Tafsiran Keluaran 19:8: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Ramban

וישב משה את דברי העם וגו׳ AND MOSES RETURNED THE WORDS OF THE PEOPLE [UNTO THE LORD] on the next day, which was the third of the month, for he never ascended the mountain to God except early in the morning (Shabbat 86a). But was it really necessary for Moses to deliver the reply to God; God is Omniscient! — But the explanation is that Scripture intends to teach you good manners from the example of Moses: for he did not say, “Since He who sent me knows the reply there is no need for me to report it” (Mekhilta).

וישב משה, “Moses brought back, etc;” this was on the following day, the third day of the month, the fourth day of the week. On the next day, the fourth day of the month: G-d, as stated in chapter 24,verse 1, G-d said to Moses in verse 2 that Moses was to proceed further, alone. He immediately said to Moses that He would appear to him screened by a thick cloud, etc.; the purpose was that the people would be able to hear G-d speak to Moses and believe that he was truly the messenger of Hashem and that they would believe in his conveying truly what G-d said to him. If they had not been able to actually hear G-d speak to Moses, they would later on claim that G-d had not appeared to him. This is why He told Moses that as a result of what He was commanding him now the people would believe in him and never doubt him again. The words written in chapter 24 were spoken on this day, the fourth day of the month of Sivan, even though they appear only in Parshat Mishpatim. Moses related all these words to the people as stated in verse 9 in our chapter. They concluded with: וגם בך יאמינו לעולם, “and they will also believe in you forthwith.” He also related to them at that time all the laws that he had been taught by G-d at Marah, (Exodus 15,28) and committed them to parchment. Immediately thereafter the people responded in verse 3 by agreeing to carry out all the instructions they had received from G-d via Moses. Upon hearing this, Moses immediately conveyed the people’s response to G-d, as stated here in our chapter in verse 9, quoting what is reported in chapter 24, verse 3. Rashi, in our verse here, comments that the people in addition requested to hear all this from G-d personally, claiming that hearing matters directly from the source is always even more effective than hearing the same words from the messenger. (based on the Mechilta here) The source for all this which has not been spelled out in the text of the Torah is verse 11, where G-d tells him the on the third (after this) He will personally let them hear the Ten Commandments from His own mouth. G-d uses the expression: לעיני העם, that His words will be perceived by the “eyes” of the people. From this we deduce that people had asked for a visual revelation of G-d. [At the end of the Ten commandments in chapter 20,15, the Torah reports that G-d’s words were indeed a visual appearance for them when the Torah writes that all the people “saw” the “sounds.” Ed.] On this same day, the fourth of the month, G-d told the people to sanctify themselves in preparation for the revelation on Mount Sinai. By refraining from engaging in marital intercourse for three days, they would be sufficiently sanctified by the 6th day of the month to merit this revelation. That day would again be the Sabbath. Sanctification included immersing their clothing in a ritual bath as commanded in verse 10, and carried out in verse 14. We know that the root כבס includes such sanctification through a ritual bath from Leviticus 17,1516 that failure to do so will result in ritual contamination of a person that had eaten either animals that had died without undergoing ritual slaughter first, or parts of an animal which was found as having been diseased internally after being examined subsequent to ritual slaughter. Another example of the process of sanctification of human beings is found in Samuel II 11,4 where David is reported as not sleeping with Bat Sheva until after she had sanctified her body in a ritual bath. [She had been invited to his house by the King’s messengers. Ed.] The Israelites, both male and female, who at this point were undergoing similar immersion in a ritual bath, would then qualify for taking part in the revelation.

וישב משה, “Moses brought back the reply, etc.” the reason why in verse eight the Torah uses the term וישב, for Moses bringing back the people’s answer, whereas in verse nine the word ויגד, “he told,” was chosen by the Torah is that when Moses began to tell G–d the people’s reaction, G–d interrupted him by saying that He wanted him to wait as He wished to speak to him some more. When G–d had completed speaking with Moses, Moses resumed telling Him about the people’s reaction. In the tractate Shabbat, on folio 87, Rabbi Akiva is quoted saying that the word above refers to the limitations imposed on the people, their being warned not to approach the mountain too closely as well as Rabbi Yoseph son of Rabbi Yehudah, according to whom G–d told the people first about the reward in store for people observing the Torah. Different scholars argue about whether Moses told the people first about the punishment for not observing the Torah, or whether he told them first about the reward in store for the people if they observed the laws of the Torah. The Ten Commandments were given on the Sabbath, as Rabbi Akiva said, the verse supporting being Isaiah 30,15: בשובה ונחת תושעון, “your salvation will come about by quiet and stillness.” The first time we hear about the concept as of stillness and quiet is when G–d rested on the seventh day of Creation. The second set of Tablets was also given to the people on a Sabbath, i.e. the Day of Atonement, also known as שבת שבתון, the “ultimate” Sabbath.