Melachim Alef 8:8

8 They drew out the poles, that the ends of the poles were seen out in the Kodesh before the Devir, but they were not seen from the outside; there they are unto this day.

Melachim Alef 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.

Melachim Alef 8:8 In-Context

6 And the Kohanim brought in the Aron Brit Hashem unto its makom, in the Devir HaBayit, the Kodesh HaKodashim, even under the wings of the keruvim.

7 For the keruvim spread forth their kenafayim (wings) over the place of the Aron, and the keruvim overshadowed the Aron and the poles thereof.

8 They drew out the poles, that the ends of the poles were seen out in the Kodesh before the Devir, but they were not seen from the outside; there they are unto this day.

9 There was nothing in the Aron except the two Luchot HaAvanim (Tablets of Stone), which Moshe placed there at Chorev, when Hashem cut a Brit with the Bnei Yisroel, when they came out of Eretz Mitzrayim.

10 And it came to pass, when the Kohanim were come out of the Kodesh, that the anan filled the Beis Hashem,