Bear in mind that, in the invitation that God sent to Israel through our rabbi Moses prior to the receiving of the Torah, these things [the request and its acceptance] are clearly exposed to view to anyone who uses his or her intellect. [The invitation] is as written ***(***Exodus 19:5): “‘And now, if you will indeed listen to My voice, and if you will keep My covenant, then you will be My treasure among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. And you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you will speak to the children of Israel.’ And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which God commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said: ‘All that God said we will do.’ And Moses brought the words of the people back to God.”

[However,] these words appear to be unsuited to their task, because common sense dictates that if you offer a friend to do some work, and you want to get his or her agreement, you need to present to him or her an example of the nature of that work and also its reward. Only then is it possible for the receiver [of the offer] to examine it – whether to decline or to accept. But here, in these two verses, we seem to find neither an example of the work nor of reward in exchange for the work. For it says: “if you will indeed listen to My voice, and if you will keep My covenant;” and it does not make explicit what the voice or the covenant apply to.

And following this it says: “then you will be My treasure among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine;” and it is not clear from this whether God is commanding us – that is, [telling us] to make the effort to become a treasure among all peoples – or whether this [being a treasure] is a promise that is beneficial for us.

We must also understand the connection here to the end of the verse: “for all the earth is Mine.” All three translators – Onkelos, Yonatan Ben Uziel, and The Jerusalem Talmud – and all the interpreters – Rashi, Ramban, etc. – are pressed here to correct the plain meaning of this scripture. And Ibn Ezra says, in the name of Rabbi Marinos, that the word “כי” [usually translated as “for”] here indicates “although.” So he [Rabbi Marinos] interprets the verse as: “then you will be My treasure from among all peoples; although all the earth is Mine.” And Ibn Ezra himself also tends to agree with this.105

However, that interpretation does not correspond with our sages, who stated that “כי” is used [only] for four connotations: “or,” “lest,” “but,” and “that;” so how can it add yet a fifth connotation: “although”!?

And then the scripture ends: “And for Me you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Here, also, it is not self-evident whether this is a commandment for which one needs to make an effort, or a beneficial promise. Furthermore, the words “a kingdom of priests,” have no interpretation or matching expression anywhere else in the Bible.

The essential thing is to define here at least the difference between “a kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation.” For, according to the ordinary significance of priesthood, it is the same attribute as sanctity, and it is thus obvious that a kingdom in which all are priests must be a holy nation. But then the words “holy nation” would be redundant!