Why the Divine Presence Never Descended Below Ten Handbreadths

"And I will meet with you there, and I will speak with you from above the cover" (Exodus 25:22). The ark was nine handbreadths and the cover one handbreadth, making ten here. Rabbi Yose says: the Divine Presence never descended below. Granted, the ark was nine, as it is written, "and they shall make an ark of acacia wood" and so on; but the cover being one handbreadth, from where do we know it? As it was taught, Rabbi Hanina said: of all the vessels that Moses made, the Torah gave the measure of their length, the measure of their width, and the measure of their height. Of the cover, the measure of its length and the measure of its width were given, but the measure of its height was not given. Go and learn from the smallest of the vessels, as it is written, "and you shall make for it a molding of a handbreadth" (Exodus 25:25); just as there it is a handbreadth, so here it is a handbreadth. We derive a vessel for which the Torah gave a measure from a vessel for which the Torah gave a measure, and let not the frontplate and the crown prove otherwise, for the Torah did not give them a measure. Rav Huna said: "upon the face of the cover"; and it is written, "from the face of Isaac his father" (Genesis 27:30); and there is no face less than a handbreadth.