1 Kings 8:1-11

The Ark Enters the Temple

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. ¹

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

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.

6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, ^[c] beneath the wings of the cherubim.

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

8 The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; ^[d] and they are there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, ^[e] where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

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

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

1 Kings 8:1-11 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.

Cross References

• 1. (2 Chronicles 5:1–14)

Footnotes

• [a] That is, the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths or Shelters); similarly in verse 65; see Leviticus 23:33–36.
• [b] Ethanim was the seventh month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of September and October.
• [c] Or the Holy of Holies
• [d] Literally not from outside
• [e] That is, Mount Sinai, or possibly a mountain in the range containing Mount Sinai