185. These lovers, the sublime lovers, the holy illuminations, ZA and Malchut, shine only from within the wine, which is the explicit, engraved name of the seventy letters of these holy illuminations. The holy name of seventy names is these grapes that guard the upper wine, from Bina, which is the entirety of these seventy.
The name AB (seventy-two) emerges from three verses: “And journeyed…” “And came…” “And pitched…” In each verse there are seventy-two letters, since it is three lines, and in each line, there are seventy-two letters. From the combination of three times these seventy-two letters in one another, comes the name of the seventy-two names, where in each name there are three letters.
Although they are numbered as seventy-two letters, and seventy-two words, each word with three letters, they are still regarded as only seventy names, seventy Sanhedrin and two witnesses. For this reason, sometimes The Zohar calls them only seventy names and seventy letters.
When it wishes to speak of one line from those three lines, it calls it seventy letters, since in each line there are seventy-two letters, which are essentially seventy. When it wishes to speak of the unification of all three lines at once, it calls them seventy-two words of three letters, or seventy-two names, which are essentially seventy names.
These lovers shine only from within the wine, since the love of lovers is the illumination of the left line, which is called “wine,” which is the engraved, explicit name of the seventy letters of these holy illuminations, the seventy letters in the verse “And came…” [in Hebrew]. These letters are the left line from among the three lines, which are called “holy illuminations,” from which the wine is extended, the love of lovers.
The holy name of seventy names, the holy name that combines three times seventy-two letters, and which is called “seventy names,” is these grapes that keep the upper wine, since the name of the seventy-two names indicates a combination and unification of the lines with one another through the middle line, as then the upper wine is kept so the external ones do not touch it.
The origin of these three lines is in Bina. This is why it was said “the upper wine,” from Bina, which is the entirety of these seventy, which guard the upper wine in Bina, where there is the entirety, the origin of these seventy names.
186. Because of it, the joy and good in these kisses are to awaken the love of lovers from the upper wine, from Bina. For this reason, the illuminations, ZA and Malchut, shine and glitter from that wine, as it is written, “For your love is better than wine.”