Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 24:3) describes the extraordinary moment before the covenant is sealed: Mosheh came and set before the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.
Why the Targum Emphasizes “One Voice”
The plain Hebrew says the people answered b'kol echad — with one voice. The Targum preserves this stunning phrase. A nation of thousands. Tribes, clans, rival households. All speaking in a single voice, without a single dissenter, without a single hesitation.
The rabbis treated this moment as miraculous. At every other moment in Israel's history, there are factions, complaints, doubts. But at the foot of Sinai, just before the covenant was ratified, something happened that has not happened since: the entire people spoke as one.
Two Words That Change History
Then the response itself. All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. In Hebrew: na'aseh — we will do. In the next verses the promise expands: na'aseh v'nishmah — we will do and we will hear. We will commit ourselves before we understand. We will act first and seek understanding second.
This inversion of the normal order — commitment before comprehension — became the defining posture of Jewish loyalty to Torah. The commitment is the ground on which understanding grows, not the fruit that grows after understanding is complete.
The Takeaway
The moment Israel became a covenantal people was the moment they agreed before they analyzed. The Torah preserves that moment as a template — faithfulness first, and wisdom will follow.