Na’aseh v’nishma – Mishpatim
Informed of the laws ordained by God, the people say Na’aseh v’nishma (Ex. 24:7). The translation of these words is normally “We shall do and we shall hear”.
There is a Talmudic passage (Shabbat 88a) which says that the Israelites were awarded a royal crown for each verb.
The logical question is why the words come in this order, doing before hearing.
An answer is that hearing implies understanding, and if God had to wait until a person understood the reason for every law it would take too long, and there would be no merit in fulfilling the law.
In addition, some laws are hard to understand and indeed the understanding of such laws is elusive. The great spiritual achievement is to fulfil the law first and pray that understanding will come.
