The King Betroths His Bride in Parables of the Third Month

"In the third month" (Exodus 19:1), the third month arrived. This is like a king who betrothed a noblewoman and set for her an appointed date, and when the appointed date arrived they said: now is the hour for her to enter the bridal canopy. So when the time arrived for the Torah to be given, they said: now is the hour for the Torah to be given to Israel. Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Shmuel ben Chalafta: like a king whose son was taken captive, and the king clothed himself in vengeance and went and redeemed his son, and said, count the years from the redemption of my son. So said the Holy One, blessed be He: count the years from the exodus from Egypt. Rabbi Chama bar Chanina: like a king who is marrying off his daughter and said, count the years from my daughter's wedding. So said the Holy One, blessed be He: count the years from the giving of the Torah. "On this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai" (Exodus 19:1). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: like a prince who was strolling in the marketplace, and a friend of the king met him and filled his lap with precious stones and pearls. The king said: open my treasuries for me, so that my son will not say, were it not for my father's friend he would have had nothing to give me. So said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Moses: so that Israel will not say, were it not that Jethro came and taught you the ordinances, He would have had nothing to give us. Rather, behold I give them the whole Torah, full of ordinances, "and these are the ordinances that you shall set before them" (Exodus 21:1). Rabbi Levi said: like a king who wished to take as wife a woman of good and noble family, and he said, I will not press my claim upon her, for after I have done many kindnesses for her, then I will press my claim. He saw her naked and clothed her, "and I clothed you with embroidered cloth" (Ezekiel 16:10). At the sea He brought her across, "and the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea" (Exodus 14:29). When pirates came against her He rescued her, these are the Amalekites. Rabbi Eleazar said: like a king who wished to take as wife a woman of good and noble family, and he said, I will not press my claim upon her, for after I have done many kindnesses for her, then I will press my claim. He brought her to the baker and filled her lap with fine loaves, to the shopkeeper and gave her spiced wine to drink, to the fattener and filled her lap with delicacies, to the orchard-keeper and filled her lap with fruits. To the baker and filled her lap with fine loaves, "behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you" (Exodus 16:4). To the shopkeeper and gave her spiced wine to drink, "then Israel sang this song, rise up O well, sing to it" (Numbers 21:17). To the fattener and filled her lap with delicacies, "and a wind brought quail from the sea" (Numbers 11:31). To the orchard-keeper and filled her lap with fruits, "and He made him suck honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty stone" (Deuteronomy 32:13). Rabbi Abba bar Yudan said: like a king who was marrying off his daughter and set up a barrier in the sea and said, the people of Rome shall not go down to Syria, and the people of Syria shall not go up to Rome. And once he had married off his daughter he removed the barrier. So before the Torah was given, "the heavens are the heavens of the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind" (Psalms 115:16), but once the Torah was given from heaven, "and Moses went up to God" (Exodus 19:3), "and the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai" (Exodus 19:20).