How One Divine Voice Split to Reach Moses and Aaron at Once

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot 23:1

Curated by Arthur·Translated by Maggid (Beta)·

Another interpretation: "God thunders marvelously with His voice" (Job 37:5). When did the Holy One, blessed be He, do marvels with His voice? At the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to send Moses on His mission to redeem Israel. And Moses was in Midian, afraid, for he had fled from before Pharaoh, lest he kill him, as it is said, "And Moses fled from before Pharaoh" (Exodus 2:15). When the Word was revealed to him in Midian and told him to return to Egypt, as it is said, "And the Lord said to Moses in Midian: Go, return to Egypt" (Exodus 4:19), the Word divided into two voices and became two faces. And Moses heard in Midian, "Go, return to Egypt," and Aaron heard in Egypt, "Go to meet Moses in the wilderness" (Exodus 4:27). But whoever was in the middle heard nothing at all. This is, "God thunders marvelously with His voice" (Job 37:5).

Themes

Divine VoiceRevelation

Biblical References

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Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiThe First Word at Sinai Shakes Creation and Revives the DeadWhen Moses came down from the mountain, he did not stop at home and he did not turn to any other business. The sages press the point: this was true not only at Yalkut Shimoni on TorahThunder Lightning and the Five Voices of SinaiThe third day arrived, and the world shook. There were sounds layered upon sounds, voices unlike any voices, each one distinct from the next. There were flashesYalkut Shimoni on TorahWhere the LORD Spoke to Moses and to Him AloneThe rabbis pressed on a small, strange detail. The Torah marks out only three places where the LORD addressed Moses directly: in Egypt, at Sinai, and in the TenApocalypse of AbrahamA Voice from Heaven Calls Abraham Out of Terah's HouseAbraham was still speaking to his father Terah in the courtyard of the house when a voice came down from heaven. Not a whisper. Not an intuition. A voice, falliApocalypse of AbrahamGod Shows Abraham the Seven Firmaments from AboveA voice came from the midst of the fire. "Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am." "Consider the expanses beneath the firmament on which you are now placed, and see thatMekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiThe Shofar Growing Stronger as Moses SpeaksA human voice fades the longer it goes. Shout long enough and you grow hoarse, the sound thins out and dies. But the voice at Sinai broke that rule. The shofar