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God Showed Samael the Exile and Samael Chose Mockery

Before the exile, God revealed to Samael exactly what would happen and offered a reward for treating Israel with dignity. Samael chose mockery instead.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Disclosure Before the Exile
  2. What Samael Did Instead
  3. The Pattern with Joseph
  4. The End of the Sabbath as Cosmic Signal

The Disclosure Before the Exile

Before Israel went into exile, before the first Temple burned and the people scattered, God called Samael and told him what was coming. Not as a warning to Samael. As an offer.

This is the account preserved in the Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 47, placed in the mouth of Elijah: that the Blessed Holy One disclosed the future to the accuser, showed him the exile in its full scope, Israel dispersed under the nations, living under the dominion of powers that did not love them. And then God made it conditional. If you treat my children with dignity in their exile, you will receive a reward. The exile was going to happen regardless. The question was how Samael would conduct himself during it.

What Samael Did Instead

Samael and his forces, according to the Tikkunei Zohar, did not fear God, and they destroyed His house. Both Temples. The first and the second. The very dwelling places of the divine presence, reduced to rubble. The text calls this a devastating reality: the house where the Shekhinah had rested, gone.

More than the physical destruction, what the text emphasizes is the attitude. Samael was not a passive tool of historical forces. He was given foreknowledge and a choice, shown exactly what role he would play, offered the alternative of exercising that role with some measure of restraint and respect. He chose contempt instead. He did not merely allow the exile to happen. He took pleasure in it.

The Pattern with Joseph

The Tikkunei Zohar found the same dynamic playing out on a smaller scale in the story of Joseph. Joseph in Egypt was Israel in miniature, a single representative of the people in a foreign land under foreign power. The cosmic battle between the forces aligned with Joseph and the forces aligned against him mirrored the larger conflict between Samael's domain and the divine protection over Israel in exile.

The Tikkunei Zohar read Joseph's survival and eventual triumph as evidence that the protective force over Israel was not absent during the exile, only constrained. Samael was given dominion. But dominion and annihilation are different things. God had not handed Israel over to destruction. He had placed them under a sovereignty that would face a reckoning.

The End of the Sabbath as Cosmic Signal

Elijah's teaching in this tikkun used the moment when Shabbat ends as a lens for understanding exile. When the Sabbath closes and the sacred time retreats, Israel is left in the ordinary week under the pressure of the seventy appointed nations and their angelic representatives. Samael and the appointed seventy are the powers that press on Israel in the days between holy times.

But the Sabbath returns. It always returns. And when it returns, those pressures must yield. The exile has a structure: it is bounded by sacred time above and below it, and the very forces that were given dominion during the exile are the forces whose claim collapses when the Shabbat comes back. Samael was shown this too, in the original disclosure. He was shown not just the exile but its limits. He chose to act as though there were none.

SamaelExileShekhinahJosephJudgmentKabbalahIsrael
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Tikkunei Zohar 47:15Tikkunei Zohar

The Jewish mystical tradition knows that feeling intimately. The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah and a companion to the Zohar itself, wrestles with this reality head-on. It grapples with the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem, not just as historical events, but as cosmic wounds.

Here's the thing: It doesn't stop at despair.

Tikkunei Zohar 47 plunges right into the heart of the matter. It speaks of Samael (the angel of death), often understood as an archangel associated with judgment, and his forces. These entities, it says, "did not fear Him, and they destroyed His house" – both the First and Second Temples. The Temples, the very dwelling places of the Divine Presence, reduced to rubble. It’s a devastating image.

The text then turns to a powerful, almost unsettling interpretation of a verse from Isaiah (24:23): "…and the moon shall be humiliated, and the sun ashamed…"

What does this celestial humiliation signify? The Tikkunei Zohar equates the "moon" with the "snake," the "whoring wife." This is a complex metaphor, but essentially, it represents the forces of chaos and negativity that led to the Temple's downfall. This "snake" destroyed the house of the Shekhinah – the Divine Presence, the feminine aspect of God.

And the "sun"? According to this passage, the sun represents Gehenna, or hell – "the poison of death." It burned the sanctuary. So, not only was the Divine Presence's home destroyed, but it was consumed by the fires of judgment.

Heavy stuff. But remember, Jewish tradition is rarely, if ever, solely about dwelling in darkness. There's always a spark of hope, a promise of redemption.

The Tikkunei Zohar doesn't disappoint. It pivots to a future vision, a promise of rebuilding. Referencing (Psalm 147:2), "The builder of Jerusalem is Y”Y…", it proclaims that when the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuilds the Temples as they were before, then "the moon shall be humiliated, and the sun ashamed…" (Isaiah 24:23). When? "…when Y”Y of Hosts will have reigned…"

It’s a powerful message of reversal. The forces that brought about destruction will themselves be humbled when God's reign is fully established. This isn't just about bricks and mortar; it's about a cosmic shift, a restoration of balance and holiness in the world.

What does this mean for us today? Perhaps it's a reminder that even in the face of profound loss and destruction, the possibility of rebuilding, of healing, of restoring the Divine Presence in our lives and in the world, always remains. The Tikkunei Zohar invites us to hold onto that hope, to actively participate in the work of tikkun olam – repairing the world – so that we may merit to see that day when the "moon shall be humiliated, and the sun ashamed…" not in destruction, but in the radiant light of redemption.

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Tikkunei Zohar 47:8Tikkunei Zohar

They even saw it playing out on a cosmic scale. to a passage from the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, specifically Tikkun 47, a section that deals with some pretty heavy stuff: exile, divine presence, and the respect (or lack thereof) shown to the Jewish people in times of hardship.

The Tikkunei Zohar, by the way, is considered a companion to the Zohar itself, expanding and elaborating on its cryptic teachings. It’s a deep dive into Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, and it often uses رمز (remez, allusion or hint) to get its points across.

So, what’s this particular Tikkun about? It starts with a rather startling idea: Before the exile of Israel, the Blessed Holy One – that's God, of course – revealed to Samael (often considered the accuser or adversary in Jewish tradition) that Israel would be destined to be under their control.

Whoa. Let that sink in. God showed Samael and his "seventy appointed-ones" (think of them as his demonic entourage) the future. But there's a twist. God also showed them their reward if they treated Israel with respect during this exile. It was a test, a cosmic dare, if you will.

The proof text given is from (Genesis 39:5): "And Y”Y blessed the House of the Egyptian, because of Joseph." Y”Y here is a subtle way of writing God's name. The idea is that even in exile, even in the house of a foreign ruler, divine blessing can be present because of the righteous individual. Joseph, even as a slave in Egypt, brought blessing to the household.

But here’s the rub. Did Samael and his crew show respect? According to the Tikkunei Zohar, absolutely not. Instead, they degraded the Jewish people and the Shekhinah – the divine presence, the feminine aspect of God that dwells among us. They taunted them, mocking their faith with the cruel question from (Psalm 42:4): "...where is your God?"

Ouch.

It’s a powerful image, isn't it? This passage isn't just a historical recounting. It speaks to a deeper truth about the nature of exile, the challenges of faith, and the importance of how we treat those who are vulnerable. It’s a reminder that even in the darkest times, the Shekhinah, the divine presence, is still with us, even if it feels hidden. And it challenges us to consider how we, ourselves, treat those who are suffering, those who are in exile – whether literally or metaphorically. Do we offer compassion, or do we echo the taunts of Samael?

What do you think? Is this just an ancient story, or does it have something to say to us today?

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Tikkunei Zohar 47:6Tikkunei Zohar

It turns out, according to some mystical interpretations, it's a lot more than just a marker of time.

The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a profound and intricate expansion of the Zohar (a central text of Kabbalah), explores the secrets embedded within the Torah. And in one particular passage, Tikkunei Zohar 47, Elijah the prophet himself opens the discussion with a rather startling connection.

He says, imagine the Sabbath and festivals ending, those sacred times when we draw closer to the Divine. Now picture Israel under the thumb of Samael (the angel of death) – often considered the accusing angel, a force of negativity – and the "appointed seventy," representing the nations of the world and their influences. These forces, says Elijah, are oppressing Israel.

Then, a voice rings out from the heavens, directed at Samael: "Yareh Boshet – Fear Shame!"

Now, this is where it gets really interesting. Yareh Boshet – "Fear Shame" – is spelled with the exact same letters as Bereishit – "In the beginning!" The very first word of creation, the foundation of everything, is intimately linked to the forces of negativity and oppression.

Why? What's the connection?

The Tikkunei Zohar doesn't spell it out explicitly here, but we can infer that it's suggesting that even in the act of creation, the potential for negativity, for shame, was present. The seed of struggle was sown right at the very beginning. It’s a complex idea, suggesting that the potential for both good and evil are intertwined from the get-go.

And the passage doesn’t end there. It continues with a lament, a "Woe unto Samael!" The text looks forward to a future time when the Holy One, blessed be He, will redeem the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence, often seen as feminine) and Israel, her children. In that future, God will hold Samael and the seventy nations accountable for all the suffering they inflicted upon Israel during exile.

It's a powerful vision of justice, of ultimate redemption.

But what does this mean for us today? This passage from the Tikkunei Zohar reminds us that the struggle between good and evil is constant, woven into the very fabric of existence. The potential for "shame" exists even within the beautiful act of creation. But it also offers hope: a promise that ultimately, justice will prevail, and the Divine Presence will be restored. Perhaps, by understanding the hidden connections within Bereishit, we can play a part in bringing that redemption closer.

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