This verse takes place after Aharon has performed his korbanot (offerings) at the dedication of the Mishkan (portable desert synagogue).

Why did Moshe and Aharon enter the Tent and then seem to leave immediately.

Rashi, the premier Torah commentator, offers several answers. In one of them, he suggests that Aharon was concerned that despite his offerings, the Shechina, the somehow more tangible presence of G-d, had not yet appeared. Moshe noticed Aharon’s concern and so immediately brought Aharon with him into the Ohel Mo’aid (Tent of Meeting, as previously discussed, this was a place where G-d had ongoing communication with Moshe). They prayed and then the Shechina descended.

Then, Moshe and Aharon left the Ohel Mo’aid and blessed the people to whom the Shechina was now apparent. The people were relieved that Aharon’s offerings had been accepted, (especially the aigel (calf) as recompense for the sin of the aigel hazahav (the golden calf).

Moses’ concern for Aharon is noteworthy. Perhaps this mirrors the situation immediately after the aigel hazahav when Moses said that if G-d would not forgive the people, ‘mechayni na misifrecha asher katavta’ (write me out of the scroll which you have written), Shemot (Exodus) 32:32. Moshe was more concerned with the Jewish people than his own place in history.

Rabbi Meir Simcha Cohen of Dvinsk, one of the great figures of the 20^th century Rabbinate, develops this theme in his work ‘Meshech Chochma’. He writes that Moses’ conduct shows that he shared Aharon’s concerns at the lack of response to the offerings and appreciation of the ramifications of the aigel hazahav.

For example, before the aigel hazhav, the people had seen the presence of G-d at Har Sinai (Mount Sinai) in the form of fire. After the eigel hazahav, the people could not even look at the face of Moshe (which was covered with a mask) let alone see the presence of G-d in the form of fire.

Why then did Aharon enter the Ohel Mo’aid? The invitation of Aharon (the main character in the story of the Eigel Hazahav) to enter the Ohel Mo’aid, the place where Moshe was able to remove his mask, showed that the eigel hazahav had been forgiven as Aharon could see Moshe’s face without the mask, as before the eigel hazahav.

Perhaps we can suggest that the ‘honour’ of G-d appearing to the people showed that the aigel hazahav had been forgiven. Thus, the people were relieved, Moshe and Aharon could bless the people and, as the next pasuk (verse) tells us, the people then rejoiced.