Quotation על מלכים ב 5:30

The Bible says in reference to this, “Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens can not contain Thee,” meaning that God does not need place to stand in. Such expressions as, “And I will dwell among the children of Israel”; “Then it shall come to pass that the place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there”; do not mean that God needs a place to dwell in. The explanation is this. The revelation of God’s glory takes place by means of a body that is visible to the senses, like a fire or a pillar of cloud. Thus we read: “And the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount”; “And behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud”; “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.” The sudden appearance of the pillar of cloud or of a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, the bush not being consumed, was an indication that the glory of the Lord, which could not be seen with the senses, was there. This is why the Bible assigns a particular place to the presence of the divine glory, not that the glory has need of a place or of a body to stay in. And inasmuch as place holds a thing in permanency, God is called “dwelling-place” (Heb. ma‘on), as Moses says, “Thou hast been our dwelling-place,” meaning that God contains the world and holds it in permanency as a place holds an object. For this reason the Rabbis call Him “place,” as in “Blessed be the Place (God) who gave the Torah to Israel,” also, “And wave his hand to the Place (God), that He remove the leper.”