22
Prophets and Kings
Israel and the most influential men among the people, had returned
from another part of the city, whence they had brought the ark of the
testament. From the sanctuary on the heights of Gibeon had been
transferred the ancient “tabernacle of the congregation, and all the
holy vessels that were in the tabernacle” (
2 Chronicles 5:5
); and these
cherished reminders of the earlier experiences of the children of Is-
rael during their wanderings in the wilderness and their conquest of
Canaan, now found a permanent home in the splendid building that
had been erected to take the place of the portable structure.
In bringing to the temple the sacred ark containing the two tables
of stone on which were written by the finger of God the precepts of the
Decalogue, Solomon had followed the example of his father David.
Every six paces he sacrificed. With singing and with music and with
great ceremony, “the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the
Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy
place.”
Verse 7
. As they came out of the inner sanctuary, they took
the positions assigned them. The singers—Levites arrayed in white
linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps—stood at the east end
of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with
trumpets. See
Verse 12
.
“It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one,
to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and
[39]
when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and
instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good;
for His mercy endureth forever: that then the house was filled with a
cloud, even the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand
to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled
the house of God.”
Verses 13, 14
.
Realizing the significance of this cloud, Solomon declared: “The
Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness. But I have
built an house of habitation for Thee, and a place for Thy dwelling
forever.”
2 Chronicles 6:1, 2
.