2 Chronicles 5

The Ark Enters the Temple

1 So all the work that Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed. ¹

2 At that time Solomon assembled 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.

3 So all the men of Israel came together to the king at the feast in the seventh month. ^[a]

4 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark,

5 and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. The Levitical priests carried them up.

6 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.

7 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, ^[b] beneath the wings of the cherubim.

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

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

10 There was nothing in the ark except the two 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 Egypt.

11 Now all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves regardless of their divisions. And when the priests came out of the Holy Place,

12 all the Levitical singers—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps, and lyres, accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets.

13 The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the LORD:

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

2 Chronicles 5 Commentary

Chapter 5

The ark placed in the temple. (1-10) The temple filled with glory. (11-14)

Verses 1-10 The ark was a type of Christ, and, as such, a token of the presence of God. That gracious promise, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, does, in effect, bring the ark into our religious assemblies, if we by faith and prayer plead that promise; and this we should be most earnest for. When Christ is formed in a soul, the law written in the heart, the ark of the covenant settled there, so that it becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost, there is true satisfaction in that soul.

Verses 11-14 God took possession of the temple; he filled it with a cloud. Thus he signified his acceptance of this temple, to be the same to him that the tabernacle of Moses was, and assured his people that he would be the same in it. Would we have God dwell in our hearts, we must leave room for him; every thing else must give way. The Word was made flesh; and when he comes to his temple, like a refiner's fire, who may abide the day of his coming? May he prepare us for that day.

Cross References

• 1. (1 Kings 8:1–11)

Footnotes

• [a]. That is, the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths or Shelters); see Leviticus 23:33–36.
• [b]. Or the Holy of Holies
• [c]. Some Hebrew manuscripts and LXX The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary; see 1 Kings 8:8.
• [d]. Literally not from outside
• [e]. That is, Mount Sinai, or possibly a mountain in the range containing Mount Sinai

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 5 & 6

The words with which chapter five begins are the same with 1Ki 7:51, and what is contained in that and chapter six is much the same with 1Ki 8:1-66 on which see the notes; the blessing of Solomon on the people of Israel, which is there, is here omitted, and two verses are here added, much the same with Ps 132:8-10.

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