Midrasz do Królów I 8:27

If a mortal king engraves his image upon a plaque, the plaque must be larger than the image, but the Holy One, blessed be He, is great and his image is larger than the entire world. In regard to heaven, it is written: Behold, the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain Thee (I Kings 8:27), and concerning the earth, it is said: The whole earth is full of His glory (Isa. 6:3). The fact is that the heavens are contained merely in the span of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said: And meted out heaven with the span (ibid. 40:12), and the earth is but a third of his span, as is said: And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure (ibid.). He measured the seas and the rivers in the hollow of His hand, as it is written: Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand (ibid.).

(Lev. 1:1:) “Then [the Lord] called unto Moses.” From where did He call him? From the tent of meeting. May His name be blessed forever, because He left the upper world and chose to dwell below in the tabernacle out of love for Israel. Solomon said (in I Kings 8:27), “For will God really dwell on the earth; even the heavens and the heavens above the heavens cannot contain You?” Is there a potter who yearns for a clay pot, as it were? (Jer. 10:16) “For He has formed everything.” However, out of love (according to Ps. 84:3), “My soul longs for and even pines for [the courts of the Lord].” And so it says (in Lev. 1:1), “Then [the Lord] called unto Moses [and spoke unto him] from the tent of meeting.” Moses was great. See what is written (in Gen. 1:5), “And God called the light day.” There is a "calling" for the one (in Gen. 1:5), and there is a "calling" for the other (in Lev. 1:1). Who is greater, the captor or the captive? You must say, “The [captor] (captive).”¹⁵See ‘Etz Yosef here on Tan., Vayikra 1:4. Cf. Gen. R. 78:1; M. Pss. 91:6; 104:3; Sifre, Deut. 11:21 (47); also Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Neziqin 18. See what is written. “And God called the light day.” Now there is no light but Torah, as stated (in Prov. 6:23), “For the commandment is a lamp, and Torah is a light.” Moses captured the Torah, as stated (of him at Sinai in Ps. 68:19), “You ascended on high; you captured a captive.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “In this world I have made you head over all Israel; but in the world to come,¹⁶This formula normally ends a parashah. Perhaps the fact that the next section jumps to vs. 7 encourages the midrash to use the formula here. when the righteous come to receive their reward, you will come at the head of them all.” It is so stated (in Deut. 33:21), “and he came at the head of the people….”¹⁷This translation is required by the midrash.

… it is written there “Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You…” (Melachim I 8:27) and here it is written “…the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.” (Shemot 40:35) R’ Yehoshua of Sachnin said in the name of R’ Levi ‘to what is this likened? To an open cave at the edge of the sea. When the sea storms the cave is filled, but the sea is not reduced. So too, even though it is written that ‘the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle’ the upper and lower worlds did not lose anything of the brilliance of the glory of the Holy One, just as it is written “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? says the Lord.” (Yirmiyahu 23:24) Therefore it is written here ‘And it was’. Just as the Divine Presence was here below at the beginning of the creation of the world but withdrew to above, now it returned to be below as it had been “And it was that on the day that Moses finished…” (Bamidbar 7:1) ... [Another explanation. “And it was that on the day that Moses finished erecting the Mishkan…” (Numbers 7:1)] R’ Simon said: at the time when the Holy One told Israel to erect the Tabernacle, He hinted that when the Tabernacle below is erected, the Tabernacle above is erected, as it says “And it was that on the day that Moses finished…” (ibid.) It does not say ‘erecting the Tabernacle’ but rather ‘erecting this (et) the Tabernacle.’ This refers to the Tabernacle above. The Holy One said: in this world, when the Tabernacle was erected, I commanded Aharon and his sons that they bless you. In the time to come I, in my glory, will bless you. So it is written “May the Lord bless you from Zion, He Who made heaven and earth.” (Psalms 134:3)