Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 8:1-11
The temple, though richly beautified, yet while it was without the ark was like a body without a soul, or a candlestick without a candle, or (to speak more properly) a house without an inhabitant. All the cost and pains bestowed on this stately structure are lost if God do not accept them; and, unless he please to own it as the place where he will record his name, it is after all but a ruinous heap. When therefore all the work is ended (Kg1 7:51), the one thing needful is yet behind, and that is the bringing in of the ark. This therefore is the end which must crown the work, and which here we have an account of the doing of with great solemnity.
I. Solomon presides in this service, as David…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 8:10
the cloud filled the house of the Lord--The cloud was the visible symbol of the divine presence, and its occupation of the sanctuary was a testimony of God's gracious acceptance of the temple as of the tabernacle (Exo 40:34). The dazzling brightness, or rather, perhaps, the dense portentous darkness of the cloud, struck the minds of the priests, as it formerly had done Moses, which such astonishment and terror (Lev 16:2-13; Deu 4:24; Exo 40:35) that they could not remain. Thus the temple became the place where the divine glory was revealed, and the king of Israel established his royal residence.
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 8:10
When the priests were come out - That is, after having carried the ark into the holy of holies, before any sacred service had yet commenced.
John Gill on 1 Kings 8:10
And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place,.... The most holy place, having set up the ark of the Lord there, who were all sanctified that were there, and did not wait by course as at other times, see 2 Chronicles 5:11, where in 2 Chronicles 5:12 it is said, that at this time, the Levites, who were singers of the families of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, arrayed in fine linen, with their musical instruments in their hands, stood at the east end of the altar of burnt offering, and one hundred and twenty priests, blowing their trumpets, praised the Lord together with one sound, declaring his goodness and his mercy, which endure for ever: and then it was
that the cloud…
