They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Don't wait to be settled before you worship God. A tabernacle in the wilderness is more needful than a palace later; our carcases may fall here, and we may be fixed in another world before we come to fix in this. Moses obeyed every particular in the order God appointed, repeating his obedience seven times over: not adding, not diminishing, not varying in the least punctilio.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 40:16-33
And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle,.... By the Lord himself, or it removed by his order, that is, rose up and stood above the tabernacle, and appeared in the form of a pillar, and went before it: the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys; the motion of the cloud was a direction to set forward and continue...
The altar stood at distance from the tabernacle entrance, not close to it, with the laver between them to the side so the priests could wash without passing near the altar. The court was enclosed last, after everything was set in place. Notably, the sacrificial service began before these things were anointed, following naturally from the text itself.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 40:29-33