2 Chronicles 5:11
And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course:
The verse stands in the history of the undivided kingdom under Solomon, in the first portion of 2 Chronicles, chapters 1 to 9. That first portion gives this history in chronological order and covers the same events as 1 Kings 1 to 11. The verse belongs to the account of the building and furniture of the temple, with the dedication prayer and sacrifices and the divine answer to the prayer. Those opening six chapters tell of the building of the temple and its services under Solomon's glorious rule, showing God's care for His people and His purpose to save them, with divine favor resting on faithfulness to the covenant.
The chapter describes the transfer of the ark and the tabernacle into Solomon's temple, marking the temple as the sanctuary in which God's presence dwelt. At this time all the priests who were present were sanctified and served together, and did not then wait by their regular courses. Solomon's temple was a larger and grander yet immovable building constructed on the same plan as the tabernacle of Moses, with two holy places, sacred vessels of the same kind, and the same ministration and pattern of sacred service. This two-apartment building was a pattern of the heavenly temple, proving that the heavenly sanctuary has two holy places.
The verse is part of the solemn dedication of the temple, which was honored by God's visible presence and is dated to 3001 A.M. That dedication took place in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles, a month before the temple was fully completed, in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, dated here to 1020 B.C.