745. When the Creator Came

It is written in Midrash Rabbah (BaMidbar 1): “Another thing: ‘Why did they say, ‘My people have descended; we will no longer come to You’ (Jeremiah 2)? What is ‘descended,’ as it is said, ‘for he oppresses the whole of the riverbank’’ (1 Kings 5). He was told, ‘You gave us a Temple but drove out Your Shechina [Divinity] from it, and what do you ask of us so we will no longer come to you?’

“He said to them, ‘I wish I were in the desert now; where are all the miracles I did for you?’ This is why he says, ‘Who would give me a lodge in the desert, that I might leave my people,’ where I was glorified, as was said, ‘Let the desert and its cities raise their voices, courtyards where Kedar dwells, let the inhabitants of rocks sing aloud.’”

There is an allegory about a president who went into a country, and the countryfolk saw him and fled from him. He went into another one, and they fled from him. He went into a desolate city and was greeted and glorified. The president said, “This is the best city of all the country. Here I will build a handsome throne; here I will live.”

Thus, when the Creator came to the sea, it fled from Him, as was said, “The sea saw and fled,” and “the mountains danced as deer.” He went into the desert of desolation, He was greeted and praised, as was said, “‘Let the desert and its cities raise their voices, courtyards where Kedar dwells, let the inhabitants of rocks sing aloud.’ This city is better for Me than all the countries; in it I will build a Temple and live in it.” They began to rejoice that the Creator dwells in it, as was said, “The desert and aridity will rejoice.”