Hebrew Word Study – Outside – Kutz Cheth Vav Sade 

Exodus 33:7: “Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.”

 

This is curious, Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the cave, far from the camp. Why does Scripture say it was outside the camp but then add far from the camp? The word pitch in Hebrew is natah which means to spread out, vault (where we get the idea of pitch), and deviate. I believe there was Divine intent in the use of the word natah to indicate that Moses established this tent to be a deviation or a departure from the established course. This was something abnormal or irregular.  The idea being that the establishment of this tent was to create a situation out of the ordinary course of life. Everyone has routines in their lives. A routine is a sequence of actions that is regularly followed, a fixed program. 

Moses too, had his routines,  He probably had a time to eat, a time to conduct the business of running an exodus, meeting with leaders, and dealing with problems that arise.  But then he was led by God to pitch a tent outside a camp, that is to deviate from his routine.  He had to leave his base of operations to go outside the camp. The word outside is makuts from the root word kuts which is exactly what the word outside means. To go beyond the confines of a specific area. Kuts could be inches beyond the specific area, like the border to many miles beyond the borders. That is why Scripture adds the word harachaq which means to be distant. 

Also, I believe the use of the word harachaq from the root word rachaq is a play on the word racham.  Racham is the love of God, a love specific to God.  This meeting place was a place where Moses went to meet to commune with God, that is a place where Moses could share his intimate thoughts with God and God could share His intimate thoughts with him. 

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Why did Moses have to leave his own tent within the encampment and set up a separate tent far outside the camp? I mean this was a separate tent other than his own dwelling.  If he could afford a separate tent why not set it up within the camp? Get Joshua to stand guard so no one could disturb Moses and God and Moses could spend a lot of quality quiet time together.  

I wondered why I had to leave my little apartment in Chicago and bear the expense of traveling to Kentucky to a monastery to live in silence.  I could easily take a week off of work and live in silence in my own apartment. I mean I do live alone and no one ever knocks at my door or bothers me. I tried that but somehow it was just not the same as when I go off somewhere far from my home base to spend a week in silence. One year I camped out in the Northwoods, another year I rented a little cabin in the Catskills all were very far from my home base and each resulted in a special time with God.  It wasn’t so much that I go the direction of God, answer to questions from God.  I didn’t have any visions of ten-foot angels in combat boots or visits to heaven. These were times of just simply having some quality time with God. Sharing my heart with God and God sharing His heart with me. 

An interesting point of racham love is that it is special.  It is not just any old love experience coming down the pike. Racham is a level of love that kut – deviates from the normal experiences of love, it is a love that is special.  

Although we will never experience the fullness of racham here on earth we can get a taste of it when separating ourselves from this world. In a way almost like dying to the world for a short time but still being in the body.  I believe that is why Moses had to rachaq become distant from the camp.  It was in a way like dying from his world for a short period yet still being in the body. He was separated from his family, his friends, and his business. For that short time in his tent of meetings he was dead to the world but yet still alive. In that state, God could share a small taste of His racham love which was greater than any love he felt while in the camp from not only his loved ones but from God. 

This past week I died to the world for seven days.  I left it all and lived in silence, not even communicating with anyone at the monastery, not saying hello or even looking anyone in the eye. I was like dead for a week but still in the body. It was there that I experience something very special with God, I could not explain it but I have an idea of what Moses experienced with God in his tent of meetings. 

When I returned from my week of silence I had moments of fear.  That fear was that I had no interest in anything upon my return, my apartment, job, my possessions they all seemed to be somehow distant, of little to no value to me.  Gradually, it was like a decompression, I was slowly assimilating back into my life. I began to care about cleaning up my apartment, cleaning out the birdcage, and getting my doves back from going back to work. 

Sometimes God just has to take you to the mountaintop to share a dose of His racham to motivate you to return to the task, the mission He has given you.  Perhaps you should consider finding your own tent of meetings for a short time.  It is sort of like fasting, you can do it for a part of a day, a whole day, a week but eventually, you will have to return from the mountaintop to your mission with a newfound understanding of God’s amazing love.  

 

 

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