2 Chronicles 5:1-14--The Ark Brought to the Temple

2 Chronicles 5
English Standard Version
5 Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God.

The Ark Brought to the Temple
2 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, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3 And all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast that is 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, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. 6 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 7 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. 8 The cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. 9 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. 10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. 11 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, 12 and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; 13 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD,

“For he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever,”

the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.

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We begin this chapter with a summary statement that the work of building the structure of the Temple was finished, and now we need to fill the Temple with all the articles and furnishings required for the priests to serve the LORD (up to this point they have been in the Tabernacle at Gibeon because the priests did not stop serving the LORD during the time that the Temple was being constructed).  Some of the vessels and furnishings were made new, for the Temple, but most were carried on poles by the priests from Gibeon to Jerusalem and set up om their new permanent locations in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The most prominent item to be put into the Temple was already in Jerusalem though, and that was the Ark of the Covenant.  Remember that David had brought it to Jerusalem instead of putting it back in the Tabernacle at Gibeon because he wanted to keep it close to him so that he could inquire of the LORD and worship Him and praise Him more easily.  He set up a tent just for the Ark and assigned doorkeepers (guards) to watch over it and musicians to constantly play and sing before it, but the sacrifices that were offered on the burnt offering and the incense that was offered on the Golden Altar of Incense, and the Table of Showbread and all other articles and items were left in the Tabernacle in Gibeon.  So, the Ark of the Covenant didn't have a very long trip to make, however, Solomon wanted to make a celebration out of it, so he invited all the officials and governors and tribal leaders to be witnesses (and to help offer sacrifices to be offered before it while they were transporting it).  Even though it was a short trip from the tent in Jerusalem to its new home on Mount Moriah, they could not number all the animals that they sacrificed in front of the Ark to make atonement for themselves and to make the path the Ark would travel holy.

The priests carried the Ark on poles as they were required to do, and the poles were so long that they stuck out from the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.  At the time that this book was written, the Ark still remained in its place. which only one of the priests would know, so that probably tells us that the priests were somehow involved in writing this book.  Nothing was in the Ark other than the stone tablets that the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai (notice it is called Mount Horeb here--they are the same mountain with two different names).  There should have also been an omer of mana and the budding rod of Aaron that contained the name of the tribe of Levi to prove that the LORD had chosen the tribe of Levi, specifically the sons of Aaron, to serve before Him as priests, but those seem to have been lost of kept somewhere else.  The text says that only the stone tablets remained in the Ark (maybe a sign that all that the people remembered about the Covenant was the Law and they forgot about the Power, Provision and Protection of the LORD as well as His Providence in choosing them as a chosen people and the tribe of Levi to be holy and represent the whole nation so that the nation which owed their lives to the LORD would be saved by the Levites giving their lives in place in the other people--lives of continual service taking the guilt and sin of the people upon themselves to make atonement for the nation.  If only the people had remembered that there was more to the Mosaic Covenant than just the Law on the stone tablets.  With the Law kept on the stone tablets in the Ark, it was inaccessible to anyone--no one could open up the Ark to look inside it to look at the tablets.  There should have been copies of the Law nearby for the priests and the king to refer to regularly.  We don't know if that's the case, but as we see the kings and the priests continue to become more and more corrupt, if the copies of the book of the Law were there, they were not being looked at for sure or read to the people as prescribed (the whole book of the Law was to be read aloud at least once a year--I think it was during the Feast of Tabernacles).

Then all the priests came out and took up their positions and began ministering.  Some were making atonement for the people; others were playing music and others were signing and giving praise to the LORD.  In the midst of their worship, the pillar of cloud that we call the Shekinah Glory came down and filled the Temple so full that the priests could not enter it to perform their duties inside (to trim the lampstand and keep the lamps burning and to offer incense and to eat the bread of the Presence).

They continued to sing the refrain from the Psalms of David, "For He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever."  This is way in which they stood before the Temple and worshiped day and night.  Only one other time have so far have we seen the LORD's Presence fill a place like this and it was when Moses completed the Tabernacle.  So, this is confirmation to us that the LORD had accepted the work and the sacrifice of the people and once again had chosen to make His dwelling place among them--this time a more permanent dwelling place than the temporary dwelling place of the Tabernacle.  This points us to a better future where the LORD has a permanent dwelling His people in what we call The New Jerusalem and The New Heaven and the New Earth.  While the Tabernacle pointed us to the earthly ministry of Jesus in a "tent" of flesh that He would take on (and He will always bear the marks of the crucifixion on His body for all eternity) there is another promise the Jesus has secured for us that we will all be ministers of God (members of a royal priesthood) that live in the heavenly Temple with the LORD forever and ever when the heavenly Temple comes down as the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, after the first creation passes away and we will dwell with the Father and the Son (and the Spirit though He is not directly mentioned) foever and ever in the New Jerusalem.  Oh, what a glorious day that will be!