Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Solomon brings the sacred vessels with the offerings into the temple, and the Ark of the Covenant into the Holy of Holies; God through a cloud displays His glory therein.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 5:1-14
1. Solomon therefore brought in all that David his father had vowed, the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels he placed in the treasuries of the house of God. 2. After which he assembled the elders of Israel, and all the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families of the children of Israel in Jerusalem, to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion. 3. And all the men of Israel came to the king on the solemn day of the seventh month. 4. And when all the elders of Israel had come, the Levites carried the Ark, 5. and they brought it in, and all the furniture of the tabernacle. And the vessels of the sanctuary which were in the tabernacle, the priests carried together with the Levites. 6. And King Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel, and all who had gathered before the Ark, were sacrificing rams and oxen without number, for so great was the multitude of victims. 7. And the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord into its place, that is, into the oracle of the temple, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim; 8. so that the cherubim spread their wings over the place in which the Ark was set, and covered the Ark itself with its carrying poles. 9. But the carrying poles, by which the Ark was carried, because they were somewhat longer, their ends appeared before the oracle; but if anyone had been a little further outside, he could not see them. And so the Ark was there unto the present day. 10. And there was nothing else in the Ark but the two tablets, which Moses had placed in it at Horeb, when the Lord gave the law to the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. 11. And when the priests had come out of the sanctuary (for all the priests who could be found there had been sanctified; nor as yet at that time had the courses and the order of ministries been divided among them), 12. both the Levites and the singers, that is, those who were under Asaph, and those under Heman, and those under Jeduthun, their sons and brethren, clothed in fine linen, sounded with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, standing at the east side of the altar; and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets. 13. Therefore when all together, both with trumpets, and voice, and cymbals, and organs, and musical instruments of various kinds, were playing in concert, and lifting up their voice on high, the sound was heard afar off; so that when they began to praise the Lord and to say: Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever — the house of God was filled with a cloud, 14. nor could the priests stand and minister because of the darkness. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.
I have explained this chapter in 3 Kings chapter VIII.
Verse 9: The Carrying Poles
9. But the carrying poles, etc. The meaning is, that is to say: The poles by which the Ark was carried were longer, not than the oracle, but than the Ark itself; therefore they appeared to the priests who stood in the Holy Place, at the doors of the Oracle, or the Holy of Holies; but if anyone had stood further outside — that is, at a greater distance from the doors of the Oracle — he could not see them.
Verse 10: Nothing in the Ark but Two Tablets
10. AND THERE WAS NOTHING IN THE ARK BUT THE TWO TABLETS. — How the urn with the manna and the Deuteronomy are said to have been in the Ark, I have explained in Hebrews chapter IX, verse 4.
Verse 11: The Courses Not Yet Divided
11. NOR AS YET AT THAT TIME HAD THE COURSES AND ORDER AMONG THE PRIESTS BEEN DIVIDED. — In Hebrew, it was not observed, as it was exactly observed after the dedication of the temple. For on this occasion, because of the very many victims to be sacrificed, the priests and Levites whose turns of ministering fell that week were not sufficient; but all who had been summoned flowed together from all Israel, as many as were able to come.