Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion.
The temple on Mount Moriah was finished, but the ark still stood under tents in Zion, the city of David. Solomon now gathers the nation's leaders to bring it up, so that God Himself may come and live in His house.
Building was never the point. Everything Solomon had made was for Someone, and that Someone still had to come.
The temple was finished and all its vessels were in place. Now He for whom Solomon had made it all must come Himself to live in His house. His throne must stand there. The temple stood on Mount Moriah, on the spot where David had set up his altar on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Until now the ark had lived under tents in Zion, the city of David.
The ark had been moving for generations. This gathering is the last leg of a journey that came in three stages, each with its own carriers.
With David seated on the throne of the Lord (1 Chron. 29:23), the first steps began that would bring the ark to its resting place. We say steps, because there were three of them. The first was the move from Kirjath-jearim to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. The second went from Obed-edom's house to the city of David, which is Zion. The third went from Zion to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house on Mount Moriah. On the first journey men carried it on a cart. On the second the Kohathites carried it on their shoulders. On the last the priests carried it into its final resting place.
Priests carried it on this last stage, as they had at earlier turning points.
When the people went through the Jordan — that river a picture of death — the priests carried the ark on their shoulders. This foreshadowed that the Lord would make a way for His own through death. And now, as the ark was about to enter His resting place on earth, priests carried it on their shoulders into its prepared place, never to leave it.
The other temple furniture was an enlarged version of what the tent had held. One thing was not changed at all.
Here we have what is far better and deeper than all the rest — the visible proof that God was present with them… The priests brought in the one great object that had not changed. In all the other vessels the old pattern of the tabernacle was, no doubt, altered a little and enlarged for the temple. The ark was the same. How beautiful, when we think of One who is truly the same yesterday, today and forever. Nothing pictured Him more than the ark.
The ark's long years under tents are read as a picture of Christ.
The ark is the symbol of Christ as the One who upholds the throne of God (the mercy seat). It had lived in tents for many years. This speaks of Christ staying with His people as One with no settled home, until the day when He takes His rightful throne in the millennial kingdom.
David's earlier move of the ark used a picked group. This one takes in everybody, and it falls during the feast that closes Israel's year.
Solomon sets to work to bring it up from there to the temple, along with all the men of Israel, all the elders, all the heads of the tribes and the priests. It is no longer "the chosen men of Israel" (2 Sam. 6:1), as in David's day. All the people share in this complete and final celebration. Final indeed, for the dedication of the temple falls during the great days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the feast that closes the series of Jewish feasts (Lev. 23).
The ark reached its resting place only when Solomon reigned, and the day pointed beyond itself.
It was a great day, and what was happening concerned the whole earth. This was God — the God of Israel, yet the one living and true God — entering His resting place on earth. It was a foreshadowing of what will happen when the Lord reigns in power and in peace. Until Solomon the Prince of Peace was on the throne, the ark did not enter its final resting place. God will not rest until the true Prince of Peace is made King over all the earth.
- Gathered. Solomon calls Israel's elders and family heads to Jerusalem. The whole nation shares in this final celebration, not a chosen few.
- Carried. The ark's road ran from Kirjath-jearim to Obed-edom, then to Zion, and now to Moriah. It travelled by cart, then on the shoulders of the Kohathites, then on the shoulders of priests.
- Unchanged. The other vessels grew larger for the temple. The ark alone stayed the same, picturing the One who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
- Settled. Its years under tents spoke of Christ staying with His people as One with no settled home, until He takes His rightful throne.
- Rested. The ark reached its resting place only under a king of peace. God will not rest until the true Prince of Peace is King over all the earth.
And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, that is, the seventh month.
Solomon's temple was finished, but the ark was still outside it. The date set for bringing it in matters: the seventh month, at Israel's greatest yearly gathering.
The verse does not name the feast. It simply calls it the feast. One writer notes who gathered, and why the feast needs no name:
It is no longer only "the chosen men of Israel" (2 Samuel 6:1), as in David's day; all the people share in this complete and final celebration. Final indeed, for the dedication of the temple takes place during the great days of the Feast of Tabernacles, which closes the series of Jewish feasts (Leviticus 23). It is indeed "the feast" above all feasts, "the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month." This feast properly ran seven days, followed by an eighth, "the great day of the feast" (John 7:37). It came after the harvest and the vintage, which are pictures of judgment. It was the symbol pointing to the wonderful reign of Christ, when the people will live in joy and safety in their tents, remembering the testings in the wilderness, past forever.
Solomon did not invent this occasion. The law had fixed both its date and its message long before:
The Feast of Tabernacles fell on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and lasted seven days, with a holy assembly on the eighth day. Israel lived in booths during the feast, to remember that they had lived in tents when God brought them out of Egypt… It came at the end of their harvest and vintage, when they enjoyed the fruits of God's goodness. The feast pictures the millennium, when the people will enter into full blessing, and the eighth day, the great day, pictures the communion of the heavenly and the earthly.
The millennium here means Christ's coming reign on earth.
Solomon's dedication did not replace the appointed feast. It came first, and the feast followed:
The king invited all the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the family chiefs of the people of Israel, and they gathered at Jerusalem. They came to keep the feast of the Dedication before the feast of Tabernacles. They kept the first for seven days, and then came the eight days of the second.
Those two weeks raise a question the text leaves open. The Day of Atonement, Israel's yearly day of repentance, fell inside them:
Note this about the feast Solomon kept at the dedication of the temple: they kept the Feast of Tabernacles, yet the great Day of Atonement fell inside it… So the great Day of Atonement came on the second day of that feast. Did they keep it, or is it passed over in silence on purpose? The reality it pictured had been fulfilled long before; now only the fruits are gathered.
One more day followed the seven. That eighth day carries its own meaning:
The eighth day, the great day, the new day, the day of resurrection and of the new creation, is added to the feast because those who are raised will have a special part in this joy. It is the heavenly day added to the earthly days. When David brought the ark up to the city of David, that was more a "feast of trumpets" (2 Samuel 6:15), preparing for Solomon's solemn day. Here that very day has arisen in all its glory.
For all its splendour, the celebration had a flaw:
In the joy, or perhaps the excitement, of those stirring days, Solomon and the people did not keep the Feast of Tabernacles quite as Scripture said. Leviticus 23 states plainly that on the first day of the yearly feast they were to make booths of palm branches… They seem to have overlooked this. Nehemiah 8:17 says that the remnant who came back from Babylon "made booths and lived in the booths: for from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so." So Nehemiah paid closer attention to the written Word than the great king Solomon with all his wisdom.
- Timing — Solomon dedicated the temple in the seventh month, at the last and greatest of Israel's yearly feasts.
- Memory — Tabernacles looked back to life in tents after Egypt. Israel kept it once the harvest and vintage were in.
- Hope — The same feast looks ahead to the reign of Christ. Then the people will live in joy and safety, the wilderness testing past forever.
- Eighth day — One more day follows the seven: resurrection, new creation, and the heavenly share in that joy.
- Warning — A great occasion can still miss a written command. The remnant back from Babylon kept the feast more carefully than Solomon did.
And all the elders of Israel came; and the priests took up the ark.
The temple stands complete, but one thing is still missing: the ark. In verse 3 its last journey begins. The elders gather, and the priests lift the ark onto their shoulders to carry it into the house built for it.
The chest the priests lifted was not valued for its gold. Commentators read it as a picture, and they connect its long homelessness with the One it pictures:
The ark is the symbol of Christ as the Sustainer of the throne of God (the mercy seat). For many years it had lived in tents. This speaks of Christ as a Sojourner with His people, until the day when He will take His rightful throne in the millennial kingdom.
The elders named in this verse mark a contrast with an earlier day:
Solomon sets about bringing it up from there to the temple. With him are all the men of Israel, all the elders, all the heads of the tribes, and the priests. It is no longer "the chosen men of Israel" (2 Sam. 6:1), as in the time of David. All the people take part in this complete and final celebration.
Ordinarily the ark was not a priest's burden at all. The law assigned it to one Levite family, which is why the parallel account in 2 Chronicles 5:4 says the Levites took it up:
God's method was only for the Levites of the family of Kohath to carry the ark by means of the staves (Ex. 25:13-14; Num. 3:27-32), though named "priests" in Joshua 4:16-17.
Priests shouldering the ark had happened before, and always at a turning point. One writer traces the whole pattern and reads this occasion as its closing chapter:
Until Solomon the Prince of Peace was on the throne, the ark did not enter its final resting-place. God will not rest until the true Prince of Peace is made King over all the earth. What was taking place foreshadowed that future, so the priests were appointed to carry the ark into its final home. When the people went through the Jordan — that river which stands for death — by the way prepared for them, the priests bore the ark on their shoulders. The Lord, it was foreshadowed, would make a way for His own through death. When the Lord was pulling down the stronghold of the enemy, the ark was again carried on the shoulders of the sons of Aaron. When God took possession of the land through His people, the priests carried the ark. And now the ark was about to enter His resting-place on earth. The priests carried it on their shoulders into its prepared place in the inner sanctuary, never to leave it.
The date given in the previous verse is not incidental. The ark was moved during Israel's harvest festival, the Feast of Tabernacles — the week when the nation lived in shelters and remembered the wilderness:
It was at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month that the priests carried the ark into the temple (vv. 2-3). This feast itself pictures the peace of the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus. Together with the ark, all the tabernacle furnishings were brought to the temple (v. 4). This teaches us that all the lessons of the tabernacle are taken up into the fuller teaching of the temple. Nothing was to be lost.
This day ends something as well as starting something. Israel's worship had been split between two places, and neither of them wins:
For years there had been two centres of interest: the tabernacle with the altar at Gibeon, and the ark in the city of David. From now on there was to be only one. Gibeon did not yield first place to Zion. Instead both stepped aside, as it were, in favour of Mount Moriah.
The tent itself goes up to the temple as well — and then drops out of the record:
All the vessels of the holy place, the altar, and even the tent (vv. 4, 64) are now brought together where the ark is. This is the end of the tabernacle — there is no further mention of it. In this great feast, the memorial of God stands alone — the memorial that the tent was linked with all through Israel's pilgrimage. At last God has found a final resting place in the midst of His people.
- Gathered. Every elder and tribal head came, not a hand-picked few as in David's day. The whole nation shares this final celebration.
- Lifted. The ark stands for Christ upholding God's throne. Its years under tents picture Him as a Sojourner among His people, until He takes His rightful throne.
- Carried. Priests bore the ark at every turning point — through the Jordan, at the fall of the enemy's stronghold, at the taking of the land, and now on its last journey home.
- Converged. Gibeon and Zion both give way to Mount Moriah. The tabernacle is never mentioned again, yet nothing it taught is lost.
- Rested. The ark reached the inner sanctuary during the Feast of Tabernacles, never to move again. God at last had a resting place among His people — a picture of the peace of Christ's kingdom.
And they brought up the ark of Jehovah, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent the priests and the Levites brought them up.
Solomon's temple is finished. Now everything that had served God's dwelling since the days of Moses goes up Mount Moriah. So what becomes of the old wilderness sanctuary once the permanent house is ready?
Israel's worship had been split between two places. One writer describes the day that ended:
The priests came up from Gibeon, in Benjamin, north of Jerusalem. With them came most of the Levites, carrying the tabernacle. That tent was closely bound up with Israel's wilderness wanderings. The Levites too, along with the trumpet-blowing priests whose duties had kept them on Zion, prepared to move. For years there had been two centres of interest: the tabernacle with the altar at Gibeon, and the ark in the city of David. From now on there would be only one. Gibeon did not give way to Zion. Both, as it were, stepped aside in favour of Mount Moriah.
The old tent did not disappear. Its furnishings went into the new house:
At the Feast of Tabernacles, in the seventh month, the priests carried the ark into the temple. This feast itself pictures the peace of the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus. All the tabernacle furnishings came to the temple along with the ark. This teaches us that the fuller teaching of the temple takes up every lesson of the tabernacle. Nothing was to be lost.
The wilderness tent came indoors. One writer notes what the record lists here, and what it leaves out:
The tabernacle and all its vessels from Gibeon rejoin the ark in the temple. So the remembrance of the wilderness journey always remains before God. We are not told of the vessels of the court. Above all, we are not told of the bronze altar that Moses set up. There God in grace came to meet a sinful people. This wilderness altar is replaced by Solomon's altar.
Gibeon had held the tent and the altar while the ark sat elsewhere. This verse closes that arrangement:
The priests have indeed finished with the miserable state of things at Gibeon. All the vessels of the holy place, the altar, and even the tent are now brought together where the ark is. This is the end of the tabernacle — there is no further mention of it. At last God has found a final resting place among His people.
Commentators differ on what became of the tabernacle's furniture. Another writer says none of it entered the temple:
The temple was above all the resting place of the ark. When the building was finished, Solomon and the people brought up the tabernacle of the congregation from Gibeon — the tent of meeting. They brought all its sacred vessels too. This is the last time we read of the sanctuary that Moses built in the wilderness, so full of spiritual meaning. None of its sacred vessels entered Solomon's temple. With the ark it was different. It had not been in the tabernacle since the sad days of Eli. David pitched a tent for the ark in Zion, while the tabernacle stood at Gibeon.
The day had a meaning far beyond Israel:
Now what was it all about? A change of residence for the ark? That was certainly true, yet not the whole truth. The day was a great day, and what was taking place really concerned all the earth. It was God, the God of Israel, the one living and true God, entering into His resting place on earth. This foreshadows what will happen when the Lord reigns in power and in peace. Not until Solomon the prince of peace was on the throne did the ark enter its final resting place. God will not rest until the true Prince of Peace is made King over all the earth. Because this day foreshadowed the future, the priests were appointed to carry the ark into its final home. When Israel crossed the Jordan, that river a picture of death, priests bore the ark on their shoulders. That foreshadowed the Lord making a way for His own through death. And now priests carried it into its prepared place, never to leave it.
- Gathered — Priests came up from Gibeon with the tent and vessels. Levites came from Zion with the ark. Two centres of worship both stepped aside for Mount Moriah.
- Carried — The tabernacle's furnishings came into the new house. The fuller teaching of the temple took up every lesson of the tent. Nothing was lost.
- Kept — With the wilderness tent inside the house, the memory of the desert journey stayed before God. The old bronze altar, though, gave way to Solomon's.
- Ended — This is the last mention of the tabernacle in Israel's history. Commentators differ over whether its vessels entered the temple, but all agree its era closed here.
- Rest — The move was a foreshadowing. God took His resting place only under Solomon, the prince of peace. That points to the day when the true Prince of Peace reigns over all the earth.
And king Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel that were assembled to him, [who were] with him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.
The temple was finished, and Israel carried the ark up to it. This verse catches the moment: the king and the whole nation move with the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen in numbers nobody counted.
Everyone came: elders, heads of tribes, priests, and the whole nation. One writer points out that David gathered only a chosen few, and that this day has a note of finality.
Solomon sets about bringing the ark up to the temple, along with all the men of Israel, all the elders, all the heads of the tribes, and the priests. It is no longer only "the chosen men of Israel" (2 Sam. 6:1), as in David's time; all the people take part in this complete and final celebration. Final indeed, for the dedication of the temple happens during the great days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the feast that closes the series of Jewish feasts.
Everything in the scene turns on one object. The crowd gathers to the king, yet it stands "before the ark" — and one writer finds a lesson there for worship today.
How good it was to see this great gathering united in honouring their God, with His ark at the centre of their thoughts and their movements. Our worship can only be acceptable to God when Christ is the object before the heart, directing all our movements for His pleasure.
Why did one wooden chest deserve all this? The answer lay in what it was made of and what it held.
The ark was the highest picture of Christ in that age of pictures. The acacia wood, and the gold that covered it, speak of who He is: both man and God. The mercy seat on the ark speaks of His sacrifice, for the blood of the sin offering was always on it. As the container for the tablets of the law, it expressed righteousness. Grace in God has found a way for lawbreakers to be blessed. That way is Christ and His atoning sacrifice.
The text gives no number. One writer treats that missing number as the point.
While this work was going on, King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel were sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that no one could count them (v. 6). Every one of these offerings is a picture of the one offering of Christ. Yet the number speaks of the worship of One who is worthy of unlimited adoration, because His sacrifice is of unlimited value.
The same writer looks further ahead. He reads the uncountable animals as a picture of a day still to come.
At this time Solomon and the people offered so many sheep and oxen that no one could count them (v.5). This seems amazing. But it is a picture of the great work of grace that God will do among His redeemed people when the Lord Jesus sets up His thousand-year kingdom. It shows how the people will value the one great sacrifice of the Lord Jesus at Calvary. Their praise will be almost unceasing.
The scale of it raises a question. One writer asks it plainly, then answers it.
We may well ask, why all this great ceremony and rejoicing? Was it only that the ark had reached a resting place at last? That is certainly true, but it is not the whole truth. It was that God — the God of Israel, the one living and true God — was entering His resting place on earth. This was a foreshadowing of what will happen when the Lord Jesus reigns in power and in peace over the earth.
- Centre. The crowd faced the ark, not the king. Worship is acceptable today only when Christ is the object before the heart.
- Person. Wood and gold pictured Christ as man and God. The mercy seat pictured His sacrifice, and the law inside the ark His righteousness.
- Reach. David gathered a chosen few. Solomon gathered the whole nation, at the feast that closes Israel's year.
- Immeasurable. The animals stay uncounted for a reason. One offering of Christ, of unlimited value, calls for unlimited adoration.
- Rest. The day pointed beyond itself. God was entering His resting place on earth — a preview of Christ reigning in peace, with praise that hardly stops.
And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim;
The priests carry the ark into the innermost room of the finished temple and set it down under the wide wings of the great cherubim. Commentators see here the end of a long journey, God's throne at rest, and a picture of a greater rest to come.
Where the ESV reads "inner sanctuary," older translations say "oracle." One writer traces that word from the temple room to a Person.
An "oracle" is of course a speaking-place. Both Kings and Chronicles use the term for the innermost sanctuary of the temple. Failure came in so soon after the temple was built that God may have spoken from His holy oracle in Jerusalem hardly ever, if at all. Yet that was what God intended. Only when the Lord Jesus appeared did that intention come true in full. He could speak of the temple of His body. In Him we find not only the speaking place, but the Speaker. All that God has to say to us is in and through Him.
Cherubim are on the ark itself, and huge standing figures now close over it. One writer asks what this double guard says about God's side of the covenant, and about the people's side.
The ark of the covenant comes into its place. Its own cherubim, beaten out of the mercy seat, are witnesses of this covenant. Beside them stand the tall cherubim with touching wings, who are its guardians. On the Lord's side nothing was missing. All was sure. God Himself faithfully watched over the carrying out of His will. But of what benefit was that under the old covenant if the people for their part were unfaithful to the covenant? It will not be so when the Lord makes a new covenant with Israel. That covenant is all of grace. It has no conditions, and the responsibility of the people will not count at all.
The small cherubim on the ark's lid and the tall ones in the temple room do not face the same way. One writer asks what each set is watching.
The cherubim on the mercy seat looked down on the sprinkled blood. They witnessed the redemption that secured the glory of God's throne. But the cherubim in the temple looked outwards. They witnessed the results in glory won through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everywhere was the gold that spoke of the glory of God.
The ark had spent generations on the move. One writer links its arrival at a settled place to a prayer in the Psalms.
However, it was not always to be a traveller. The afflictions of David, and the wars of Israel too, were to have an end. The prayer was still to be prayed and answered: "Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might." (Ps. 132:8) This most sublime prayer found a partial fulfilment in the best days of Solomon… The sand of the desert would give way to the golden floor of the temple. The wanderings of the ark were to have an end.
(The Psalm appears here in the ESV. The writer used an older translation: "Arise, O Lord, into Your rest.")
The ark has come in from the open air to a golden room. One writer asks whose journey this pictures.
Do we not see in all this a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus entering heaven after His journeys through this world? He has left behind the scene where men despised and neglected Him. He has gone into the presence of His God and Father, where all is glory. In holiness He once passed through a world where everything stood against God and sin had defiled it all. Now He has entered the holy place to rest from all His work.
- Journey. The ark had been a traveller. Desert sand gives way to the golden floor of the temple, and its wanderings end.
- Rest. The prayer "Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place" was partly answered in Solomon's best days. Partly, not finally.
- Speech. The innermost room was a speaking-place. God's whole intention for it came true in Christ, who is both the place and the Speaker.
- Security. Under the wings, nothing was lacking on God's side. Yet the old covenant still rested on a people who failed. The new covenant will be all of grace.
- Glory. The cherubim on the ark looked down on the blood; those in the temple looked outward. Redemption secured God's throne, and glory shows its results. Christ Himself has entered the holy place to rest.