Exodus 33:7

And Moses took the tabernacle— Hence it appears plainly, as we have had occasion frequently to observe before; that there was a tabernacle among the Israelites, before that which was formed and reared by the immediate order of God. We must not, however, dissemble, that some take this to be only the tent of Moses, which he removed and pitched without the camp. But certainly, if the tent of Moses had been meant, it would have been called, in the Hebrew, HIS tent; whereas, it is emphatically THE tent or tabernacle. Saurin observes, that "before the building of the tabernacle, there was a tent, which bore likewise the name that was afterwards given to the real tabernacle. This was the tent of Moses; not that in which he dwelt with his family; but that which was destined for the conference between God and this lawgiver: God talked to him face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend, whether this kind of expression was, as Maimonides thinks, to distinguish that verbal commerce which God held with Moses, from the dreams and visions wherewith he honoured some other holy men, or, as others believe, that it denoted that God spake to him directly, and not by the ministry of angels. This tent was called the tabernacle of the congregation, or, as some render it, the tabernacle of association or meeting; because it was there that Moses met God, and where the people met Moses, when there was an occasion to consult the Divine oracle: God was pleased to give sensible tokens of his presence at such times. It is said, in Exodus 33:10 that all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle-door; and God gave answers there. This tent was set up in the camp of the Israelites before the idolatry of the golden calf: but God ordered it to be removed, the Jews say two thousand cubits; to testify, as is also their opinion, the abhorrence he conceived of their crime: and they build upon what is said, Numbers 35:5 and Joshua 3:4."