Exodus 33:8-11

8-11. These verses show that this tent served a special purpose in the Sinaitic revelation of Jehovah . Into it Moses entered to plead and to receive divine communications, and there Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend . The cloudy pillar was a medium of communication, for according to the most correct translation of Exodus 33:9 it was the pillar that descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and… talked with Moses. Jehovah spoke through, or out of, the cloud. The speaking with Moses face to face did not involve a sight of God’s face, for he explains in Exodus 33:20 that no man could see his face and live. So he communed with him from the cloud which veiled his glory. All the people were permitted to behold the cloudy pillar in the distance, but only Moses and Joshua entered the tent, and it is said that when Moses returned to camp Joshua tarried behind and departed not out of the tabernacle. The tent was not to be left altogether alone, and so it would seem that Moses’s servant stayed as on guard.