The climax of the consecration chapter is not a ritual instruction. It is a declaration, and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan gives it a weight the plain Hebrew only hints at: the sons of Israel shall know that I am their God, who led them out free from the land of Mizraim to make My Shekinah dwell among them (Exodus 29:46).
The Exodus, in this reading, was not the destination. It was the doorway. God did not free Israel from Egypt so they could wander as a liberated people. God freed them so the Shekinah — the indwelling Presence — could come down and live in their camp. Freedom was the prerequisite for intimacy. Slaves cannot host a Guest; only free people can.
Why did the Shekinah need the Mishkan?
The sages of the classical midrashic period (200-600 CE) puzzled over this. If God fills heaven and earth, why descend to a tent of goat hair and acacia wood? Targum Pseudo-Jonathan sides with the tradition that the Shekinah "dwelling" was never about God's need for a house. It was about Israel's need to know they were not alone. The Mishkan was the sign — portable, fragile, built by human hands — that the Exodus had reached its purpose.
The Exodus story, in this telling, runs in two directions at once. Israel walks out of Egypt. God walks into the camp. Only when both motions complete does the verse come true: "I am the Lord their God." The knowing, the da'at, is the fruit of the Presence having somewhere to land.
The Maggid hears it: liberation without Presence is only motion. Presence without liberation is only constraint. The two together — this is what the Exodus was for.