אבן עזרא — ספר הברית / נעשה ונשמע

Q — What is "ספר הברית" that Moshe read to the people, prompting their "נעשה ונשמע"? And when did chapter 24 take place — before matan Torah (per Rashi/Rav Saadya Gaon) or after?

A — Ibn Ezra reconstructs the timeline against Rashi and Rav Saadya. The "ספר הברית" begins at the end of Yitro ("אתם ראיתם כי מן השמים דברתי") and runs through the end of Mishpatim chapter 23 ("כי יהיה לך למוקש"). Both ends frame it with the avoidance of avodah zara — at the start "לא תעשון אתי אלקי כסף," at the end the destruction of Canaanite idols. The frame is the message: idolatry-rejection is the foundational condition for any covenant with God; without it, mitzvot are worthless. The "ואלה המשפטים" with which our parsha opens carries a connective vav precisely because Mishpatim is the MIDDLE of Sefer haBrit. And chapter 24 ("ויבא משה ויספר לעם") happened AFTER matan Torah — the עם said "נעשה" before matan Torah (to accept whatever would come), but "נעשה ונשמע" only later, after the specific commandments were given. Ramban explicitly endorses Ibn Ezra's reconstruction over Rashi's ("וכבר היטיב לראות רבי אברהם שפירש הענין כסדרו").