Kommentar zu Schemot 19:7

AND MOSES CAME AND CALLED FOR THE ELDERS OF THE PEOPLE, AND SET BEFORE THEM ALL THESE WORDS. This means that he said to them: “Behold, I have presented before you the words [of G-d]. Choose you this day¹⁶⁶Joshua 24:15. if you will do so.” Therefore, they answered him, All that the Eternal hath spoken we will do.¹⁶⁷Verse 8. This is similar in meaning to the verse: See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil,¹⁶⁸Deuteronomy 30:15. and also: And these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them,¹⁶⁹Further, 21:1. meaning that they are to say if they choose to observe them and accept [them] upon themselves. It is for this reason that it says there, And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Eternal, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Eternal hath spoken will we do.¹⁷⁰Ibid., 24:3. Similarly, And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel¹⁷¹Deuteronomy 4:44. means that Moses asked the generation that was to come into the Land whether they would accept the Torah upon themselves, for he was about to make a covenant with them in the plains of Moab, just as he had done with their fathers in Horeb.¹⁷²Ibid., 28:69. And the Gaon Rav Saadia¹⁷³Mentioned here in Ibn Ezra. On Rav Saadia Gaon, see Seder Va’eira, Note 229. said that the expression, and he set before them, is similar in meaning to the expression, put it in their mouth,¹⁷⁴Deuteronomy 31:19. [this being a reference to the Oral Law, which is the commentary to the Written Law]. But the correct interpretation is only as I have explained.
And all the people answered together.¹⁷⁵Verse 8. This also means that Moses called together the elders of the people, who are their wise men and their judges, for theirs is [the power of] choice. And he set before them all these words in the presence of the whole congregation, since it was with reference to all the people that G-d had commanded, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel.¹⁷⁶Above, Verse 3. But they did not wait for the counsel and decision [of the elders, but readily], all the people answered together — both small and great¹⁷⁷II Kings 23:2. — and said, All that the Eternal hath spoken will we do.¹⁷⁵Verse 8. And so it says again, and all the people answered with one voice, and said: All the words which the Eternal hath spoken will we do.¹⁷⁸Further, 24:3.

ויקרא לזקני העם, He called for the elders of the people, etc. In the two verses commencing with verse 7, we observe a remarkable phenomenon. The reason that Moses assembled the elders first was in order to inform them of the need to accept the Torah, and in order to blunt any opposition should these elders have any misgivings. Moses was certain that any doubts the elders might express would be expressed in a manner which was quite unobjectionable to G'd. He was worried that if he were to address the people as a whole without first having secured the assent of the elders some of the people might raise objections in a form which would be offensive to G'd. Once he had secured the assent of the elders, Moses planned to address the whole people showing them that their elders had already agreed. What happened, however, was that all the people simultaneously declared their readiness to accept the Torah before either they or the elders had a chance to hear what was written in it. 600,000 people accepted the Torah unconditionally and simultaneously. This is why the prophet Jeremiah 2,2 paid Israel the great compliment in the name of the Lord: "Thus says the Lord, I remember the kindness you have displayed for Me in your youth, your love for Me as a young bride, etc." The prophet used the word כלולתיך, as a double entendre, referring to the fact that כלל ישראל, the entire Jewish nation, had simultaneously displayed this love for G'd and His Torah. The word alludes to a double כלל, 1) all of them responded favourably without a single exception; 2) they did so simultaneously in the same tone of voice sounding like a choir.

וישם לפניהם, “and he taught them.”

וישם לפניהם. “He presented it before them in clear terms, etc.” According to Ibn Ezra, Moses did this verbally. Some people claim that Moses presented all this to the people in book form. Rabbeinu Saadyah gaon, says that the meaning is similar to שימו בפיהם, (Deut 31,19) where it means that G’d had asked Moses to make the people thoroughly familiar with His admonitions. Nachmanides says that G’d (Moses) told the people: “I have set out all these precepts for you to choose if you undertake to take these obligations upon yourselves.” The people responded by saying that everything G’d had said they were willing to carry out, just as is reported in Exodus

(Ibid. 7) "And Moses came, and he called to the elders of the people": We are hereby apprised that Moses accorded honor to the elders. "and he put before them": He enlightened their eyes; "all these things": first, first; last, last. "that the L rd had commanded him" — to the women as well.

V. 7. וישם לפניהם ist mehr als ein bloßes Überbringen der von Gott gesprochenen Worte. Es ist zugleich ein Auseinandersetzen und Klarmachen des ganzen Inhaltes. Daher konnte die Antwort des Volkes auch lauten: alles, was Gott gesprochen usw. Es war ihnen nämlich der ganz umfassende Inhalt der mit der Anforderung: סגולה, und der Bestimmung: ממלכת כהנים und גוי קדוש, ihnen gesetzten Aufgabe klar gemacht worden.

ויבא משה, “Moses came;” on the same day, and called the elders of the people to accompany him.

את כל הדברים, all the words, etc. The Torah emphasises that Moses said exactly what he had been instructed to say, no more, no less. We have mentioned this in verse 6.