Shmot 24

(1) Then [God] said to Moses, “Come up to יקוק, with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and bow low from afar.

ואל משה אמר AND UNTO MOSES HE SAID — This section was spoken before the Ten Commandments were given (i. e. אמר is the pluperfect); it was the fourth of Sivan when “Come up” was said to him (Shabbat 88a).

AND UNTO MOSES HE SAID: ‘COME UP UNTO THE ETERNAL etc.’ “This section was told to Moses before the giving of the Ten Commandments, on the fourth day of Sivan.” This is Rashi’s language. “And the Eternal said unto Moses: ‘Come up to Me into the mountain, and be there’ — this was said to Moses after the Giving of the Torah.” These too are Rashi’s words. But if so, the sections of the Torah are not in chronological order, nor even in their ordinary sense! Moreover, it is written here, And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Eternal, and all the ordinances, which are these ordinances written above, concerning which He said, And these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them. For it is not correct to interpret the expression: and all the ordinances, to mean [as Rashi wrote], the ordinances which “the sons of Noah” were commanded, or the laws which were given to the Israelites in Marah which they had already heard and knew, and besides, the word vayesapeir (and he told) always indicates new things which one tells!
But Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra has already grasped this subject correctly, in explaining the verses to be in their proper order, when he commented: “Up to here is the Book of the Covenant.” On the basis of this statement it can be seen that all the sections of the Torah are in methodical arrangement. For after the Giving of the Torah immediately on the same day G-d said to Moses, Thus shall you tell the children of Israel: Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven, and He began to warn them again against idolatry, by saying, Ye shall not make with Me etc., and He continued to command him, Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them, and all the commandments following that, and finally He finished with the admonition against the worship of idols which they find in the Land, and against making a covenant with their worshippers. He then said to Moses, “After you have commanded them this, come up unto the Eternal, thou and Aaron.” The section mentions that Moses did according to the command of G-d, and came to the camp and told the people all the words of the Eternal as He had commanded him, Thus shall you tell the children of Israel: Ye yourselves have seen etc.; and all the ordinances, as He had commanded him, Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them. The people received everything with joy and said, All that the Eternal hath spoken will we do, meaning that all these things which G-d has told you we will do, for we believe in your words; just as he narrated in the Book of Deuteronomy [that the people said to him], and thou shalt speak unto us all that the Eternal our G-d may speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it, and then Moses wrote them down. Thus on that day he wrote down in a book all that he had been commanded — the statutes, the ordinances, and the laws — and he rose up early in the morning of the following day to make a covenant with them concerning all this. He built the altar and offered the sacrifices, and put half of the blood upon the altar of G-d, and half of it he put in basins [in order to sprinkle upon the people], and he took the book which he had written the day before and read it in their hearing, and they accepted upon themselves to make the covenant with Him, saying. All that the Eternal hath spoken will we do, and hearken to you and to whatever you will command in His Name. Then he sprinkled upon them half of the blood [which he had put in the basins], for this is the sign of a covenant, when two things come in equal parts. Now after he finished what he did with them, he had to fulfill the word of G-d which He told him, Come up… thou and Aaron, etc. and it is with reference to this that it is said, Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu etc. He completed that which he had been commanded, by coming near alone unto the Eternal. It is with reference to this that it is said, And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud etc. Thus the act of the covenant took place on the day after the Giving of the Torah, and on that day was the ascent, when Moses went up into the mountain and he stayed from then on for forty days. It is with reference to this that Scripture explains, and on the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud, [i.e., the seventh day of the month Sivan, which was the day after the Giving of the Torah], and it is said, And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud. All this is correctly and clearly explained.
Now I have seen in the Mechilta That the Rabbis differed on this matter. Some say that the making of the covenant took place before the Giving of the Torah — on the fifth day of Sivan — and Moses said to them: “Now you are bound, held and tied; tomorrow come and accept upon yourselves all the commandments.” But Rabbi Yosei the son of Rabbi Yehudah says: “All these acts were done on one and the same day,” that is to say all these acts were performed on the same day, namely the day after the Torah was given — all that Moses told the people and the writing of the Book of the Covenant — all as we have explained. And to this one [i.e., Rabbi Yosei the son of Rabbi Yehudah] we listen, since he has spoken according to the accepted opinion.

(5) He designated some assistants among the Israelites, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as offerings of well-being to יקוק.

The Gemara returns to the main part of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s statement. The Master said: Just as your ancestors entered the covenant only through circumcision, immersion in a ritual bath, and the sprinkling of blood, converts must do the same. The Gemara objects: Granted, they underwent circumcision prior to entering the covenant, as it is written: “For all the nation that left Egypt was circumcised” (Joshua 5:5). Alternatively, it may be derived from here, a verse describing the redemption from Egypt: “And when I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said unto you: In your blood, live; and I said unto you: In your blood, live” (Ezekiel 16:6). The Sages interpret the double mention of blood in this verse as referring to the blood of the Paschal offering and the blood of circumcision. The Gemara continues: And granted as well, they entered the covenant through the sprinkling of blood, as it is written: “And he sent the young men of the children of Israel, and they sacrificed burnt offerings, and they sacrificed peace offerings” (Exodus 24:5). The Gemara asks: But from where do we derive that immersion in a ritual bath was also part of the process of entering the covenant? The Gemara answers: As it is written: “And Moses took half the blood…and sprinkled it on the people” (Exodus 24:6–8), and there is no sprinkling of sacrificial blood without immersion. The Gemara objects: If that is so, that these three rituals are required by Torah law for a convert to enter the congregation, then now, in our time, when there are no offerings, we not should have the ability to accept converts. In response, Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov says that the verse states: “And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever may be among you, throughout your generations” (Numbers 15:14). This teaches that converts may be accepted throughout the generations, even when there is no Temple and sacrificial offerings are therefore impossible.

(12) יקוק said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings and commandments which I have inscribed to instruct them.”