Shemos Chapter 19 – Transcript

Shemot Chapter 19: The Covenant at Sinai

Introduction: Reframing the Chapter

This chapter includes two main important parts. We usually know it as the chapter of the preparation, the achonot, the beginning of the story of Matan Torah, which is the story of the Aseret HaDibrot. But that definition is a little bit complicated, because we need to really understand this, since we’re reading this chapter by chapter we should really understand this as standing on its own and it has its own story going on this chapter and it’s even possible to read it backwards. In other words, we could read the Aseret HaDibrot which are in the next chapter as part or an auxiliary of this chapter and not vice versa. And I’ll explain why.

So this chapter includes mainly two things. The first is the story of the covenant, the agreement, the contract, the treaty that Hashem is making in this place with the people. That’s the framing that we have in this story and it is something that’s usually less noticed, which is that the story of the Aseret HaDibrot should be seen as both the details or some of the details of this space of this contract.

The second thing that this chapter has which again that says this should be seen in some way as only the implementation of but not as the main story. In other words, that’s how we see one thing that happened within this story. So this is the frame is the story of this is what we call the preparation but really is the hagbalah, the gating of the mountain and giving all the people their place around the mountain. And that itself seems to be an important thing, and we’ll try to explain it in a minute.

The Opening: Date and Location

Let’s first read the story and make some notices of what it says. So the first thing is we have a date, a time. It doesn’t have a date, a day, this date. It only has the month. We’ve already discussed in the last two chapters there’s how whenever you see a story that has a date there’s something important. Dates in general are the big thing that ties a long story together, right? If you read the whole story all the way from the beginning of Yetziat Mitzrayim and maybe in some sense all the way through to the end of the Tanakh, to the end of the history of the Tanakh, the thing that ties the whole thing together is in some significant sense the dates.

So the dates both give you the chronology—in other words, the order of what happened first, what happened after—but there’s also some meaning in the sense that this ties together the story. So it’s important to say that this happened three months in the third month after Yetziat Mitzrayim. We could see that it’s after the story of the mon which happened in the second month after Yetziat Mitzrayim and so on and before other things that happened in another year. So that’s one thing that these chronological notes tell us.

They might also tell us something about that specific date, but we don’t have that here. In other words, in the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim itself, for example, we have a date and a time, right? The 15th day of the first month. The same thing we had in the story of the mon—the 15th day of the second month. As we explained it, that seems to be important. It’s trying to connect it, the 15th day, the 15th day, this is exactly one month later. There seems to be a connection and maybe also there must be some celebration of this day. And the first one we know, that this day, the 15th day of the first month, gets celebrated every year with the Korban Pesach, with Chag HaMatzot.

And maybe in some sense, anytime we have a date, which is a particular date, it has a day and a month, that might be the message. Over here, we actually have a date that has only a month. It doesn’t have a day. Of course, if you read Chazal, they’ll try to figure out what the day was because they’re interested in finding out exactly when everything was and also to signify these dates. But that’s not what we have. So we do have some connection, but it’s important to know that it’s the third month after Yetziat Mitzrayim. It’s not important to know which day it was. That’s the first thing.

The second thing we have is the Vayissu Vayachnu formula, right? It went from Rephidim to Midbar Sinai. Or really, Vayissu says, וַיִּסְע֣וּ מֵרְפִידִ֗ים וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ מִדְבַּ֣ר סִינַ֔י וַֽיַּחֲנ֖וּ בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר. Which Midbar? The Midbar Sinai. Which might be a part of the Midbar Sinai. And again, Vayichan, וַיִּֽחַן־שָׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל נֶ֥גֶד הָהָֽר. There might be something going on here in the sense that we have the mountain and we have the Midbar. And we already heard before, he was already in Parshat Yitro by Har Elohim, which seems to be the same mountain.

So it seems like maybe this is something that already happened before Yitro came, or maybe this is something somehow they did. The people were around in the Midbar, neged hahar, not close to the mountain, far from it. But Moshe, as we’ll see, was going to the mountain as the next thing starts.

The Covenant Proposal

Okay, so now the next thing is the story of the brit and really including the story of going to the mountain where the where where where he is, where Hashem is. And here there is the beginning of a kind of call and response or really a proposal and an acceptance. So Hashem proposes some kind of deal and he’s waiting for the people to say if they accept it. And now we have the a proposal in some high poetry, so it seems like this is meant to be part of a poetic story. It’s not just a dry kind of deal, there’s a very poetic presentation here, and we can see it because it has the signatures of biblical poetry. There’s doublings of almost everything, and there’s just very flowery language we can see.

And what this poetry says, this is basically the proposal, that’s a very simple proposal. That is the proposal of the brit of the whole Torah. But it’s said in a very nice way. And it says like this. Hashem tells Moshe, this is what you should tell the people. And called in the double way, כֹּ֤ה תֹאמַר֙ לְבֵ֣ית יַעֲקֹ֔ב וְתַגֵּ֖יד לִבְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל, which is how poetry works.

And it comes like this. First it gives a presentation of what Hashem did for us. So in some sense, who Hashem is. It doesn’t introduce Himself. Although usually Hashem would introduce Himself. We have that later in the more formal version of the brit. Here he doesn’t introduce himself. He says what he did. He says אַתֶּ֣ם רְאִיתֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשִׂ֖יתִי לְמִצְרָ֑יִם, you’ve seen what I did to Mitzrayim. And he defines what he did or how he brought them to him—to him meaning to the Har Elohim—in very high language: וָאֶשָּׂ֤א אֶתְכֶם֙ עַל־כַּנְפֵ֣י נְשָׁרִ֔ים וָאָבִ֥א אֶתְכֶ֖ם אֵלָֽי, I’ve carried you on the eagle’s wings and brought you to me. Of course this is an image of something. It means something like going very quickly or something very unexpected. It doesn’t literally mean eagle’s wings. It’s a poetic metaphor.

Therefore, and therefore, and therefore, and therefore, and now in the argument, this is what I propose. And there’s an im. וְעַתָּ֗ה אִם־שָׁמ֤וֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ֙ בְּקֹלִ֔י וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֑י—if you will listen to me and follow and keep my covenant, then you will have two things. וִהְיִ֨יתֶם לִ֤י סְגֻלָּה֙ מִכׇּל־הָ֣עַמִּ֔ים—you would be segulah mi’kol ha’amim, and וְאַתֶּ֧ם תִּהְיוּ־לִ֛י מַמְלֶ֥כֶת כֹּהֲנִ֖ים וְג֣וֹי קָד֑וֹשׁ—you would be mamlechet kohanim v’goy kadosh.

So whatever these things are, it’s not very defined. It means something like you will be special to me. I will protect you more than all the nations. All of the nations belong to me. All the earth is mine, but you will be mine. That is the deal. So that’s the deal. And he signs off and he says, אֵ֚לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תְּדַבֵּ֖ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל—this is what you should tell them.

The People’s Acceptance

And then we have Moshe going to the people and giving them this proposal. And who does he go to? The Ziknei Ha’am, who, as we’ve seen, are the leaders, the elders of the tribes, who are the ones that are going to make the decisions for everyone. And Vayasim lifneihem, וַיָּ֣שֶׂם לִפְנֵיהֶ֗ם—he puts before them, is always a language that means putting down a proposal. So putting is, he gave them the proposal. This is Hashem’s proposal.

And they answered and they said, וַיַּעֲנ֨וּ כׇל־הָעָ֤ם יַחְדָּו֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ כֹּ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה נַעֲשֶׂ֑ה—everything Hashem did, we will do. So they’re saying yes to the proposal and Moshe returns their words to Hashem.

The Ceremony and Boundaries

Now, we have a new thing. So this is the first thing and I said this is the proposal and they accept the proposal. It seems like it’s not yet the actual, like the formal act of signing the proposal. It’s more that they have now said that they will come to the signing ceremony.

So then what we have is Hashem gives Moshe the details of the ceremony of him, how he will come. Because of course, if you want to make a deal with someone, then that person or that entity has to be there. So Hashem has to be there, and in that state, He will be able to make this deal, to officially make the deal with the people.

Now, when Hashem comes in a place, that’s a very dangerous situation. Of course, Moshe is now speaking to him, so obviously Moshe knows how to deal with this. He is ready for it, he knows what to do and how to be there. But for the people to come, that’s not a simple proposition. You need to have a lot of protection and a lot of care with this.

So that therefore we get what’s called mitzvat hagbalah. Mitzvat hagbalah is just a general thing—whenever Hashem comes in a place there needs to be a lot of care. People who are not worthy in the sense they’re not prepared, who don’t know how to deal with such a thing, shouldn’t be there or they should be far away. They should have the correct care and the correct honor, the correct respect, however you understand this for this. And then for this we get what’s called the preparation.

The Purpose of Divine Manifestation

And this is what Hashem says explicitly. I said, הִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֜י בָּ֣א אֵלֶ֘יךָ֮ בְּעַ֣ב הֶֽעָנָן֒—I will come to you in a cloud. And why should I come to you? And now I’m giving interpretation, which is, I think, closer to the pshat than what people have heard from the Rambam and others. בַּעֲב֞וּר יִשְׁמַ֤ע הָעָם֙ בְּדַבְּרִ֣י עִמָּ֔ךְ וְגַם־בְּךָ֖ יַאֲמִ֣ינוּ לְעוֹלָ֑ם—so they should hear me speaking to you and believe in you or trust in you forever, always.

And other people have understood this as a kind of evidence. The Rambam understood this as an evidence. They will see me speaking to you, and therefore they will know that I’m speaking to you. But it’s not really, we don’t see anywhere that there’s a question if a god is speaking to Moshe. The real important thing is that they have to see him in order to be able to agree to the contract. You can’t sign a deal with someone who you don’t know who it is and you don’t know that Moshe is really his messenger. So he will come and they will see him there. He won’t speak to them, is what we see.

Chronological Ordering and Textual Ambiguities

And of course, like I said, these stories might not be in the correct order because we have one—this part that I just read was the description of the great image, the great vision. And then we have another description, another story of Moshe, Hashem telling Moshe to warn the people not to come close. And of course, he already warned them once. So Rashi says we warned them twice, once before and once at the same time. But again, according to me, we don’t have to read all these things in chronological order, so this might have been the same thing that he told them earlier, with some added details that we should know at this stage of the story, or something like that.

It says, Vayered Hashem (Hashem descended) to the tip of the mountain, and of course, that should have already happened, because we have the kolot u’vrakim (sounds and lightning), unless you understand that the kolot u’vrakim happened before he descended, which I don’t think is the simple pshat, because that’s Vayered Hashem ba’esh (Hashem descended in fire), that’s how he descended.

Parallel Movement: Divine Descent and Human Ascent

And he calls Moshe to him, and Moshe goes up, so there’s Hashem going down and Moshe going up in a very nice parallel. Of course, he already went up before, we already read, but now this is again, because he went down to tell the people.

The Warning Against Boundary Violation

And Hashem tells Moshe to go warn the people they should not go up. Pen yehersu means something like breaking through their boundaries in order to see. V’nafal mimenu rav—and they will fall, in other words, they will die. So here we see clearly, before he said sakol yisakel o yaro yiyareh, which sounds like a person will stone them or throw them, and here we see they will fall, so maybe it will happen by itself.

The Kohanim and Ritual Boundaries

And now we get another thing which we see, that it was already an established ritual order that the kohanim will go close to Hashem. V’gam hakohanim haniggashim el Hashem yitkaddashu—they should also be prepared, should be sanctified, pen yifrotz bahem Hashem—so Hashem shouldn’t sort of—so there’s like a boundary between the divine realm and the human realm. And humans, people go up, it’s called harisa, they break their gates, right, they’re breaking. And the kohanim—sorry, and from on Hashem’s side, there’s also yifrotz, like we have later, peretz, literally called like this, if Hashem sort of breaks through his boundaries, which is the same thing, then they will be hurt, they will be killed in the same way.

Moshe’s Response and Interpretive Questions

Now Moshe answers Hashem a very interesting answer. He says—and it’s sometimes read to say that they don’t need a warning, they already know, you already told us. I don’t know if we should read it this way; that sounds like a funny way to read it. I would say just Moshe is sort of telling Hashem, yes, we will listen to you, just telling it, yes, they cannot go up because you’ve warned us and told us to make these gates around the mountain, to gate the mountain so to speak, to make a border around the mountain. But I don’t know if this is supposed to mean—this is a dialogue like the way I’m reading all these stories, I should read them all simultaneously, so maybe it’s not.

But then we have a third time, which is why most people read it as dialogue. And Hashem says—lech red (go down)—it doesn’t say of course “no,” so this is all people reading it in. That’s why I’m saying I’m not sure that that’s really what’s going on. Says lech red, go down, and then v’alita atah v’Aharon imach (you will go up with Aharon).

Hierarchical Levels of Access

And the kohanim will not go up. So it seems like a distinction. A second ago it says hakohanim haniggashim el Hashem, and then this second time it says that the kohanim and the am should both not go up. Maybe it changed, or maybe Aharon is the only kohen now, and the rest of the kohanim don’t get—or the way Chazal usually understood it, these are just different levels. So each person has their own level: Moshe, Aharon, kohanim, the rest of the people, so each one shouldn’t leave his level. These are all interpretations based on what’s unclear in the text.

Conclusion of the Chapter

And Moshe goes down and tells them, and we assume that he goes back up, but that’s again—that doesn’t say in the text. And that’s the end of this chapter.