And Moses took the tent, and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the Tent of meeting. And it came to pass [that] every one who sought Jehovah went out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp.
Israel had just made the golden calf, and the camp was defiled, so the Lord could no longer go with them. Moses answered by moving the meeting place outside the camp. Now each Israelite had to decide alone whether to walk out to it.
One reference work explains what this "tent" was and why its position mattered:
When the camp itself had become defiled by the golden calf, Moses "took the tent and pitched it outside the camp... and called it the tent of meeting." This was not really 'the tabernacle,' for it had not at that time been erected. The word used means 'the tent.' It was doubtless a tent pointing forward to the tabernacle. Moses pitched it outside the camp to make a point: God's dwelling could not be where there was an idol.
The account records no command from God. One writer traces the move to Moses' grasp of God's character and the people's condition, and shows how it reversed God's earlier word about a sanctuary:
It does not appear that Moses pitched the tent outside the camp under any direct commandment from the Lord. It was spiritual discernment instead, entering into both the character of God and the state of the people... This was quite different from what the Lord had said to Moses: "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." They were no longer to be the Lord's people, gathered round Himself as their centre. He was now outside, and "everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp." So it became an individual thing.
One writer draws three observations from the verse:
Look at Exodus 33:7. (1) Idolatry had got into the middle of what had before been of God. (2) God did not say to purge the camp in this case — the faithful were to GO OUT. Separation from evil, not patching, is always the divine principle; (3) those left behind were Israelites; but they did not seek the Lord.
The camp was God's own arrangement, which gives the principle a sharp edge:
We see from this that a time may come when an institution God Himself set up beyond question must be left behind, because it has now become corrupt and has turned away from Him. Leaving it can become as clear a duty as supporting it had been until then.
One writer imagines the reasoning Moses refused to use:
How would Moses have decided if he had argued on grounds of what was expedient? He would have said — "I must remain in the camp. I am needed here more than I ever was. By going outside I shall lose all the power and influence I can now use for the people's good." Instead of arguing this way with the flesh, he acted in the energy of the Spirit. He pitched the tent "outside the camp, far off," and so took his stand alone for the Lord. What was the consequence? Instead of driving away those who sought the Lord, he drew them to himself. He came into the position of power — power with God, and power for blessing to people.
The tent lost nothing by standing far off. What Moses found there he had never had inside:
What was the effect of putting the tent outside the camp? The Lord was in it; He came down to the door and talked to Moses, as a man speaks to his friend... When there had been this separation, Moses got such communion as he never had in the camp... They sought the Lord; that is what governed the whole. The golden calf was in the camp; the Lord was in the tent.
One writer applies the verse to personal life and church life:
Why did Moses do this? Surely to show that, since the Lord could not go with the camp of Israel, they should leave the camp and go with the Lord... It is the same in personal life. If we find the Lord cannot go along with our actions, we should give up those actions and go with the Lord. The same is true in church life.
Another writer sees the same pattern repeated later:
Israel were the Lord's people by profession, but their condition had become such that the Lord could no longer be among them. So it was in a later day, as we learn from the letter to the Hebrews. That is why the call is given there: go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. (Heb. 13:13.)
- Outside because defiled. The idol stayed in the camp, so the meeting place moved out — God's dwelling cannot share ground with an idol.
- Outside by discernment. Scripture records no command; Moses read God's character and the people's state, and acted.
- Outside, not repaired. The faithful were not told to purge the camp but to go out. Separation, not patching, is the principle — even when God Himself once set up what is left behind.
- Outside at a cost. Moses gave up his influence and stood alone. Those who sought the LORD then followed him out.
- Outside is where God spoke. The cloud came down at that far-off door, and Moses received communion there that he never had inside.
And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose up, and stood every man at the entrance of his tent, and they looked after Moses until he entered into the tent.
Israel had made a golden calf, so Moses took the tent and pitched it far outside the camp. This verse shows what the people did next: they rose and watched their leader walk away — and the question is whether watching him go is the same as going.
Moses' move was a verdict on the whole nation. They had put an idol in God's place, so their camp could no longer be His.
He could no longer own the people as a whole. The assembly had become entirely defiled, having set up an idol of their own making, in the place of God — a calf instead of Jehovah. "Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and called it the tent of meeting." This disowned the camp as the place of God's presence. God was not — could not — be there. A human invention had displaced Him. So there was now a new gathering point.
Moses' tent was not the tabernacle God had described; no one had built that yet. But its name came from the Lord, not from Moses.
This, then, was the name Jehovah's tent would carry when it stood in the middle of the camp. Moses used this name for the emergency tent. That showed he was acting on what the Lord had told him during the forty days. He, as it were, said, "O Jehovah, I know You mean to dwell among Your people. I know a tabernacle must be built to Your own specifications. That cannot happen now, because the calf has defiled the camp. But I set up this tent away from the polluted camp, and call it by the name You have chosen — 'the tent of meeting'."
The whole camp stood and stared. Why did one man's walk matter so much?
Now notice what follows: "all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent" (v. 8). I have no doubt this man's action greatly surprised them. He was the leader, he was the mediator, and everything now turned on the action of the one who was the mediator.
Verse 7 said that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tent. Verse 8 shows a different group: those who rose and looked, but stayed where they were.
So there were two categories of people: those who were seeking the Lord and went out of their tents; and the others who only looked from far off from the entrance of their own tents.
Two verses later the same crowd worships — still in the same doorway. Commentators read that detail as the tragedy of the chapter.
All the people in the camp saw the pillar of cloud stand at the tent of meeting, and they stood up to worship in their tent doors. This showed they realised two things. The Lord could no longer grant His presence to the camp that idolatry had defiled. And He owned the new place of gathering outside the camp. And yet it seems most of them failed to separate from the defiled camp. They "worshipped, each man at his own tent door" (v. 10), instead of going out to the tent of meeting outside the camp.
Separation cost Moses the camp. It gave him something no one inside the camp had.
There in separation from the camp, the Lord revealed Himself as He had never done before. It was so striking that the people "rose up and worshipped, each man at his tent door. And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." This was a completely new thing. It was quite different from the majestic messages of Sinai. It was a closeness of approach and fellowship which Moses had never enjoyed before.
This is not only ancient history. The step out is costly, and the way we treat those who stay costs more.
There is here a fine principle of truth, which the spiritual mind will readily grasp. The place Christ now occupies is "outside the camp," and we are called to "go out to Him." It takes much subjection to the word to know exactly what "the camp" really is. It takes much spiritual power to go out from it. It takes still more, while "far off from it," to act towards those inside it in the combined power of holiness and grace. Holiness separates us from the defilement of the camp. Grace enables us to act towards those who are caught up in it.
- Defilement moves God out. An idol displaced God in the camp, so Moses set the meeting place outside it.
- Faith names the future. Moses called the emergency tent by the name he had heard on the mountain, acting on what God had already told him.
- All eyes, one man. The nation rose and watched, because everything now depended on the mediator who walked out.
- The door is the dividing line. Some went out to seek the Lord; others only looked, and later even worshipped, without leaving their own doorway.
- Nearness is for those who go. Outside the camp God spoke with Moses as a friend — a closeness the watchers saw but never shared.
And it came to pass when Moses entered into the tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and [Jehovah] talked with Moses.
Israel had just made the golden calf, and the tent where God met with Moses now stood far outside the camp. This verse records God's own answer to that move, in full view of the whole nation.
The people did not need the sign explained. They had seen this same pillar before.
The children of Israel recognised that pillar. They had seen it only a few weeks before, when they crossed the Red Sea. It had then stood between them and their foes. Now they saw that protecting symbol of Jehovah's presence. It did not stand in the middle of the camp — oh no, that was defiled. It stood at the door of the very tent Moses had pitched outside the camp, where he now was.
The cloud came down as Moses went in. That timing was God's verdict on the move.
At that moment God approved the action of His servant in the most remarkable way. It was an action taught by God, and one suited to God Himself. We know this, because He at once puts Himself by Moses' side. And observe: all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent. They all rose up and worshipped, each at his tent door (v. 10). If anyone wanted to be near the Lord in that day he had to go outside the camp to get near to Him.
God talked with Moses at that door. Set against the mountain, the contrast is the point.
As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud stood at the door. This marked God's approval of the new meeting place. There Jehovah talked with Moses. It was not with that terrible voice he had heard on the mountain, which made him say, "I tremble with fear." That was the condition under the law only. But now the law had been broken, and mercy had come in through intercession. So Jehovah, in His mercy, spoke with Moses in this lonely tent outside the camp, "face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."
There is an order here. Moses meets God's holiness first, and God's resources open after.
He pitches the tabernacle far off from the guilty camp. Then anyone humbled by a sense of sin, who wants to seek the Lord, may seek Him there, away from the defilement. This act met the mind of the Lord, and restored His presence to Israel... The most serious difficulties only unfold to him more of the resources of God. But he reaches those resources only by first responding to the holiness of God.
This was not the tabernacle built later in Exodus. Where God stood, seekers had to follow — and writers read that line forward into our own day.
The word "tabernacle" here in this chapter means "tent." It is not the real tabernacle, for that had not yet been built. It was a tent used as a place of worship, and it now had to stand outside of the camp. All who wanted to seek the Lord had to go to this "tent of meeting," outside of the camp. See Hebrews 13:13. Christ and His gospel are now rejected. The professing people of God are in rebellion and apostasy. So the call is to go outside of the camp, bearing His reproach... Again Moses represents Christ as mediator, only our mediator is higher than Moses. And through Christ we have access into His presence. "Outside of the camp" leads to the closest communion with Himself.
This was not a repeat of an old privilege. It was something Moses had never had before — and that is where the encouragement lies.
Because Moses stood apart from the camp, the Lord revealed Himself as He had not done before... It was an intimacy of approach and communion which Moses had never before enjoyed... This fact is full of comfort. It teaches that ruin, and even apostasy, may mark the professing people of God. Even so, a way into His presence may still be open. It is open to those who can enter into His mind. His grace enables them to take a place outside the corruptions around them. And the Lord will reveal Himself to such people, in response to their faith and faithfulness, in a most special and gracious way.
- Ruin. The golden calf defiled the camp, so the cloud that once shielded Israel at the Red Sea no longer rested among them.
- Response. Moses pitched the tent far from the guilty camp, so that anyone humbled by sin could seek the Lord there.
- Approval. The cloud came down at that door. God took His place at His servant's side, in full view of the camp.
- Nearness. Away from the defilement, God talked with Moses as a man talks to his friend. Moses had never known such nearness at Sinai.
- Reach. Every seeker had to go out to that door. Commentators point to Hebrews 13:13: nearness still lies outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent; and all the people rose and worshipped, every man at the entrance of his tent.
The golden calf had defiled the camp, so Moses pitched a tent far outside it. Anyone who wanted God had to go out there, in full view of the whole nation.
Moses pitched the meeting place outside the camp. God answered where every person could see it.
At that moment God approved His servant's action in the most remarkable way. It was an action taught by God, and suited to God Himself, because He at once puts Himself by Moses' side. And notice — "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." If anyone wanted to be near the Lord in that day he had to go outside the camp to get near to Him.
The people were not guessing at what they saw. This was the same pillar that had shielded them weeks earlier at the Red Sea — but its position had changed.
The children of Israel recognised that pillar. They had seen it only a few weeks before, when they crossed the Red Sea. It had then stood between them and their foes. Now they saw that protecting symbol of Jehovah's presence. It did not stand in the middle of the camp — no, that place was defiled. It stood at the door of the very tent Moses had pitched outside the camp, where he now was.
The nation worshipped — but they did it where they were standing. One writer notes the gap between what they admitted and what they were willing to do.
All the people in the camp saw the pillar of cloud stand at the tent of meeting, and they stood up to worship in their tent doors. This showed they realized two things. The Lord could no longer grant His presence to the camp defiled by idolatry, and He acknowledged the new place of gathering outside the camp. And yet it seems most of them failed to separate from the defiled camp. They worshipped "each at his tent door" (v. 10), instead of going out to the tent of meeting outside the camp.
Writers differ over what drove that worship, and one is content to leave the question open.
The sight of this so affected the people that they worshiped, whether out of fear or whether in humble sincerity.
Sinai had been full of majesty. What Moses found outside the camp was closer and more personal.
Because Moses was separate from the camp, the Lord revealed Himself as He had not done before. The revelation was so striking that the people "would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." This was completely new, and quite different from the majestic messages given at Sinai. Moses had never before enjoyed such closeness of approach and fellowship with Him… This fact is full of comfort. It teaches that ruin, and even a falling away from the faith, may mark those who profess to be God's people, yet a way into His presence can still be found. It is found by those who can enter into His mind, and whom His grace enables to take a place outside the corruptions surrounding them.
The tent in this verse was not the structure God had commanded on the mountain. Moses raised it to meet a crisis.
The reader will understand that this was not the Tabernacle, whose pattern and details God had given to Moses on the mountain. It was a tent, which was now to be a tabernacle, a meeting place between God and those who sought Him. Moses pitched it outside the camp to meet the present need, because of the people's sin. It does not appear that Moses, in this action, had any direct commandment from the Lord. It came instead from spiritual discernment. He entered into both the character of God and the state of the people.
One writer sets this verse beside the ascension of Christ. There too a watching people worship as He passes into the cloud.
When Moses went inside the cloud, he was shut within the sanctuary of God, as if behind the veil. Then the people rose up and worshipped, each at his tent door (Exodus 33). In the same way, when the risen Son of man entered the cloud (Acts 1:9), He passed within the veil of the true temple. The people outside acknowledge the power of His ascension there. Again they look after Him, and worship. But it is here, and only here, that they are His own people worshipping Him.
- Defilement moves God out. The calf made the camp a place where the Lord could not dwell, so the meeting place went outside it.
- Discernment, not command. No direct command is recorded. Moses read God's character and the people's state, and acted.
- The cloud confirms. God endorsed the outside tent by standing at its door — the same pillar the nation had known at the Red Sea.
- Sight is not separation. All the people saw and worshipped, yet they stayed at their own tent doors instead of going out.
- Nearness is the reward. The one who took the place outside heard God speak as a friend. Even in a day of ruin, the way into His presence stays open.
And Jehovah spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. And he returned to the camp; but his attendant, Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from within the tent.
Israel has made the golden calf, and God has refused to go up among them. So Moses pitches a tent far outside the camp, and there God speaks with him as a friend.
Moses set up this tent himself. Where he placed it said everything about the state of Israel.
It does not appear that Moses had any direct command from the Lord when he pitched the tabernacle outside the camp. He acted on spiritual discernment, entering into both the character of God and the state of the people... They were no longer to be the Lord's people — grouped around Himself as their centre; but He being outside, "everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp." So it became an individual thing... Sometimes the Lord's name is dishonoured, His authority rejected, and another authority put in its place. Then the godly must go outside of everything that answers to the camp, if they want to worship God in spirit and in truth.
What did God make of the tent outside?
This act met the mind of the Lord, and restored His presence to Israel.
The new closeness came out of Israel's failure.
After the sin of the golden calf, the tabernacle is moved and pitched outside the camp. In righteousness the Lord disowns the people who have revolted against Him. But there Moses meets Him, and meets Him in a new way, "face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Ex. 33:11). This had not been so before. It was the expression of increased intimacy between the Lord and Moses. It was letting him into friendship with the Lord, such as the church now stands in (John 15:15).
God Himself pointed back to this privilege later on.
I suppose it is this that God calls attention to in Numbers 12. There Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses, and God defends him. He says that to a prophet He would make Himself known in a vision or a dream, but "my servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. With him I will speak mouth to mouth, clearly and not in riddles"... What He refers to is doubtless what we have seen in this remarkable thirty-third chapter of Exodus. There the Lord spoke face to face with him, because he was a man truly separate to Himself in a day of universal departure from the truth.
Nine verses later God tells Moses that no one can see His face and live.
This does not mean that Moses saw God's face (Ex. 33:20), but that there was a close intimacy.
Moses pressed further — and met a limit.
Moses was a man greatly favoured of God, and God spoke face to face with him. But that light only made him cry out for more. He says, "Please show me your glory." Moses wanted the perfect light of God. This is what is meant by His "FACE." God answers him, "No man can see my face and live."
Two verses later Moses shows what he does with such closeness.
In the intimacy of that wonderful hour, Moses said to the Lord, "If I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you" (verse 13)... "He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel" (Ps. 103:7). Israel could only take account of what they saw of the acts of God, but Moses, in communion with God, learned His ways.
Moses did not stay outside. He moved between the tent and the camp:
He passes back and forth between the glorious tabernacle which the cloud guarded and the camp of the congregation (Ex. 33:11). This movement showed his equal access to heaven and to earth, and so showed that he was the mediator, the shadow of our heavenly Priest, Christ Jesus.
The verse ends with two men going two ways. First, Moses' return to the camp:
Moses shows a higher degree of spiritual energy than his servant Joshua. It is much easier to take up a position of separation from the camp than to act rightly towards those within it.
On Joshua's refusal to leave:
He had this sense, I take it: Moses is in a particular relationship with God, he may do what I cannot do... He went out, and stayed out, and God took particular notice of him... The place of blessing for you and me is in the holy presence of God, outside what does not suit God. If we have found that spot, let us stay there, and not go back.
- Ruin. The golden calf drove God's presence out of the camp, and Moses discerned it without being told.
- Separation. He pitched the tent far off, and anyone who sought the Lord had to go out to it.
- Friendship. In that outside place God spoke to Moses as to a friend — an intimacy he had never had inside the camp.
- Limit. "Face to face" describes nearness, not sight; Moses' request to see God's glory was still refused.
- Two responses. Moses returned to serve those in the camp; Joshua stayed in the place of blessing — and God noticed him.