34._ Presence

Therefore He seted out "to incarnate Himself" in an individual human person, who totally and authentically represented Him in front of all the other human beings, and prepared this by means of His alliance with the town of Israel.

For that reason in the Promise to Israel the announcement of the presence of God in the middle of the men is included; firstly between the tribes, "encamping" with them, putting His tent in the middle of their camping; accompanying them, in form of column of cloud or fire, during their escape of Egypt, and in thunderous and smoky mountain form during the "theofany" of the Sinai.

Later, making construct His sanctuary, His dwelling, His temple, where He resides symbolically by means of the Ark of the Alliance, guarded by figures of cherubs, in the "Saint of the Saints". His trascendence and majesty are always preserved, in spite of their proximity to the men, by the inviolability of His sanctuary, the inaccesibility to His sacred enclosure, and by that great veil that separates His seat of honor of the human presence.

In an Israel that had become a civilized nation, God lives symbolically in His temple, the Holy City: Jerusalem, on the mount Zion.