Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 203
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SAMUEL–KINGS
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the flower decorations, lamps, and tongs—all of gold;
the small bowls, lamp snuffers, bowls, ladles, and incense b urners—all
of solid gold;
the doors for the entrances to the Most Holy Place and the main room
of the Temple, with their fronts overlaid with gold.
So King Solomon finished all his work on the Temple of the Lord.
Then he brought all the gifts his father, David, had dedicated—the silver,
the gold, and the various articles—and he stored them in the treasuries of
the Lord’s Temple.
Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the
heads of the tribes—the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites.
They were to bring the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant to the Temple from its
location in the City of David, also known as Zion. So all the men of Israel
assembled before King Solomon at the annual Festival of Shelters, which
is held in early autumn in the month of Ethanim.
When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests picked up the Ark. The
priests and Levites brought up the Ark of the Lord along with the special
tent and all the sacred items that had been in it. There, before the Ark, King
Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed so many sheep,
goats, and cattle that no one could keep count!
Then the priests carried the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant into the inner
sanctuary of the Temple—the Most Holy Place—and placed it beneath
the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings over the Ark,
forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles. These poles were so
long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place, which is in front
of the Most Holy Place, but not from the outside. They are still there to
this day. Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses
had placed in it at Mount Sinai, where the Lord made a covenant with the
people of Israel when they left the land of Egypt.
When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the
Temple of the Lord. The priests could not continue their service because
of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of
the Lord.
Then Solomon prayed, “O Lord, you have said that you would live in a
thick cloud of darkness. Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place
where you can live forever!”
Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing
before him and gave this blessing: “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who