ויהי ביום השמיני. היה נראה לנו כי ביום השמיני שמיני לניסן כי המשכן הוקם באחד לחדש רק המעתיקים אמרו שהיה ראש חדש ניסן ובשבעת ימי המלואים היה משה מקים את המשכן בכל יום וסותרו כדי להרגיל בו וללמד: AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE EIGHTH DAY. It would have appeared to us that the eighth day is the eighth day of Nisan, for the tabernacle was erected on the first day of the month.1See Ex. 40:2. However, the transmitters of tradition2The Rabbinic sages. said that the reference is to the first of Nisan.3See Seder Olam 7:1. Moses erected and took apart the tabernacle on each one of the seven days of consecration4See I.E. on Ex. 40:2 (Vol. 2, p. 754). to train and teach.5The kohanim how to do it.
קרא משה לאהרן ולבניו. ויצאו מפתח אהל מועד או העדה נכנסה אל החצר: THAT MOSES CALLED AARON AND HIS SONS. And they went out from the opening of the tent of meeting.6The kohanim left the opening of the tent of meeting where they had to stay during the seven days of consecration (Lev. 8:35) and went into the camp of Israel to meet the elders (Filwarg). On the other hand, the congregation entered the courtyard.7On the other hand, the elders may have entered the temple courtyard to meet the kohanim. During the seven days of consecration the kohanim and the elders were separated. On the eighth day Moses spoke to them as a group. Hence the two possibilities offered by I.E. as to how they met.