In the song of Haazinu Moshe, the special praises of the Jewish people are mentioned, and among other things, it says, "He found them in a desert land." The simple interpretation of the verse is that God found the Jewish people in the desert. However, this is difficult to say, since God did not find the people in the desert, but much earlier, in Egypt. Therefore, Rashi explains it as follows: "He found them faithful in the desert land, because they received His Torah, His kingdom, and His yoke, which Esau and Ishmael did not do." That is to say, it is a special praise of the Jewish people, that God found them faithful to Him in the desert, and it is composed of three parts: 1) His Torah, 2) His kingdom, and 3) His yoke.
This praise expresses the fact that the Jewish people did not behave like Esau and Ishmael, who, when God proposed that they accept the Torah, first asked what was written in it, and the answer did not satisfy them, so they refused to receive it. On the contrary, the Children of Israel showed complete faith in God and accepted the Torah in the form of "We will do and we will listen." This is why Moses praises them: "He found them in a desert land.".
As we said, this praise is composed of three parts, the first of which is that "they received His Torah"This refers to the study of Torah as a form of effort. It also includes the observance of rational mitzvot, which have an intellectual explanation.
A higher level of praise for the Jewish people is that "they received His reign""Here faith in God is revealed in a deeper way, as the Jewish people are ready to receive God's reign and observe His precepts as decrees of the King, about which no questions are asked.".
An even higher level is that "they received His yoke""Here, absolute surrender to God is symbolized. By accepting the kingship alone, the person does not subordinate the details of their personal life to the king, but only agrees to fulfill his precepts regarding the country. However, when they receive the king's yoke, it means they have become a servant, thereby subordinating..." all his life to the king.
This is the praise of the Jewish people: they not only accepted God's Torah, but also His reign, including a total annulment of the Divine commands, and, even more, they accepted His yoke and became servants in everything concerning their lives.
In recognition of this praise, God joined the Jewish people by "finding" them—as the verse says, "He found them in a desert land." Just as a person rejoices when they find something, so God rejoices with the Jewish people. And in return, He also gives us something "found"—the final and complete Redemption, about which it is written, "I have found David my servant," swiftly in our day.
Extracted from Shulchan Shabbat.