65. Rabbi Chiya was sitting before Rabbi Shimon. He said to him, In the beginning, why did the Torah count twelve sons of Jacob, yet afterwards they were seventy, as is written, "All the souls of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy" (Beresheet 46:27)? And what is the reason that they were seventy and not more? RABBI SHIMON said to him, It corresponds to the seventy nations in the world. They were one nation equal to them all.

66. And he also said to him, Come and behold. Let us consider the keys that illuminate. THEIR branches are set in their travels, MEANING WHEN THEY ARE ILLUMINATING IN THE JOURNEYS OF THE THREE COLUMNS AND ARE APPOINTED OVER THE SEVENTY NATIONS, that emanate from twelve engravings and knots that surround them in their travels IN THE ORDER OF THE THREE COLUMNS, striking against the four directions of the world, THAT IS, CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET AND MALCHUT. This is what is written, "He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Yisrael" (Devarim 32:8), MEANING THAT THE NUMBER TWELVE THAT IS IN THE CHILDREN OF YISRAEL ILLUMINATES TO THE SEVENTY NATIONS. And this is what is written, "As the four winds of the heavens have I spread you abroad" (Zecharyah 2:10), so THAT THE THREE COLUMNS ILLUMINATE IN ALL THE FOUR DIRECTIONS - CHESED AND GVURAH, TIFERET AND MALCHUT - to show that they exist for the sake of Yisrael, WHO ARE THE TWELVE TRIBES, AS MENTIONED EARLIER. It does not say, 'In the four,' but rather, "As the four," because as it is impossible for the world to exist without the four winds, so it is impossible for the world to exist without Yisrael.