Why the Torah Was Given in Open Ownerless Wilderness

Another interpretation: so as not to cast strife among the tribes, that this one should not say, in my land the Torah was given, and that one say, in my land the Torah was given. Therefore the Torah was given in the wilderness, publicly, openly, in a place that belongs to no one [ownerless]. In three things the Torah was likened: to wilderness, to fire, and to water, to tell you that just as these are free of charge, so too the words of Torah are free of charge to all who come into the world. "Who brought you out of the house of bondage": they were slaves to kings. Or is it rather that they were slaves to slaves? When it says "and He redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 7:8), behold, they were slaves to kings and not slaves to slaves.