Another matter: “The Tabernacle of Testimony” – Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said: When Hadrian entered the chamber of the Holy of Holies, he was acting with arrogance there and blaspheming God. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: David said: ‘Master of the universe, may it be considered before You in this way: Had they been able to chop down cedars and fashion ladders, they would have ascended on High.’9David asked God to consider the actions of Hadrian and his men as though they had actually waged war directly against God.
From where is it derived? As it is written: “Let it be known as bringing axes upward in a thicket of trees” (Psalms 74:5). ‘However, they are unable to do so, and they leave You and come upon us,’ as it is written: “They devised a plot, but they are unable” (Psalms 21:12). ‘They come upon us,’ as it is stated: “God, nations have entered Your inheritance, [they have defiled Your holy Temple.… They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your devoted ones to beasts of the field]” (Psalms 79:1–2). ‘Why did all this transpire?
It is because it was taken as collateral on our account,’ as it is stated: “These are the reckonings of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Testimony.” Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: To what are idolaters comparable? To a person who was an enemy of the king and sought to overcome him but was unable to do so. What did he do?
He went to a statue [of the king] and sought to topple it, but he feared that the king would kill him. What did he do? He took a bronze chisel and began undermining the wall that was beneath it. He said: By toppling the foundation, the statue will fall.
So too, idolaters come to attack the Holy One blessed be He but are unable to do so, so they come and attack Israel. Likewise, David said: “The kings of the earth have assembled, and rulers are gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed one” (Psalms 2:2), but they are unable to do so. What do they do? They attack Israel.
What is written thereafter? “Let us snap off their chains [and throw off their bonds]” (Psalms 2:3) – let us uproot [Israel] from the world. When? When they have nothing to give as collateral [lemashken].10If Israel had nothing to give as collateral, they would be uprooted from the world.
But the Tabernacle served as collateral for them. That is, “These are the reckonings of the Tabernacle [hamishkan].” Do not read it in that way, but rather, the collateral [hamashkon].