Why would G-d Set things up to give a Torah and communicate with man through prophecy then start to seemingly pull away and be hidden for thousands of years?

The first thing to note is that, broadly speaking, there are two types of prophecy. According to Maimonides, the communication received by Moshe was eminently clear and unambiguous. The text of the Five Books is a literal, word-for-word dictation from G-d. This level of prophecy (historically unique to Moshe alone), was necessary only to authenticate the Torah (which, in both its written and oral components, come to us through Moshe). Only by publicly “pointing to” Moshe, would we be convinced that this Torah is the real thing. Any other way, and we would always wonder if, perhaps, Moshe made parts up.

All subsequent prophecy was intended to aid (or, sometimes, goad) people into compliance with Moshe’s Torah. However, such prophecy is only necessary as long as it might be useful. In later generations (beginning with the first years of the Second Temple era), people were generally less sensitive to criticism and might actually have been pushed further away in the face of the kind of rebuke prophets could deliver. Therefore, as a tool, prophecy lost its value.

It’s not, however, a sign that G-d is more distant from us (if anything, it’s because we’ve made ourselves more distant from Him), but that we are expected to find our pathways to Him in more subtle and indirect ways.

I hope this helps.

With regards,
Rabbi Boruch Clinton

Ottawa, Canada