Nest of the Bird is Eden

Here is an interesting big messianic MIDRASH (homily) in the Zohar (Shemot 96 onwards / part 2 page 7 onwards) - building off the halacha of sending off or casting away the bird’s nest in Deuteronomy 22:

Rabbi Shimon explains weeping… 

As many nations will rise against Israel… 

At that time the King Messiah will go out of the Garden of Eden - the place of the bird’s nest, and will be revealed in the land of Galilee. On that day, the whole world will tremble and people will hide… 

Later the Messiah will be hidden again for up to twelve months. Then the Messiah will come again but concealed in the pillar of fire. Then he will be raised to the heavens and receive power and crown of Kingdom, and he then will descend to the earth and appear again…

Many nations will gather to him and he will wage wars throughout the entire world. The Holy One blessed is His name, will rise against all the nations of the world. Messiah will be known all over the world, all the kings of the world and many nations will join in battle against the King Messiah…

When Messiah awakens, so many other signs and miracles will be aroused… 

In the Garden of Eden, there is one place which is concealed and hidden and is not known, and it is woven with many colors. No one enters except for the Messiah, who is ever present there in Eden…

The entire Garden is surrounded by many chariots of the righteous, and the Messiah stands over them and over many hosts and camps of souls of the righteous who are there… 

Messiah enters that place on the first day of the month and festivals and Sabbath days, where there are a thousand chambers of pleasures to delight in all these chambers…

Innermost from all these is one place called Eden. There is no one who can conceive of it. Messiah is concealed outside around that place, until a place called the bird’s nest is revealed to him. This place is announced by the bird, which awakens daily in the Garden of Eden…

In that place, the images of all the nations that gathered against Israel are woven in a garment called the cloak of majesty. Messiah enters… 

He sees Rachel with tears on her cheeks. And the Holy One is consoling her but she refuses to accept, as it is written (Jeremiah 31). Then the Messiah raises his voice and weeps, and the whole Garden of Eden shakes. All the righteous who are there break down and weep with him… 

He cries bitterly again and the firmament above the Garden trembles. So do the supernal angels, until Messiah reaches the supernal throne. Then the Holy One motions to the bird. It enters its nest, sits next to Messiah and awakens whatever it awakens…

This continues until from the holy throne which is binah (understanding, the Sphere), that same bird’s nest is called three times. Messiah and all then ascend above to binah, and the Holy One makes them swear to remove the wicked kingdom from the world through the Messiah and to avenge Israel…

The bird’s nest and the Messiah then return to their places and the Messiah is again concealed in that place, that is, the bird’s nest… 

A voice will explode in the branches of the trees in the garden that cries powerfully and says, Awaken, supernal holy ones, arise before the Messiah. Behold, it is the time for a wife to join with her husband, meaning tiferet with malkhut. Her husband, tiferet, wishes to avenge her in the world, raise her and shake the dust off her…

The text goes on and on, and the plot feels somewhat repetitive - Messiah hidden in Eden or the Nest, the Nations rise against Israel, Messiah goes out in judgement, then returns to concealment in Eden and/or the Nest. 

It is reminiscent (very generally) of the book of Zerubavel! In that we have the mother element, and the theme of Rome, the apocalyptic plot, etc. (The reason is probably that schools in the apocalyptic ancient mystical traditions reached into the early Kabblistic circles.)

Reminiscient how? The mother or Shechina and Rachel are dynamic figures in the text and in the plot that is repetitive. And Rome is mentioned in the text, as the representative of the nations against Israel, and the object of judgment. 

We find another theme seen before, that is the righteous ones, they are angels, souls, surrounding and playing some supportive function in the messianic drama. 

[These souls are an important component, that we will see more and more - so remember it, keep it in my mind. It becomes a bit of a mix of themes from Daniel, some righteous ones, who are witnesses, and shining... together with the theme of transmigration of souls, of souls beyond death in this world...

In the Second Temple literature, including the New Testament, and after that the apocalyptic literature including the ancient mystical kind, had such concepts, of angels and souls in the world to come, or in the world beyond the world. But it will take on a new level, with Kabbalah, including of course the homily from the Talmud that the Son of David will not come until all the souls are completed...]

Take Away

In summary, I have not even tried to explain the meaning of the Spheres. But it is such a significant text, and quite well known, that it was worth sharing a bit from.

What we can take away to the next step, among other things, is that there is a whole new group of concepts in the messianic narrative: the Spheres. 

Notice. Messiah seems to be generally separate from the spheres themselves. He interacts with and is affected by them, but he is not one of them, not malkhut. 

The text, the narrative, led or taught by Rashbi, goes on about the dynamics between the spheres. The Messiah is a secondary figure in the greater plot of dynamics within the complex of divine spheres. 

That is to say, that the main body of the Zohar on the one hand has not given us so much new developmental material of messianism in history. 

What is new is the Spheres, and when we look closely, the Spheres and the Messiah are not necessarily dependent on each other as ideas. 

What will come later is the more impactful developmental aspects, with the Spheres and the figure of Messiah.