1 Kings 8:9

9 Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb,^[a][b]where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.

1 Kings 8:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 8:9

There was nothing in the ark, save the two tables of stone
which Moses put there at Horeb
That is, there were no other writings; or, as Ben Gersom says, no other part of the law, but the decalogue otherwise he observes there were in it Aaron's rod and the pot of manna, according to ( Hebrews 9:4 ) though the particle there may be rendered "at", or "with", or "by", (See Gill on Hebrews 9:4) and so they might be not within it, but in some place on the sides of it, see ( Deuteronomy 31:26 ) ,

when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they
came out of the land of Egypt;
about two months after.

1 Kings 8:9 In-Context

7 For the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.

8 The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside [the sanctuary]; they are there to this day.

9 Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb,where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.

10 When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord's temple,

11 and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

Footnotes

• [a]. Sinai
• [b]. Dt 10:5