1 Kings 8:1-6

The Ark Brought to the Temple

1 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Zion, the City of David.

2 All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

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 and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up,

5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

6 The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

1 Kings 8:1-6 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. Numbers 7:2
• 2. S 1 Samuel 3:3; 2 Samuel 6:17; Revelation 11:19
• 3. S 2 Samuel 5:7
• 4. ver 65; S Leviticus 23:36; Nehemiah 8:17; 2 Chronicles 7:8
• 5. S Leviticus 23:34; S Numbers 29:12
• 6. Numbers 7:9; S Joshua 3:3
• 7. S Leviticus 17:4; 1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chronicles 1:3
• 8. 1 Chronicles 15:13
• 9. S 2 Samuel 6:13; S 2 Chronicles 30:24
• 10. S Exodus 26:33; S 2 Samuel 6:17; Revelation 11:19
• 11. S Exodus 26:33
• 12. S Genesis 3:24; S Exodus 25:18; 1 Kings 6:19,27