Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
1 Kings 8:1-11
The Bringing Of The Ark Into The Temple And The Manifestation Of God's Presence (1 Kings 8:1).
The moment for which Solomon had waited had eventually arrived. The Temple itself was now fully completed and stood there in its pristine glory, and all the furniture and embellishments had been made and put in place. Now the next thing that was necessary was to bring into it all that was ‘holy' (set apart wholly to God, and seen as uniquely His) in Israel, for he wanted his Temple to be acknowledged as ‘the Central Sanctuary'. What was ‘holy', of course, especially included the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, the most sacred item of them all, for it bore the Name of YHWH and indicated His invisible presence among them (2 Samuel 6:2; Genesis 13:4; Exodus 33:19; Deuteronomy 12:11). But along with it was the sacred Tabernacle and its holy furnishings. These together constituted the original Central Sanctuary.
Such an event required the bringing together of all who counted in Israel, and they came up seven days before the Feast of Tabernacles and with all due ceremony brought the Ark from its Sacred Tent and set it up in the Most Holy Place. It was accompanied by all that was looked on as holy, including the ‘ancient' Tabernacle, which may have then been stored in the room constructed over the Most Holy Place, although the only other item kept in use was the brazen altar (which explains why it has never been mentioned. And once the Ark was in its place, and the priests had left the Most Holy Place, the glory of YHWH filled His house under cover of the sacred cloud. It was an indication that He did not despise or reject what they had done, for He recognised that what they had done had been done because they were seeking to glorify Him. It is an indication to us that God always graciously acknowledges our genuinely best efforts, even though they might not be quite what He would have hoped for, and in this case He wanted Israel to know that He was still with them and watching over them. It was His way of putting His seal on what they had done.
Analysis.
a Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' houses of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of YHWH out of the city of David, which is Zion (1 Kings 8:1).
b And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark (1 Kings 8:2).
c And they brought up the ark of YHWH, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels which were in the Tent, even these did the priests and the Levites bring up (1 Kings 8:4).
d And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude (1 Kings 8:5).
e And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of YHWH to its place, into the inner room of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim, for the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above. (1 Kings 8:6).
d And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the inner room, but they were not seen outside, and there they are to this day (1 Kings 8:8).
c There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when YHWH made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt (1 Kings 8:9).
b And it came about that, when the priests were come out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of YHWH (1 Kings 8:10).
a So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of YHWH filled the house of YHWH (1 Kings 8:11).
Note how in ‘a' all the chief men of Israel gathered to do honour to the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH and bring it up into the new Most Holy Place, and in the parallel YHWH responded by revealing His glory and filling the house with His cloud. In ‘b' all assembled and the priests took up the Ark, and in the parallel the priests came out of the Holy Place having brought the Ark up. In ‘c' the Ark of YHWH was brought up, along with all the holy things, and in the parallel we are told what was in the Ark (the Ark clearly therefore having been opened up by the priests, unless this was simply an inspired assumption). In ‘d' men offered a multitude of offerings which could not be counted, and in the parallel the staves of the Ark were so long that the Most Holy Place could not fully contain them. Centrally in ‘e' the Ark took up its place under the protection of the Cherubim.
‘ Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of YHWH out of the city of David, which is Zion.'
There is a distinct echo here of 2 Samuel 6, but that is partly because this is precisely what would happen on such an occasion. Firstly all the notable men of Israel/Judah would be assembled together, probably at a sacred feast (the seventh month was the month of the feast of Tabernacles). Then the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, which had rested in its place in the Sacred Tent in the citadel of David, (which was on the southern part of hill of Jerusalem and was at that time exclusively named Zion), was now brought out from there with due solemnity up to the Temple mount on the northern plateau (which would from now on be included in the term Zion) in order to be set up in the Most Holy Place in the new Temple. (Later still ‘Zion' would refer to the whole of Jerusalem, and then to the people even when far away from Jerusalem in Babylon - e.g. Zechariah 2:7).
It was a most important moment in the history of Israel. The Temple on its mount was being made into the unique earthly dwelling-place of YHWH, replacing and incorporating both the Ancient Tabernacle and the Sacred Tent. It was becoming the Central Sanctuary around which all Israel should unite within the covenant. (We are not, however, to think of it as the only place where sacrifices could be officially offered, for that could still occur at places ‘where YHWH had recorded His Name'. Thus Elijah could refer to genuinely acceptable ‘altars of YHWH' (1 Kings 19:10, see also 1 Kings 18:30). And the Temple itself was built on a site where YHWH had recorded His Name (2 Chronicles 3:1).
Note the different levels of authority in Israel. ‘The elders of Israel', ‘the heads of the tribes', the princes of the fathers'. All these still had responsibility in the ruling of the kingdom, which was a kind of semi-democracy It was very necessary for Solomon to keep them alongside, and ensure their support (and was where he later failed).
For ‘the princes of the fathers' compare Numbers 1:16; Numbers 3:30; Numbers 3:35; Numbers 7:2; Joshua 22:14. For ‘the heads of the tribes' see Numbers 30:1. For ‘the elders of Israel' see Exodus 3:16; Exodus 3:18; Exodus 12:21; Exodus 17:5; Exodus 18:12; Exodus 24:1; Exodus 24:9; Leviticus 9:1; Numbers 11:16; Numbers 11:30; Numbers 16:25; Deuteronomy 27:1; Deuteronomy 31:9. They all had solid Mosaic (but mainly not Deuteronomic) backgrounds.
‘ And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.'
As required by the Law of Moses all the men of Israel gathered at the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month (Leviticus 23:34; Numbers 28:12; Deuteronomy 16:13). Note in this case that portrayal of the feast in Deuteronomy actually requires the detailed information given in Numbers 28:12 in order to make sense. But this time their coming together was also at the special summons of the king, for they gathered seven days before the feast. They assembled ‘to king Solomon'. All the concentration was on him. And the feast would then last for fourteen days (1 Kings 8:65), the initial seven days of dedication being followed by the actual Feast of Tabernacles, thus making it twice the usual length.
“Ethanim” (regularly flowing) was the ancient name for the seventh moon period (compare 1 Kings 6:1; 1 Kings 6:38 for similar ancient names). Later it would be called Tishri (although we cannot be too dogmatic. Tishri was already in use at Ugarit). There is no indication of the relationship of this particular feast to surrounding events, for while we know that the actual building of the Temple was completed on the eighth moon period of the year in which it occurred (1 Kings 6:38), and that this ‘seventh month' must therefore be at least eleven months later, we do not know how long it took to make all the embellishments and furniture described in chapter 7. Thus this may have been in the following year. On the other hand 1 Kings 9:2 might suggest that it only took place once the king's house had also been completed, for the king's palace complex and the Temple were seen as closely linked, emphasising the fact that the king was the intercessor supreme for Israel. He thus had direct access as God's viceroy. This connection only ceased in the time of Ahab at the demand of the king of Assyria (2 Kings 16:18) and is assumed in the heavenly Temple in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 44:3). As a result the Temple might not have been seen as finally ‘completed' until the king's new palace was occupied.
It is possible that the time around the Feast of Tabernacles was chosen as the time for dedicating the Temple because it was intended to be a reminder that the people of Israel had once dwelt in tents, but now dwelt in permanent houses. It could thus be seen as indicating that the same would now be true of YHWH. He too could now enjoy His own house. Its folly lay in its failure to recognise that YHWH had a far more permanent dwellingplace and therefore required no such Temple.
“All the men of Israel.” That is, all the leaders who had gathered in response to Solomon's summons, together with those who had come up for the feast of Tabernacles.
‘ And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of YHWH, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels which were in the Tent, even these did the priests and the Levites bring up.'
All that was seen as holy in Israel was now brought up into the Temple in the presence of the elders of Israel, It was brought by ‘the priests, with the assistance of the Levites'. As in 2 Samuel 6 the Ark itself was borne by the priests, possibly uncovered, while the Tent of Meeting and the holy vessels and furniture which were in it, were borne by the Levites in accordance with the requirements of the Torah.
This distinction between the priests and the Levites was maintained from earliest times (e.g. Exodus 28; Exodus 30:30; Exodus 29:19; Exodus 39:27; Exodus 40:12; Leviticus 10; Leviticus 21; Numbers 3:1; Numbers 4; Numbers 8:5; Numbers 18:1; Numbers 18:19; Numbers 26:57) and was made clear by the book of Deuteronomy in Deuteronomy 18:1 (see note below). The Tent of Meeting is one name by which the ancient Tabernacle was known (Exodus 27:21; Exodus 28:43; Exodus 29 six times; 30 five times; Exodus 31:7; Exodus 33:7; Exodus 35:21; Exodus 38:8; Exodus 38:30; Exodus 40:12; Leviticus 1-7 fifteen times; 8 five times; 9-15 nine times; 16 six times; 17-24, six times); Numbers over fifty times; Deuteronomy 31:14; Joshua 18:1; Joshua 19:51; 1 Samuel 2:22), and its continued existence is confirmed in 1 Samuel 1-3, see especially 1 Kings 2:22; and 1 Kings 21:1. See also 1 Kings 3:4. It was a name taken over from the ancient Tent used prior to arriving at Mount Sinai (Exodus 33:7), signifying that it was the place where God was met with, and where Israel could gather to worship God.
Brief Note On The Use Of LXX.
In spite of LXX (of which there are various conflicting texts) there are no good grounds for omitting phrases in the verse (which are anyway all included in LXX in 2 Chronicles 5:5) simply because of their inconvenience and in order to support out-of-date theories (although we should note that the reference to the Tent of Meeting is in LXX in Kings). One commentator (a man of great erudition) excels himself, going through the verse excising one clause because it was not in LXX, another in spite of the fact that it was, and putting in a third which was not in LXX and excluding one that was. At least he could not be accused of bias towards LXX! But if you can treat LXX like that why suggest that it can support your idea of what the text should be? It has proved unreliable. (LXX is not in fact too reliable in Kings and appears to have a tendency to alter the text). And why did he do it? Not because of any essential intrinsic demand, but because like all of us it suited his theories about what should be in and what should not.
On the other hand, to be fair, the fragments of the 6QK papyrus from Qumran do also reveal a slightly shorter text for 1 Kings 8:1, although not in line with LXX and of course we do not know the source for the papyrus. The whole question of who changed what is, however, very complicated and we must always bear in mind that in MT we probably have on the whole the official text as reliably preserved in the Temple.
Brief Note On Deuteronomy 18:1.
“The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of YHWH made by fire and His inheritance. And they shall have no inheritance among their brethren. YHWH is their inheritance, as He has spoken to them” (Deuteronomy 18:1).
The opening phrase ‘The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi' raises questions as to whether this covers both levitical priests (the priests the Levites) and Levites (all the tribe of Levi) or just the levitical priests alone. This is determined by the fact that in Deuteronomy such phrases in apposition regularly represent the item in apposition as signifying something greater than the first phrase. See Deuteronomy 3:4; Deuteronomy 15:21; Deuteronomy 16:21; Deuteronomy 17:1; Deuteronomy 23:19; Deuteronomy 25:16. This confirms that as ‘the priests the Levites' are in apposition to ‘all the tribe of Levi', the latter is made up of more people than the former. Compare also 1 Kings 3:18 where, however, there is a reduction in the idea. Thus in Deuteronomy words in apposition are never just a description of the same idea. In Deuteronomy 2:37; Deuteronomy 3:13; Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 5:8; Deuteronomy 20:14; Deuteronomy 29:10 the clauses in apposition are always of one against a number and therefore not strictly comparable. This would confirm that ‘all the tribe of Levi' is an extension of, and addition to, the idea of the levitical priests, and thus refers to both priests and Levites and not just levitical priests alone. Significantly there are no examples of the use of the construction where both parts refer to the same thing. Equally significantly in 1 Kings 8:3 the priests and the Levites are clearly distinguished.
End of note.
‘ And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.'
These sacrifices, made in the presence of the Ark (and thus where YHWH had recorded His Name), were felt to be necessary because of the precarious situation brought about by moving the Ark. They did not want a repetition of the incident of Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:7). This would again appear to parallel 2 Samuel 6:13 where the same thing is said to have occurred. As so often when the text says ‘he sacrificed' the idea is probably that he brought the offering for a priest to sacrifice (all the priests would be there). In other words Solomon and his people brought a constant stream of animals to the priests who were not bearing the Ark, in order that they might be offered up so as to ensure the safe passage of the Ark.
“Sacrificing sheep and oxen, which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.” This is not just an expression indicating a great number. It also bears witness to the fact that counting and numbering was not something found easy by Israelites (outside the trained accountants). They found in this case that, in view of the difficulties, keeping count was too much for them simply because of the quantity.
‘ And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of YHWH to its place, into the inner room of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered (formed a screen over) the ark and its staves above.'
The priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH (its official name of which others are abbreviations. See 1 Kings 3:15; Numbers 10:33; Numbers 14:44; Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 31 three times; Joshua 1-8 seven times; 1 Samuel 4:3 three times) into the Inner house, into the Most Holy Place. And there they set it down under the wings of the massive Cherubim which Solomon had had made. They were there as guardian Cherubim, and as a reminder that YHWH's Name could not be approached or touched. And the wings of the Cherubim were spread out so that they reached out over and covered the Ark and the staves.
“Covered, formed a screen” need not be taken absolutely literally. The point is that the Ark and its staves were under their watch and protection, It is indicating that the heavenly beings whom they represented were keeping their watch over all that was in the Most Holy Place, and that the Ark was remaining in its place. For when in Ezekiel the time came for YHWH to finally visibly depart, it was He Who stood over the Cherubim (Ezekiel 11:18). Thus here YHWH was seen as at rest among His people, with His attendants watching out for Him.
‘ And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the inner room, but they were not seen outside, and there they are to this day.'
God's instructions had been that the staves should not be taken out of the rings on the Ark, but should be left in place (Exodus 25:15). And they were so long that they protruded slightly into the Holy Place. We are not told how provision was made for this. Presumably the doors were left partly open, with the Veil preventing anyone seeing or having access into the Most Holy Place. The staves then presumably protruded making the Veil bulge. Thus the Most Holy Place was, as it were brought into the Holy Place, with the result that the altar of incense, situated in front of the Veil could be seen as directly connected with the Most Holy Place, for when spoken of it is regularly seen as connected with the Most Holy Place. See e.g. 1 Kings 6:20; Hebrews 9:4.
“And there they are to this day.” These words could not have been the words of the final compiler of Kings, for in his day the Temple had been destroyed and the staves were not still there. They must clearly therefore come from his source, written when the Temple was still standing. The period required prior to this being able to be said could have been anywhere from, say, six months onwards. They is no real indication in the words of the length of the passage of time (everyone come to his own opinion about it depending on his theories). All that they do tell us is that the protrusion of the staves into the Holy Place was an evidenced reality.
Some see them as the words of the author of almost the whole of Kings in the early days of Jehoiakim (while the Temple was still standing), with the ending having been added by a subsequent prophet during the Exile (because of its content).
‘ There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when YHWH made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.'
The only articles that were in the Ark were the two tables of stone put there by Moses at Horeb (Sinai) when YHWH made His covenant with His people when they came out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 25:16; Exodus 40:20). The reason for mentioning this was in order to remind His people of the original covenant made with them at Sinai which was still binding on them, and was the one thing in the Ark. It was not simply an historical aside or a list of contents In other words it is emphasising that that covenant was central to all their worship, and to all that the Ark stood for. Nothing had been, or was to be, added. (In view of its reputation it must indeed be considered doubtful whether anyone would actually check what was in the Ark. The statement may well simply have been made as a known fact).
If anything else ever had been in the Ark, and that is doubtful, it would probably have disappeared when the Philistines captured the Ark and bore it in triumph though the Philistine crowds, or when they placed it in their temples as a trophy. But Aaron's rod that budded and the vessel containing the manna were probably never placed in the Ark (the rod would be too long) but were placed before or alongside the Ark (Exodus 16:33; Numbers 17:10). In Hebrews 9:4 ‘ in/by which' need only indicate connection in some way.
‘ And it came about that, when the priests were come out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of YHWH.'
The Ark having been set down in the Most Holy Place, the priests retired, never to enter it again (apart from the High Priest once a year after suitable preparation). And it was then that the most remarkable thing happened. No doubt to their wondering astonishment ‘the cloud' (the one known about from Exodus 40:34) filled the house of YHWH. It was a sign that YHWH was putting His seal on the Temple as the new Central Sanctuary and Dwellingplace of YHWH.
‘ So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of YHWH filled the house of YHWH.'
And the result was that the priests could not enter the Holy Place in order to perform their functions, for the presence of the cloud was veiling the presence of the glory of YHWH which filled the whole house. There is little doubt that there is a definite reference intended here back to Exodus 40:34. We are never told at what stage the cloud departed. If it was as permanent as the earlier cloud in Exodus it may simply have retired into the Most Holy Place where necessarily no one would ever see it, but the probability is that it was intended only to be a short term seal on the Temple and therefore at some stage departed from the house.