Why God Built a Partition Before Speaking to Israel Again

"King Solomon made himself a palanquin" (Song of Songs 3:9). "A palanquin" - this is the Tent of Meeting. "King Solomon made himself" - the King to whom peace belongs. Rabbi Judah bar Ilai said: This is comparable to a king who had a young daughter. Before she had grown up and reached the signs of maturity, he would see her in the marketplace and speak with her, in the alleys he would speak with her. Once she had grown up and reached the signs of maturity, he said: It is not fitting to my daughter's dignity that I should speak with her in public; rather, make her a pavilion, and I will speak with her within the pavilion. So too at first, "When Israel was a youth I loved him" (Hosea 11:1). In Egypt they saw Me, "And I will pass through the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:12). At the sea they saw Me, "And Israel saw the great hand" (Exodus 14:31). At Sinai they saw Me, "Face to face the LORD spoke with you" (Deuteronomy 5:4). And once they accepted the Torah and became for Me a complete nation, He said: It is not fitting to My children's dignity that I should speak with them in public; rather, make Me a Tabernacle, and I will speak from within the Tabernacle. This is what is written, "And when Moses went into the Tent of Meeting," etc. (Numbers 7:89). "Of the wood of Lebanon" (Song of Songs ibid.) - "acacia wood standing upright" (Exodus 26:15). "He made its pillars of silver" (Song of Songs 3:10) - "the hooks of the pillars" (Exodus 27:10). "Its base of gold" (Song of Songs ibid.) - "and you shall overlay the boards with gold" (Exodus 26:29). "Its seat of purple" (Song of Songs ibid.) - "and you shall make a veil of blue and purple" (Exodus 26:31). "Its interior inlaid with love" (Song of Songs ibid.) - Rabbi Yudan says: This is the merit of Torah and of the righteous. Rabbi Azariah in the name of Rabbi Judah bar Simon says: This is the Divine Presence. Rabbi Acha bar Kahana said: It is written, "And I will meet with you there" (Exodus 25:22), to teach that even what is behind the ark cover is not empty of the Divine Presence. A certain gentile asked Rabban Gamliel, saying to him: Why was the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed to Moses in the thornbush? He said to him: Had He been revealed to him upon a carob tree or upon a fig tree, what would you have said? Rather, it is to teach that there is no place on earth empty of the Divine Presence. Rabbi Joshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: To what was the Tent of Meeting comparable? To a cave set upon the shore of the sea; the sea rose and flooded the cave, and the cave was filled from the sea, yet the sea was not diminished. So too the Tent of Meeting was filled from the radiance of the Divine Presence. Therefore it is said, "And it came to pass on the day that Moses finished" (Numbers 7:1).