EHP Day 21-In the Tent of Meeting Part 1
Exodus 33:7-9
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. 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. 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.
Following their deliverance from Egyptian slavery, Israel the nation traversed into the Sinai Peninsula and camped around the mountain where Moses first met the Lord (cf. previous devotional). Though Moses re-ascended the mount to secure additional revelation, an impatient populace soon went off the rails. A golden calf enflamed their adulterous worship until Moses returned with executionary judgment. Exodus 32 finds Moses pleading with the LORD not to give up on His people, nor His promises.
Architectural plans already defined where people could approach God; namely, the Tabernacle (cf. Ex. 26), itself frequently called “the tent of meeting.” Inside exterior canvas walls were courts, sacred furniture, and both the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. With sacrificial blood, a priest could meet with God in the inner tent (cf. Lev. 16, Heb. 9:3-5), atoning for a nation’s sins.
Interestingly, Exodus 33 speaks of a unique-to-Moses tent-of-meeting, outside the encampment of the tribes, separate from the Tabernacle. There, God and Moses talked as gazing outsiders looked on. As the divine Pillar descended, people stood in their entryways, aware, anticipating, wondering what God would discuss and disclose with a servant who shared His heart. Like you?
Journal Notes