Shemot 24:7 (Mishpatim) - The book of the covenant

שמות כד:ז - ויקח ספר הברית ויקרא באזני העם ויאמרו כל אשר דבר ה' נעשה ונשמע.

Shemot 24:7 records that during the ceremony to establish and celebrate the covenant Moshe read to the people the book of the covenant, 24:7. What was this book?

In Ezra (on 24:3,4,7 also see Seforno) is that the book of the covenant is 20:22-23:33. The basis for this idea is that the book of the covenant seems to relate to 24:4 which records that Moshe wrote down the words of G-d, and 24:4 follows 24:3, which records that Moshe told these words, presumably 20:22-23:33 to the Jewish people.

Cassuto (1967, p. 312) rejects the idea that the book of the covenant was chapters 21-23, since when Moshe read the book to the people, 24:7, he would then have been repeating to the people what he had told them the previous day, 24:3. Similarly, once the people had already stated that they accepted what Moshe told them in 24:3, then why did the people again state in 24:7 that they accepted what Moshe read to them, if 24:7 refers to the same message as 24:3?

Cassuto suggests that either the book of the covenant was a “short general document” about the covenant which was not recorded in the Torah, or it was chapters 20-23, which includes the Decalogue. Yet, why would this important document not have been included in the Torah and 24:3 could also refer to the Decalogue, which means that 24:7 would still be repeating 24:3.

Rashi (on 24:7) suggests that the book of the covenant was the Torah from the book of Bereshit until Shemot chapter 20. Rashi (on 24:3,4) accepts that the writing in 24:4 is referring to the book of the covenant, but he argues that 24:4 is not connected to 24:3. While this is possible, this understanding would make for a quite lengthy reading.

Haketav Vehakabbalah (on 24:7) suggests that the book of Bereshit alone could have been considered the book of the covenant since the book of Bereshit records numerous covenants between G-d and Noah and the patriarchs.

Maybe the book of the covenant could be further limited to just the covenants that G-d made with Avraham, and maybe also the akedah. This could mean that that Moshe wrote and read to the people Bereshit 12-22 or just Bereshit 15, the covenant of the pieces, Bereshit 17, the covenant of circumcision, and Bereshit 22, the akedah. These chapters would be appropriate messages for the people, especially the covenant of circumcision. They would inform the people that the earlier covenant between G-d and Avraham was still binding on them, even though they were making a new covenant.

The people’s response to hearing the book of the covenant as recorded in 24:7 “to do and to accept” could then refer to their acceptance of the earlier covenant to perform circumcision. This acceptance would then have differed from the people's acceptance recorded in 24:3, which referred to the laws recorded in chapters 20(?),21-23. If these two acceptances differ, then this implies that the writing in 24:4 was separate from the book of the covenant. The writing in 24:4 was part of the ceremony to celebrate the covenant between G-d and the Jewish people, and was just in reference to the laws in chapters 20-23, while the book of the covenant could then have been written prior to the Decalogue and/ or the ceremony to celebrate the covenant.