Preceding the crossing of the Reed Sea there are three consecutive verses that in Hebrew have 72 letters each:
“Then the angel of God, who had been going in front of the Israelite camp, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved away from in front of them and stood behind them. And he came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and there were the cloud and the darkness, and it illuminated the night, and one did not draw near the other all night long. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and God led the sea with the strong east wind all night, and He made the sea into dry land and the waters split” (Shemot 14:19-21).
According to tradition, these three, 72-letter verses, form 72 unique three-letter names of God. This is accomplished by taking the first letter of the first verse, the last letter of the second verse, and the first letter of the third verse. This combination forms the first of the 72, three-letter names of God. The second name is formed by taking the second letter of the first verse, the second last letter of the second verse, and the second letter of the third verse. This series continues until 72 three-letter names of God are formed.
The 72, three-letter names of God contain 216 letters. 72 equals the word chesed, loving-kindness and mercy, while 216 equals gevurah, judgment and might. These attributes are two of the ten sefirot, the channels through which an infinite God creates and maintains a finite world. On one hand, chesed and gevurah are considered diametrical opposites, while on the other hand, they are also understood as being complementary. The 72, three-letter names of God thus represent the underlying unity and dynamic synergy that exists between chesed and gevurah (See Tikkunei Zohar 25b). In fact, the very same act of God creating a protective pillar of cloud was experienced by the pursuing Egyptians as gevurah, while to Israel it was a manifestation God’s chesed.
This idea is seen clearly in the text of the Song of the Sea itself. Three times in the song God’s “right [hand]” is mentioned. Chesed is on the right side of the sefirot while gevurah is on the left. Thus, the right is always associated with loving-kindness and mercy and the left with might and judgment. Yet each time God’s right [hand] is mentioned it is in the context of His power in overcoming the Egyptians and protecting the Israelites: “Your right [hand], O God, is most powerful; Your right [hand], O God, crushes the foe” (Exodus 15:10) and then later in the song: “You inclined Your right [hand]; the earth swallowed them up” (Exodus 15:12). Once again, we see that the demarcation between chesed and gevurah is somewhat subjective; the same action or situation can be interpreted differently depending on the perspective.
The dynamic of chesed and gevurah just discussed is further seen in the two most used names of God in the Torah: The four-letter name of God, Hashem, which represents God’s love, mercy, compassion and expansiveness and E-lohim, which represents God’s attributes of judgment, order, power and constriction.
A basic belief that pervades all Jewish thought is that “there is a judge and there is a judgment” (Vayikra Rabbah 30). Judgment is in no way meant to be understood as negative or vindictive but is rather part and parcel of the very fabric of creation, on both spiritual and physical levels of reality.
The Name E-lohim, which has the same numerical value as hateva, “[the essence of] nature” (86), is the name of God associated with judgment, law and strength. This aspect of God is manifest in the consistent and dependable laws of nature that rule every aspect of reality. Just as the physical universe operates according to such set laws, so too are there laws that regulate the spiritual worlds. In fact, these two sets of laws are mirror images of each other.
In truth, it is God’s great kindness, represented by His four-letter name, which is the ultimate motivating force behind nature’s laws and the aspect of judgment itself. The verse in Psalms (84:12), “The sun and its shield, [is comparable to] Hashem E-lohim,” represents this relationship between these two seemingly opposite dynamics. God in His aspect of mercy is like the sun, the source of light, while E-lohim is the shield, the actual external manifestation of this limitless light in the guise of nature.
Realizing that the name E-lohim, which connotes constriction and judgment, is at its source unified with the name Hashem, which represents expansion and mercy, is an essential intention of reciting the Shema, Judaism’s cardinal statement of faith. For, at their root, these two seemingly contrary forces are one and the same — finite expressions of God’s infinite love.
Even deeper, we see that the first two letters of the name E-lohim, E-l, are in themselves a name of God. Yet this two- letter name is associated with chesed, loving-kindness, based on the verse: “The kindness of God, all the day, Chesed E-l, kal Hayom ( Psalms 52:3). Another verse in Psalms (89:3) – “A world of chesed did God build [create]” – posits the inner motivation, as it were, for one of God’s primary motive and incentive to create the world. When this name is incorporated in the name E-lohim, chesed becomes subsumed within the laws of nature, strength, order, discipline and at times exacting judgment. Once again though we see how two seemingly opposite forces are united in the names of God.
It is interesting to note that the next Torah portion of Yitro contains the giving of the Torah by God to Israel at Mount Sinai. This portion has 72 verses, which equals chesed. The revelation of Torah is an expression of God’s chesed to His people and the world. We will further see in the Torah portion of Tezaveh which describes the clothing of the kohanim, the priests in the Tabernacle, how the number 72 appears repeatedly (this will be discussed at length in that portion). The Tabernacle represents a meeting place between an infinite God and finite mankind, a profound manifestation of the Creator’s loving-kindness towards His creation.
In summary the repeated appearance of the number 72 in the exodus from Egypt, the Giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle is each in its own way a manifestation for God’s chesed to his people. May we all merit to experience and fee God’s ongoing chesed to us as individuals, as the nation of Israel and human being striving to be worthy of being created in His image.
