Exodus 24:3

And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Moses . . . told the people all the words of the Lord.—Moses gave them an outline of the legislation which he subsequently committed to writing (Exodus 24:4) and formed into “the Book of the Covenant” (Exodus 24:7). Its general purport and main heads were communicated, but probably not all its details. Otherwise it would scarcely have been necessary to read the contents of the book to them. The people willingly gave in their adhesion, feeling the laws to be “holy, just, and good,” and not yet knowing how difficult they would find it to render a perfect obedience.

Benson Commentary

Exodus 24:3. Moses told the people all the words of the Lord — He laid before them all the precepts, in the foregoing chapters, and put it to them, whether they were willing to submit to these laws or not? And all the people answered, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do — They had before consented in general to be under God’s government; here they consent in particular to these laws now given.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

24:1-8 A solemn covenant was made between God and Israel. Very solemn it was, typifying the covenant of grace between God and believers, through Christ. As soon as God separated to himself a peculiar people, he governed them by a written word, as he has done ever since. God's covenants and commands are so just in themselves, and so much for our good, that the more we think of them, and the more plainly and fully they are set before us, the more reason we may see to comply with them. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the altar, on the book, and on the people. Neither their persons, their moral obedience, nor religious services, would meet with acceptance from a holy God, except through the shedding and sprinkling' of blood. Also the blessings granted unto them were all of mercy; and the Lord would deal with them in kindness. Thus the sinner, by faith in the blood of Christ, renders willing and acceptable obedience.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Are placed by some with great probability between Exodus 24:8-9.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3, 4. Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord—The rehearsal of the foregoing laws and the ten commandments, together with the promises of special blessings in the event of their obedience, having drawn forth from the people a unanimous declaration of their consent, it was forthwith recorded as the conditions of the national covenant. The next day preparations were made for having it (the covenant) solemnly ratified, by building an altar and twelve pillars; the altar representing God, and the pillars the tribes of Israel—the two parties in this solemn compact—while Moses acted as typical mediator.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Moses came down from the mount to the people, after he had received the laws from God.

All the words which the Lord hath said will we do: this they so readily and rashly promise, because they were not sensible of their own weakness, and because they did not understand the comprehensiveness, and spirituality, and strictness of God’s law, but thought it consisted only in the external performances and abstinences expressed.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments,.... Which according to Jarchi were the seven commands given to the sons of Noah, the laws concerning the sabbath, and honouring parents, the red heifer, and the judgments at Marah; but all these they were acquainted with before, excepting that of the red heifer, and the law, for that was not yet delivered to Moses, nor were these the ten commands, for they had heard them from the Lord themselves; but they doubtless were the judgments, or judicial laws, which he was ordered to set before the people, contained in the two preceding chapters, which were chiefly of the judicial kind, and related to the civil polity of the people of Israel:

and all the people answered with one voice; one speaking for, and in the name of the rest, or they all lift up their voice together, and being unanimous in their sentiments, expressed them in the same words:

and said, all the words which the Lord hath said will we do; that is, they would be careful to observe all the laws, statutes, judgments, and commands which the Lord had enjoined them; and less than this they could not say, for they had promised Moses, that if he would draw nigh to God, and hear what he should say, and deliver it to them, they would hearken to it, and obey it, as if they had heard God himself speak it; only they entreated the Lord would speak no more to them, as he did the ten commands, it being so terrible to them.

Geneva Study Bible

{b} And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.

(b) When he had received these laws in mount Sinai.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. the words … and the judgements] i.e. (see on Exodus 21:1) both the positive commands, and the ‘judgements,’ or decisions prescribing what is to be done in particular cases, contained in Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33. The Decalogue, which the people had heard themselves, cannot be included in the terms used. The fact, however, that only the ‘words’ are referred to in clauseb suggests that ‘and the judgements’ in cl.a may be an addition of the redactor who placed the ‘judgements’ of Exodus 21:2 to Exodus 22:17 in their present position (cf. on v. 12).

3–8 (E). The sequel to Exodus 23:33. Moses communicates to the people the words which Jehovah has spoken; and upon their expressing their assent to them, solemnly concludes a covenant, on the basis of them, between Jehovah and the nation.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - And Moses came. Moses descended from the mount, and reported to the people all the words of the Lord - all the legislation contained in the last three chapters and a half (Exodus 20:19, to Exodus 23:33), not perhaps in extenso, but as to its main provisions. And all the people answered with one voice, promising obedience. In times of excitement, a common impulse constantly animates an entire multitude, and an exaltation of feeling leads them to make pledges, which they are very unwilling to stand by afterwards. Hence Moses requires something more than a verbal assent. Exodus 24:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The ceremony described in Exodus 24:3-11 is called "the covenant which Jehovah made with Israel" (Exodus 24:8). It was opened by Moses, who recited to the people "all the words of Jehovah" (i.e., not the decalogue, for the people had heard this directly from the mouth of God Himself, but the words in Exodus 20:22-26), and "all the rights" (ch. 21-23); whereupon the people answered unanimously (אחד קול), "All the words which Jehovah hath spoken will we do." This constituted the preparation for the conclusion of the covenant. It was necessary that the people should not only know what the Lord imposed upon them in the covenant about to be made with them, and what He promised them, but that they should also declare their willingness to perform what was imposed upon them. The covenant itself was commenced by Moses writing all the words of Jehovah in "the book of the covenant" (Exodus 24:4 and Exodus 24:7), for the purpose of preserving them in an official record. The next day, early in the morning, he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and erected twelve boundary-stones or pillars for the twelve tribes, most likely round about the altar and at some distance from it, so as to prepare the soil upon which Jehovah was about to enter into union with the twelve tribes. As the altar indicated the presence of Jehovah, being the place where the Lord would come to His people to bless them (Exodus 20:24), so the twelve pillars, or boundary-stones, did not serve as mere memorials of the conclusion of the covenant, but were to indicate the place of the twelve tribes, and represent their presence also.