HEBREW WORD STUDY – TENT OF MEETINGS – ‘OHEL MOED  אהל מועד  Aleph Hei Lamed   Mem Vav Ayin Daleth

Exodus 33:7: “Now Moses would take the tent and pitch it outside the camp a good distance from the camp and he called it the tent of meeting and it came about that everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.”   Verse 11: “Thus the Lord would speak to Moses face to face , just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.”

Contrary to popular opinion the Word of God does not say that God spoke to Moses face to face on the mountain.  He spoke to Moses face to face in the “tent of meeting.”  This tent was nothing special, just your ordinary, every day tent, not unlike any tent you see coming down the pike.  The word for pitch the tent is yikah which means to spread out or pitch a tent, but what is significant about this word is that it is a participle.   This would indicate that he was continually pitching the tent. There is a word in the Hebrew which is often not translated in your modern translations. It is lo which means to him. In other this tent offered a personal encounter with God. If a dozen people were in the tent, it was still personal between each individual and God.   Moses would get up in the morning, pack his tent and take off to some place outside the camp and set up his tent and begin to pray. The passage indicates that Joshua was with him and maybe others. This became something more than just a prayer tent, Moses called it a tent of meeting.   The word meeting is ya’ad.  It is a play on the word yada which means an intimacy and in fact the word ya’ad is used several times for the word betroth.  The word tent is ‘ohel which is also used for tabernacle and in its Semitic root means a place where the presence and revelation of God dwells. The word ya’ad in its Semitic root means heavenly knowledge when used with spiritual discernment it will open a door or portal. In one sense the ‘ohel  carries a meaning of a doorway to intimacy with God.  You could say Moses was calling this a bridal tent where he and others would share an intimacy with God.

In verse 11 we learn God would speak to Moses face to face.  The word speak is devar which are words spoken from the heart.  God would share His heart with Moses “face to face.”  The word for face is pani which also means one’s presence. Putting these two words together with a lamed aleph between and  the word devar in front it is suggesting a heart to heart conversation.  Some rabbis would say a ‘frank, no hold bars discussion.”   The passage goes on further to describe this heart to heart discussion as, like a man with a friend.  The word friend is ra’ah which means shepherd or friend, but it also means a consuming passion.  Literally God spoke to Moses in that open and frank way in tenderness and love as a husband and wife or two lovers would speak with each other. 

Note the rest of verse 7.  “And it came about that everyone who sought the Lord would go to the tent of meetings.”  The word sought is from the root word bakash which means to seek out with a petition.   We learn that when Moses entered the tent the Shekinah Glory, a cloud would descend on the tent.  People would gather around the tent, (and here is the kicker) not all would go in to offer their petitions to the Lord and worship the Lord, they would tell Moses to go in for them and offer their petitions. We also learn at the end of verse 11 that Joshua who would go into the tent with Moses and sometimes refuse to leave after Moses left. When your worship team or leader leaves the stage, how many actually refuse to stop worshipping, how many just continue on worshipping even when the preacher starts to preach? I think some preachers would actually rebuke you. I actually attended one service where you could feel the mood of the congregation just wanted to continue worshipping and the preacher actually started talking about the football game that afternoon. Immediately the mood change and the Holy Spirit yielded the floor to the preacher.   After all he had a sermon to preach and God got His time, enough time in glory, now it’s the preachers turn to get his.  He’ll get his alright.  I have only been in one service in my 69 years where the preacher actually forgot his sermon took the place of the worship team and kept the worship going.   Moses did not rebuke Joshua when he felt the worship time was over, he left the old boy in there to continue to worship as much as his little heart desired.

What I am seeing here are two levels of worship.  One involves the people outside the tent who offer their worship and petitions and the others who are inside the tent where, at least two that we know of, entered into an intimacy with God.  Sometimes I wonder if the worship team and preacher are outside the tent getting all the honor while the congregation were inside the tent.  Like Abraham Lincoln once said about a man who was tarred and feathered and riddin out of town on a rail. Someone asked: “Well, what do you think?”  The man said, “If it wasn’t for the honor, I would just assume walk.” 

I have spoken with some Christians who admit they are getting tired of the usual worship that they have been doing for years.  They raise their hands, sing some I like God songs, speak in tongues, etc. and somehow it just isn’t like it used to be, it sort of lost it’s thrill. Maybe you have been worshipping outside the tent and God is calling you to a new level, to come inside the tent. Are you afraid like the people of Israel to enter that tent? Outside the tent is all you really want, maybe it is a little too intimidating for you to enter that tent and really go heart to heart with God. He just might say something you don’t want to hear.