Moses' Mission

And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said: “Moses, Moses,” and he said “Here I am.”   Exodus 3:4                                        

Moses’ first prophetic vision, and indeed, his appointment as a prophet took place at the burning bush, at Horev.

Zohar [1:85] notes that prophecy is given only in the Holy Land, and asks how Ezekiel was able to prophesy outside Israel. Zohar offers two answers: since Ezekiel prophesied on the banks of the River Kvar, the water, as it were connected him to the Holy Land; alternatively, Ezekiel’s prophetic career began in the Holy Land [though this is not stated explicitly in the verses] and therefore, he was allowed to continue prophesying even outside the Land.

Based upon the Zohar, Rabbi Yehonatan Eybschutz questions Moses’ appointment as a prophet. Neither of Zohar’s answers is applicable to Moses. Since the burning bush grew in a desolate area [Shemot Rabba 2:5 comments that just as the bush grew in a waterless place, so the Children of Israel; were bereft of Torah and good deeds], there was no water to connect it to the Land. Since Moses was not privileged to enter the Holy Land, the second answer offered by Zohar cannot explain Moses’ appointment as a prophet.

Rabbi Yehonatan states we are forced to accept the answer suggested by Rabbi Yehuda haLevi in his philosophical magnum opus, Kuzari. Ezekiel and Moses were able to prophesy outside the Land because their prophecies were for the benefit of the Land.

Devarim Rabba [2:8] states that Moses argued with God for the right to be allowed to cross the River Jordan and enter western Eretz Yisrael thus: “You appeared to me at the burning bush … and You have taught ‘one who begins a mitzva must complete it’, and I have begun the mitzva of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, but have not completed the mitzva by bringing them into the Land.”

Moses’ right to be a prophet rests upon the fact that his prophetic mission was to lead the Children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt for the purpose of bringing them into their Land.

Indeed, this point is stated explicitly in the Torah [and mentioned in the Hagada]: “And He brought us out from there, that He may bring us in, to give us the Land which He swore to our fathers.” [Deuteronomy 6:23]