Komentarz do Wyjścia 24:8

ויזרק means sprinkling — he sprinkled it on the people (not he threw it against the people, as this word might imply; cf. e. g., Exodus 9:8: וזרקו משה השמימה). The Targum, however, renders it by: and he poured it (the blood) upon the altar as atonement for (על) the people, adding the words “upon the altar”, and taking על העם to denote “on behalf of the people”, i. e. he poured it out to atone for the people.

ויזרוק על העם, “he sprinkled on the people.” Some commentators understand the word על here to mean בעד, “on behalf of.” We have a parallel to this in Numbers 17,12 ויכפר על העם “Aaron atoned on behalf of the people.”

The meaning of sprinkling. The word זרק is an expression meaning the same as as in, “And I will sprinkle ( וזרקתי ) purifying water upon you” (Yechezkel 36:25). But it does have the meaning as in, “And let Moshe cast ( ויזרוק ) it heavenward” (Shemos 9:8), which means actual throwing.

ויקח משה את הדם ויזרוק על העם, he sprinkled the blood on them as a symbolic act signifying their entering the covenant with G’d, a covenant that requires blood to seal it. In fact, the blood stain on the garments of the Israelites as a result of this sprinkling was afterwards called עדי [from עד “witness.” Ed.] as it was testimony to the fact that the wearer had become a member of this covenant. This is why after the people had sinned with the golden calf the Torah demands that they remove this sign of such a covenant seeing that they had breached the covenant (Exodus 33,5). The Israelites are also reported to have divested themselves of these blood-stained garments in Exodus 33,6. The reason why G’d had chosen blood to be the symbol of this covenant was to warn the people that if they would prove loyal to the covenant everything would be fine, whereas if they would violate it, G’d on His part would also make the Israelites’ blood something anyone could spill without fear of Divine reprisal.

V. 8. ויזרק על העם. Aus Jebamot 56 b, Keritot 9a ist ersichtlich, dass dies ein Sprengen des Blutes zu dem Volke hin, nicht aber wie Onkelos übersetzt: וזרק על מדבחא לכפרא על עמא, ein Sprengen an den Altar zur Sühne für das Volk, gewesen ist. Vielmehr war die eine Hälfte des Blutes bereits (V. 6) an den Altar hingegossen, und nun goss Mosche die andere Hälfte dem Volke zu. Damit war wohl ausgesprochen, dass jeder Blutstropfen, jede Kraft unseres Wesens, die wir der Erfüllung des göttlichen Willens auf Erden hingeben, unverlierbar uns selber wieder zurückgegeben wird, in dem Maße wie wir Gott hingeben, wir von Gott empfangen, und wir uns erst selber gewinnen, indem wir uns Gott opfern. Damit ist denn sofort die Gegenseitigkeit des Bundesverhältnisses geschlossen, und erklärt sich darin das Wort, mit welchem Mosche die Bluthingabe an das Volk begleitete: הנה דם הברית וגו׳. Das ספר הברית enthielt die Forderungen, die Gott an uns gestellt, das zurückempfangene דם הברית drückt die Gewährungen aus, die wir, der Hingebung an das ספר הברית gegenüber, von Gott zu erwarten haben.

הנה דם הברית, “here is the blood, the symbol of the covenant;”The blood of the covenant is divided into two halves, as always when a covenant is made between two parties. We know this already from the first covenant made between G-d and Avraham in Genesis chapter 15, when Avraham divided all the slaughtered animals except for the bird.[Nowadays when two parties conclude an agreement each receives a copy of the text, and each signs both copies. Ed.] The prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 34,18, refers to העגל אשר כרתו לשנים ויעברו בין בתריו, “the calf which they cut in two so as to pass between the halves.” The reason why in Genesis15,17, G-d is not described as passing between the pieces Avraham had cut, was His way of indicating to Avraham that there would be a price to pay in blood for violating this covenant. This idea has also been referred to again in Leviticus 26,25 in the tochachah, the chapter of dire warnings, where G-d describes His reaction to when the Jewish people become guilty of violating this covenant.

Onkelos translates it [literally]: “He cast it on the altar . . . And not actually on the people, for it is written, (24, 6) “sprinkled on the altar.”