On Worlds Before Ours and the Legend of the Kings of Edom

Source Material:
 
Bereshit Rabbah 3:7
 
Rabbi Judah bar Simon said: it does not say, 'Let there be evening,' but 'And it was evening.' Hence we derive that there was a time-system prior to this. Rabbi Abbahu said: This teaches us that God created worlds and destroyed them, saying, 'This one pleases me; those did not please me.' Rabbi Pinhas said, Rabbi Abbahu derives this from the verse, 'And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good,' as if to say, 'This one pleases me, those others did not please me.'
 
https://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah.3.7?lang=bi
 
Bereshit Rabbah 9:2
 
Alternately, "And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good." Rabbi Tanchuma began: (Eccl. 3:11) "He brings everything to pass precisely at its time." Rabbi Tanchuma said: The world was created at its time; the world was not appropriate for creation before this. Rabbi Abahu said: From this we learn that the Holy Blessed One was creating worlds and destroying them, creating worlds and destroying them, until he created these. He said, "This is good for me; those are not good for me." Rabbi Pinchas explained Rabbi Abahu's reasoning: "And God saw all (pl.) that He had made, and behold it was very good (sing.)." THIS is good for me; THOSE are not good for me.
 
https://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah.9.2?lang=bi
 
Referenced in Zohar 3:128a, p 325-326 & 3:135b p.380-381  The Kings of Edom in the Zohar section Idra Rabbah
 
The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volume 8, translated and commentary by Daniel C. Matt, Stanford University Press, 2014.
 
Zohar 3:128a,
 
It has been taught—mysteries of mysteries: When Rabbi Shim'on opened, the Earth quaked and the Companions trembled. He revealed in mystery, and opened saying, "These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned over the Children of Israel (Genesis 36:31).
{Note 18: Rabbi Shim'on is about to reveal the secret meaning of a passage in Genesis (36:31-39).  These kings do not constitute a dynasty since none of the successors to the throne is a son of his predecessor. In seven consecutive verses, Genesis records And (so and so ) died, and in the Zohar these royal deaths represent the destruction of unviable emanations tainted by harsh judgement (which is identified as Edom). Only of the final, eight king is a wife mentioned and no death recorded. The notion of earlier emanations that were destroyed recalls the rabbinic description of worlds that were previously destroyed.  See Bereshit Rabbah 3:7.} [p325]
…And what will the Companions say? For this verse is difficult, since it should not have been written so, because we see that there were numerous kings before the Children of Israel appeared and before they had a king, so what is intended here? {note 19: see Genesis 14 for example.} 
It has been taught: Before the Ancient of Ancients, Concealed of the Concealed, had prepared adornments of the King and crowns of crowns, there was neither beginning nor end. He engraved and gauged within Himself, and spread before Himself one curtain, in which he engraved and gauged kings, but His adornments did not endure. As is written: These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned—Primordial King—over the Children of Israel, the Primordial One {Genesis 36:31}  All those who had been engraved were called by name, but they did not endure, so He eventually put them aside and concealed them. Afterwards, He ascended in that curtain and was arrayed perfectly. {Note 20: The primordial manifestation of Ein Sof, through Keter is known as the Holy Ancient One (or the Ancient of Ancients).  Before this primal power had emanated any of the other sefirotic adornments, there was nothing but Infinity. The Ancient of Ancients engraved royal images ("kings"), but these did not endure. Eventually, He was arrayed successfully in sefirotic configurations. The title Primordial King may refer to Binah, who was to rule over the lower sefirot, which can be pictured as 'the Children of Israel', namely of Tiferet Yisra'el, "the Primordial One".}
[p.326]
 
GMJ Commentary:
 
The Zohar is 'merely' the level of Sod/Seed, aka mystical/Kabbalistic commentary on the TaNaK, just Talmud is 'merely' a commentary on the TaNaK. By this, I mean that in the textual form, they are part of the Oral Tradition collection of material that reflects insights into the Written Traditional text of the TaNaK.  Each is presented as if they are merely a commentary on the text, yet each is intentionally and stylistically so much more than merely a collection of commentary.
 
The Zohar text sited is weaving and building upon already existing ideas and comments on the Torah text. Thus it uses the comments from Bereshit Rabbah to weave them into the Genesis recounting of the Kings of Edom in Genesis 36:31-39. Why should the recounting of the Kings of Edom be noteworthy? That is the question the Zohar is raising. The underlying concept is that nothing in the TaNaK is put there without reason. So, everything can have meaning and mysteries that need to be unlocked.
 
As Daniel Matt recounts in his notes, a commentary on a commentary text—such is the way of the rabbinic mind and method, the Genesis statement the whole analysis starts with a seeming puzzle: These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned over the Children of Israel. The problem is that this list of the eight kings of Edom who reigned before the founding of the Saul-David Kings of the children of Israel is inaccurate. In Genesis 14, other kings are not included in the 36:31-39 list of kings. Therefore, it appears that the text in 36:31-39 is mistaken by overlooking other kings mentioned in chapter 14. The point is that there are kings named who were kings before the Saul-David line of kings of the Children of Israel. Since the text is Divine and nothing is written without meaningful intent, there must be a reason for this. Chapter 14 recounts many kings; thus, the text in chapter 36 focuses on specifically the kings of Edom must have some other significance beyond the Peshat—the literal interpretation of the text. The Zohar says yes, the Sod level is what is going to be explained now. 
 
To answer and explain the Sod level, the Zohar reminds us of the teachings in Bereshit Rabbah 3:2 and 9:7 about worlds, aka universes, created before our own existing world that we now inhabit. The Zohar takes the acknowledged legendary teaching stated in those passages as referring to this list of kings of Edom in Genesis 36. What is significant about this list of kings? Matt notes that 7 kings succeeded each other that came to power, not by familial dynastic lineage. Each of the kings listed had no mention of being the son of his predecessor. Only the 8th king has a wife and thus a child who succeeds him in his dynastic lineage. All of the other kings came into power and were swept aside; their lineage was undone. This is metaphorically the same as prior worlds being swept aside in a new one replacing it before our own universe came to be and remains.
The Divine has the power to create the universe, destroy it, and recreate a new one. This is the power of the Divine as described in Bereshit Rabbah 3:2 and 9:7. To teach us this 'fact' is the reason that Genesis 36:31-39 was written so that we would be able to make the metaphoric link from kings without lineage to universes that were uncreated. At least, that is the explanation that is offered up by the Zohar text.
 
Now, what is the logic of Bereshit Rabbah to state that there were prior worlds/universes? This is derived from considering Genesis 1: 31 "God saw all that he had made and found it very good." The rabbis of Bereshit Rabbah note the plurality of all and the singularity of it, and only it singular was very good; therefore, the plurality of all that precedes it must have not been good. Reading the line as if it were saying, 'God saw all the others that he had made, those were not good, but this one now made, it is very good.' We might not have made that leap of logic and considered that the line meant that prior creations to this one had existed, but the rabbis of Bereshit Rabbah did go there. Thus, the legend of other worlds was part of the rabbinic worldview. This requires that this idea should get some more mention and description someplace further in the text. The rabbis just naturally wanted more about such an interesting concept. Thus the Zohar gives us more information about this tantalizing bit of cosmic history in the commentary on the kings of Edom.
 
As Daniel Matt's commentary explains, according to Zohar, the other kings, those other worlds, were an unsatisfying form of creation; it was only in our current form of creation that the complex and careful system of the sefirot was created as the underlying form of our universe as well as the underlying form of the Divine itself.
 
Now, this is the point of the Zohar. However, Rabbi Isaac Luria adds a new mythological layer to the creation of our universe and the sefirot system. According to Luria, the whole process was initially flawed in the process of creating our current sefirot and thus our universe. A shattering of the spheres disrupted the harmonious creation of the sefirot and the universe. Right after the spheres shattered, the Divine had to recreate the remaining parts of the sefirot and thus rebuild the whole structure. Therefore, the Divine prior to this world had the power to create and uncreate worlds; however, with this world's creation, the cosmos was disrupted and rendered disharmonious, requiring acts of Tikkun Olam done by humans to finish the creation, to fix and repair creation. It is important to note that the Divine cannot perform Tikkun Olam to repair itself. Only we humans can do this. Therefore, Divine power in the process of creating the sefirot system that now exists has left Ayn Sof and poured out and flowed down into Malkuth, the last and final sefrah where we dwell. We humans here on Earth can tap into this Divine power to utilize it to perform Tikkun Olam. The Divine power of creation, the Divine Will that focuses and uses that Divine power of creation, no longer resides in Ayn Sof.  Divine Will, Divine intention only resides in Malkuth. Only we humans can call forth our will to utilize the inherent power of Divine Will to transform creation.
 
To illustrate this change in power centers, I proposed that we consider the different drawings of the sefirot in the following manner. The GRA's version of the sefirot includes Da'at and Malkuth, seemingly having a sefirot with eleven spheres. This cannot be, since the Sefer Yetzirah clearly teaches there is ten and not eleven; there are ten and not nine sefirahs. Therefore, only the ten spheres above Malkuth are Divinely active. Whereas our version of the sefirot, whose illustration accompanies the Zohar, does not include Da'at amongst the ten to make up the sefirot. This means that Malkuth, as I interpret it, is an integral part of the Divine power grid. In actuality, all of the Divine Will only resides in Malkuth; that is the conclusion I take, building upon the Zohar teaching and Luria's teaching.