Chapter Five

The transfer of the ark of the covenant from David’s tabernacle into the temple

(Cf. 1 Kgs 8:1-11)

1–3. Assembly of the elders of Israel in the seventh month for the celebration of the transfer of the ark. 4–6. Transfer of the ark and Solomon’s numerous sacrifices. 7–10. Placement of the ark in the Holy of Holies. 11–14. Singing of Levites and playing of musical instruments; a theophanic cloud fills the temple.

2 Chronicles 5:1. So all the work that Solomon produced for the house of the Lord was completed. And Solomon brought in the things dedicated by David his father, and the silver and gold and all the furnishings he deposited in the treasuries of the house of God. 2 Chronicles 5:2. Then Solomon gathered the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David, that is, from Zion. 2 Chronicles 5:3. And all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast in the seventh month. The remark in verse 1 about Solomon’s placing the treasures of David in the temple is a repetition (1 Kgs 7:51) (cf. 2 Sam 8:7-12; 1 Chr 18:7-11). These treasures were probably placed in the three-story annexes of the temple. Verses 2–3 cf. (1 Kgs 8:1-2). In 2 Chronicles the name of the 7th month “Ethanim” or “Aphraim” (later “Tishri”) is not given, as it is in 3 Kings. According to Blessed Theodoret, the assembly of the people took place at the Feast of Tabernacles (Migne, “Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series graeca”, vol. 80, p. 822).

2 Chronicles 5:4. And all the elders of Israel came. The Levites took up the ark 2 Chronicles 5:5. and they carried the ark and the tent of meeting and all the holy things that were in the tent – the priests and the Levites carried them. 2 Chronicles 5:6. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him at the ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered, because of their multitude. According to (1 Kgs 8:3) the ark was lifted and carried by the priests, as also required by (Num 4:15). Yet here, verse 4, as well as in (1 Chr 15:2) and (2 Sam 6:15), the right to carry the ark is presented as belonging to the Levites or “priests-Levites”, as one should properly translate from the Hebrew: (gak) koganim (ga) leviim; “Levites” is the generic concept, “priests” is the specific one (cf. Deut 10:8). See Prof. F. G. Eleonskiy, “The Theocratic and Economic State of Old Testament Levitism and Priesthood according to the Laws of the Pentateuch”, Christian Readings, 1875, August, pp. 192–207; cf. Fr. G. Titov, “History of Priesthood and Levitism of the Old Testament Church”, Tiflis, 1876, pp. 63–64, note 2.

2 Chronicles 5:7. And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, into the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. 2 Chronicles 5:8. And the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above. 2 Chronicles 5:9. And the poles extended so that the ends of the poles of the ark were visible from the inner sanctuary, but were not visible from outside; and they are there to this day. 2 Chronicles 5:10. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, after they came out of Egypt. The remark about the poles of the ark and their presence here down to this day (verse 9, cf. (1 Kgs 8:8)) belongs to the composer of the ecclesiastical-state chronicles who was contemporary with Solomon, not to the sacred writer of the Books of Chronicles himself, presumably Ezra: already under Rehoboam the precious vessels of the temple were stolen by the Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kgs 14:25-26; 2 Chr 12:9), and after the captivity, in the Temple of Zerubbabel there was not even the ark itself. Thus, this remark, like other features of the narrative, points to the documentary character of the accounts in the Book of Chronicles (Cornelius a Lapide ad hoc locum. Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky, “The State Annals of the Kings of Judah”, Works of the Kiev Spiritual Academy, No. 8, pp. 420–421; Prof. P. A. Yungerov, “The Origin and Historicity of the Book of Chronicles”, 1905, September, pp. 15–16; Cf. “Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, p. 461). From the remark of verse 10: “there was nothing in the ark (of Solomon’s temple) except the two tablets” (cf. (1 Kgs 8:9)) one can already conclude that in Moses’ tabernacle the ark contained something else as well: namely, according to (Heb 9:4) there were, besides the tablets of the covenant (cf. Deut 10:1), also the golden pot of manna (Exod 16:32-34) and Aaron’s staff that had budded ((Num 17:10); see “Explanatory Bible”, I, pp. 328 and 546; Prof. Olesnitsky, “The Old Testament Temple”, p. 151).

2 Chronicles 5:11. When the priests came out of the sanctuary, for all the priests who were there had sanctified themselves without regard to their divisions; 2 Chronicles 5:12. and the Levite singers, all of them, that is, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and their brothers, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals and lyres and harps, stood on the east side of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding trumpets, 2 Chronicles 5:13. 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 sound of the trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments rose up, and they praised the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever; then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 2 Chronicles 5:14. and the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. In comparison with the parallel verses (1 Kgs 8:10-11) there is here a considerable insertion of a documentary character: testimony about the Levite choirs, established by David while at the tabernacle on Zion and Gibeon (1 Chr 16:4) and further, 37; 1 Chr 25:7-31), their principal leaders: Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, and the solemn singing with the playing of the temple orchestra at the dedication of the temple (see in Fr. G. Titov, “History of Priesthood and Levitism”, pp. 94–98). Regarding Asaph and Heman, cf. (1 Kgs 4:31) and the commentaries in the “Explanatory Bible”, II, 382–383. Concerning the cloud of glory of Jehovah – “Explanatory Bible”, II, p. 401.