7 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;
-- And he made a mercy-seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And he made two cherubim of gold; of beaten work did he make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat; one cherub at the end of one side, and one cherub at the end of the other side; out of the mercy-seat he made the two cherubim at the two ends thereof. And the cherubim spread out [their] wings over it, covering over with their wings the mercy-seat; and their faces were opposite to one another: the faces of the cherubim were [turned] toward the mercy-seat.
And he made in the oracle two cherubim of olive-wood, ten cubits high; and one wing of the cherub was five cubits, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub, ten cubits from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing; and the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so of the other cherub. And he set the cherubim in the midst of the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched, wing to wing, in the midst of the house. And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.
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; for the cherubim stretched forth [their] wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above.
having a golden censer, and the ark of the covenant, covered round in every part with gold, in which [were] the golden pot that had the manna, and the rod of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tables of the covenant; and above over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; concerning which it is not now [the time] to speak in detail.
and the candlesticks with their lamps to burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 5
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
2Ch 5:1. The Dedicated Treasures.
1. Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated—the immense sums and the store of valuable articles which his father and other generals had reserved and appropriated for the temple (1Ch 22:14; 26:26).
2Ch 5:2-13. Bringing Up of the Ark of the Covenant.
2, 3. Then Solomon assembled … in the feast which was in the seventh month—The feast of the dedication of the temple was on the eighth day of that month. This is related, word for word, the same as in 1Ki 8:1-10.
9. there it is unto this day—that is, at the time when this history was composed; for after the Babylonish captivity there is no trace of either ark or staves.
11. all the priests that were present … did not then wait by course—The rotation system of weekly service introduced by David was intended for the ordinary duties of the priesthood; on extraordinary occasions, or when more than wonted solemnity attached to them, the priests attended in a body.
12. the Levites which were the singers—On great and solemn occasions, such as this, a full choir was required, and their station was taken with scrupulous regard to their official parts: the family of Heman occupied the central place, the family of Asaph stood on his right, and that of Jeduthun on his left; the place allotted to the vocal department was a space between the court of Israel and the altar in the east end of the priests' court.
with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets—The trumpet was always used by the priests, and in the divine service it was specially employed in calling the people together during the holy solemnities, and in drawing attention to new and successive parts of the ritual. The number of trumpets used in the divine service could not be less than two (Nu 10:2), and their greatest number never exceeded the precedent set at the dedication of the temple. The station where the priests were sounding with trumpets was apart from that of the other musicians; for while the Levite singers occupied an orchestra east of the altar, the priests stood at the marble table on the southwest of the altar. There both of them stood with their faces to the altar. The manner of blowing the trumpets was, first, by a long plain blast, then by one with breakings and quaverings, and then by a long plain blast again [Brown, Jewish Antiquities].
13. the house was filled with a cloud—(See on 1Ki 8:10).