Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 33:7

"Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the camp; and he called it, The tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one that sought Jehovah went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the camp." — Exodus 33:7 (ASV)

Moses took the tabernacle. — Rather, Moses took his tent. The Hebrew article, like the Greek, often has the force of the possessive pronoun. The Septuagint translates λαβὼν Μωυσῆς τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ; and so Jarchi, Aben-Ezra, Kurtz, Kalisch, Keil, Cook, etc.

And pitched it without the camp. — Hebrew, and pitched it for himself without the camp. “For himself” means for his own use, that he might resort to it. This was his special object.

The Tabernacle of the congregation. — Rather, the tent of meeting. (See Note onExodus 25:22.) He gave it—that is, by anticipation—the identical name by which the “Tabernacle” was afterwards commonly known. It was, in fact, a temporary substitute for the Tabernacle.

Every one ... went out to the tabernacle. — Though he had designed it for his own special use, Moses allowed all Israel to make use of it also.