God is not contained
Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.Solomon opens his dedication by saying the heavens cannot contain God, let alone a house. Isaiah hears the angels call that the whole earth is full of God's glory.
שכינה
Presence, not containment
Visitors sometimes hear that 'God lived in the Temple'. Jewish tradition says something subtler, and the Bible says it first.
כִּי הַאֻמְנָם יֵשֵׁב אֱלֹהִים עַל־הָאָרֶץ הִנֵּה הַשָּׁמַיִם וּשְׁמֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם לֹא יְכַלְכְּלוּךָ אַף כִּי־הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר בָּנִיתִי׃
But will God in very truth dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have builded!
The Name and the Presence
Torah text: Stated in the Five Books of Moses.The Torah speaks of the place God chooses ‘to put His name there’, and of God dwelling among the people rather than inside a building.
What Shechinah means
Classical interpretation: A traditional commentator's reading. Others may read the text differently.Shechinah, from the Hebrew for ‘dwell’, is the rabbinic term for God's manifest Presence. The Mishnah uses it of a group studying Torah together: the Presence rests among them.
A Presence that can leave and return
Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.Ezekiel watches the Glory leave the First Temple before its destruction, and in his vision sees it return to the future House by the eastern gate.
Why a place still matters
Classical interpretation: A traditional commentator's reading. Others may read the text differently.If God is everywhere, why one place? Because people are not everywhere at once. A place gives a people somewhere to turn together, to bring what they have, and to be met.
Classical interpretation an analogy: A traditional commentator's reading. Others may read the text differently.
The sun and the window
The sun lights the whole world, yet one window can let its light into a room in a concentrated way. This is an analogy, not a statement about how God exists. It only suggests why presence everywhere and presence somewhere need not contradict each other.