השכינה כאכסנאיThe Wandering Presence

ha-shekhinah ke-akhsenaiIn Gamatria ↗

A guest moving tent to tent, until the house was built.

Adonai is also called Shekhinah, the indwelling Presence. At creation it lived below, and heaven and earth were one, with every channel flowing. Adam's sin broke the pipes and the Presence withdrew. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob made their bodies into seats for it, but it only rested on them briefly, hovering with no place to stand. Moses repaired the channels and built the Tabernacle, yet the Presence still moved from place to place like a lodger, going wherever Israel went. David longed to give it a fixed home. When Solomon's Temple was built, it came back to rest, and from Zion blessing ran out to all seventy nations.

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