◄ 1 Kings 8:4 ►
and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.
Study Bible
and they brought up the ark of the LORD

The Ark of the Covenant, a sacred chest, symbolized God's presence and covenant with Israel. It contained the stone tablets of the Law, Aaron's rod, and a pot of manna. The phrase "brought up" indicates the movement from the City of David to the newly constructed Temple in Jerusalem, signifying a transition from a temporary to a permanent dwelling place for God's presence. This act fulfilled the promise of a centralized place of worship (Deuteronomy 12:5-11).

2Sa 6:12-15 Now it was reported to King David, “The LORD has blessed…
1Ch 15:25-28 So David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders…
Jos 3:14-17 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan,…

and the Tent of Meeting

The Tent of Meeting, also known as the Tabernacle, was the portable earthly dwelling place of God used by the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt. It was a precursor to the Temple and represented God's presence among His people. The transition from the Tabernacle to the Temple marks a significant shift in Israel's worship practices, from a nomadic to a settled form of worship.

Num 10:11-12 On the twentieth day of the second month,…
Exo 33:7-11 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it…
Lev 1:1 Then the LORD called to Moses and spoke to him…

with all its sacred furnishings.

The sacred furnishings included items such as the altar of incense, the table for the showbread, and the golden lampstand. Each piece had specific instructions given by God (Exodus 25-30) and held symbolic meaning, pointing to aspects of worship and the coming Messiah. For example, the lampstand symbolized the light of God, fulfilled in Jesus as the Light of the World (John 8:12).

Num 4:4-16 This service of the Kohathites at the Tent of Meeting…
Num 1:50-53 Instead, you are to appoint the Levites over the tabernacle…
Exo 40:9-11 Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle…

So the priests and Levites carried them up.

The priests and Levites were responsible for the care and transport of the Ark and the Tabernacle's furnishings, as outlined in Numbers 4. Their role highlights the importance of holiness and reverence in handling sacred objects. This act of carrying the Ark and furnishings up to the Temple signifies the fulfillment of God's promise to establish a permanent place for His name (1 Kings 8:20-21). The involvement of the priests and Levites underscores the continuity of worship practices and the importance of ordained ministry in the life of Israel.

2Ch 5:5 And they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting…
1Ch 15:12-15 And he said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical…
Num 3:31-32 Their duties were the ark, the table, the lampstand,…

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Ark of the LORD
A sacred chest that held the tablets of the Ten Commandments, representing God's covenant with Israel and His presence among His people.

2. The Tent of Meeting
Also known as the Tabernacle, it was the portable earthly dwelling place of God used by the Israelites during their journey through the wilderness.

3. Sacred Furnishings
These included items used in worship and sacrifices, such as the altar, the lampstand, and the table for the bread of the Presence.

4. The Priests
Descendants of Aaron, responsible for performing sacrifices and maintaining the rituals of the Tabernacle and later the Temple.

5. The Levites
Members of the tribe of Levi, assigned to assist the priests and care for the Tabernacle and its furnishings.
Teaching Points
Reverence for God's Presence
The Ark and the Tent of Meeting symbolize God's presence. We should approach God with reverence and awe, recognizing His holiness and majesty.

The Role of the Priests and Levites
The priests and Levites were set apart for specific duties. This reminds us of the importance of serving God faithfully in the roles He has given us.

The Importance of Obedience
The careful transport of the Ark and sacred furnishings illustrates the importance of obedience to God's instructions. We are called to follow God's Word diligently in our lives.

God's Faithfulness
The Ark represents God's covenant faithfulness. We can trust in God's promises and His presence with us through all circumstances.

Worship as a Community
The collective effort of the priests and Levites in this event highlights the communal aspect of worship. We are encouraged to gather with others in worship and service to God.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the reverence shown by the priests and Levites in transporting the Ark challenge us in our approach to worship today?

2. In what ways can we ensure that we are faithfully serving in the roles God has given us, similar to the priests and Levites?

3. How does the obedience of the Israelites in this passage inspire us to follow God's instructions in our daily lives?

4. What are some ways we can remind ourselves of God's faithfulness and presence in our lives, as symbolized by the Ark?

5. How can we foster a sense of community in our worship and service, reflecting the collective effort seen in this passage?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 25-31
These chapters provide detailed instructions for the construction of the Ark and the Tabernacle, emphasizing their importance in Israel's worship and relationship with God.

Numbers 4
This chapter outlines the specific duties of the Levites in transporting the Tabernacle and its furnishings, highlighting the care and reverence required in handling sacred objects.

2 Chronicles 5:4-5
This passage parallels 1 Kings 8:4, describing the same event of bringing the Ark into the Temple, underscoring its significance in Israel's history.
Sermons
A King Dedicates a Church1 Kings 8:1-9
A Royal PriestJ. Parker, D. D.1 Kings 8:1-9
People
David, Israelites, Levites, Solomon
Places
Brook of Egypt, Egypt, Holy Place, Horeb, Jerusalem, Lebo-hamath, Most Holy Place, Zion
Topics
Ark, Bring, Carried, Congregation, Furnishings, Holy, Levites, Meeting, Priests, Sacred, Tabernacle, Tent, Utensils, Vessels, Yea
Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Kings 8:4

     7474   Tent of Meeting

1 Kings 8:1-6

     7306   ark of the covenant

1 Kings 8:3-5

     7390   Levites

1 Kings 8:3-6

     7328   ceremonies
     8642   celebration

Library
'The Matter of a Day in Its Day'
'At all times, as the matter shall require.'--1 KINGS viii. 59. I have ventured to diverge from my usual custom, and take this fragment of a text because, in the forcible language of the original, it carries some very important lessons. The margin of our Bible gives the literal reading of the Hebrew; the sense, but not the vigorous idiom, of which is conveyed in the paraphrase in our version. 'At all times, as the matter shall require,' is, literally, 'the thing of a day in its day'; and that is …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The King 'Blessing' his People
And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55. And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56. Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto His people Israel, according to all that He promised: there hath not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Blighted Blossoms
In our yard, a few feet from the door, stands an apple-tree. In the early spring I watched its swelling buds from day to day. Soon they burst forth into snowy blossoms, beautifying the tree, and filling the air with their fragrance. There was the promise of a bountiful crop of fruit. In a few days the petals had fallen like a belated snow. As the leaves unfolded and grew larger, there appeared here and there a little apple that gave promise of maturing into full-ripened fruit. But, alas! how few …
Charles Wesley Naylor—Heart Talks

The Next Words Are, which Art in Heaven. ...
The next words are, WHICH ART IN HEAVEN. From this we are not to infer that he is enclosed and confined within the circumference of heaven, as by a kind of boundaries. Hence Solomon confesses, "The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee" (1 Kings 8:27); and he himself says by the Prophet, "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (Isa. 56:1); thereby intimating, that his presence, not confined to any region, is diffused over all space. But as our gross minds are unable to conceive of …
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

In the Dungeon of Giant Discourager
IN THE DUNGEON OF GIANT DISCOURAGER I feel very discouraged at times, and sometimes the spells of discouragement hang on for a long while. I wonder if I am sanctified. From unaccountable sources, bad feelings of every description depress my soul, and along with these bad feelings come doubts that cast gloom over me. I have prayed and prayed that these feelings of discouragement might leave me; but they have not done so. I despair of prayer bringing me the help I need. Really, I know not what to do. …
Robert Lee Berry—Adventures in the Land of Canaan

Whether the Old Law Enjoined Fitting Precepts Concerning Rulers?
Objection 1: It would seem that the Old Law made unfitting precepts concerning rulers. Because, as the Philosopher says (Polit. iii, 4), "the ordering of the people depends mostly on the chief ruler." But the Law contains no precept relating to the institution of the chief ruler; and yet we find therein prescriptions concerning the inferior rulers: firstly (Ex. 18:21): "Provide out of all the people wise [Vulg.: 'able'] men," etc.; again (Num. 11:16): "Gather unto Me seventy men of the ancients of …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Sanctification.
VI. Objections answered. I will consider those passages of scripture which are by some supposed to contradict the doctrine we have been considering. 1 Kings viii. 46: "If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near," etc. On this passage, I remark:-- 1. That this sentiment in nearly the same language, is repeated in 2 Chron. vi. 26, and in Eccl. …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

The New Temple and Its Worship
'And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo: and they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. 16. And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Law Given, not to Retain a People for Itself, but to Keep Alive the Hope of Salvation in Christ Until his Advent.
1. The whole system of religion delivered by the hand of Moses, in many ways pointed to Christ. This exemplified in the case of sacrifices, ablutions, and an endless series of ceremonies. This proved, 1. By the declared purpose of God; 2. By the nature of the ceremonies themselves; 3. From the nature of God; 4. From the grace offered to the Jews; 5. From the consecration of the priests. 2. Proof continued. 6. From a consideration of the kingdom erected in the family of David. 7. From the end of the …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

"If we Confess Our Sins, He is Faithful and Just to Forgive us Our Sins, and to Cleanse us from all Unrighteousness. If we Say We
1 John i. 9, 10.--"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar," &c. And who will not confess their sin, say you? Who doth not confess sins daily, and, therefore, who is not forgiven and pardoned? But stay, and consider the matter again. Take not this upon your first light apprehensions, which in religion are commonly empty, vain, and superficial, but search the scriptures, and …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Entire Sanctification
By Dr. Adam Clarke The word "sanctify" has two meanings. 1. It signifies to consecrate, to separate from earth and common use, and to devote or dedicate to God and his service. 2. It signifies to make holy or pure. Many talk much, and indeed well, of what Christ has done for us: but how little is spoken of what he is to do in us! and yet all that he has done for us is in reference to what he is to do in us. He was incarnated, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead; ascended to heaven, and there …
Adam Clarke—Entire Sanctification

The Whole Heart
LET me give the principal passages in which the words "the whole heart," "all the heart," are used. A careful study of them will show how wholehearted love and service is what God has always asked, because He can, in the very nature of things, ask nothing less. The prayerful and believing acceptance of the words will waken the assurance that such wholehearted love and service is exactly the blessing the New Covenant was meant to make possible. That assurance will prepare us for turning to the Omnipotence …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

The Gospel of John
As we turn to the fourth Gospel we come to entirely different ground from that which we have traversed in the other three. True, the period of time which is covered by it, is the same as in the others; true, that some of the incidents that have already been looked at will here come before us again; and true it is that he who has occupied the central position in the narratives of the first three Evangelists, is the same One that is made preeminent by John; but otherwise, everything here is entirely …
Arthur W. Pink—Why Four Gospels?

Scriptural Types.
1. The material world is full of analogies adapted to the illustration of spiritual things. No teacher ever drew from this inexhaustible storehouse such a rich variety of examples as our Saviour. His disciples are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and a city set on a hill. From the ravens which God feeds and the lilies which God clothes, he teaches the unreasonableness of worldly anxiety. The kingdom of heaven is like seed sown in different soils, like a field of wheat and tares …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Its Meaning
Deliverance from the condemning sentence of the Divine Law is the fundamental blessing in Divine salvation: so long as we continue under the curse, we can neither be holy nor happy. But as to the precise nature of that deliverance, as to exactly what it consists of, as to the ground on which it is obtained, and as to the means whereby it is secured, much confusion now obtains. Most of the errors which have been prevalent on this subject arose from the lack of a clear view of the thing itself, and …
Arthur W. Pink—The Doctrine of Justification

The Promises of the Law and the Gospel Reconciled.
1. Brief summary of Chapters 15 and 16. Why justification is denied to works. Argument of opponents founded on the promises of the law. The substance of this argument. Answer. Those who would be justified before God must be exempted from the power of the law. How this is done. 2. Confirmation of the answer ab impossibili, and from the testimony of an Apostle and of David. 3. Answer to the objection, by showing why these promises were given. Refutation of the sophistical distinction between the intrinsic …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Fact of the Redeemer's Return had a Spectacular Setting Forth on the Mount of Transfiguration.
The Transfiguration of Christ is perhaps as familiar as any of the leading events recorded in the four Gospels, yet is it less understood than the other great crises in His blessed life. The purpose and meaning of the Transfiguration is defined in the closing verse of Matthew 16--"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom." This is a verse which has puzzled many Bible readers, yet its meaning is simple if …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

How to Make Use of Christ for Taking the Guilt of Our Daily Out-Breakings Away.
The next part of our sanctification is in reference to our daily failings and transgressions, committed partly through the violence of temptations, as we see in David and Peter, and other eminent men of God; partly through daily infirmities, because of our weakness and imperfections; for, "in many things we offend all," James iii. 2; and, "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," 1 John i. 8; "a righteous man falleth seven times," Prov. xxiv. 16; "there is not …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Doctrine of God
I. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD: (Vs. Atheism). 1. ASSUMED BY THE SCRIPTURES. 2. PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. a) Universal belief in the Existence of God. b) Cosmological:--Argument from Cause. c) Teleological:--Argument from Design. d) Ontological:--Argument from Being. e) Anthropological:--Moral Argument. f) Argument from Congruity. g) Argument from Scripture. II. THE NATURE OF GOD: (Vs. Agnosticism) 1. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD: (Vs. Materialism). 2. THE PERSONALITY OF GOD: (Vs. Pantheism). 3. THE UNITY …
Rev. William Evans—The Great Doctrines of the Bible

Every Thing Proceeding from the Corrupt Nature of Man Damnable.
1. The intellect and will of the whole man corrupt. The term flesh applies not only to the sensual, but also to the higher part of the soul. This demonstrated from Scripture. 2. The heart also involved in corruption, and hence in no part of man can integrity, or knowledge or the fear of God, be found. 3. Objection, that some of the heathen were possessed of admirable endowments, and, therefore, that the nature of man is not entirely corrupt. Answer, Corruption is not entirely removed, but only inwardly …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate,
CLEARLY EXPLAINED, AND LARGELY IMPROVED, FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL BELIEVERS. 1 John 2:1--"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." By JOHN BUNYAN, Author of "The Pilgrim's Progress." London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms, in the Poultry, 1689. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This is one of the most interesting of Bunyan's treatises, to edit which required the Bible at my right hand, and a law dictionary on my left. It was very frequently republished; …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Song of Solomon.
An important link in the chain of the Messianic hopes is formed by the Song of Solomon. It is intimately associated with Ps. lxxii., which was written by Solomon, and represents the Messiah as the Prince of Peace, imperfectly prefigured by Solomon as His type. As in this Psalm, so also in the Song of Solomon, the coming of the Messiah forms the subject throughout, and He is introduced there under the name of Solomon, the Peaceful One. His coming shall be preceded by severe afflictions, represented …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Fact of the Redeemer's Return was Typified in the Lives of Joseph and Solomon.
In the Old Testament there are numerous references to the Second Coming of Christ, references both direct and typical, but in every instance it was His return to the earth which was in view. The secret coming of Christ into the air, to catch up the saints to Himself, was an event quite unknown to the Old Testament prophets, an event kept secret until revealed by God to the apostle Paul who, when writing to the Corinthians upon this particular aspect of our subject, said, "Behold, I show you a mystery …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

Links
1 Kings 8:4 NIV
1 Kings 8:4 NLT
1 Kings 8:4 ESV
1 Kings 8:4 NASB
1 Kings 8:4 KJV

1 Kings 8:4 Commentaries

Bible Hub
1 Kings 8:3
Top of Page
Top of Page