Masei — Secret of the Cities of Refuge and Tree of Life

The secret of the six Cities of Refuge on both sides of the Jordan River is the secret of the Tree of Life.

The Ten Sefirot

Hermon is the highest mountain in Israel which is covered with snow all winter. When the snow melts it becomes the Jordan River that flows down into the Sea of Salt, which is the lowest point in Israel.

Hermon represents the Sefirah of Keter that follows into the Sefirah of Malchut, which is represented by the Sea of Salt.

The Jordan River represents the middle axle of the Tree of Life that consists of the Sefirah of Daat, Tiferet and Yesod.

There are three crossings on Jordan: Sea of Galilee, Jabbok, and Jericho, each corresponding to Daat, Tiferet and Yesod. Their gematria is 474, exactly that of Daat, for the light of Daat flows down to Tiferet before it reaches Yesod:

At the point of Daat where the Sea of Galilee is, the city of refuge on the east (right) side of the sea is Golan, corresponding to Chachmah; and the city of refuge on the west (left) side of the sea is Kedesh, corresponding to Binah.

Sea of Galilee is where the secret of Torah is revealed, from Wisdom to Understanding, as it were.

At the point of Tiferet, there are two cities of refuge on each side of the Ford of Jabbok. The city on the east (right) side is Ramoth, corresponding to Chesed, and the city on the west (left) side is Shechem, corresponding to Gevurah.

At the point of Yesod, there are two cities of refuge on each side of the river. The city on the east (right) side is Bezer, corresponding to Netzach, and the city of the west (left) side is Hebron, corresponding to Hod.

According to Aryeh Kaplan in his commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, the entire array of the Sefirot is called the “Tree of Life”, and the center line, from Keter to Malchut, when taken alone, is called the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”. It is on this line that good and evil come together, which is the mystery of the Tree of Knowledge.

Hermon is the Keter and the Sea of Salt is the Malchut, and the center line is the Jordan River that flows from Hermon into the Sea of Salt, this is the Tree of Knowledge. When the six cities of refuges are added to each side of the river, the Tree of Knowledge is transformed into the Tree of Life:

To illustrate:

The Gematria:

Astonishingly, 932 is exactly the gematria of “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע.

The root of Hermon חֶרְמוֹן is חרם which can permute to spell chomer חֹמֶר, which means the raw material, the essence, being the source of all that manifests in the physical world known as Form, trurah צוּרָה.

Jordan יַּרְדֵּן means to go down, i.e. the flow of energy from Keter to Malchut.

The Malchut is bitter (cursed) at the present time, but it will be healed in the Messianic age and the Tree of Knowledge will be transformed to the Tree of Life (Ezekiel 47:8-12).

The Six Cities

The Hebrew names of the six cities were given in Deu 4:43 and Joshua 20:8, the gematria of the six cities is 2161:

The mid-point number of 2161 is 1081, which is exactly the gematria of Tiferet תִּפְאֶרֶת, being the mid-point of the central axle of the Tree of Life.

1081 is the triangle number of 46, where 46 is the gematria of Levi לֵוִי, as these cities are the inheritances of the Levites.

The mid-point of the three crossings is Ford Jabbok יַבֹּק, which in gematria is 112, this is where Jacob was renamed as Israel, which is Tiferet.

This mid-point is the unification of Keter and Malchut at Tiferet, corresponding to the three names of God, the gematria is also 112, as follows:

The Three Levels of Mashiach

The three pair of cities of refuge represents the revelation of Mashiach at three levels.

At the level of Daat which is at the Sea of Galilee, this is Mashiach revealed as Torah, the right side is the concealed Torah known as Chachman and the left side is the revealed Torah known as Binah.

The gematria of the two cities of refuge on each site of Galilee is 568, which is exactly the gematria, the ordinal number and the “atbash” of Yeshua:

The name Yeshua:

The gematria of the “refuge” miklat מִּקְלָט is 176, which is the “albm” of Torah, as follows:

Yeshua crossed the Sea of Galilee on water, symbolizing the revelation of the secret of Torah that was hidden under the water.

At the level of Tiferet which is at Ford Jabbok, this is Mashiach revealed as the man (Tiferet), the right side is his first coming, and the left side is his second coming. The first coming is loving kindness, Chesed; the second coming is judgment, Gevurah.

Two times 176 is 358, which is the gematria of miklat מִּקְלָט. 358 is the gematria of Mashiach מָּשִׁיחַ as the son of man.

Jacob wrestled with Satan at Jabbok, symbolizing Yeshua conquered Satan at his first coming.

Jacob crossed the river through the water, this is the middle axle as the crossing above at Daat is above water, the crossing below at Yesod is under the water.

At the level of Yesod which is at Jericho crossing, this is where the Children of Israel crossed the river on dry land, or under the water, to parallel Yeshua’s crossing at Daat (Galilee) above the water.

This is also the same place where Elijah ascended to heaven, and John the Baptist started his ministry, and Yeshua was baptized.

This symbolizes Israel (believers) in Mashiach in the image of Mashiach and in the likeness of Mashiach.

The right side of the river represents the believer as the natural born person, of flesh and blood, the first nature, this is Netzach, which means victory, that is, one is to overcome the Yetzer Hara and be victorious.

The left side of the river represents the believers as the born-again, of spirit and of water, the second nature, this is Hod, which means praise, that is, the praise to God for the new life.

The three levels are one, as Torah is the Word of God, and Mashiach is the Word in flesh, and Israel is the born again new man, Torah in action.

The gematria of “beyond Jordan” עֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן is 541, exactly the gematria of Israel יִשְׂרָאֵל, for Israel is that which has crossed over the river, similar to Hebrew which also means he who crossed over the river.

Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge

The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge is in fact one tree. Why?

In Gen 2:9, it is written that the Tree of Life is in the midst of the garden בְּתוֹךְ הַגָּן, and in Gen 3:3, it is written that the tree that is in the midst of the garden בְּתוֹךְ הַגָּן shall not be eaten, hence it is clear this is the same tree that is in the midst of the garden.

At the deeper level, the Tree of Life is that which is concealed inside, and the Tree of Knowledge is that which is revealed on the outside.

The analogy would be man, revealed on the outside as the body, but concealed on the inside as the soul.

The Tree of Life is the essence, the fruit, the soul, and the Chomer חֹמֶר; and the Tree of Knowledge is the manifestation of the essence, the shell, the body and the Trurah צוּרָה.

You shall eat from the Tree of Life, but not from the Tree of Knowledge, meaning, you shall remove the shell before you eat the fruit, this is common sense.

God created Adam as both male and female, male is the Chomer, the essence, also known as the truth, and female is the Trurah, the manifestation of the essence, also known as the beauty.

The woman was separated from the man, so the Tree of Knowledge was separated from the Tree of Life at the time when Adam and Eve rebelled.

Woman is the Tree of Knowledge relative to man as the Tree of Life, and they are meant to be united as one, after their separation.

Man is the tree of the field, and Mashiach is the tree of the garden. It follows that relative to Mashiach, man is the Tree of Knowledge in the field, and Mashiach is the Tree of Life in the garden.

God, Torah and Israel is one, the gematria is 1178, which is the same exact gematria of “Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is one”:

Astonishingly, the ordinal number of “Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is One” is 233, exactly the same gematria of “Tree of Life” עֵץ הַחַיִּים.

The Tree of Life parallels Torah, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil parallels Israel who must choose between life and death, good and evil, and God is one אֶחָד.

At another level, Mashiach is the Tree of Life, and Torah is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, for it depends on how man uses the Torah knowledge to either do good, or to do evil.

Tree of Knowledge is the Tree of Death עֵץ הַמָּוֶת, which in gematria is 611, exactly the same gematria of Torah תּוֹרָה.

According to the Rabbis, the sin of Adam and Eve is that they did not wait for three hours until Shabbat to eat from the tree, which would be then permissible.

Hence in Lev 19:23 the Children of Israel was commanded to wait for three years before they can eat the fruit from the tree.

The reason is because the fruit has foreskin עָרְלָה in need of circumcision.

The foreskin of the Tree of Life is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, for the gematria of the latter is 932, adding 1 as kollel, 933 is exactly the gematria of the “foreskin of the Tree of Life”:

The Secret of the Cross

The form of the cross has four heads, to the direction of top and bottom, right and left.

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.” (Gen 2:10)

From where? From Tiferet, the mid-point of the river, which is the mid-point of the cross.

Keter is the Eden at the top, and Malchut is the Garden at the bottom; Chesed is to the right and Gevurah is to the left, these are the four heads of the river, and four heads of the cross.

Chachmah and Netzach are in Chesed, and Binah and Hod are in Gevurah, the six Sefirot are two, one on the right side and one on the left side, with Tiferet at the center, which is the mid-point.

The sign of cross is represented by the letter Tav.

There is a Tav ת in the middle of Keter כֶּתֶר, and there is a Tav at both ends of Tiferet תִּפְאֶרֶת, and there is a Tav at the end of Malchut מַלְכוּת.

The four Tavs are the four heads of the river, the four directions of the cross.

Counting the midpoint, there are actually five points in the cross, corresponding to the five points of the Sefirot, their gematria is 2485：

2485 is the triangle number of 70, representing the 70 nations who have accepted the message of the cross.

Astonishingly, 2485 is also the gematria of the five books of Torah, as follows:

The average number of Bereshit, Vayikra and Devarim is 497 (1491 / 3), corresponding to the three points on the vertical line of the cross: Keter is Bereshit, Tiferet is Vayikra, and Malchut is Devarim.

The average number of Shemot and Bamidar is also 497 (994 / 2), corresponding to the two points on the horizontal line of the cross: Chesed is Shemot, and Gevurah is Bamidbar.

497 is also the average number of the five books: 2485 / 5 = 497, and 497 is exactly the gematria of “Joran (river) is the Tree of Life” יַּרְדֵּן עֵץ הַחַיִּים.

Mashiach is nailed to the cross, this is Tree of Life nailed to the Tree of Knowledge in order to transform the curse of the Tree of Knowledge into the blessing of the Tree of Life.

Torah is nailed to the cross, meaning the curse of Torah is transformed to the blessing of Torah.

Israel is nailed to the cross, meaning the believer dies to the sin and lives as a new creation.

The cross was erected at Gulgolet גֻּלְגֹּלֶת, i.e. the skull, and Mashiach worn a Crown of Thorns כֶּתֶר קוֹצִים on his head.

The skull is on the head, but it descend into the ground on the scene, on the other hand the thorns are the curse of the ground but here again they ascended to the head.

The Galgota symbolizes the descent of the Keter (crown) to Malchut (kingdom), and the Crown of Thorns symbolizes the ascent of Malchut to Keter. The difference in gematria is 400, which is exactly the gematria of letter Tav, the symbol of the cross:

The gematria of the Tree of Life עֵץ הַחַיִּים is 233, and the gematria of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע is 932, the ratio is 1:4, why?

For the Tree of Life is concealed as part of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil manifests on the outside as the four directions and the four heads of the cross.