Where was the ark placed, and why could the priests no longer minister?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The priests placed it in the holy of holies beneath the cherubims’ wings. As the gathered singers and musicians praised the Lord, a cloud filled God’s house; the priests could not stand and minister because the Lord’s glory had filled it.

Chapter breakdown

The ark is brought solemnly into the temple, and God’s glory fills the temple.

Solomon brought in everything David his father had vowed, placing the silver, gold and all the vessels among the treasures of God’s house. He then gathered Israel’s ancients, all the tribal princes and the heads of Israel’s families to Jerusalem to bring the Lord’s covenant ark from the city of David, which is Sion. All the men of Israel came to the king on the solemn day of the seventh month.

When all Israel’s ancients had arrived, the Levites took up the ark and brought it in with all the tabernacle furniture. The priests with the Levites carried the sanctuary vessels that had been in the tabernacle. King Solomon, Israel’s whole assembly and everyone gathered before the ark sacrificed rams and oxen without number, so great was the multitude of victims.

The priests brought the Lord’s covenant ark to its place in the temple’s oracle, the holy of holies, under the cherubims’ wings. Those wings spread over its place and covered the ark and its carrying staves. Because the staves were somewhat longer, their ends could be seen before the oracle, but a person a little farther outside could not see them. The account says the ark remained there unto its own day. The ark contained nothing but the two tables Moses had placed there at Horeb when the Lord gave Israel the law at their coming out of Egypt.

The priests came out of the sanctuary. All the priests who could be found there were sanctified, and at that time the courses and orders of ministries were not yet divided among them. The Levites and singing men under Asaph, Heman and Idithun, with their sons and brethren, wore fine linen and sounded cymbals, psalteries and harps on the altar’s east side. With them stood 120 priests sounding trumpets.

They sounded together with trumpets, voices, cymbals, organs and various musical instruments, raising their voices so the sound was heard far away. As they began praising the Lord, declaring his goodness and mercy that endures for ever, God’s house filled with a cloud. The priests could not stand and minister because of that cloud: the Lord’s glory had filled God’s house.

The story inside

Solomon first places David’s vowed treasures in God’s house, then gathers the named leaders and Israel’s men for the ark’s movement from Sion. The Levites take it up, priests and Levites carry the sanctuary vessels, and the assembly offers innumerable rams and oxen. The priests place the ark beneath the cherubims’ wings. The account pauses to explain the staves’ limited visibility and identify the ark’s sole contents as Moses’ two tables from Horeb. It then describes the sanctified priests and the linen-clad singers with their sons and brethren, alongside 120 trumpeters east of the altar. When the joined voices and instruments begin praising the Lord’s goodness and enduring mercy, the house fills with a cloud. The stated consequence is that the priests cannot stand and minister because the Lord’s glory fills the house. This does not establish a general rule that music summons a cloud or guarantees divine favor.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The movement has named participants and objects. Solomon gathers ancients, tribal princes and family heads; all Israel’s men arrive on the solemn day in the seventh month. Levites take up the ark, and priests with Levites carry the sanctuary vessels. Keeping those roles and the tabernacle furniture distinguishes this account from an added description of transporting the tabernacle itself.
2
The ark’s placement and contents are carefully limited. The wings cover the ark and staves, whose ends are visible before the oracle but not a little farther outside. Only the two tables Moses placed at Horeb are inside. The statement that the ark remains there unto this day belongs to the account’s own time and is not a claim about its location today.
3
The account connects praise with a particular event and gives the direct reason ministry stops. The singers and instruments sound together, the praise begins and the house fills with a cloud. The priests cannot stand and minister because of that cloud and the Lord’s glory filling the house. The source does not add cloud density, brightness or a promise that all united praise produces the same result.

Test your recall

Solomon gathers Israel’s leaders to bring the covenant ark from Sion → the men arrive and the Levites take it up. The ark is brought into the holy of holies → the cherubims’ wings cover it and its staves. The staves are somewhat longer → their ends show before the oracle, though not from farther outside. The voices and instruments begin praising together → the house fills with a cloud. The Lord’s glory fills the house → the priests cannot stand and minister.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 44700–44703
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 5 The ark is brought with great solemnity into the temple: the temple is filled with the glory of God.
Lines 44705–44715
5:1. Then Solomon brought in all those things that David his father had vowed, the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels he put among the treasures of the house of God. 5:2. And after this he gathered together the ancients of Israel and all the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families, of the children of Israel to Jerusalem, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Sion. 5:3. And all the men of Israel came to the king in the solemn day of the seventh month.
Lines 44717–44726
5:4. And when all the ancients of Israel were come, the Levites took up the ark, 5:5. And brought it in, together with all the furniture of the tabernacle. And the priests with the Levites carried the vessels of the sanctuary, which were in the tabernacle. 5:6. And king Solomon and all the assembly of Israel and all that were gathered together before the ark, sacrificed rams, and oxen without number: so great was the multitude of the victims.
Lines 44728–44742
5:7. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, that is, to the oracle of the temple, into the holy of holies under the wings of the cherubims: 5:8. So that the cherubims spread their wings over the place, in which the ark was set, and covered the ark itself and its staves. 5:9. Now the ends of the staves wherewith the ark was carried, because they were some thing longer, were seen before the oracle: but if a man were a little outward, he could not see them. So the ark has been there unto this day. 5:10. And there was nothing else in the ark but the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord gave the law to the children of Israel, at their coming out of Egypt.
Lines 44744–44754
5:11. Now when the priests were come out of the sanctuary, for all the priests that could be found there, were sanctified: and as yet at that time the courses and orders of the ministries were not divided among them, 5:12. Both the Levites and the singing men, that is, both they that were under Asaph, and they that were under Heman, and they that were under Idithun, with their sons, and their brethren, clothed with fine linen, sounded with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, standing on the east side of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests, sounding with trumpets.
Lines 44756–44764
5:13. So when they all sounded together, both with trumpets, and voice, and cymbals, and organs, and with divers kind of musical instruments, and lifted up their voice on high: the sound was heard afar off, so that when they began to praise the Lord, and to say: Give glory to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever: the house of God was filled with a cloud. 5:14. Nor could the priests stand and minister by reason of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.