1 Kings 8:8

8 And when the bars stood forth, and the highness of those appeared without the saintuary, before God's answering place, those bars appeared no further withoutforth; the which bars also were there unto this present day. (And when the bars were drawn out, the ends of them could be seen outside the sanctuary, in front of the Inner Temple, but those bars could not be seen otherwise; and these bars be there to this present day.)

1 Kings 8:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:8

And they drew out the staves
Not made them larger, as Ben Gersom, than those in the tabernacle of Moses, this place being larger than that; nor did they draw them wholly out, and lay them up in the sanctuary, there being no further use for them, the ark having now a fixed place, and not to be removed; which would have been contrary to ( Exodus 25:15 ) but they drew them out some little way:

that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the
oracle;
not in that part of the temple commonly called the holy place, in distinction from the most holy, for that seems to be denied in the next clause; nor could they be seen there, since there was a wall and a vail between them; though some think they might be seen when the door was opened, and the vail turned aside; and these also pushing against the vail, might be seen prominent, like the breasts of a woman under a covering, as the Jews express it; but the sense is, that the ends of these were seen out of the ark from under the wings of the cherubim, being a little drawn, in that part of the most holy place which is before the oracle or mercy seat:

and they were not seen without;
neither quite out of the ark, nor without the most holy place, nor in the holy place; but were only seen by the high priest when he went in on the day of atonement, and served as a direction to him to go between them before the ark, and there perform his work ^F20; which, through the darkness of the place, and the ark being covered with the wings of the cherubim, he could not otherwise discern the exact place where it stood:

and there they are unto this day:
when the writer of this book lived, even in the same situation.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Vid. Misn. Yoma, c. 5. sect. 1.

1 Kings 8:8 In-Context

6 And [the] priests brought the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord into his place, into God's answering place of the temple, into the holy of holy things, under the wings of the cherubims. (And the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord into its place, into God's answering place at the Temple, yea, into the Inner Temple, that is, the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim.)

7 And the cherubims spreaded forth their wings over the place of the ark; and they covered the ark, and the bars thereof above.

8 And when the bars stood forth, and the highness of those appeared without the saintuary, before God's answering place, those bars appeared no further withoutforth; the which bars also were there unto this present day. (And when the bars were drawn out, the ends of them could be seen outside the sanctuary, in front of the Inner Temple, but those bars could not be seen otherwise; and these bars be there to this present day.)

9 And in the ark was none other thing, no but [the] two tables of stone, which Moses in Horeb had put in the ark, when the Lord made (a) bond of peace with the sons of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt. (And there was nothing else in the Ark, but the two stone tablets, which Moses had put in the Ark at Horeb, that is, at Mount Sinai, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, when they went out of the land of Egypt.)

10 And it was done when the priests had gone out of the saintuary, a cloud filled the house of the Lord;