Face to face, or, mouth to mouth, as Numbers 12:8. Not that God hath face or mouth, or that Moses could behold it, which is denied, Exodus 33:20. But the sense is, he spake with him freely and familiarly, and immediately, not by an angel in a dream or vision, as he did to other prophets. See Deuteronomy 34:10. Joshua abode in the tabernacle, either to keep it from injury or inconvenience; for as it was set up by man's help, so it needed man's care to preserve it; or to assist and direct those who resorted thither to seek God in Moses's absence. And Joshua seems to be appointed for this work rather than Aaron, or any other of the elders, because they had one way or other been guilty of the late idolatry, and God would hereby punish them with a temporary suspension from his service, and their office.
Related Commentaries of Exodus 33:11
Exodus 33:11
11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.