(18) ויתן אל משה וגו׳ AND HE GAVE UNTO MOSES etc. — There is no “earlier” or “later” (no chronological order) in the events related in the Torah: in fact the incident of the golden calf (related in ch. 31) happened a considerable time before the command regarding the work of the Tabernacle was given (ch. 25 and the following chapters). For on the seventeenth of Tammuz were the Tablets broken (when the people were worshipping the calf) and on the Day of Atonement God became reconciled with Israel (after Moses had prayed 80 days for forgivenness; so that it is very unlikely that the command for the building of the Tabernacle should have been given before that day) and on the next day, the eleventh of Tishri (cf. Rashi on Exodus 33:11, at end of comment on ושב אל המחנה), they began to bring their contributions for the Tabernacle which was set up on the first of Nisan. (From the seventeenth of Tammuz until the eleventh of Tishri are almost three months — ימים רבים) (Midrash Tanchuma 2:9:31).

(1) When God spoke the Ten Commandemnts to Israel face to face, and He commanded them through Moshe a few of the commandments, which are like the principles of the Torah's commandments - as the rabbis practice with the converts that come to be Jewish (Yevamot 47b) - and Israel accepted to do all that He would command them through the hand of Moshe, and He made a covenant with them about all of this; behold, from then they are His as a people, and He is for them a God, as He made a condition with them from the beginning - "And now if you will listen to My voice and and keep My covenant and you will be a treasure to Me" (Exodus 19:5). And He [also] said (Exodus 19:6), "And you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." And behold, they are holy and it is fitting that there should be a temple among them for His presence to dwell among them. And hence He first commanded about the matter of the tabernacle that He should have a house among them that would be dedicated to His name - and there would He speak with Moshe and [continue to] command the Children of Israel. And behold the main object in the tabernacle is the place that the Divine presence would rest, which is the ark, as He said (Exodus 25:22), "And I will meet with you there and I will speak with you from above the ark-cover." Therefore, He had the ark and the ark-cover precede here, as it has precedence in [its] level. And He placed next to the ark, the table and candelabra (menorah), since they are also vessels like it. And [then] they were instructed about the matter of the [actual] tabernacle, for which it was made. But in Parshat Vayakhel, Moshe had the tabernacle and the tent and the cover precede (Exodus 35:11) - and so did Betsalel (Exodus 36:8) - as it was appropriate to have it precede in the [actual] act. And the secret of the tabernacle is that the glory of God that dwelt on Mount Sinai, [also] hiddenly dwells upon it. And it is like it is written there (Exodus 24:16), "And the glory of the Lord dwells upon Mount Sinai," and it is written (Deuteronomy 5:21), "Behold, the Lord, our God, has shown us His glory and His greatness." And so [too] was it written about the tabernacle, "and the glory of the Lord, filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40: 34)." And with the tabernacle, it twice mentioned, "and the glory of the Lord, filled the tabernacle" - corresponding to "His glory and His greatness." And the glory that was shown to them on Mount Sinai was always with Israel in the tabernacle. And when Moshe came [to it] (Exodus 34:34), the [Divine] speech that spoke to him at Mount Sinai [came] to him. And as [Moshe] said at the giving of the Torah (Deuteronomy 4:36), "From the skies, He made you hear His voice, to discipline you, and upon the earth, did He show you His great fire"; so too, about the tabernacle, it is written (Numbers 7:89), "and he would hear the voice speaking to him from above the ark-cover, between the two cherubs and He would speak to him."