1 Kings 8:8

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 8:8

And they drew out the staves ,.... Not made them larger, as Ben Gersom, than those in the tabernacle of Moses, this place being larger than that; nor did they draw them wholly out, and lay them up in the sanctuary, there being no further use for them, the ark having now a fixed place, and not to be removed; which would have been contrary to Exodus 25:15 but they drew them out some little way: that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle ; not in that... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Kings 8:8

And there they are unto this day - This proves that the book was written before the destruction of the first temple, but how long before we cannot tell. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 8:8

And they drew out [It is uncertain whether יַאֲרִכוּ is transitive, as our A.V. renders it, and as in 1 Kings 3:14 = lengthen, in which case, however, it should almost be followed by אֵת , or intransitive, as in Exodus 20:12 ; Deuteronomy 5:16 ; Deuteronomy 25:15 , when the meaning would be, " The staves were long, " but the latter rendering has the support of most scholars. As the oracle in the tabernacle was a cube of ten cubits, they cannot have been more than... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 8:8-11

The Dedication of the Temple and its Teaching. The eighth day of the seventh month of the year 1004 B.C or, according to some, B.C. 1000, was one of the brightest days of Jewish history— "a day in golden letters to be set Among the high tides of the calendar;" for on that day the holy and beautiful house, which had been seven and a half years in building, for which preparations had been made for a much longer period ( 1 Chronicles 22:5 ), and on which a force of some one hundred... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Kings 8:8

It was forbidden to withdraw the staves wholly from the rings (margin reference); but they appear to have been now drawn forward in such a way that their ends or heads could be seen from the holy place, or great chamber of the temple, though without their being visible from the porch or vestibule. Either the doorway into the holy of holies was not exactly opposite the ark, but a little on one side; or, though that doorway was in the middle, opposite the ark, the doorway from the porch into the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Kings 8:6-8

1 Kings 8:6-8. Under the wings of the cherubim Which Solomon had made. For the cherubim made by Moses were fixed to the mercy-seat and the ark, and were inseparable from it, and therefore, together with the ark, were placed under the wings of these cherubim. And they drew out the staves Not wholly, which was expressly forbidden, (Exodus 25:15; Numbers 4:6,) but in part. That the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place That is, the most holy, often called the holy place by... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 8:1-21

The ark brought to the temple (8:1-21)People came from all over Israel to celebrate the dedication of the temple (see v. 65). The ceremony took place at the time of the mid-year festival season (8:1-2; see Leviticus 23:24,Leviticus 23:27,Leviticus 23:34).In transferring the ark from David’s temporary tent to the temple, Solomon, evidently remembering the mistake of his father, was careful to see that the priests and Levites carried the ark and all the holy vessels in the proper manner (3-9; cf.... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 Kings 8:8

without = outside: i.e. outside the holy place. unto this day: i.e. 1 Kings written while Temple was still standing; therefore before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, and before the Captivity. Compare 2 Chronicles 5:9 , and See 1 Kings 9:21 ; 1Ki 12:19 . 2 Kings 8:22 ; 2 Kings 10:27 . read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - 1 Kings 8:8

8. they drew out the staves—a little way, so as to project (see on :-; :-); and they were left in that position. The object was, that these projecting staves might serve as a guide to the high priest, in conducting him to that place where, once a year, he went to officiate before the ark; otherwise he might miss his way in the dark, the ark being wholly overshadowed by the wings of the cherubim. read more

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