1 Kings 8:1-21

The Ark Brought into the Temple

1 ¹Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, ²the leaders of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, ³to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of ⁴the city of David, which is Zion.

2 And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at ⁵the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

3 And all the elders of Israel came, and ⁶the priests took up the ark.

4 And they brought up the ark of the LORD, ⁷the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.

5 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, ⁸sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

6 ⁹Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD ¹⁰to its place in ¹¹the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.

7 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.

8 ¹²And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before ¹³the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except ¹⁴the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where ¹⁵the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, ¹⁶a cloud filled the house of the LORD,

11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

Solomon Blesses the Lord

12 ¹⁷Then Solomon said, "The LORD ^[a] has said that he would dwell ¹⁸in thick darkness.

13 ¹⁹I have indeed built you an exalted house, ²⁰a place for you to dwell in forever."

14 Then the king turned around and ²¹blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.

15 And he said, ²²"Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled ²³what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,

16 ²⁴'Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, ²⁵that my name might be there. ²⁶But I chose David to be over my people Israel.'

17 ²⁷Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

18 But the LORD said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.

19 ²⁸Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.'

20 Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, ²⁹as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

21 And there I have provided a place for the ark, ³⁰in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."

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1 Kings 8:1-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 8

This chapter gives an account of the introduction of the ark into the temple, 1Ki 8:1-9 of the glory of the Lord filling it, 1Ki 8:10,11 of a speech Solomon made to the people concerning the building of the temple, and how he came to be engaged in it, 1Ki 8:12-21, of a prayer of his he put up on this occasion, requesting, that what supplications soever were made at any time, or on any account, by Israelites or strangers, might be accepted by the Lord, 1Ki 8:22-53, and of his blessing the people of Israel at the close of it, with some useful exhortations, 1Ki 8:54-61, and of the great number of sacrifices offered up by him, and the feast he made for the people, upon which he dismissed them, 1Ki 8:62-66.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 30

1. For ver. 1-9, see 2 Chronicles 5:2-10
2. Numbers 1:16
3. [2 Samuel 6:17]
4. See 2 Samuel 5:7
5. ver. 65; Leviticus 23:34; See 2 Chronicles 7:8-10
6. [Numbers 4:15; Deuteronomy 31:9; Joshua 3:3, 6; 1 Chronicles 15:14, 15]
7. [1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chronicles 1:3]
8. [2 Samuel 6:13]
9. 2 Samuel 6:17
10. Exodus 26:33, 34
11. See 1 Kings 6:5
12. Exodus 25:13-15
13. [See ver. 6 above]
14. Exodus 25:21; Exodus 40:20; Deuteronomy 10:2, 5; Hebrews 9:4
15. Exodus 34:27, 28; Deuteronomy 4:13
16. Exodus 40:34, 35; 2 Chronicles 5:13, 14; 2 Chronicles 7:1, 2; [Ezekiel 10:3, 4]
17. For ver. 12-50, see 2 Chronicles 6:1-39
18. Psalms 18:11; Psalms 97:2; [Leviticus 16:2]
19. 2 Samuel 7:13
20. Exodus 15:17; [Psalms 132:14]
21. ver. 55; 2 Samuel 6:18
22. Luke 1:68
23. 1 Kings 6:12
24. See 2 Sam. 7:4-16, 25
25. ver. 29; Deuteronomy 12:11
26. 1 Samuel 16:1; 2 Samuel 7:8; 1 Chronicles 28:4
27. 2 Samuel 7:2, 3; 1 Chronicles 17:1, 2
28. 1 Kings 5:3, 5; 2 Sam. 7:5, 12, 13
29. 1 Chronicles 28:5, 6
30. ver. 9; Deuteronomy 31:26

Footnotes 1

[a]. Septuagint The Lord has set the sun in the heavens, but

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.