2 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 Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, that of the seventh month. 4 And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. 5 And they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent: the priests, the Levites, brought them up. 6 And king Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel, that were assembled to him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. 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; 8 and the cherubim stretched forth [their] wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above. 9 And the staves were long, so that the ends of the staves were seen outside the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there they are to this day. 10 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made [a covenant] with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.
11 And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place (for all the priests that were present were hallowed without observing the courses; 12 and the Levites the singers, all they of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, clad in byssus, with cymbals and lutes and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets), 13 —it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah; and when they lifted up their voice with trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever; that then the house, the house of Jehovah, was filled with a cloud,
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Chronicles 5:2-13
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 5:1-10
(Read 2 Chronicles 5:1-10)
The ark was a type of Christ, and, as such, a token of the presence of God. That gracious promise, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, does, in effect, bring the ark into our religious assemblies, if we by faith and prayer plead that promise; and this we should be most earnest for. When Christ is formed in a soul, the law written in the heart, the ark of the covenant settled there, so that it becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost, there is true satisfaction in that soul.
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 5:11-14
(Read 2 Chronicles 5:11-14)
God took possession of the temple; he filled it with a cloud. Thus he signified his acceptance of this temple, to be the same to him that the tabernacle of Moses was, and assured his people that he would be the same in it. Would we have God dwell in our hearts, we must leave room for him; every thing else must give way. The Word was made flesh; and when he comes to his temple, like a refiner's fire, who may abide the day of his coming? May he prepare us for that day.