Shemot 24:3-17 (Mishpatim) – The covenantal process

Shemot 24:3-11 records the ceremony for the establishment of the covenant between G-d and the Jewish people. This ceremony fulfills Moshe's statement to Pharaoh in 5:1 that the people were to go to the desert to make a feast for the G-d of Israel, and G-d’s statement to Moshe in 3:12 that the Jewish people would worship G-d by the mountain near the burning bush.

I believe that there were three stages in the making of this covenant. First, there are the general principles of the covenant, then there are the details of the covenant and then there is a ceremony celebrating the ratification of the covenant.

The general principles are that the people agree to worship G-d and that G-d accepts the people as his nation. These principles were agreed upon at the exodus from Egypt, and more specifically at the 10th plague. In preparation for that plague, the people had to offer the korban pesach, and this sacrifice showed the people’s acceptance of G-d. (Note this sacrifice is referred to as G-d’s sacrifice, 12:11, 23:18 and 34:25.) When G-d protected or passed over the people during the 10th plague and took them out of Egypt, this showed that G-d was accepting the people. Furthermore, when the people came to Mount Sinai, before they learned of the laws, they verbally accepted the covenant, 19:8.

The second stage begins with the Decalogue, chapter 20 and continues until the end of chapter 23. In this section, the people are told numerous laws that are the details of the covenant. 23:20-33 serves to seal the covenant, as the section records a warning to obey the laws, and a promise of reward for disobeying the covenant.

The third stage occurs in chapter 24:3-17. 24:3 records that Moshe told the laws to the people and the people accepted them. Afterwards, there is a ceremony involving sacrifices and sprinkling blood, and during this ceremony the people accepted the laws, 24:4-8. Afterwards Moshe and the leaders ate a meal and they experienced a revelation or theophany of G-d, 24:9-11. The people experienced a different revelation of G-d later when Moshe ascended alone to the top of Mount Sinai, 24:17. Rashbam (on 24:11) notes that revelations accompany the establishment of a covenant and Luzzatto (on 24:8) writes that the eating here was the eating that occurs at the making of covenants, see our discussion below on 24:11, “Eating in conjunction with a vision of G-d?” These two elements, the revelation and the eating, are part of the third stage in the covenantal process, the celebration of the ratification of the covenant.