2 Chronicles 5:4

_AND ALL THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL CAME; AND THE LEVITES TOOK UP THE ARK._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-10 The ark was a type of Christ, and, as such, a token of the presence of God. That gracious promise, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, does, in effect, bring the ark into our religious assemblies, if we by faith and prayer plead that promise; and this we should be most earnest for. When Christ is formed in a soul, the law written in the heart, the ark of the covenant settled there, so that it becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost, there is true satisfaction in that soul....

THE LEVITES TOOK UP THE ARK - i. e., such of the Levites as were also priests (compare 2 Chronicles 5:7; 1 Kings 8:3)....

EXPOSITION The first verse of this chapter would have stood more fitly as the last verse of the previous chapter. The narrative, that began with the preparations for building the temple (2 Chronicles 1:1- 2 Chronicles 2:18), and proceeded to the account of the building itself, and the making of the various needed vessels (2 Chronicles 3:1), now goes on to recall and recount the dedication (2 Chronicles 5:2), enriching the parallel (1 Kings 7:51;...

2 Chronicles 5:1....

3. THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE CHAPTER 5 The Ark Brought in the Temple _ 1. The completion of the temple (2 Chronicles 5:1)_ 2. The assembly called by Solomon (2 Chronicles 5:2) 3. The ark carried to its place (2 Chronicles 5:4) 4. The contents of the ark (2 Chronicles 5:10) 5. The praise and the glory (2 Chronicles 5:11) The reader will find the comments on the dedication of the temple in the book of Kings ...

2 Chronicles 5:2 to 2 Chronicles 7:10. THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE (see notes on 1 Kings 8). The chief points of difference between the Chronicler's account and 1 Kings 8 are: (_a_) that in 2 Chronicles 5:4 the Levites are the bearers of the Ark (_cf._ 1 Chronicles 15:2; 1 Chronicles 15:26 f.) instead of the priests as in 1 Kings 8:3; (_b_) that in...

THE LEVITES TOOT UP. These were the _bearers,_ but the priests (being Levites also) brought it into the house (as stated in 2 Chronicles 5:7 and 1 Kings 8:3). Hence, in 2 Chronicles 5:5 they are called "the priests and the Levites". See note on Deuteronomy 17:9....

_the Levites took up the ark_ According to 1 Kings the, _priests_performed this duty. Cp. 1 Chronicles 15:2; 1 Chronicles 15:12-13. It is clear from these passages that the Chronicler believed that in the days of David and Solomon, as in his own, the Levites were regarded as a class subordinate to the priests, having special duties distinct from those of the true "priests." It is however more probable that in these early days all Levites were possible priests, Levi being the name of the priestly clan, and not of a lower order of priests....

4. DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE (2 Chronicles 5:2 to 2 Chronicles 7:22) TEXT 2 Chronicles 5:2. Thus all the work that Solomon wrought for the house of Jehovah was finished. And 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. 2. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers-' houses of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king at the feast, which was in the sevent