פירוש על שמות 24:6

ויקח משה חצי הדם AND MOSES TOOK THE HALF OF THE BLOOD — Who divided it into halves? An angel came down and divided it (Leviticus Rabbah 6:5).

AND MOSES TOOK HALF OF THE BLOOD AND HE PLACED IT ‘BA’AGANOTH.’ These are vessels made unlike the shape of the regular basins of the altar. Hence Scripture states that half of the blood of the sacrifices which Moses intended to sprinkle on the people, he put into these vessels, and the other half he sprinkled upon the altar from the regular basins in which he had received the blood, as is the customary way with all offerings. But Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that ba’aganoth served for both halves, [and thus the word signifies the regular basins of the altar]. Such is also the opinion of Onkelos, who translated ba’aganoth as b’mizr’kaya [a term referring to the regular basins].

וחצי הדם זרק על המזבח, he converted the altar into being G’d’s intermediary, messenger; for the concluding of the covenant. Half the blood was sprinkled on the altar, the other half on the people.

וישם באגנות, “he put it in the basins.” These vessels were made in a manner that did not resemble the ones that were part of the regular Temple service, or the regular appurtenances of the altar. The reason for this was that Moses intended to sprinkle half of the animal’s blood on to the people who would become active participants of the covenant through this. The other half of the blood Moses sprinkled on to the altar According to Ibn Ezra the basins, אגנות, were used by Moses both to sprinkle blood on the people and on the altar.

An angel came and divided it. [Rashi knows this] because otherwise, it should first say that Moshe divided it, and then say that he took half of it.

V. 6. אגן und עגן bedeuten beide eine anderes umschlingende, festhaltende Biegung, daher auch chaldäisch עכנא: die Schlange. Hier אגן ein Becken, und zwar vielleicht mit völlig rundgebogenem Boden, בלי שולים (Peßachim 64 a) ohne Basis, so dass man es nicht ruhig hinstellen konnte, um das Gerinnen des zum Sprengen bestimmten Blutes zu verhindern.

וישם באגנות, “he placed it in basins.” Rashi explains that we learn from this verse that it requires three steps to convert to Judaism fully: circumcision, immersion in a ritual bath, and expressing one’s willingness to become Jewish by a verbal declaration. This explains a statement in the Talmud tractate Yevamot folio 46, that our forefathers, i.e. Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov, were circumcised and immersed themselves in a ritual bath, but did not make a verbal declaration of accepting Judaism. [How could they have done so since the Torah had not been given in their time as yet? Ed.]

באגנת IN BASONS — There were two basons, one for holding the half of the blood of the burnt offering and the other for holding the half of the blood of the peace offerings, in order to sprinkle it (both bloods) on the people. From here have our Rabbis inferred (Keritot 9a) that our ancestors entered into the covenant with God by means of circumcision, immersion and sprinkling of blood — and although immersion is not mentioned in this paragraph it must have taken place, for no sprinkling is effective without immersion preceding it (cf. Tosafot Yevamot 46b ד"ה דאין הזאה בלא טבילה).‎

זרק על המזבח, “he sprinkled on the altar.” He did so before reading out the declaration for the people to recite after him. After having read out the declaration he sprinkled the other half of the sacrificial blood on the people.