1 After the Lord's temple was finished, Solomon put in its storage rooms everything that his father David had dedicated to the Lord, including the gold and silver, and the objects used in worship.
Solomon Brings the Sacred Chest to the Temple
(1 Kings 8.1-13)2-3 The sacred chest had been kept on Mount Zion, also known as the city of David. But Solomon decided to have the chest moved to the temple while everyone was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Shelters during the seventh month.
Solomon called together all the important leaders of Israel. 4-5 Then the priests and the Levites picked up the sacred chest, the sacred tent, and the objects used for worship, and they carried them to the temple. 6 Solomon and a crowd of people stood in front of the chest and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted.
7 The priests carried the chest into the most holy place and put it under the winged creatures, 8 whose wings covered both the chest and the poles used for carrying it. 9 The poles were so long that they could be seen from just outside the most holy place, but not from anywhere else. And they stayed there from then on.
10 The only things kept in the chest were the two flat stones Moses had put there when the Lord made his agreement with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, after bringing them out of Egypt.
11-13 The priests of every group had gone through the ceremony to make themselves clean and acceptable to the Lord. The Levite musicians, including Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives, were wearing robes of fine linen. They were standing on the east side of the altar, playing cymbals, small harps, and other stringed instruments. One hundred and twenty priests were with these musicians, and they were blowing trumpets.
They were praising the Lord by playing music and singing:
“The Lord is good,
and his love never ends.”
Suddenly a cloud filled the temple as the priests were leaving the holy place. 14 The Lord's glory was in that cloud, and the light from it was so bright that the priests could not stay inside to do their work.
1 When King Solomon finished all the work on the Temple, he placed in the Temple storerooms all the things that his father David had dedicated to the Lord—the silver, gold, and other articles.
The Covenant Box Is Brought to the Temple
(1 Kings 8.1-9)2 Then King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to assemble in Jerusalem, in order to take the Lord's Covenant Box from Zion, David's City, to the Temple. 3 They all assembled at the time of the Festival of Shelters. 4 When all the leaders had gathered, then the Levites lifted the Covenant Box 5 and carried it to the Temple. The priests and the Levites also moved the Tent of the Lord's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. 6 King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Covenant Box and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle—too many to count. 7 Then the priests carried the Covenant Box of the Lord into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures. 8 Their outstretched wings covered the Box and the poles it was carried by. 9 The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. (The poles are still there today.) 10 There was nothing inside the Covenant Box except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt.
The Glory of the Lord
11-14 All the priests present, regardless of the group to which they belonged, had consecrated themselves. And all the Levite musicians—Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, and the members of their clans—were wearing linen clothing. The Levites stood near the east side of the altar with cymbals and harps, and with them were 120 priests playing trumpets. The singers were accompanied in perfect harmony by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, as they praised the Lord singing:
“Praise the Lord, because he is good,
And his love is eternal.”
As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud shining with the dazzling light of the Lord's presence, and they could not continue the service of worship.