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God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the

throne of his holiness. The princes of the people are gathered together, even the

people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exhalted.”

lift up, ye

“Lift up your headls, O ye gates;

and be

ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty,

the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye ever

lasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the

King of glory.”

As the Ark entered the Holy Temple, with the holy vessels that were in the Tabernacle, the whole congregation prostrated themselves before the Lord, and before the Ark, and remained prostrate while it passed “into the oracle of the house, to the Most Holy Place, even under the wings of the cherubims: for the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the Ark, and the cherubims covered the Ark, and the staves thereof above.” On the High Priest arranging the holy vessels, and drawing out the staves by which the Ark was carried, and which were to be seen from under the wings of the cherubims, he offered up a prayer of praise and of thanksgiving to Almighty God, for mercies vouchsafed to his people Israel.

Then stood up Asaph, and Jeduthun, and Heman, with their several companies of singers, to the number of two hundred and eighty-eight persons, who excelled in the songs of the Lord, and who played on the harp, psalteries, cymbals, and horn, with an hundred and twenty priests, who blew trumpets, and sung Psalm cxxxvi., accompanied by the whole congregation. “O give thanks unto the Lord; FOR HE IS GOOD: for his

mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods : for his mercy

endureth for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords : for his endureth

mercy for ever. To him who alone doeth great wonders : for his mercy en

dureth for ever. To him that by wisdom made the heavens : for his mercy

endureth for ever. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters : for his mercy

endureth for ever. To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for

ever:

The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever: The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy en

dureth for ever. To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy

endureth for ever : And brought out Israel from among them : for his mercy

endureth for ever With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm : for his

mercy endureth for ever. To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy

endureth for ever : And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his

mercy endureth for ever: But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea : for

his mercy endureth for ever. To him which led his people through the wilderness : for his mercy

endureth for ever. To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth

for ever : And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:

G

Sihon king of the Amorites : for his mercy endureth for

ever:

And Og the king of Bashan : for his mercy endureth for

ever: And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy

endureth for ever : Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy

endureth for ever. Who remembered us in our low estate : for his mercy en

dureth for ever: And hath redeemed us from our enemies : for his mercy

endureth for ever. Who giveth food to all flesh : for his mercy endureth for

ever.

O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy en

dureth for ever.” It came to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, making one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, “For he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever;" that “then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”

Then king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him before the Ark, bowed themselves before the Lord God and worshipped, and sacrificed unto Hin both sheep and oxen.

The sudden appearance of the cloud in the temple was a most memorable event, and must have created great joy in the hearts of the King, the High Priest, and of all present. It was the same cloud of the divine

presence, mentioned in Exodus xiii. 19, 20, called “the Angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, to show them the way they should take, when they fled from the host of the Egyptians: and on their near approach, removed and went behind them.

It was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, but it gave light by night to the Israelites.” This cloud, we are informed in Numbers ix. 15, on the erection of the Tabernacle, descended and covered it; which was visible during the day, but at night it assumed the appearance of fire; and which accompanied the Israelites during forty years, as they journeyed toward Canaan. They advanced when the cloud was taken from off the Tabernacle, and where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. In the re-appearance of this cloud, Solomon and his people had a further testimony of God's faithfulness, that he changeth not; that he will come down and dwell with those that will “ keep his charge, and his commandments, and his statutes.” God honoured Solomon's temple as he honoured the Tabernacle erected by Moses, by so filling it with his presence, that Moses, because of the glory, was unable to enter into the tent of the congregation; so in the temple, the priests could not stand to minister, for the Lord had filled the house of God. What encouragement is here held out to the humble and sincere worshipper, that God's eye is ever over him, and ever near him, to guide and defend him.

The Ark is also called the Ark of the Testimony, and was the first thing that God ordered to be made on Moses going up into the Mount to commune with him. It contained nothing save the two tables of the law which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the Lord made

a covenant with the children of Israel, on their coming out of Egypt. It was made of shittim wood; it was overlaid within and without with pure gold, having four rings of gold for receiving the staves of shittim wood, which were overlaid with gold, by which the Ark was to be borne. Over the Ark was placed the mercyseat, which was of pure gold, with two cherubims of gold, who looked towards each other, and whose wings covered the mercy-seat. God said to Moses,

- There will I meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims, which are upon the Ark of the Testimony." The light that beamed over the mercy-seat was called the Shekinah, or Presence of the Divine Majesty, which appeared on especial occasions. The pot of manna, and Aaron's rod, were placed by the Ark, but not in it.

The Dedicatory Prayer.

Solomon, on blessing the congregation, said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying, Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, wherein my name might be recorded. But, it being in the heart of David my father to build an house to record the name of the Lord God of Israel; the Lord said unto David my father, It was well that it was in thy heart to build an house unto my

Nevertheless, thou shalt not build the house, but thy son, he shall build the house unto my name. This day the Lord hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my

naine.

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