1
R. Jose asked: ‘Why is this discourse called “song”?’ R. Isaac answered: ‘Just as a song is drawn from heaven to earth by the holy spirit, so these words were drawn from heaven to earth by the holy spirit.
2
Observe that Moses made a long exordium saying, “Give ear, ye heavens, and hear, O earth, let my discourse drop as the dew”, etc. Why all this? “Because I will call on the name of the Lord”.
3
We have learnt that when Moses said “Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak”, all worlds were shaken. A voice came forth and said: Moses, why dost thou shake the world, being but a mortal? He replied: Because I will call on the name of the Lord. Forthwith they were silent and listened to his words.’1Here in the original follows the Idra Zuta, v. Appendix.