They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
When the tabernacle and the furniture of it were prepared, they did not put off the rearing of it till they came to Canaan, though they now hoped to be there very shortly; but, in obedience to the will of God, they set it up in the midst of their camp, while they were in the wilderness.
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...
Exo 40:29-33 The altar of burnt-offering was then placed “before the door of the dwelling of the tabernacle,” and the laver “between the tabernacle and the altar,” from which it is evident that the altar was not placed close to the entrance to the dwelling, but at some distance off, though in a straight line with the door.
Commenting on Exodus 40:29-33