It happened in the days of King Amrafel of Shinar…
Further on in this parashah, we read how an alliance of five kings rebelled against an alliance of four kings, which then waged war against the alliance of five kings, in the process abducting Abraham’s nephew, Lot, and how Abraham pursued and routed the first alliance in order rescue Lot.

Sha’ar HaPesukim and Likutei Torah, parashat Lech Lecha
As is known, the kings that ruled in the land of Edom and died were manifestations of Arich Anpin, Abba, Ima, Z’eir Anpin, and Nukva. These are the partzufim of Atzilut, while the kings that died allude to the seven sefirot that collapsed in the world of Tohu, the version of Atzilut that precedes its rectified version, Tikun. Also, there were seven kings that died, but only six partzufim are enumerated here.

They were all the feminine aspect of these partzufim, which is known as the malchut of each partzuf. That is why they are alluded to by the “kings,” being named after it. Since the kings that died were the malchut of these partzufim, they are called “kings,” for malchut means “kingship.”

It is known that malchut is expressed by the Name Havayah spelled-out such that its numerical value is 52, i.e., with the letter hei. Yud-vav-dalet hei-hei vav-vav hei-hei = (10 + 6 + 4) + (5 + 5) + (6 + 6) + (5 + 5) = 52.

The four spellings out of the Name Havayah (72, 63, 45, and 52) are aligned with the four letters of the Name Havayah and the sefirot/partzufim they signify.

Thus, even though there are seven kings that died, they are really nine, corresponding to the nine letters in the 52-Name Havayah. The seven kings expressed or embodied the malchut’s of these partzufim in Tohu and, at the same time, the nine letters of the 52-Name.

As is known, the dross and shells—i.e., evil—were separated out of these fallen kings. Therefore, there are nine other kings corresponding to them, which are composed totally of the shells and dross of the nine aforementioned, holy kings. The nine kings (i.e., the nine malchut’s of Tohu) are extremely volatile—as is everything in that world—because the amount of light is out of proportion to the capacity of the vessels to hold it. But everything in Tohu is still in the realm of holiness. Only when the vessels of Tohu break and their “shards” descend into the lower worlds do they exist as almost lifeless “shells”—pockets of fallen consciousness possessing no holiness other than a tiny spark of Tohu-light embedded deep with each one to keep it in existence. Other than that deep kernel of holiness, the whole essence of the fallen “shell” is evil, i.e., selfhood and antithesis to Divinity. (This is what led to the Shattering of the Vessels in the first place.)

These are the kings mentioned in this episode of the parashah, Amrafel and his allies plus the king of Sodom and his allies. This is why they are divided into two groups: the four kings of Amrafel’s alliance are the dross of the four root-letters of the aforementioned Name Havayah, while the five kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, etc. are the dross of the five letters used to spell-out this Name Havayah, i.e., the 52-Name spelled-out with the letter hei. This is the mystical meaning of the verse, “…four kings against the five.” The four letters of the Name Havayah are thus depicted as waging war against the letters used to
spell them out.

The reason for this war, and why it was waged specifically at this point in history, will be understood via our sages’ statement21 that their intention was actually to capture Abraham himself. By capturing his nephew, Lot, Abraham would come to his rescue, and they would then capture him, too. The mystical significance of this is based on what we have explained in Sha’ar Ruach HaKodesh regarding the mystical significance of Lot and Abraham.

In short: Abraham personified the light of the states of chesed in Z’eir Anpin, which are represented by the Name Havayah spelled-out with the letter alef, and whose numerical value is 45. Yud-vav-dalet hei-alef vav-alef-vav hei-alef = (10 + 6 + 4) + (5 + 1) + (6 + 1 + 6) + (5 + 1) = 45.

Lot is positioned opposite the back of Z’eir Anpin, being the evil that sucks from Z’eir Anpin’s back. The numerical value of Lot is thus also 45. Lot: Lamed-vav-tet = 30 + 6 + 9 = 45. In order to exist, every form of evil must “suck” (i.e., derive its sustenance) from some form of good, of which it is a fallen, corrupt version.

Lot was therefore Abraham’s close relative, earning his livelihood from him, always traveling with him, as it is written, “And Lot went with him.” This was when G-d told Abraham to leave Haran and travel to the Land of Israel.

As is explained in the Zohar, Lot signifies the evil and the evil inclination within people.

When Abraham was outside the Land of Israel, there was no coupling between Z’eir Anpin and Nukva, as we have explained before. Therefore, the evil “shell” clung to the holiness and sucked from it, for Z’eir Anpin was then in a state of constricted consciousness, signified by the Name Elokim. The Land of Israel is an appellation for malchut, so if Abraham personified Z’eir Anpin, it means that there was no union between Z’eir Anpin and Nukva until Abraham entered the land. The reason why
there is no union between Z’eir Anpin and Nukva is because they are not ready, i.e., mature enough for it yet. Abraham—Z’eir Anpin—still had a “Diaspora” consciousness, an incomplete mentality visà- vis Divinity. This consciousness is expressed by the Name Elokim, which signifies Divinity as it is vested and hidden in the forces of nature—the word for “the nature” (hateva) has the same numerical value as the Name Elokim, 86. In the absence of this union, Z’eir Anpin is exposed to false union with the powers of evil.

The kings and the evil they personified were thus sucking their plenty from Abraham/Z’eir Anpin, and there was no war between them.

But when Abraham went to the Land of Israel—which was in order to arouse the supernal union between Z’eir Anpin and Nukva, the latter manifest as the land, as we have said—expanded consciousness entered Z’eir Anpin, and Lot, i.e., this evil, separated from him, as it is written, “Separate now from upon me.” This was after Abraham returned from a temporary sojourn in Egypt; he and Lot possessed too many herds and flocks to stay together.

It does not say, “from me” (mi-meni) but “from upon me” (mei-alai), because Lot was literally clinging to the back of Z’eir Anpin, as mentioned. It was thus as if a heavy burden was on Abraham’s back. The unusual choice of words thus alludes to the upper reality.

It is therefore then written, “And they separated, each one from upon the other” rather than “from each other.”

At this point, the forces of evil and the aforementioned kings lost their material bounty. This is why they made war with each other, as we will describe. Since material bounty is derived from spiritual beneficence, when the latter was cut off, there was a lack of the former, and this occasioned dispute, jealousy, and the like.

To explain: Know that in Abraham’s time, these nine kings began to be rectified, that is, to metamorphose into partzufim with proper vessels to clothe their lights, as we have explained in our exposition on the rectification of these kings. The rectification of the world of Tohu consists of constructing vessels for the sefirot’s lights. There is an advantage to brilliant, blinding inspiration, but it only fulfills its purpose when it is contextualized within reality, where it can serve to change things and make the world a better place. True, some of the original brilliance and sense of infinity is lost, for by being expressed through specific vessels, the light is ipso facto deprived of the potential to express itself through other vessels, in other ways. But that is the price paid for maturity and fulfillment.

When they all received material abundance, they were at peace. But when it became scarce, the five kings wanted to overpower and ascend above the level of the four kings in order to get closer to holiness and procure sustenance from there directly. Even though the five were derived from the four, they rebelled against them, because the four kings, who were somewhat rectified, such that their vessels clothed their lights, could not ascend higher than their intrinsic level, whereas the five kings who were as yet unrectified were unrestricted by their “clothes” and were therefore able to ascend above the level of the others. The vessels “hold on” to the lights they clothe, just as expressing an idea “solidifies” it and concretizes it, depriving it of being expressed in other ways.

Therefore the five kings, even though they were branches of the four, rebelled and overcame the four root-kings.

But in the end, since the four were the roots, they overcame the five and subjugated them under their rule.

Now, since the whole dispute was over the lack of abundance for all of them, they therefore “took Lot and all his possessions,” because he was the closest person to Abraham, who personified Z’eir Anpin, as mentioned. By capturing Lot, they felt that Lot would take his sustenance from Abraham and they would in turn take theirs from Lot. This is what the sages’ meant when they said that the four kings wanted to capture Abraham, too. Understand this well.

In this context, the four kings did not actually want to capture Abraham; they just wanted a way to siphon off Divine beneficence from him, a way to “plug into” him. This they saw in Lot. Psychologically, this episode presumably depicts the conflict between the rectified and unrectified aspects of a person’s animal nature. When we are young and our consciousness is devoted primarily
to constructing our own sense of self, there is no conflict between these two; our animal consciousness has either not begun to be rectified (i.e., educated in morality and altruism) or is only at the very beginning stages of this process. As we approach maturity and develop an awareness of the fact that there is a G-d and that G-d has charged us with rectifying the world—doing His commandments and sanctifying mundane life so that His beneficence can flow properly into the world—our animal nature begins to mature as well, and begins to realize that it cannot always get what it wants or do what it wants to do. At this point, the unrectified aspects of the animal soul begin to rebel, and the person is plunged into the conflict of adolescence, when his selfish nature goes to war against his rising adult consciousness and tries to bypass it and assert itself. Unfettered by the constraints of adulthood, it initially appears to win, dazzling the more reasoned adult with its youthful energy and power, flying above and appearing to be able to express more holy vitality than the adult nature. But the adult nature is more careful, more logical, more patient, so it eventually wins and subdues the unrectified aspect of the animal nature. Animal nature, however, is still animal nature, and even its rectified aspect—especially now that it has absorbed the unrectified aspect within it—wants what it considers its due. It therefore enlists the evil inclination to make sure that the Divine soul does not neglect it. In the end, the Divine soul recaptures the evil inclination and uses it for its own purposes, rather than letting it serve the animal soul.