The Covenant of Moab and Mutual Responsibility

On his final day of life, Moses gathered the Israelites together to induct them into the Covenant of the Plains of Moab.

Alshikh comments that the distinction between the Covenant at Horeb and that of Moab is that the first was made with the Community of Israel (Klal Yisrael), and therefore is stated in the plural [Exodus 19:5 and throughout the chapter], while the latter covenant is written entirely in the singular.  (Of course, this point is not evident in the English translation.)

Kli Yakar explains that the need for the new covenant at the Plains of Moab was as preparation for the ceremony at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, [Deuteronomy 11:22;27:4ff; Joshua 8:33ff]  at which the People of Israel accepted mutual responsibility for each other, as Rashi [30:28] notes. The Israelites abrogated the Covenant of Sinai through the sin of the golden calf, and according to Kli Yakar, this sin resulted from (or at least was increased by) the lack of mutual responsibility.

Without quoting Alshikh, Kli Yakar concludes that the reason our verses employ the singular form is that the Israelites’ mutual responsibility makes them as a single person, and through entering the new covenant, the nation became united as a single entity.