Why the Angels Could Not Keep the Torah and Israel Could

Another interpretation: "For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD" (Psalms 89:7). At the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to create the human being, the ministering angels were saying before the Holy One, blessed be He: "What is a human that You are mindful of him, and the son of a human that You take account of him?" (Psalms 8:5) — what do You seek from this human? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: Who will fulfill My Torah and My commandments? They said to Him: We will fulfill Your Torah. He said to them: You are not able. They said to Him: Why? He said to them: It is written in it, "A man who dies in a tent" (Numbers 19:14), yet among you there are no dead. It is written in it, "When a woman conceives and bears a male" (Leviticus 12:2), yet among you there are none who give birth. It is written in it, "These you may eat" (Leviticus 11:21), yet among you there is no eating. Thus the Torah does not go forth to you, as it is said, "Nor is it found in the land of the living" (Job 28:13). Rather, once the Holy One, blessed be He, told Israel that they should make a Tabernacle for Him, and they made it, they began making the altar of the burnt offering and the altar of incense, and offering upon it. The Holy One, blessed be He, began giving them many commandments, commanding them concerning every single matter, and they performed them. The Holy One, blessed be He, began to say to the ministering angels: Who among you arranges for Me as Israel arranges for Me — you who were saying to Me, "What is a human that You are mindful of him," and so forth? They arrange offerings for Me, as it is said, "And the priest shall arrange them" (Leviticus 1:12); they arrange tables for Me, as it is said, "On the Sabbath day, on the Sabbath day, he shall arrange it before the LORD continually" (Leviticus 24:8); they arrange souls for Me, as it is said, "A man who sets apart a vow according to your valuation of souls to the LORD" (Leviticus 27:2). Thus, "For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD" (Psalms 89:7).