It sounds to me, as "The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend". Ex 33:11..I believe is showing us that Moses went in freely and stood before the Mercy Seat and spoke with God face to face...then it says Moses went back to the camp...but Joshua stayed at the Tabernacle ( probs in the Holy Place worshiping)
If you follow the narrative closely in this instance you will note that this statement
precedes the building of the typical Tabernacle with its two adjoining chambers the holy and most holy and took place in Moses’
personal tent (also referred to as the tabernacle or “
tent of meeting”, See Verse 7). Likewise Moses could not have stood before the Mercy Seat because the Ark of the Covenant had not yet been built.
Moses was forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai receiving the commandments of God during this time God showed him the pattern of the Tabernacle and gave instructions for constructing it (Exodus Chapters 25–31). Subsequently after having descended he told the Israelites what he had seen and the Lord’s wish that they offer offerings to the Lord for its construction.
The construction of the materials which would compose the Tabernacle (its curtains, post, sockets and etc.) took place first (as outlined in Chapter 36), followed by the construction of the Ark of the Covenant (Chapter 37), as well as the other pieces of furnishings including the Brazen Altar and Laver for the courtyard, then followed the fashioning of the materials use in the courtyard itself (its curtains, post, sockets, ropes and pins).
The Tabernacle was erected on the first day of the first month (
Exod 40:1)
of the second year (see Verse 17),
that is, on the first of Abib (Nisan) in the second year.
How do you see Moses speaking 'face to face' in the Tabernacle, if not within the Holy of Holies where God had said ..Ex 25:22 "And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."
Before we address the “
face to face” issue I must apologize for the statement I made in my last post where I stated, “
Moses never entered the Tabernacle proper at all, period”, you were correct Moses was indeed permitted to enter the Tabernacle proper on various occasions after its construction.
For the first 39 years of the Tabernacle, both Aaron and Moses had access to the Most Holy. Moses went into the structure to commune with God—except on rare occasions when a different procedure was used.” Whether or not Moses was required to follow the same procedures as the High Priest before entering the Most Holy is not stated. Following the death of Moses there are no more instances where anyone other than the High Priest was permitted entry into the Most Holy. In fact the only other instance where anyone other than a priest entered the Tabernacle was in the case of King David when he entered the holy and partook of the show-bread.
I have two posts which I believe will aid in understanding the true intent or meaning behind the phrase “
face to face”, which I will post on my blog rather than here as they are not necessarily related to the subject of this thread. One is entitled, “
Servants, Friends, Sons”, the other “
An Interesting Question”.