Why the Torah Was Given in Fire, Water, and Wilderness

Another interpretation of "And the LORD spoke unto Moses" (Numbers 1:1): Happy is Moses! Six hundred thousand were standing there, and the priests and the Levites and the elders—all of them were standing there; yet out of them all, He spoke there with none but Moses, as it is said, "And the LORD spoke unto Moses." "In the wilderness of Sinai." Why "in the wilderness of Sinai"? From here our Rabbis taught: The Torah was given by means of three things—by fire, by water, and by wilderness. By fire, how do we know? As it is said, "And Mount Sinai was wholly in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly" (Exodus 19:18). By water, how do we know? As it is said, "LORD, when You went forth from Seir, when You marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds also dropped water" (Judges 5:4). And by wilderness, how do we know? As it is said, "And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai" (Numbers 1:1). And why was it given by these three things? Rather, just as these are free to all who come into the world, so the words of the Torah are free, as it is said, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1).