R. Simeon further
gave an exposition of the verse: Th Lord said unto my lord, Sit at my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool (Ps. CX, 1). “The Lord saith
unto my lord”: ‘to wit, the upper grade said to the lower, “sit at my right
hand”, in order that the West should be linked with the South and the Left with
the Right so as to break the power of the Gentiles. Or again, “The Lord” is
(the celestial) Jacob, and “to my lord” is “the ark of the covenant, the lord
of all the earth” (Josh. III, 11). According to another explanation, “the Lord”
refers to the Jubilee and “my lord” to the Sabbatical Year (cf. Ex. XXI, 5, “I
love my lord”). The words “sit at my right hand” are appropriate, because the
Right is located in the Jubilee, and the Sabbatical Year craves to be linked
with the Right. When it first came into being, the Sabbatical Year was not
linked securely (to the supreme power) through either the Right or the Left. So
when it sought to secure itself, the supreme power stretched forth its right
arm to meet it and created the world. It is because it is from the side of the
Left that it has no sure basis till the time of the seventh millennium, when at
length it will be linked through the Right. Then the Sabbatical Year, between
the Right and the Left, will be securely based, there will be a new heaven and
a new earth, and it will not depart from there for ever. According to this
explanation, we must take the words “sit at my right hand” to refer only to a
specified period, viz. “till I make thine enemies thy footstool”, but not in perpetuity;
for when that event has come to pass, it will not depart from there for ever,
as it is written, “for thou shalt spread abroad on the right hand and on the
left” (Is. LIV, 3), all being united. Similarly we can interpret the text “the
heavens and the earth” to mean that the higher Shekinah and the lower Shekinah
will be joined in the union of male and female; this has already been
explained, as the colleagues have noted.’ (Bereshith 50b in The Zohar
[trans. Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon; London: The Soncino Press, 1934], 1:161-62)
