Exodus 40:22

40:22 And he put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain.

Exodus 33:7

The Presence of the Lord

33:7 ¹ Moses took ²  the tent ³  and pitched it outside the camp, at a good distance ⁴  from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone ⁵  seeking ⁶  the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp.

Exodus 26:35

26:35 You are to put the table outside the curtain and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle, opposite the table, and you are to place the table on the north side.

Exodus 29:14

29:14 But the meat of the bull, its skin, and its dung you are to burn up ⁷  outside the camp. ⁸  It is the purification offering. ⁹ 

Exodus 27:21

27:21 In the tent of meeting ¹⁰  outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening ¹¹  to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come. ¹² 

[33:7]  ¹ sn This unit of the book could actually include all of chap. 33, starting with the point of the Lord’s withdrawal from the people. If that section is not part of the exposition, it would have to be explained as the background. The point is that sinfulness prevents the active presence of the Lord leading his people. But then the rest of chap. 33 forms the development. In vv. 7-11 there is the gracious provision: the Lord reveals through his faithful mediator. The Lord was leading his people, but now more remotely because of their sin. Then, in vv. 12-17 Moses intercedes for the people, and the intercession of the mediator guarantees the Lord’s presence. The point of all of this is that God wanted the people to come to know that if he was not with them they should not go. Finally, the presence of the Lord is verified to the mediator by a special revelation (18-23). The point of the whole chapter is that by his grace the Lord renews the promise of his presence by special revelation.

[33:7]  ² tn Heb “and Moses took.”

[33:7]  ³ sn A widespread contemporary view is that this section represents a source that thought the tent of meeting was already erected (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 359). But the better view is that this is a temporary tent used for meeting the Lord. U. Cassuto explains this view very well (Exodus, 429-30), namely, that because the building of the tabernacle was now in doubt if the Lord was not going to be in their midst, another plan seemed necessary. Moses took this tent, his tent, and put some distance between the camp and it. Here he would use the tent as the place to meet God, calling it by the same name since it was a surrogate tent. Thus, the entire section was a temporary means of meeting God, until the current wrath was past.

[33:7]  ⁴ tn The infinitive absolute is used here as an adverb (see GKC 341 §113.h).

[33:7]  ⁵ tn The clause begins with “and it was,” the perfect tense with the vav conjunction. The imperfect tenses in this section are customary, describing what used to happen (others describe the verbs as frequentative). See GKC 315 §107.e.

[33:7]  ⁶ tn The form is the Piel participle. The seeking here would indicate seeking an oracle from Yahweh or seeking to find a resolution for some difficulty (as in 2 Sam 21:1) or even perhaps coming with a sacrifice. B. Jacob notes that the tent was even here a place of prayer, for the benefit of the people (Exodus, 961). It is not known how long this location was used.

[29:14]  ¹ tn Heb “burn with fire.”

[29:14]  ² sn This is to be done because there is no priesthood yet. Once they are installed, then the sin/purification offering is to be eaten by the officiating priests as a sign that the offering was received. But priests could not consume their own sin offering.

[29:14]  ³ sn There were two kinds of “purification offering,” those made with confession for sin and those made without. The title needs to cover both of them, and if it is called in the traditional way “the sin offering,” that will convey that when people offered it for skin diseases, menstruation, or having babies, they had sinned. That was not the case. Moreover, it is usual to translate the names of the sacrifices by what they do more than what they cover – so peace offering, reparation offering, and purification offering.

[27:21]  ¹ tn The LXX has mistakenly rendered this name “the tent of the testimony.”

[27:21]  ² sn The lamps were to be removed in the morning so that the wicks could be trimmed and the oil replenished (30:7) and then lit every evening to burn through the night.

[27:21]  ³ sn This is the first of several sections of priestly duties. The point is a simple one here: those who lead the worship use the offerings of the people to ensure that access to God is illumined regularly. The NT will make much of the symbolism of light.