7:30 C: In the flame of fire of a
thorn bush.
Exodus Rabbah 2 (68C): A gentile
(non-Israelite) asked R. Joshua b. Qarha (ca. 150), “Why did God speak to Moses
from a thorn bush?” He answered him, “If it had been out of a carob tree or a
sycamore tree, you would have asked me the same question, but I will not let
you go away empty-handed. So, why from a thorn bush? To teach you that there is
no empty place without the Shekinah (divine presence), not even a thorn
bush.”—Parallels exist in Midr. Song 3:10 (107B); in Pesiq. 2B and Num. Rab. 12
(166A), Rabban Gamaliel (ca. 90) is the rabbi questioned. ‖ Exodus Rabbah 2
(68D): (“From a thorn bush” [Exod 3:2].) R. Eliezer (ca. 90) said, “As the
thorn bush is the least of all the trees in the world, so also the Israelites
were lowly, trampled down in Egypt. Therefore God revealed himself to them and
redeemed them (see Exod 3:8).” R. Yose (ca. 150) said, “Just as the thorn bush
is the worst of all trees and no bird that goes into a thorn bush comes out
intact, so the bondage in Egypt was in God’s eyes the worst of all bondages in
the world.” R. Yohanan († 279) said, “Just as a thorn bush is made into a fence
for a garden, so also the Israelites serve as a fence for the world. A
different explanation: Just as a thorn bush grows with every watering, so also
the Israelites only become great because of the Torah, which is called ‘water’
(see Isa 55:1). A different explanation: Just as the thorn bush grows in a
garden and by a river, so also the Israelites are the same in this world and in
the world to come. A different explanation: Just as a thorn bush brings forth
thorns and roses, so also there are righteous and wicked among the Israelites.”
(Hermann L. Strack and Paul
Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash,
ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino;
Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 2:783)
