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367) “And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord.” This is Joshua the son of Jehozadak. The angel of the Lord is a place called Zeror, to which the soul of the righteous was tied and all the souls of the righteous are there. This is the angel of the Lord.
368) “And Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him” is the evil inclination, which wanders and roams in the world to take souls and to take out spirits from the people of the world, and to slander the people above and below. This was while that Nebuchadnezzar tossed Joshua, the great priest, into the fire along with the prophets of falsehood, and Satan was slandering him above so he would burn with them.
369) Such is the way of Satan. He slanders only in a time of danger. And when there is anguish in the world, he has permission to slander and to execute judgment even without judgment, as it is written, “But there is that is swept away without judgment.” What is to slander? Of what was he accusing? He would say that either everyone were saved or everyone were burned, since when the destroyer is given permission to destroy, the righteous is not saved more than the wicked.
370) For this reason, when there is Din in the city, one should flee before he is caught there by the destructor, since when the saboteur is present, he does to the righteous as to the wicked. It is even more so since all three were together, Joshua the great priest with the two prophets of falsehood, Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, and Satan was demanding that either all will be burned or all will be saved. This is because when a miracle unfolds, it does not unfold as half miracle half Din. Rather, it is complete and equal—either miracle or Din.
371) Thus, when the Creator split the sea for Israel, He tore the sea for Israel and they were marching on land. Then the waters returned from another side, drowned the Egyptians, and they died. Thus, there was a miracle from here and a Din from there although they were all together.
372) This is why the tearing of the Red Sea was hard for him, since when the Creator performs a miracle and Din together, it is neither in one place nor in one house. And if it is done in one place, such as the tearing of the Red Sea, it is hard for him, for everything above is done in full; all is done as one and in one place, either miracle or Din, but not halves, meaning half a miracle and half Din.
373) Therefore, the Creator does not execute Din against the wicked until they are complete in their iniquity, so He will not have to save some of them from the Din, as it is written, “For the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full,” and as it is written, “In full measure, when You send her away.” Hence, Satan was slandering Joshua so he would burn with them, so it would not be half Din and half miracle, until he was told, “The Lord will rebuke you, Satan.” Who told him, “The Lord will rebuke you”? It was the angel of the Lord who said to Satan, “The Lord will rebuke you, Satan.”
374) It is written, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord will rebuke you, Satan.’” Thus, was it the Creator saying and not the angel? It is the same with Moses and the bush, where it says, “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire.” It is also written, “And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see.” Once it writes, “The angel of the Lord,” once “An angel,” and once, “The Lord.” Here, too, even though it first writes, “The Lord said to Satan,” it is possible for it to be an angel as with Moses. This is why he told him, “The Lord will rebuke you, Satan,” and he did not say, “I am rebuking you,” for if the Lord had been the speaker, He would have told him, “I am rebuking you, Satan.” Thus, the speaker was an angel.
375) Similarly, on a day when there is Din in the world and the Creator sits at the throne of judgment, that Satan is there slandering above and below. He is there to destroy the world and to take people’s souls, since he is Satan, the angel of death.