The 72 three-letter mystical Names of God are derived from the three consecutive verses in our reading, each containing 72 letters. The first of the 72 Names is formed by combining the first letter of the first verse, the last letter of the second verse, and the first letter of the third verse; the second is formed by combining the second letter of the first verse, the second to the last letter of the second verse, and the second letter of the third verse; and so on. The full array of these 72 Names is as follows:
והויליסיטעלםמהשללהאכאכהתהזיאלדלאוהעעיזלמבההריהקםלאוכלילוופהלנלךייימלהההונתההאאירתשאהרייאוםלכבושריחולהחכוקמגדאניחעםרהעייזהההמיכוולילהסאלעריאשלמיהוהודניהחשעמםננאניתמבהפוינמםיילהרחמצרומביההענומחידמבמנקאיעחבוראהיבמהיימום
Let us focus on the 45th three-letter Name: סאל (samech-alef-lamed). 45 is the numerical value of the word for “man” (םָדָא). The three letters in this Name are an acronym for the Talmudic adage, “the end of man is to die” (תּמוָלםָדָאףֹוס). 45 is also the numerical value of the word for “naught” (הָמ), the word that Moses used to express his (and his brother, Aaron’s) state of selflessness, “And we are naught” (הָ מּנוְחַנְו). The sages tell us that “Moses did not die” because of his true selflessness, which is the inner experience of the sefirah of wisdom, about which it is said that “they will die, but not in wisdom.”
In fact, Moses attained his sense of true selflessness by contemplating this 45th Name which stands for “the end of man is to die.” This same idea is found in the Talmud. When Alexander the Great met the sages, he asked them, “What shall a man do in order to not die?” And they replied, “He shall [figuratively] kill himself.”
In addition, the Arizal teaches that when, three times a day, we say the verse, “You open Your hand and satisfy the needs of every living being” (ַיעִּבְׂשַמּ וָךֶדָת יֶ אַחֵתֹוּפ ןֹצוָי רַל חָכְל), we are to bear in mind that the final letters of the first three words in this verse, “You open your hand” (ָךֶדָ יתֶ אַחֵתֹוּפ) also form a holy Name, חתך, known as “the Name of Livelihood.” When this Name, חתך is transposed using the Atbash (אתב"ש) transformation of letters, it becomes סאל (samech-alef-lamed). And so we find once again that an awareness that human mortality is indeed a Divine phenomenon connects us to the Source of Life and the Source of Livelihood. In addition, when treated as a word, the letters of the Name חתך mean “to cut,” as in the phrase, “[God] cuts [i.e., apportions] life for all that is alive.”
(from Body, Mind, and Soul, pp. 249-250)
