Reflections on 2 Chronicles 5

 2 Chronicles 05(Contemporary English Version)

1. After the LORD's temple was finished, Solomon put in its storage rooms everything that his father David had dedicated to the LORD, including the gold and silver, and the objects used in worship.
   
2. The sacred chest had been kept on Mount Zion, also known as the city of David. But Solomon decided to have the chest moved to the temple while everyone was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Shelters during the seventh month. Solomon called together all the important leaders of Israel.
   
3. (SEE 5:2)
   
4. Then the priests and the Levites picked up the sacred chest, the sacred tent, and the objects used for worship, and they carried them to the temple.
   
5. (SEE 5:4)
   
6. Solomon and a crowd of people walked in front of the chest, and along the way they sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted.
   
7. The priests carried the chest into the most holy place and put it under the winged creatures,
   
8. whose wings covered the chest and the poles used for carrying it.
   
9. The poles were so long that they could be seen from just outside the most holy place, but not from anywhere else. And they stayed there from then on.
   
10. The only things kept in the chest were the two flat stones Moses had put there when the LORD made his agreement with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, after bringing them out of Egypt.
    
11. The priests of every group had gone through the ceremony to make themselves clean and acceptable to the LORD. The Levite musicians, including Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives, were wearing robes of fine linen. They were standing on the east side of the altar, playing cymbals, small harps, and other stringed instruments. One hundred twenty priests were with these musicians, and they were blowing trumpets. They were praising the LORD by playing music and singing: "The LORD is good, and his love never ends." Suddenly a cloud filled the temple as the priests were leaving the holy place.
    
12. (SEE 5:11)
    
13. (SEE 5:11)
    
14. The LORD's glory was in that cloud, and the light from it was so bright that the priests could not stay inside to do their work.

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After 7 years, the temple was completed and the special furnishings and consecrated things were moved into it. Solomon's father David had gathered so much gold for the temple that it was not all used in the construction and Solomon placed it in the temple treasuries.

Though new furnishings had been made for the temple, the furnishings made by Moses that were contained in the tent of meeting were all brought into the temple. As the priests and Levites moved the ark, tent of meeting, and holy utensils from the tent of meeting, Solomon and the congregation of Israel gathered around the ark and sacrificed unnumberable sheep and cattle.

When the furnishings had been moved into the temple and the priests came out of the holy place, a large contingent of musicians, including 120 trumpeters, lifted their voices and instruments in praise and thanks to the Lord. The sound must have been awesome. Then, to cap it off, the temple was filled with a cloud as the glory of the Lord entered the place. For those present on that day, this must have been an unforgettable occasion.