1 Kings 8:3

3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark,

1 Kings 8:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:3

And all the elders of Israel came
To Zion, the city of David:

and the priests took up the ark;
from thence; in ( 2 Chronicles 5:4 ) it is said the Levites did it, whose business it was, ( Deuteronomy 31:25 ) , and so the priests might be called; for every priest was a Levite, though every Levite was not a priest, and the priests did at all times bear the ark; see ( Joshua 3:15 ) ( 6:4 ) ( 2 Samuel 15:29 ) .

1 Kings 8:3 In-Context

1 At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David.

2 And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.

3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark,

4 and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.

5 There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.