1 Kings 8:8

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel-all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites-to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. ²And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim. ³When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, ⁴and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up. ⁵There, before the ark, King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. ⁶Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles. ⁸The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.⁹There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

drew out the staves: Exodus 25:14, Exodus 25:15, Exodus 37:4, Exodus 37:5, Exodus 40:20

ends: Heb. heads

holy place: or, ark, as, 2 Chronicles 5:9

unto this day: Joshua 4:9, Matthew 28:15

Reciprocal: Numbers 4:6 - the staves Numbers 4:20 - the holy things Deuteronomy 10:5 - there they 1 Chronicles 15:15 - bare the ark

Cross-References

Genesis 8:10
Noah waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.

Genesis 8:11
And behold, the dove returned to him in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.

Genesis 8:12
And Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove again, but this time she did not return to him.

Song of Solomon 1:15
How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.

Song of Solomon 2:14
O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your countenance is lovely.

Matthew 10:16
Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 part of the temple commonly called the holy place, in distinction from the most holy, for that seems to be denied in the next clause; nor could they be seen there, since there was a wall and a vail between them; though some think they might be seen when the door was opened, and the vail turned aside; and these also pushing against the vail, might be seen prominent, like the breasts of a woman under a covering, as the Jews express it; but the sense is, that the ends of these were seen out of the ark from under the wings of the cherubim, being a little drawn, in that part of the most holy place which is before the oracle or mercy seat:

and they were not seen without; neither quite out of the ark, nor without the most holy place, nor in the holy place; but were only seen by the high priest when he went in on the day of atonement, and served as a direction to him to go between them before the ark, and there perform his work t; which, through the darkness of the place, and the ark being covered with the wings of the cherubim, he could not otherwise discern the exact place where it stood:

and there they are unto this day: when the writer of this book lived, even in the same situation.

t Vid. Misn. Yoma, c. 5. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 main chamber was not opposite to it. In Assyrian temples the arrangement of the outer door, the inner door, and the sanctuary, seems to have been designedly such that a mere passer-by on the outside should not obtain even a glimpse of the shrine. It is suggested that the withdrawal of the staves was intended as a sign that the ark had reached “the place of its rest,” and was not to be borne about anymore.

There they are unto this day - This is a quotation from an author who lived while the temple was still standing. See also 1 Kings 9:21.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 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.