When did Moses and Joshua come back together after Moses met with God?
Moses and Joshua resumed their companionship as they came down out of Mount Sinai. Joshua had accompanied Moses up the mountain, but he stayed back when Moses entered God’s presence alone. They came back together on the descent from the mount.
Les explains that when Moses went up into the mountain, Joshua accompanied him, but when Moses went into the very presence of God, Joshua had to stay back, because Moses was absolutely alone with his God. After God gave the instructions for the tabernacle and the law, Moses and Joshua picked up their companionship again as they came down out of Mount Sinai. Joshua then heard the noise of the people shouting and thought it was war in the camp, but Moses told him it was not the voice of mastery or of those being overcome; it was the noise of those who sing. When Moses came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing, his anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them beneath the mountain.
And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.