NOTES for Ch2 5:1-14
1 Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished: and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, put he among the treasures of the house of God. |
2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. |
3 Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month. |
4 And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. |
5 And they brought up the ark, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these did the priests and the Levites bring up. |
6 Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude. |
7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims: |
8 For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. |
9 And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day. |
10 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. |
11 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: |
12 Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) |
13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; |
14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God. |
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At the moment when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Temple, there was nothing in the Ark except the tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The Lord’s invisible presence had no need of symbols, none of which could express Him in all His fullness, but any of which could be turned into an object of idolatry, as happened, for example, with the bronze serpent. Yet another symbol was preserved as sacred over the centuries: the tablets, which symbolized the Lord’s relationship with the human world. The commandments inscribed on them are the foundation of life for those who remain faithful to Him, and they are also a sign of His presence in the world.
At the same time, we see once more how incommensurable His manifestations are with everything accessible to human beings. Even the priests, to whom the prayer of the Temple had been entrusted, could not remain standing to minister when the glory of the Lord filled the Temple.
But it is all the more astonishing that the Lord does not reject the little that we can offer Him. For we are dear to Him...
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