2 Chronicles 5 explained: The Ark Comes Into the Temple

David's gifts stored (v. 1)

Once the building was finished, Solomon placed the silver, gold and objects his father David had set aside for God in the temple storerooms. This carried out what David had dedicated for the temple.

The ark brought up (vv. 2-6)

The ark was a gold-covered chest, seen as the place where God met Israel. Leaders from every tribe gathered at the autumn festival to carry it up to the new temple, along with the old worship tent from Moses' time, amid more animal sacrifices than anyone could count.

Set in the inner room (vv. 7-10)

The priests placed the ark in the innermost room under the wings of two large carved winged figures, and it held only the stone tablets of God's covenant, or binding agreement, made through Moses. The words "still there today" probably come from an older source, since the ark's fate is unknown, though many think it was lost when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem.

One great song (vv. 11-13)

Every priest took part, not just the group whose turn it was, while the Levite singers (the tribe assigned to temple service) and 120 trumpeters played as one. Their refrain, that the LORD is good and his love lasts forever, was a familiar line of Israel's worship.

The cloud fills the house (vv. 13-14)

A cloud filled the temple so thickly that the priests could not carry on, the same sign that once marked God's presence filling Moses' tent. The writer presents it as the LORD's glory claiming the temple, and Christians later read it alongside the belief that God's glory came to live among people in Jesus.

Key verse: 2 Chronicles 5:14

Something to think about

What, if anything, makes a place feel set apart or sacred to you, and is it the place itself or what happens there?