John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 8:3
And all the elders of Israel came ,.... To Zion, the city of David: and the priests took up the ark ; from thence; in 2 Chronicles 5:4 it is said the Levites did it, whose business it was, Deuteronomy 31:25 , and so the priests might be called; for every priest was a Levite, though every Levite was not a priest, and the priests did at all times bear the ark; see Joshua 3:15 . read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 8:1-11
The temple, though richly beautified, yet while it was without the ark was like a body without a soul, or a candlestick without a candle, or (to speak more properly) a house without an inhabitant. All the cost and pains bestowed on this stately structure are lost if God do not accept them; and, unless he please to own it as the place where he will record his name, it is after all but a ruinous heap. When therefore all the work is ended (1 Kgs. 7:51), the one thing needful is yet behind, and... read more