God Seeks a Dwelling Below from Adam to the Second Temple

Another interpretation of "If you walk in My statutes" (Leviticus 26:3): What is written there? "And I will set My dwelling place in your midst" (Leviticus 26:11). If you keep My commandments, I will leave the upper beings and descend and dwell among you, as it is said, "And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel" (Exodus 29:45). For on this condition they went out of Egypt, that they should make the Tabernacle and that the Shekhinah should rest among them, as it is said, "And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them" (Exodus 29:46). And if they do My will, My Shekhinah does not move from their midst. Why? Rabbi Shmuel bar Abba said: The Holy One, blessed be He, desired that just as He has a dwelling above, so He should have a dwelling below; for thus He said to Adam the first man: If you are worthy, just as I am king over the upper beings, so I will make you king over the lower beings, as it is said, "And the Lord God took the man" (Genesis 2:15). And the expression "took" is only an expression of exaltation, just as you say, "And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house" (Genesis 12:15), and likewise it says, "And Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his royal house" (Esther 2:16). But he did not do so; rather, once Adam sinned, He removed His Shekhinah from him. And once Israel arose, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: You went out of Egypt only on condition that you make Me a Tabernacle, and I will cause My Shekhinah to rest among you, as it is said, "And let them make Me a sanctuary" (Exodus 25:8). And likewise He said to Solomon: "This house which you are building, if you walk in My statutes and execute My judgments and keep all My commandments to walk in them, then I will fulfill My word with you which I spoke to David your father; and I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and I will not forsake" (1 Kings 6:12–13). "If you shall at all turn away, you and your children, from following Me" (1 Kings 9:6) — what do I do? "Then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have hallowed for My name I will cast out" (1 Kings 9:7). Why? They are conditions, as it is said, "If you walk in My statutes... and I will set My dwelling place in your midst...." "And if you will not hearken to Me" (Leviticus 26:14) — what is written there? "And I will lay your sanctuaries waste" (Leviticus 26:31). What did Solomon do? He multiplied for himself wives and horses, and it is written, "And it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart" (1 Kings 11:4). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: I gave you the Torah to perform its commandments, and you saw the conditions that I stipulated to you in it, as it is said of Solomon, "O God, give the king Your judgments, and Your righteousness to the king's son" (Psalms 72:1). And it is written, "Because this has been with you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes which I commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you and give it to your servant" (1 Kings 11:11). And what do I do? "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty" (Isaiah 55:11). Manasseh arose and made the image and brought it into the Holy of Holies, as it is said, "And he set the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son: In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I set My name forever" (2 Chronicles 33:7). And the Holy One, blessed be He, called to Jeremiah and said to him, "Even the jackals draw out the breast, they nurse their young" (Lamentations 4:3). This jackal, when it comes to nurse from its mother, she sees it from afar and draws out her breasts so that it may nurse, so that her breasts not be seen covered, lest it not nurse. But My children did not do so; rather, when they saw Me enter the house, Manasseh came and brought the image in there in order to drive Me out of it. [At first they made it a single face and set it up to the west; as it were, the Shekhinah would go to another corner, a place where the idol was not seen. When Manasseh saw this, he made it four faces, so that the Shekhinah would see it and depart, as it is said, "For the bed is too short to stretch oneself, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself" (Isaiah 28:20).] Indeed, not even like the jackals that draw out the breast and nurse their young. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: What am I doing here? "I will go and return to My place" (Hosea 5:15). "I will go and I will return" is not written here, but "I will go, I will return"; for had it been written "I will go and I will return," there would be no hope; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Even though I go, let him repent, and I will return. Therefore it is written, "I will go, I will return to My place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their distress they will seek Me earnestly" (Hosea 5:15). Out of the midst of the distress that comes upon them, they do repentance, and I restore My Shekhinah. Rabbi Eliezer says: If Israel does repentance, they are redeemed; and if Israel does not do repentance, they are not redeemed, as it is said, "In returning and rest you shall be saved" (Isaiah 30:15). Rabbi Yehoshua says: Whether they do repentance or do not do repentance, once the appointed end arrives they are immediately redeemed, as it is said, "I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it" (Isaiah 60:22). Rabbi Elazar said: The Holy One, blessed be He, raises up over them a wicked man like Haman, and he enslaves them, and thereby they do repentance, as it is said, "When the adversary comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord drives him on" (Isaiah 59:19). At that hour, "And a redeemer shall come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the Lord" (Isaiah 59:20). Thus did Rabbi Tanchuma son of Rabbi expound.