1 Kings 8:1-11

The entrance of the ark 8:1-11

The Israelites regarded the ark as the throne of Yahweh. It was the place where He manifested His presence in a localized way and where He received the blood that atoned for the Israelites’ sins on the Day of Atonement. The ark had rested in David’s tabernacle in Zion since David had brought it from the house of Obed-edom (2 Samuel 6:17). It was the only item in the temple that was not new. Perhaps God did not change it to help the people realize that He, symbolized by the ark, had not changed. His person and methods of dealing with them at the mercy seat were the same as they had been.

The ceremony of installing the ark in Solomon’s temple took place during the Feast of Tabernacles. This was one of the feasts that the Mosaic Law specified that all Israelite males had to attend (Leviticus 23:33-36). This feast was a commemoration of the Lord’s faithfulness during His people’s wilderness wanderings. It looked back to their slavery in Egypt and forward to their establishment in the Promised Land. The bringing of the ark into the temple symbolized the fulfillment of that hope. Evidently Solomon waited for this feast in order to celebrate the dedication of the temple, and used the months following the completion of construction to furnish it and to prepare for the celebration. [Note: Gray, p. 193.]

What 1 Kings 8:3-8 picture is the symbolic enthronement of Yahweh as Israel’s King. Israel’s God now entered into His house. As mentioned above, the people did not regard the sovereignty of a human king as firmly established until he built a palace for himself. Now they saw the sovereignty of the divine King established over Israel. "To this day" (1 Kings 8:8) shows that the writer wrote this part of Kings before 586 B.C. when the Babylonian army destroyed this temple.

The ark housed the tablets of the Decalogue (Ten Commandments; Hebrews 9:4). The sole presence of the Law in the ark reemphasized the importance of the Israelites submitting to the Mosaic Covenant, which these tablets represented. That obedience would be the key to Israel’s success (Joshua 1:8). Formerly a pot of manna, symbolizing God’s faithful provision of the needs of His people, and Aaron’s rod that budded, symbolizing God’s confirmation of the Aaronic priesthood, had rested near the ark in the tabernacle.

The shekinah (from the Hebrew root translated "to dwell") cloud (Exodus 19:9; Exodus 24:15-16), symbolic of Yahweh’s presence, filled the temple. It had also filled the tabernacle at its dedication (Exodus 40:34-35). [Note: See George R. Berry, "The Glory of Yahweh and the Temple," Journal of Biblical Literature 56 (1937):115-17.] The Israelites perceived that their God had come to dwell among them and to bless them with His presence. Even priestly ministry was impossible during this glorious revelation of Yahweh. All that the people could do was worship.