Hamakom Yenachem Eschem

Question

Why at the completion of a Shiva visit do we say Hamakom Yanachem Eschem - why not Hashem Yenachem or Elokim Yenachem?

Answer 1

From an article on aish.com by Rabbi Yisrael Rutman:

...a person who has lost a loved one often feels that he has been abandoned by God; that there is no God where he is. We say to the mourner, therefore, that HaMakom should comfort him: We pray that he be blessed by a renewed awareness of God's presence, even in the grief-stricken place in which he now finds himself...

Answer 2

I suspect another influence on this is that according to Midrash, in Temple times, mourners would enter the Temple and be told:

השוכן בבית הזה ינחמך

May the One whose Presence is felt here grant you consolation

If so it would make a lot of sense that in post-Temple times, the greeting became:

May the One beyond space grant you consolation.

Answer 3

the loss is felt as a void in one's life-an empty space . only G-D who is called HAMAKOM in that HE IS THE SPACE OF THE WORLD BUT THE WORLD IS NOT HIS SPACE. this means the existence is within G-D so G-D is the space. since nothing in the world can make up for the void except for G-D who is and fills all space we express the wish that G-D will fill that void and make the heart whole. btw MAKOM is the square of the SHEM HAVA-Y-AH-from the ARIZAL-yud is 10 10square=100 5 square=25 6 square=36 5 square =25. this totals 186 the equivalent of MAKOM in HEBREW mem=40 kuf = 100 vov=6 mem=40 total is 186!