CHAPTER 5 Oct. 15 
The Temple Is Dedicated with Praise
Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of Yahweh was finished. Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver and the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of God. 2Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month. 4All the elders of Israel came. The Levites took up the ark; 5and they brought up the ark, and the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; these the priests the Levites brought up. 6King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled to him, were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. 7The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. 8For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles. 9The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen outside. It is there to this day. 10There was nothing in the ark except the two tables which Moses put in it at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. 11The priests came out of the holy place, (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, and didn’t keep their divisions; 12also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them one hundred twenty priests sounding with trumpets). 13The trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Yahweh; and they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Yahweh, saying, For He is good; for His loving kindness endures forever! Then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of Yahweh, 14so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Yahweh filled God’s house.

Commentary

5:6 Sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted- Whilst the record here isn’t specifically critical of Solomon, he failed to understand his father David’s reflection that all the cattle on every hill are God’s (Ps. 50:10) and therefore God doesn’t so much as seek animal sacrifice from us as desire faith and a broken casting of ourselves upon God. David came to that understanding because his sin against Uriah and Bathsheba deserved death and there was no animal sacrifice which could take away that guilt- he had to throw himself upon God’s grace and learn that the real sacrifice God sought was that of a broken, penitent heart (Ps. 51:16,17). Solomon didn’t recognize his sins as David did, he didn’t mess up so publically as David did, and therefore he failed to appreciate this, focussing instead on the external rather than the internal. It’s amazing how God uses human sin and failure to teach us; those like Solomon who don’t sin publically and don’t recognize the weight of their private sins are often lead into the shallow, empty spirituality and surface level service of God which we see in Solomon at this time. See on 7:5.
5:8 The cherubim covered the ark- See on 3:12.