2 Chronicles 5: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Solomon finishes the temple work and stores the silver, gold, and objects David had dedicated in its treasuries. He gathers Israel's leaders in Jerusalem at the feast in the seventh month, and the Levites carry the ark of the covenant up from the City of David. The priests set the ark in the Most Holy Place under the wings of the cherubim, and countless sheep and oxen are sacrificed. When the singers and trumpeters praise the LORD together, a cloud fills the house so the priests cannot stand to serve.

Claim by Claim

1. 5:1
   • All the work that Solomon did for the house of the LORD was completed.
   • Solomon brought in the things his father David had dedicated.
   • Solomon put the silver, the gold, and all the vessels among the treasuries of the house of God.
2. 5:2
   • Solomon assembled the elders of Israel at Jerusalem.
   • Solomon assembled all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers' houses of the children of Israel, at Jerusalem.
   • The purpose of the assembly was to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David.
   • The city of David is Zion.
3. 5:3
   • All the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king.
   • The assembly took place at the feast.
   • That feast was in the seventh month.
4. 5:4
   • All the elders of Israel came.
   • The Levites took up the ark.
5. 5:5
   • They brought up the ark.
   • They brought up the tent of meeting.
   • They brought up all the holy vessels that were in the tent.
   • The ones who carried these up were the priests, the Levites (the wording leaves open whether these are two groups, priests and Levites, or one group, the Levitical priests).
6. 5:6
   • King Solomon was before the ark.
   • All the congregation of Israel that had assembled to him was before the ark.
   • They sacrificed sheep and oxen.
   • The sheep and oxen could not be counted or numbered because they were so many.
7. 5:7
   • The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place.
   • That place was the inner sanctuary of the house, the most holy place.
   • That place was under the wings of the cherubim.
8. 5:8
   • The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark.
   • The cherubim covered the ark and its carrying poles from above.
9. 5:9
   • The carrying poles were long.
   • The ends of the poles were visible from the ark, in front of the inner sanctuary.
   • The ends of the poles were not visible from outside.
   • It is there to this day.
10. 5:10
    • There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets.
    • Moses had put the two tablets there at Horeb.
    • At Horeb the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel.
    • That covenant was made when they came out of Egypt.
11. 5:11
    • The priests came out of the holy place.
    • All the priests who were present had sanctified themselves.
    • They did not keep to their appointed divisions.
12. 5:12
    • The Levites who were the singers included all of them belonging to Asaph, to Heman, and to Jeduthun.
    • The singers included their sons and their brothers.
    • The singers were dressed in fine linen.
    • The singers had cymbals, harps, and lyres.
    • The singers stood east of the altar.
    • With them were one hundred and twenty priests sounding trumpets.
13. 5:13
    • The trumpeters and the singers acted as one.
    • They made one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD.
    • They lifted up their voice with trumpets, cymbals, and instruments of music.
    • They praised the LORD.
    • They said that he is good.
    • They said that his covenant love endures forever.
    • The house was filled with a cloud.
    • The house that was filled was the house of the LORD.
14. 5:14
    • The priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud.
    • The glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

5:1

"The house of the LORD" means the temple in Jerusalem, the building described in the previous chapters. "Set apart for God" translates a word meaning made sacred and handed over permanently, David had reserved captured metal and gifts for this purpose, and they could not be put to ordinary use.

5:2

The ark of the covenant was a gold-covered wooden chest, about four feet long, with rings at the corners for carrying poles. It held the tablets of the law and was treated as the place where the LORD was present with Israel. The City of David, also called Zion, was the old fortified ridge that David captured; it lay lower down the hill than the new temple, which is why the ark is "brought up."

5:3

The festival in the seventh month (roughly September–October) was the Feast of Booths, a week-long autumn harvest festival when Israelites lived in temporary shelters. It was one of three occasions when men were expected to travel to the sanctuary.

5:4

The Levites were members of the tribe of Levi, set apart to care for the sanctuary and assist the priests. Only they were permitted to lift and carry the ark.

5:5

"The tent where the people met with God" is the tabernacle, the portable shrine used from the wilderness years onward, which had been standing at Gibeon. Bringing it into the temple retired it: the permanent building replaced the tent.

5:6

"Told" in the King James means counted, not spoken, so "could not be told nor numbered" means the animals were beyond counting. Sacrifice here was public and physical: animals were killed at the altar, part of each was burned, and the rest was cooked and eaten by the crowd as a shared feast, so a number this large means a national celebration lasting days.

5:7

The inner room, or Most Holy Place, was the windowless innermost chamber of the temple, which no one entered except the high priest, and he only once a year. The cherubim were not baby angels but large winged composite figures, here two carved and gold-plated statues whose outstretched wings spanned the width of the room; similar winged guardian figures flanked thrones throughout the ancient Near East.

5:9

The poles ran through rings on the ark so that it could be carried without being touched. "They are still there today" is a remark carried over from the older source this chapter draws on, written while the temple was still standing.

5:10

The two stone tablets were the ones inscribed with the terms of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai. A covenant was a binding agreement with sworn obligations on both sides, of the kind ancient kings made with their peoples.

5:11

Priests served in fixed rotating shifts, so that only one group was on duty at a time. For this occasion the rotation was set aside and every priest present took part. "Made themselves ready for holy service" means they went through the required ceremonial preparations, washing, changing clothes, and avoiding anything that would make them ritually unclean.

5:12

Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun were the three families of hereditary temple musicians; many psalms carry their names in the headings. Linen was the required fabric for those serving at the sanctuary. The trumpets here are straight silver trumpets blown by priests, not the curved ram's horn.

5:13

This one line was a standing refrain in Israel's worship; it opens and closes several psalms and is repeated in every verse of Psalm 136. The phrase rendered "faithful love" translates a Hebrew word for loyal, committed kindness, the steady goodwill owed within a binding relationship, not passing affection.

5:14

The cloud and "the glory of the LORD" use the same wording as the account of the tent of meeting in Exodus, where a cloud settled on the tent and Moses could not enter. The word behind "glory" carries the sense of weight or heaviness, hence of impressive substance.