewish mysticism, they are mentioned in places where Yhvh is described or praised.  One such occurrence is found in the    Betzal'el's qualifications for building the Tabernacle.  God says that He gave him great insight into the three higher Sefirot:

Ex 31:3 - "And I have filled him with the Spirit of God (Keter), in wisdom (Chokmah), and in understanding (Binah), and in knowledge (Da'at), and in all manner of workmanship."

The seven lower Sefirot can be found in

1Ch 29:11  "Yours, O HaShem, is the greatness(Chesed), and the power (Gevurah), and the glory (Tiferet), and the victory (Netzach), and the majesty (Hod): for all (Yesod) that is in the heaven and in the earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom(Malkut), O HaShem, and You are exalted as Head above all."

 It is this that is represented as a Kaballah tree with three branches and ten sefiroths.  These constitute the four worlds.

The four worlds are:

1. Azilut (Emanation) - the eternal unchanging Divine world.  This is the third heaven of Paul
2. Beriah (Creation) The Spiritual Realm - considered "Heaven" proper, it is the first separation from the Divine, and "location" of the Throne of God and of the Archangels. This  represents the spiritual ability of the mind’s capacity to envision and then make it manifest. 
3. Yezirah (Formation) – The Mental World, the abode of the "lower angels," men's souls and the Garden of Eden
4. Asiyyah (Action, the World Of full expression) - the material universe in which we live. Tradition teaches that in each person is a holy breath of God and that our true nature reflects as well as vibrates with God’s love/light and it is through the harmonious interfacing of the emotions, the body, the mind and the spirit that we express our divinity.

The four worlds as they relate to one another in creation, are mentioned in Isaiah’s book:

Isaiah 43:7 - Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

1.  Called
2.  Created
3.  Formed
4.  Made

Thus the heavens do not form one world, but several dimensions. In every dimension there are sentient beings and non sentient beings.  Sentient beings are evolved from the creation but the Spirit of God entering in them makes  them freewilled beings and Sons of God.  As such they have varying degrees of authorities and orders of life.  They form hierarchy of beings in the same way as the biological life as conceived in evolutionary  tree as studied in biology.

 “Tikkun Olam”- Reformation" of the Worlds, "Reparation of the Universe".

 One of the key tenets of the Kabbalah is that full Perfection can exist only in the Material Realm. The beings in the other realms are incomplete in terms of God’s ultimate creative fruit.  Man alone has the ability to be in all the four dimensions and hence Man is the ultimate Child of God. Man was formed and breathed into at the end of all creative processes.  Hence it is the duty of Man to act as repairers of the breaches in the Universe.  The concept of tikkun olam or repairing the world through social action, is one of the functions of the tzedak (righteous).  This  reflects the Jewish values of Justice (tzedakah), Compassion (hesed) and Peace (shalom).   It is a call to action - to repair the world through social action.  It recognizes that each act of kindness, no matter how small, helps to build a new world. 

 This is in sharp contrast with the Gnostic teachings where Material realm is considered as evil and escape from this material world is considered as salvation

Malkuth Not as territory but a dominion or dimension

The word “kingdom” is a translation of the Greek word “basileia” which in turn is a translation of the words "malkuth" in Hebrew and "malkutha" in Aramaic. These words do not define kingdom by territory but by dominion. This idea is indicated in the teachings of Jesus where  Jesus says of the Kingdom of God that one cannot say, “Look here it is!” or “There it is!” Luke 17:21.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church  also states that the word basileia has the same connotation and  can be translated as "kingship," "kingdom" or "reign" (CCC 2816).

 The word Malkuth is derived from the Greek word for base or foundation.

 A clear understanding of the meaning can be obtained from the mystical Rabbinic understanding of the Malkuth in the Kabbalistic tree where it is found at the bottom of the Kaballa tree. Malkuth ("kingdom"; מלכות), or Shekhinah is the tenth of the sephirot in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.  It sits at the bottom of the Tree.

 Spirit of God in Malkut with freedom

 Unlike the other nine sephirot, Malkut is an attribute of God which does not emanate from God directly. Rather it emanates or evolved out of God's creation.  God formed these Malkuth sentients – when that creation reflects and evinces God's glory from within itself.  We have no direct revelation regarding the creation of Angels and beings in other realms.  But we know for certain that there were Sons of God in realms other than the earth and in other stars and probably dimensions.  This is indicated in the book of job.

Job 38:4-7  “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.  Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched the line upon it?  Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner stone thereof;  when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

But we know that Man was not created. Malkuth beings, especially Man was formed out of the Prakriti and God breathed into him and “He became a living soul”  He was evolved from the creation and God’s Spirit was given to him and lives within him. This is what made “Adam, son of God.” 

Material Realm

Malkuth means Kingdom. It is associated with the realm of matter and relates to the physical world, the planets and the solar system.

Malkut as the Bride

In the mystical world of Kaballah, Symbols associated with every sphere and the symbol associated with Malkuth this are a Bride (a young woman on a throne with a veil over her face) and a double cubed altar. It is also referred to as the bride of Macroprosopos, where Macroprosops is Kether or Crown. Thus Malkuth in Christian interpretation becomes the bride of the Crown (Kether). 

Malkuth is a very similar archetypal idea to that of the Muladhwara chakra, in Shakta tantra of Indian Saktha theology.  

In the tree it is placed symetrically with the Kether with the Chasm as a point of reflection.  Hermetic maxim therefore terms Malkuth as a reflection of Godhead himself or as its female counterpart.  'As above so below' – the bride of Christ.

Daath – Chasm of seperation between Kether and MalKut

However there is a Chasm or gulf as sefiroth called Daath which seperates Kether and Malkuth which is to be overcome when alone Malchut can become the Wife (Queen) of Kether.

Since man cannot cross the chasm of her own, the bridegroom himself crossed the chasm to seek his bride and takes her with him.