2 Chronicles5

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¹When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and all the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of God’s temple.

²Then Solomon summoned to 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.

³And all the Israelites came together to the king at the time of the festival in the seventh month.

⁴When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark,

⁵and they brought up the ark and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The Levitical priests carried them up;

⁶and 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.

⁷The 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.

⁸The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles.

⁹These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.

¹⁰There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

¹¹The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions.

¹²All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets.

¹³The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud,

¹⁴and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

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Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 2 Chronicles 5.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: The ark placed in the temple. (1–10). The temple filled with glory. (11–14).

vv1-10

The ark was a type of Christ, and, as such, a token of the presence of God. That gracious promise, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, does, in effect, bring the ark into our religious assemblies, if we by faith and prayer plead that promise; and this we should be most earnest for. When Christ is formed in a soul, the law written in the heart, the ark of the covenant settled there, so that it becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost, there is true satisfaction in that soul.

vv11-14

God took possession of the temple; he filled it with a cloud. Thus he signified his acceptance of this temple, to be the same to him that the tabernacle of Moses was, and assured his people that he would be the same in it. Would we have God dwell in our hearts, we must leave room for him; every thing else must give way. The Word was made flesh; and when he comes to his temple, like a refiner's fire, who may abide the day of his coming? May he prepare us for that day.

Key Words

allH3605Hebrew

כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)

workH4399Hebrew

מְלָאכָה: properly, deputyship, i.e. ministry; generally, employment (never servile) or work (abstractly or concretely); also property (as the result of labor)

thatH834Hebrew

אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.

SolomonH8010Hebrew

שְׁלֹמֹה: Shelomah, David's successor

didH6213Hebrew

עָשָׂה: to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application

houseH1004Hebrew

בַּיִת: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)

finishedH7999Hebrew

שָׁלַם: to be safe (in mind, body or estate); figuratively, to be (causatively, make) completed; by implication, to be friendly; by extension, to reciprocate (in various applications)

brought inH935Hebrew

בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)

thingsH6944Hebrew

קֹדֶשׁ: a sacred place or thing; rarely abstract, sanctity

DavidH1732Hebrew

דָּוִד: David, the youngest son of Jesse