67. “Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-Hamon; he gave the vineyard to keepers; each one will bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.” “Solomon had a vineyard,” the king that peace is his. “In Baal-Hamon” are those angels of peace. “He gave the vineyard to keepers,” the guardians of the land. “Each one will bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver,” a thousand joys that the soul covets.
68. “Solomon had a vineyard” is the Torah. “In Baal-Hamon,” which is from heaven. “He gave the vineyard to keepers,” namely Israel, the guardians of the Torah. “Each one will bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver,” of its reward.
69. Rabbi Yosi and Rabbi Hiya were walking along the way. Rabbi Hiya said, “Say some of the good things, the pleasures of the soul, that your father used to say.” He said to him, “Let us get out of here, for people here are deficient of good deeds.” He said to him, “So it is good for us to engage in Torah, and we will be saved from them, since the Torah saves from harm-doers.” He said to him, “In a place of danger, sages said not to trust engagement in the Torah.”
70. After they went out and walked along the way, Rabbi Yosi said, “I will tell you something that his hidden among the treasures of my father in his treasures. It is written, “Solomon had a vineyard.” A vineyard is the holy soul that was planted above under His throne. Solomon is the king that peace is his. “In Baal-Hamon” is the throne, the Shechina [Divinity], which governs all the armies of heaven and earth, and is the owner of all the hordes and armies, and he gave this soul to keepers who keep His commandments.
71. “The Creator has many words above, over all the hosts of heaven, and 1,200 other worlds into which He enters to entertain Himself with the righteous in the Garden of Eden. “Each one will bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver,” a thousand worlds that the Creator desires.
72. Afterwards, it is written, “My own vineyard is before me. The one thousand is for you, Solomon, and two hundred to those who guard its fruit.” In other words, the throne, Malchut, declares and says, “Lord of the world, that soul was taken away from him, and here she is before me. “My own vineyard,” the soul,” is before me. “The one thousand is for you, Solomon,” meaning that those one thousand worlds are yours, and they are not intended for another. “And two hundred to those who guard its fruit” is Eden, in which there are two hundred worlds, delights and desirables for the souls of the righteous.
73. Each night, the Creator enters into all those worlds. At midnight, He enters the two hundred worlds of the Garden of Eden to entertain with the righteous, as it is written, “new, as well as old, my beloved, I have treasured for you.” And King David came out when he saw the virtues of the righteous. He said, “Lord of the world, happy is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts.”
74. One should be very careful, since the breath of God is in his nostrils, to be purified from his iniquities and examine his actions. He should sin before his possessor, so his virtue will be with the rest of the righteous and no one will protest against him when he ascends to see the face of the Creator.
75. We learn from the ark that it is written, “And they came to Noah to the ark,” without authority. All those birds and animals and beasts that did not sin come, the ark absorbs them, and those that sinned, the ark ejects outside. If the ark, which is dry wood, is so, then the doors of heaven and their guards, and the guardians of the watches, and the throne, who have authority in them, are much more so, absorbing those who did not sin and rejecting those who sinned.
76. Noah was among those with little faith. He did not believe that the flood would come, and he did not enter the ark until the water pushed him, as it is written, “And Noah went in … because of the waters of the flood.”
77. When the Creator brought down water, He first brought them down with mercy, to show the world that if they repent, He will accept them. This means that at first, it is written, “And there was the rain,” and then it is written, “and there was the flood,” so if they would repent, they would be blessed rains. They did not repent; there was the flood.