Exodus 33:7-11

MOSES ESTABLISHES A TEMPORARY TABERNACLE.

(7-11) Moses, having experienced the blessedness of solitary communion with God during the forty days spent on Sinai, felt now, as he had never felt before, the want of a “house of God,” whither he might retire for prayer and meditation, secure of being undisturbed. Months would necessarily elapse before the Tabernacle could be constructed according to the pattern which he had seen in the mount. During this interval he determined to make use of one of the existing tents as a “house of prayer,” severing it from the others, and giving it the name “Tent of Meeting,” which was afterwards appropriated to the Tabernacle. It would seem that he selected his own tent for the purpose — probably because it was the best that the camp afforded — and contented himself with another. God deigned to approve his design, and descended in the cloudy pillar on the tent each time that Moses entered it.