Shemot 35:2 records that one who works on Shabbat is to be killed and 35:3 records that one cannot kindle a fire on Shabbat. These verses are located immediately after the sin of the golden calf and its repercussions, and before the building of mishkan/ ohel moed. Why were these laws of Shabbat recorded in this location?
Rashi (on 35:2) explains that the people had to know that one was not allowed to work on Shabbat even to build the mishkan/ ohel moed. However, while this message is undoubtedly true, Rashi (on 31:13) already explained that this lesson was known from 31:12-17, which also records laws prohibiting work on Shabbat in conjunction with the building of the mishkan/ ohel moed.
Why is there a need for the laws of Shabbat to be mentioned twice with regard to the building of the mishkan/ ohel moed? One possible answer is that after the sin of the golden calf there was a need to emphasize this prohibition. Yet, while this is also logical, the specific location of the two sets of laws of Shabbat suggests an additional rationale for their repetition.
The laws of Shabbat in 31:12-17 are recorded after the instructions to build the mishkan/ ohel moed, and prior to the sin of the golden calf, while the laws of Shabbat in 35:1-3 are recorded after the sin of the golden calf and prior to building of the mishkan/ ohel moed. Both sets of laws separate the building of the mishkan/ ohel moed from the sin of the golden calf and then the repetition of the laws of Shabbat form a bookend around the episode of the sin of the golden calf, which serves as a literary separation of the sin of the golden calf from the instructions and actual building of the mishkan/ ohel moed.
One difference between these frames of the Shabbat bookend is that 31:12-17 recorded the general law that one must rest on Shabbat without reference to any specific act of resting, while 35:3 refers to a specific prohibition of kindling fire on Shabbat. As the incident of the golden calf occurred between these two references to the laws of Shabbat, this event is most likely the reason for the mention of the prohibition of kindling a fire.
The sin of the golden calf was that the people intended to worship G-d in the way that they thought was appropriate instead of what G-d had commanded. With the building of the mishkan/ ohel moed, the people were reversing their actions with the golden calf. By the golden calf, the people had donated gold to build an idol, while by the mishkan/ ohel moed the people donated gold and other items for its construction. In addition, 32:4 records that the calf was made with fire, and correspondingly, by the building of the mishkan/ ohel moed and the items in the mishkan/ ohel moed, the people had to smelt metals. The prohibition of kindling a fire would prohibit the smelting of the metals, and was part of the message to the people not to repeat the sin by the golden calf when building the mishkan/ ohel moed. If they smelted metals on Shabbat to build the mishkan/ ohel moed, in essence they would be repeating the sin of the golden calf, that the people would be attempting to serve G-d in the way that they thought best, but not what G-d had commanded. Hence, Moshe had to remind the people not to build the mishkan/ ohel moed on Shabbat and specifically not to kindle a fire on Shabbat in order that the people would not repeat the sin of the golden calf. Accordingly, by the construction of the mishkan/ ohel moed, the Torah repeatedly records that the Jewish people did what G-d commanded them, see Or Hachayyim on 39:42 and Netziv on 39:32. This indicates that the building of the mishkan/ ohel moed was based on what G-d desired and that the sin of the golden calf was not repeated.
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