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Gleanings: the Presence of God
Max Thurian

The Bible
The Bible portrays God as being dose to us, near to us; it is we who can withdraw from him.
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from
the presene of the Lord God
among the trees of the garden.
Gen. 3.8

God is present in the burning bush. He reveals himself not only there but alt through the ages, attentive to us, involving himself in human history and always ready to be our Saviour.
The Angel of the Lord appeared to (Moses) in a Rame of fire
out of the midst of a bush;
and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yct it was not consumed.
And Moses said,
will turn aside and see this grear sight, why the bush is not burnt."
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called te him out of the bush,
"Moses, Moses!"
And he said,
"Here I am."
Then he said,
"Do not come near;
put off your shoes from your fece,
for the piace on which you are standing is holy ground."
And he said,
"I am the God of your farher,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."
And Moses hid his face,
for he was afraid to look al God
Ex. 3:2-6

When King Solomon built the Tempie of the Lord in Jerusalem, he prayed a long and beautiful prayer:
"But will God indeed dwoll on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee;
how much less this house which I have built! Yet have regatd to the prayer of thy servant and tu his supplication, O Lord my God, hearkening to the cry and to the prayer
which thy servant prays before thee this day; that thy eyes may be open night and day toward this house,
the piace of which thou hast said,
`My name shall he there,'
that thou mayest hearken to the prayer which thy servant offers toward this piace.
And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant
and of thy people Israel,
when they pray toward this piace;
yea, hear thou rn thy heaven thy dwelling piace; and when thou hearest, forgive."
I Kgs. 8:27-30 CL vv. 14-66

Hasidic Tradition
Eternal Creation
Rabbi Bunam taught:
"This is how we muse interpret the first words in the Scriptures: 'In the beginning of God's creation of the heaven and the earth.
For even now, the world is stili in a state of creation. When a craftsman makes a tool and it is finished, it does ma require him any. longer. Not so with the world! Day after day, instant after instant, the world requìres the renewal of the powers of the primordial word through which it was created, and if the power of there powers were withdrawn from it for a single momcnt, it world lapse iato tohu bohu."
God's Dwelling
"Where is the dwelling of God?"
This was the question with which the Rabbi of Kotzk surprised a number of leamed .men who happened to be visiting him.
They laughed at him: "What a thing to ask! Is not the wholc world full of his glory!"
Then he !answered his own question:
*God dwells wherever man lets him in."

The Song of "You"
The Rabbi of Berditchev used to sing a long, part of which is as follows:
Where I wander — You!
Where I ponder — You!
Only You, You again, always You! You! You! You!
Whcn I am gladdened — You! Whcn I am saddened — You! Only You, You again, always Voti! Sky is Youl Earth is Youl
You above! You belowl
In every trend, at every end,
Only, You, You again, always You! You! You! You! 3

Christian Tradition
And the Angel said to her,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be bom will be called holy, the son of God."
Lk 1:35
Christian exegesis connects this account of the annunciation of the incarnation of Jesus with Ex 40:34-35:
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not abie to enter the tent of
meeting,
because the doud above upon it,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle... The same verb: eovered, overshadowed — is the one used in the account of the annunciation: shakan, épiskiazeìn — a word with a precise liturgical resonance, indicating the presence of God on or upon his dwelling in order to fili it with his glory. The Holy Spirit carne upon
Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed ber. The cloud of the Old Testament, which is the symbol of the presence of God, is bere personalized and called the Holy Spirit or the power of the Most High. The Holy Spirit, the power of the Most High, has come upon Mary to overshadow her, as the cloud carne down upon the tent of meeting in the desert to abide upon it: this is the mystery of the Shekhinah, of the overshadowing of the cloud, symbol of the supreme presence of God among bis people.
The consequence of this mysterious Shekhinah upon the dwelling of God is that [bis very dweUing is filled with the glory of the Lord. Continuing this same thought, Luke tells us that:
the child to be born will ibe called holy, the son of God."
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grate and truth;
we have beheld his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father.
Jn 1:14

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further,
but they constrained him, saying,
"Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent,"
So he wcnt in to stay with them.
When he was at table with them,
he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they recognised him; and he vanished out of their sight.
Lk 28-31

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;
and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Bchold, the dwelling of God is with men."
He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people; and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor paio any more,
for the former things bave passed away.
Rev 21:1-4


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' Martin Buber: Tates o/ the Hasidim: Later Masters, Schocken Books, New York 1970, p. 259
2 Ibid, 277.
3 Op. cit., Early Masters, p. 212.
4 Translated from Max Thurian: Marie Mère du Seigneur, Figure de l'Eglise, Presses de Taizé 1962