Zohar, Bereshit 24

1AND THE LORD GOD TOOK THE MAN AND PUT HIM IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, ETC. From whence did he take him? He took him from the four elements which are hinted at in the verse “and from there it parted and became four heads”. God detached him from these and placed him in the Garden of Eden.

2So does God do now to any man created from the four elements when he repents of his sins and occupies himself with the Torah; God takes him from his original elements, as it is said, “and from there he parts”, i.e. he separates himself from the desires which they inspire, and God places him in his garden, which is the Shekinah, “to dress it”, by means of positive precepts, “and to keep it”, by means of negative precepts. If he keeps the law, he makes himself master of the four elements, and becomes a river from which they are watered, and they obey him and he is their ruler.

3But if he transgresses the law, they are watered from the bitterness of the tree of evil, which is the evil inclination, and all his limbs are full of bitterness; but when the members of the body are kept holy from the side of good, it may be said of them that “they came to Marah and were not able to drink waters from Marah, for they were bitter” (Ex. 15, 23). Similarly, the study of the Talmud is bitter compared with that of the esoteric wisdom, of which it is said, “And God showed him a tree” (Ibid.); this is a tree of life, and through it “the waters were sweetened”.

4Similarly of Moses it is written, “And the staff of God was in his hand.” This rod is Metatron, from one side of whom comes life and from the other death. When the rod remains a rod, it is a help from the side of good, and when it is turned into a serpent it is hostile, so that “Moses fled from it”, and God delivered it into his hand. This rod typifies the Oral Law which prescribes what is permitted and what is forbidden.

5When Moses struck the rock God took it back from him, and “he went down to him with a rod” (II Sam. 23, 21), to smite him with it, the “rod” being the evil inclination, which is a serpent, the cause of the captivity.

6A further lesson can be derived from the words “and from there it parted”: happy is the man who devotes himself to the Torah, for when God takes him from this body, from the four elements, he is detached from them and ascends to become the head of the four Hayyoth, as it is written, “and they shall bear thee on their hands” (Ps. 91, 12).