CHAPTER 5

(1005 B.C.)

THE TEMPLE COMPLETED

¹Thus 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. (Solomon was seven years in building the Temple [I Ki. 6:38]. Now it is time for the dedication.)

LEADERS ASSEMBLED FOR THE DEDICATION

²Then 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.

³Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the Feast which was in the seventh month (this was the Feast of Tabernacles, which convened in October [Lev. 23:33]).

THE ARK BROUGHT INTO THE TEMPLE

⁴And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the Ark (these were Priests, who also were Levites, who were the only ones who could carry the Ark; they were Types of Christ, Who Alone is the Door to the Throne of God, of which the Ark was a Type).

⁵And 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 (all of these holy vessels were by now a little over 600 years old; they, no doubt, were put among the treasures of the House of God in a separate chamber).

⁶Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled unto him before the Ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude (all the gold and precious stones in this magnificent Temple could not redeem one precious soul; only the Blood of Jesus could do such; consequently, the thousands of animals slaughtered, which soaked the ground with blood, were an eternal Type of the great price that would be paid at Calvarys Cross).

⁷And 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:

⁸For the Cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the Ark, and the Cherubims covered the Ark and the staves thereof above.

⁹And they drew out the staves of the Ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the Ark before the Oracle (signifying that it was to be moved no more); but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day (this proves that this section of II Chronicles was written before the destruction of the Temple).

¹⁰There was nothing in the Ark save the two tables (Ten Commandments) which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the LORD made a Covenant with the Children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt (when Paul, in Heb. 9:4, mentioned the golden pot of Manna and Aarons rod being in the Ark, he was speaking of the Ark while in the Tabernacle instead of the Temple; it is not known when these two things were removed).

THE GLORY OF GOD APPEARS

¹¹And it came to pass, when the Priests were come out of the Holy Place: (for all the Priests who were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course [when the Priests had placed the Ark in the Most Holy Place, they left, never to enter this place again, except for the visit of the High Priest once a year, which was on the Great Day of Atonement]:

¹²Also 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 [the Brazen Altar, which sat in front of the Temple], and with them an hundred and twenty Priests sounding with trumpets [all of this signifies worship]:)

¹³It 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 music, and praised the LORD, saying, For He is good; for His Mercy endures for ever: that then the House was filled with a Cloud, even the House of the LORD (this was the Glory and the Power of God);

¹⁴So that the Priests could not stand to minister by reason of the Cloud (meaning that their knees buckled under them, and they fell to the floor, because of the magnitude of the Power of God being manifested): for the Glory of the LORD had filled the House of God. (Paul says that now we are the Temple of God [I Cor. 3:16], and that the Spirit of God dwells in us. The next question is, Is He allowed to have His Perfect Way within our lives? If He is, then the Glory of the Lord will fill this House of God, as well.)