Exodus 33:7-11--The Tent of Meeting

The Tent of Meeting​
​
7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

---

There is some debate as to if "The Tent of Meeting" here is the Tabernacle, Moses' tent, or something else completely.  I don't think it's the Tabernacle, because we don't even see the people make the contributions for the Tabernacle until chapter 35.  All the instructions that Moses received on how to build everything were probably on those stone tablets that were just broken, and Moses is about to have to go back up the mountain to get new ones (coming in chapter 34).  Whether this was Moses' tent or another special tent they had with them to this point that was larger and meant for public gatherings, who knows--just understand that at this point, it's not the Tabernacle, but at least seems like in some way it's going to function as the Tabernacle temporarily as it's the place where Moses is going to go to get away from the people and pray to God and intercede for the people--doesn't that sound like Jesus?  Jesus often would get up early in the morning or stay up late at night and go away to a quiet, desolate place, away from the crowds and spend many hours in prayer.

The people know that when Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting that he was going to meet with God and that meant they should expect something important to happen and they stood at the entrances of their tents just watching this strange kind of fellowship that Moses had with God--a God so terrible and terrifying to them that Moses did not seem to fear in the same way and that Moses would talk to face-to-face (in a sense, though Moses never saw God's face from what we'll see later in Deuteronomy).

The "Shekinah" glory of the LORD which took the form of "the pillar of cloud" would come and cover the Tent of Meeting and fill it in the same way that we see the glory and the presence of the LORD fill the temple during the time when Isaiah the prophet was called.  We also see similar situations later when the Tabernacle is dedicated and on the Mount of Transfiguration when the glory of Jesus seems to shine through for just a little bit and the pillar of cloud is needed to hide the fullness of His glory so that the sinful disciples that were with Him would not be killed by coming in contact with the glory of God.

Notice that the pillar of cloud stands at the doorway and guards Moses while he meets with the LORD.  I find this amazing to see that even at this time the LORD is our Shield and Defender (see Deut. 33:29) and as we'll see later in the Old Testament "The name of the LORD is a strong tower, the righteous run into it, and they are safe." (Proverbs 18:10, also see Psalm 61:3).  Then we see something most interesting--Moses would return to the camp to attend to the people, but Joshua would stay behind and would refuse to leave the Tent of Meeting.  Perhaps now you understand why Joshua had a different perspective on the spying mission into Canaan and why he would be chosen to lead the new generation of Israelites that during the time of Conquest of the land of Canaan (all that is coming later, but there is a lot of foreshadowing even this early to keep your eyes on Joshua, whose name means "Savior," just like Jesus' name does--they are both forms of the name Yeshua in Hebrew and you may actually hear Messianic Jews call Jesus by the name "Yeshua.").  Joshua too will be a "type" of Christ in the Old Testament just like Moses and Aaron have been and just like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah Adam and so many others have been.