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.
for the cherubim stretched forth [their] wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above.
Carried through desert and battle for centuries, the ark now comes to rest in the innermost room of Solomon's temple, under the wings of the cherubim. Commentators read the scene as God settling among His people, and they ask why the carrying poles stayed on a chest that would never travel again.
The temple was new. The ark carried into it was not. One writer points out that the building exists for the ark, not the other way round.
The ark is not altered. It was put in the temple, which was only a house built to receive it. The ark was the seat of the presence of Him who dwelt between the cherubim. It was the sign of God's presence, and of His throne set up on the earth. In that sense it had entered into its rest, and so had the Lord whose seat it was.
The ark's travelling days end here. Even the floor beneath it changes.
However, it was not always to be a traveller… The desert sand would give way to the golden floor of the temple. The wanderings of the ark were to have an end; there was "neither adversary nor misfortune," and therefore the poles were drawn out.
(That phrase comes from 1 Kings 5:4. Older translations read "neither enemy nor evil occurrent.")
The wings in this verse are not the small golden figures on the ark's lid. Solomon added a second, far larger pair, and they are what now overshadow the ark.
One of the most unique features of Solomon's Temple was the great cherubim set up in the Holy of Holies. They were in addition to the gold figures on the ark… The large cherubim were each ten cubits high — about fifteen feet. Each had two wings, and the breadth of the wings matched the height of the cherubim. They touched the walls of the inner room on either side, and they touched each other in the middle.
The two sets of cherubim do not have the same role.
The ark of the covenant, with its cherubim beaten out of the mercy seat, who are witnesses of this covenant, is brought into its place. With it come the standing cherubim, their wings touching, who are its guardians. On the Lord's side nothing was missing. All was assured, and God was faithfully watching over the carrying out of His will. But what good was that under the old covenant, if the people for their part were unfaithful to it? It will not be so when the Lord makes a new covenant with Israel — all of grace, unconditional…
In the tabernacle the cherubim gazed down at the mercy seat. In the temple they stand and look a different way.
It is the throne of God, and the cherubim are of one piece with it. They look towards one another, but their gaze stays fixed downwards on the covenant, and their wings stretch out to cover the mercy seat. When Solomon puts his cherubim in the temple, they stood up. The tip of one wing touched one wall, two tips met in the middle of the house, and the tip of the fourth wing touched the wall on the opposite side. They looked outwards, because all the attributes of God were going out to man.
The verse mentions the poles as well as the ark. Why does that matter?
The cherubim covered not only the ark, but its poles as well. On God's part the rest which the covenant gave was as sure as the covenant itself. The poles of the ark are witnesses of its pilgrimage through the wilderness. From now on they are useless and serve no more. They remain as witnesses of the past in the very place of rest… But to be sure of this rest and to enjoy it, one had to enter the Holy Place. Those outside could not take account of it. The final rest of God belongs to those who dwell with Him, to the priests who live in His house.
One writer sees in those poles a memory that will never fade.
The poles were no longer needed for carrying the ark. They remained as a reminder that the ark (a picture of Christ) had once been a pilgrim. In the same way we shall remember for eternity that the Lord Jesus was once on earth as an outcast stranger. All His history on earth will be a matter for our eternal appreciation.
- Unchanged — The temple was new; the ark was not. The house existed to receive the throne of God's presence, and that throne came in unaltered.
- Covered — The great cherubim spread their wings over the ark and its poles. Nothing of it lay outside their shelter.
- Guarded — The small cherubim witness the covenant; the tall ones guard it. On God's side everything was assured. Only the people's unfaithfulness spoiled the old covenant.
- Outward — In the wilderness the cherubim looked down at the covenant. In the temple they look outwards, as God's attributes go out to man.
- Remembered — The poles stayed, useless for travel but kept as witnesses of the pilgrimage. Only those who went inside could see that rest.