Exodus 33:7
And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.
This was a temporary tent for worship, set up before the permanent tabernacle built according to God's pattern had been constructed. Moses pitched this tent without the camp, afar off and at a distance from it. He called it the tabernacle of the congregation, also understood as the tabernacle of meeting.
This was done after Israel's sin, apostasy and perversity, when God directed the move and declared He would not go in the midst of the stiff-necked people lest He consume them. Placing the tent far outside was a sign that God had withdrawn His presence and separated Himself from the people, to reveal Himself to Moses rather than to the unfaithful nation. Everyone who sought the Lord went out to that tabernacle outside the camp to meet Him there. The truly penitent and sincerely repentant were directed to go there to confess their sins with humility, to supplicate God and seek His mercy, and then they returned to their tents.
Going out openly to the tabernacle while Moses pleaded for forgiveness and restoration to favor distinguished the faithful from the unfaithful and required separation from the congregation. The people's removal of their ornaments after God's rebuke expressed humility and penitence and, together with the tent's separation from the camp, marked the seriousness of their sin and their need to seek God. Sincere repentance of heart was required, since sacrifices alone could not remove guilt. The tent remained the place where Moses could meet with God and intercede for Israel, giving the people hope that they would not be destroyed.
The people watched Moses go to the tabernacle, at first with fear that God might destroy them and to see whether God would accept his intercession. When the cloud stood and rested at the entrance as a sign of God's presence while the Lord spoke with Moses, they worshiped from their tent doors and rejoiced in trust that he was pleading for them. The crisis stands as a warning for God's people in every age to acknowledge the Lord, humble their hearts and not harden them against Him, with the same demand for genuine repentance, humility and obedience to God's law.