2 Chronicles 5:2–14
2 5:2Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3 5:3And all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast that is in the seventh month. 4 5:4And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. 5 5:5And they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. 6 5:6And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 7 5:7Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 5:8The cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. 9 5:9And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. And they are 1 there to this day. 10 5:10There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. 11 5:11And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, 12 5:12and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; 13 5:13and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord,
“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever,”
the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 14 5:14so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
1 Hebrew it is
Section Overview
David and the leaders of “all Israel” had brought the ark to Jerusalem and placed it in a tent in the city of David (1 Chronicles 15–16). Now that the “house of the Lord” is finished, Solomon’s first act is also to gather the leaders of the “people of Israel,” “all the congregation of Israel,” and arrange for the Levites to bring the ark to the temple, around 1,500 feet (450 m) up the hill.1 Sacrifices were offered, the ark was set inside the Most Holy Place under the cherubim, and the Levitical singers and musicians sang “in praise to the Lord.” Then “the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” As at the completion of the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34–35), God’s endorsement by his presence was unquestionable.
Section Outline
Response
How are Christian hearers today to respond to details of the ark’s installation in the temple? This question was relevant also for the “today” of the Chronicler, centuries after the ark had disappeared.6 Remembering the past can be nostalgia, a sad recalling of what has been lost, but can also be a way to see how the past illuminates the present, inspiring faith and action. For the Chronicler, the ark may have been gone, but what it represented continued. His lengthy addition of praise after the details of the ark under the cherubim directs attention to the God who was “enthroned above the cherubim” (1 Chron. 13:6) and whose covenantal love and faithfulness “endures forever.” The Lord’s reign and his covenant, celebrated with praise, are to be central in the life of the community. His presence was symbolized not by an idol but by a box containing the covenant tablets; the physical objects have gone, but his laws remain as testimony or witness to his relationship.7 (The holiest place in Jewish synagogues today is a box in which the Torah scrolls are kept, the ʼaron qodesh, “the Holy Ark,” normally placed so that worshipers facing it face Jerusalem.) The ark also points to how Christ’s promised presence, his all-embracing authority, and his commands belong together (Matt. 28:18–20). Christians join in celebration of the covenant-keeping God who reigns. (Cf. comment on 2 Chron. 6:40–42 and Response section on 6:1–7:3 for future hope, including in the NT.)
The appearance of the glory of God can be overwhelming. Similar experiences are recounted for Isaiah, Ezekiel, and, later, the disciples present at the transfiguration of Jesus (Isa. 6:1–5; Ezek. 1:28; Matt. 17:1–7). Yet “glory” can be “seen” in other ways as well. The Gospel of John has much to say about Jesus’ revealing the “glory of God” in his words and deeds, above all in the cross and resurrection (the noun/verb “glory/glorify” occurs 42 times in John; 1:14; 2:11; etc.). God’s presence in his temple has universal import, and we look forward to that time in which his glory is recognized by the whole earth (Hab. 2:14, 20). When God’s glory is present, life cannot continue the same!
1 “Zion” was originally the name of the old Jebusite stronghold (1 Chron. 11:5; 2 Sam. 5:7) but in the Psalms and the Prophets came to be the name of the Temple Mount, and by extension the whole city.
2 In verse 9, the ESV has followed the LXX and 1 Kings 8:8, “The ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary.” The Hebrew text of verse 9 has “. . . from the ark before . . .” (cf. NIV). Japhet suggests that the poles projected beyond the cherubim but were not seen outside the inner sanctuary, which had doors as well as a veil (4:22) (I & II Chronicles, 578). Raanan Eichler discusses Egyptian parallels of fixed, but retractable, poles in “The Poles of the Ark: On the Ins and Outs of a Textual Contradiction,” JBL 135/4 (2016): 733–741.
3 Dillard, 2 Chronicles, 42.
4 On “steadfast love,” cf. Introduction: Theology of 1–2 Chronicles: David, God’s Kingdom, and God’s House.
5 Kleinig, The Lord’s Song, 162–167.
6 Jewish tradition varies, with some rabbis saying that it was taken to Babylon (cf. 1 Esd. 1:54, which states that the “vessels of the ark” were taken) and others that it was hidden by either Josiah or Jeremiah (cf. 2 Macc. 2:4–8), while the Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims to possess the ark in Aksum.
7 Of relevance in the postexilic setting is that the phrases in Exodus “tent of meeting,” “tent/ark of the testimony” (e.g., Ex. 28:43; 30:26; Num. 17:7) are in LXX (3rd century BC) all regularly translated as “tent/ark of witness [Gk. martyrion]”; Larry Perkins, “The Translation of מועד משׁכן/אהל and שׁכן in Greek Exodus,” JSCS 48 (2015): 8–26.