1 Kings 8:9

There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone We read in Hebrews 9:4 that in the ark of the covenant -was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded" as well as the tables of the covenant, and we may be sure that the writer there speaks according to tradition. The Old Testament narrative (Exodus 16:34) says that the pot of manna was laid up -before the testimony" and the same expression is used (Numbers 17:10) concerning Aaron's rod. This does not define whether they were put inside or on the outside of the ark. But it is most probable that during the time when the ark was moved from place to place they were kept inside it, but as soon as it was placed within the Temple they were removed. For the tables of stone were alone intended to be stored in the ark, being -the testimony (Exodus 25:16) which God had given to Israel." The other things would still be -before the testimony" if they were placed outside.

when the Lord madea covenant] There is no word for -covenant" in the Hebrew, but the verb is the technical term used in this sense, meaning literally -to cut" in allusion to the sacrifices which usually accompanied covenant-making. No doubt by this time the verb alone had come to have the sense of -making a covenant." So the italics of the A. V. are rather misleading. The same verb without any noun following is found in this sense 1 Samuel 11:2; 1 Samuel 20:16; 1 Samuel 20:18 and in other places. The verse is a little expanded but not changed in sense in the LXX.

Josephus adds here an account of the other furniture of the Temple, with the position which it occupied, and adds, what no doubt he had seen in his own time, that the brazen altar stood before the shrine, straight opposite the outer door, so that when that was thrown open the altar was visible, and the priestly acts and the completion of the sacrifice could all be seen. This is, in a way, a comment on 1 Kings 8:8. The people outside could see through all the length of the holy place, but only one coming near to the partition, could, when the door into the most holy was open, notice the extended heads of the staves.