1 Kings 8:1-11--The Ark Brought into the Temple

1 Kings 8:1-11
English Standard Version

The Ark Brought into the Temple
8 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 And they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. 5 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. 8 And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

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The Temple has been constructed and furnished with everything other than the Ark of the Covenant which needed to be moved by the priests on poles of acacia wood overlaid with gold that went through the rings on the Ark of the Covenant.  When the people have tried to move the Ark any other way than the way prescribed by the LORD, bad things have happened, even resulting in the death of those trying to keep the Ark safe during transit.

So it was in the seventh month (a holy month unto the LORD that had the Feast of Trumpets, then the Day of Atonement, and then the Feast of Tabernacles).  The priests took up the Ark and moved it to the Temple into the Most Holy place underneath the wings of the cherubim that had been built.  There were many sacrifices offered that day to to celebrate that they could not be counted.

The text records that the poles were so long that they actually came out into the Holy Place and could be seen by the priests who ministered there, but they could not be seen by those who were common people in the Courtyard.  The Ark was left with the poles in it.  The text was written some time after these events happened as the author says that it was still like it "to this day," but we know this Temple was destroyed when the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem not that many years after this (the wisdom of Solomon was a gift from the LORD and not a genetic trait passed to his sons).

While the Ark originally contained the Law, the rod of Aaron, and a jar measuring one omar of manna (the daily provision for one person), the text says that the only thing that remained in the Ark at this time is the Law.  It seems that Aaron's rod and the omar of manna (which represented the power of the LORD to do miracles, even regeneration to take something that was dead to make it alive, and the daily provision of the LORD for all His people) had been lost and maybe even forgotten.  Only the Law had been kept safe during all this time.  Even that was by the work of the LORD to preserve His Word for He tells us that heaven and earth will pass away, but not a jot or tittle of the Law will pass away until everything is accomplished.  Jesus tells us plainly that He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it.

Then we see something just like we saw in the book of Exodus when the Tabernacle had finished being constructed.  The glory of the LORD that we knew as the pillar of cloud that led the people through the wilderness, filled the sanctuary so full that no one could be in that place for the LORD filled the entire Temple with His Presence.  This is something the people have not seen for many, many generations--thousands of years, yet this is the LORD's approval of everything that Solomon and Hiram have built and that it is an acceptable dwelling place for Him among His people.  There is really no place in heaven or on Earth that can fully contain the Presence of the LORD.  The whole universe isn't large enough to contain Him, but He chose to be contained in the Temple in this way in the same way that Jesus would chose to take on human form and be contained in a human body when John 1 tells us "And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us...." (Literally He "tabernacled" among us).  "...and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14).   Jesus is the ultimate fulfilment of the Tabernacle and the Temple, and everything about both of them is to point us to Him and His priestly ministry of atonement and intercession for His people.  They are only a picture to us of the ministry of our Great High Priest in heaven and the work He continually does on our behalf there and one day the heavenly Temple where He ministers will come out of Heaven as the New Jerusalem and the dwelling place of God will be the dwelling place of men and we will live in the presence of the Father and the Son forever and ever.  The Temple points forward to all of this.  It points back to the Garden and creation, and points forward to Revelation and the New Creation, and so much more.