The other day, between minhah and araveet the rabbi noted that G-d didn't ask that a home be prepared for Him until after we created the golden calf.
He gave a couple of reasons for the timing, but none satisfy me.
I believe that G-d told us to build the miskan (tabernacle) because He realized that we needed something physical to look at to give us a "warm, fuzzy" feeling that He was (still) with us.
He also needed to leave us something to cling to after Moses a"h was taken away.
If you can remember back to your childhood, try to recall if your mother or father gave you a trinket or other "souvenir" of their presence when they went off somewhere. Maybe it was just a photograph.
You could touch the trinket or look at the photo and "know" that mom or dad soon would return. The "warm, fuzzy" that the miskan gave us in the wilderness.
Granted, many of us were adults when gold was collected for the idol, but consider that our mentality was that of at best a pre-teen. We had been in Egypt for centuries and slaves for a good part of that time.
Slavery may be onerous, but slaves get housing, food, and clothing from their masters - remember that there were those among us who wanted to return to the "flesh pots of Egypt."
Unlike Yetro, we witnessed the wonders in Egypt and in the wilderness, and we knew Moses a"h had a unique relationship with HaShem, but despite all that we still lacked the maturity to understand that we did not need something physical to feel close to HaShem. Yetro, on the other hand, had maturity sufficient to accept an invisible god based solely on exploits Moses related to him.
When Moses failed to return at what we perceived to be the "appointed hour" we did the equivalent of curling into the fetal position and crying with anguish and fear of abandonment. We had not yet given our trust to HaShem.
HaShem must have thrown up His "hands" and thought: "They are just children; let them have their physical reminder of Me."
Torah wasn't enough. Two tablets were insufficient. As children - at least with a child's mentality - we needed something concrete. The miskan was that physical thing.
