2 Chronicles 5:8
For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
The verse belongs to the first portion of 2 Chronicles, chapters 1 to 9, which gives the history of the undivided kingdom under Solomon in chronological order and parallels the account in 1 Kings 1 to 11. It follows David's purpose to build a house of God, his gathering of material for it, and the establishment of Solomon on the kingdom, and belongs to the account of Solomon's building of the temple of God and its solemn dedication. The building and furniture of the temple are to be especially noted, together with the dedication prayer and sacrifices and the divine answer to Solomon's prayer.
It is part of the account of the ark being carried from the sanctuary built by Moses into Solomon's temple, with the ark and the former tabernacle being brought in. That transfer distinguishes the earlier tabernacle from Solomon's temple and shows the sanctuary to include its sacred furnishings and the court around it. The temple dedication to which the verse belongs took place at 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.
The verse records that in the temple's Most Holy Place, the inner oracle of the house, the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, covering the ark and its carrying poles or staves above. The ark was placed there by Solomon amid great rejoicing and remained in Jerusalem until the city was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The ark held the two tables of stone of the covenant, placed there by Moses, so the verse means the tables of God's law were kept inside the ark in the most holy place beneath the cherubim's wings.
Under the first covenant God's dwelling place and mercy-seat for his people was between the cherubim above the ark, where only the high priest could come, once a year with blood. The temple containing this furniture was a larger and immovable building than the tabernacle but was constructed on the same plan as an edifice of two holy places, with sacred vessels of the same kind and the same ministration. With its two holy places it served as a pattern of the heavenly temple, proving the heavenly sanctuary has two holy places. The verse belongs to the dedication in which God honored the temple with the visible manifestation of his presence, when the singers praised the Lord and his glory filled the temple, and that account of temple worship encourages the expectation of God's goodness.