Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 24:8) describes the most solemn act of the covenant ceremony: Mosheh took half of the blood which was in the basins, and sprinkled upon the altar, to expiate the people, and said, Behold, this is the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you upon all these words.
Half on the Altar, Half on the People
The Torah describes an extraordinary act. The blood of the oxen sacrificed earlier (Exodus 24:5) was collected into basins. Half was now thrown against the altar — the side of God. The other half, the preceding verse tells us, was thrown upon the people themselves. Two halves of a single blood, binding two parties into one covenant.
The Targum adds the purpose: to expiate the people. The blood is not merely a dramatic signature. It cleanses. It prepares Israel, still dusty from Egypt, still shaken by the thunder of Sinai, to enter into a formal relationship with God.
The Blood of the Covenant
Then Moses says the words that will echo through Jewish memory: this is the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you. The Hebrew phrase — dam habrit — becomes a technical term. In later tradition, dam habrit also refers to the blood of circumcision, the sign Abraham received (Genesis 17:10). Two moments of covenantal blood: the personal covenant of Abraham, and the national covenant of Sinai.
The Takeaway
Covenants in the Torah are not signed with ink. They are sealed with blood — not because blood is dramatic, but because blood is costly. Something dies so something greater can be born. At Sinai, a nation was born from the blood of offerings and the words of a book — and that covenant is still binding today.