2 Chronicles 5:10, commentary and pictures

When the priests brought the ark into the most holy place of Solomon's temple under the wings of the cherubim, it held nothing but the two stone tablets Moses had placed in it at Horeb when the Lord covenanted with Israel after the Exodus. Those two tables kept alone in the ark are the Ten Commandments, God's testament written on stone and that only. The ark was made for the express purpose of holding that law beneath the mercy-seat, where the presence dwelt between the cherubim and where the high priest alone approached, for that law is the foundation of God's throne. Solomon's temple was a larger and grander immovable house than the tabernacle yet built on the same plan with the same vessels and ministration and with its two holy places a pattern of the heavenly temple.

Temple Setting and History

The verse belongs to the history of the undivided kingdom under Solomon in 2 Chronicles 1-9, coming in chronological order and paralleling 1 Kings 1-11. It stands in the record of Solomon's building of the temple of God and its solemn dedication, following David's purpose to build a house of God, his gathering of material for it, the call of Solomon to the kingdom, and the perplexities of establishing his reign. Its setting is the building and furniture of the temple, with the dedication prayer and sacrifices and the divine answer to Solomon's prayer.

It belongs to the six chapters given to the building of the temple and its services within the account of the glorious rule of Solomon in the first nine chapters of Second Chronicles. That account shows God's care for His people and His purpose to save them, with divine favor dependent on faithfulness to the original covenant and divine punishment the result of unfaithfulness. The temple Solomon erected was a larger and grander immovable building than the tabernacle, but constructed on the same plan as an edifice consisting of two holy places. It had sacred vessels of the same kind and was occupied with the very same ministration, and this building with its two holy places was a pattern of the heavenly temple.

The priests brought the ark of the covenant into its place in the oracle of the house, into the most holy place under the wings of the cherubim. When Solomon placed the ark in the temple's Most Holy Place, it contained only the two stone tablets Moses had put there at Horeb, where God made His covenant with Israel after the exodus. The tablets were thus kept alone in the ark in the most holy place beneath the cherubim, as the old covenant written on two tables of stone and that only, with God's mercy-seat dwelling between the cherubim above them approached by the high priest alone. The ark remained in the temple until Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

The ark was a chest about four feet six inches in length and about two feet six inches in width and height, overlaid with pure gold within and without. It was made with the other vessels of the sanctuary after the pattern the Lord showed to Moses. There was nothing in it except the two tables of the ten commandments which Moses put there at Horeb, proving the ark was made for the express purpose of containing God's testament, the ten commandments.

Ark Contents and Covenant

When the ark was placed in the temple it contained nothing save the two stone tablets which Moses had put within it at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel at their coming out of Egypt after the Exodus. They were the tables of the covenant kept in the most holy place beneath the cherubim, and the ark remained in the temple until Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The pot of manna and the other articles belonging to the account of its earlier history were no longer there, having by then been removed.

The two tables thus kept alone in the ark are the Ten Commandments, God's testament given at Horeb and Sinai. They are the old covenant, written on two tables of stone and on that only. The ark was made for the express purpose of containing that testament of the ten commandments.

The ten-commandment law was thereby placed under the mercy-seat in the earthly sanctuary. That law is the foundation of God's throne, with His mercy-seat dwelling between the cherubim above the tables and approached by the high priest alone. The tablets were therefore in the ark in Solomon's time, while the claim that Israel's covenant and its Sabbath sign were later abolished in the reign of Manasseh finds no support in the texts adduced for it.