1. “And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea.” “Journeyed” means that they stopped learning the Talmud, the Oral Torah, which is called Mount Hor, since Horaa [teaching] comes to the world from them, as it is written, “which I have written, that you may teach them.” This is the Oral Torah, from which teaching comes out.
2. There is the meaning of the wisdom here. This place, called Mount Hor, is the way to the Red Sea, to the end of the degrees, which is Malchut, which walked ahead of them in the desert and taught them the ways of life, since it is the way by which to come to the next world.
3. Israel journeyed from behind it and from its way, and went after the slant serpent that rules in the land of Edom. This is why it is written, “And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom.” And then, “And the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way,” since they deviated from the way of life. And then, “And the people spoke against God and against Moses.” “Against God” is Malchut, and “against Moses” is ZA.
“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? For there is no bread and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” They complained about everything, about the Oral Torah, Malchut, and about the Written Torah, ZA, since there is no bread, Oral Torah, and no water, Written Torah, and this is the loathsome bread since the matter of the Oral Torah was trifling in their eyes.
4. Aaron, the king’s right hand, is Hesed. When Aaron departed and seven clouds departed from Israel, namely the seven Sefirot HGT NHYM from the side of Hesed, Israel retreated seven degrees when they journeyed from the well of living water, Malchut, which poured upon them abundance, to assume the burden of the kingdom of heaven.
In the beginning, they were ascending on those seven degrees HGT NHYM from below upward, from Malchut to Hesed. Afterwards, they reverted back and adhered to the slant serpent that swims in the sea, since they went out from the upper authority due to these seven degrees that they sinned in and departed from them.
At that time, the lower serpent had permission to rule over them, which is as it is written, “Amalek dwells in the land of the Negev,” if they did not repent and adhere to the voice of Jacob, and then they controlled that serpent and it was given into their hands.