1 Kings 8

What happens in this chapter

In the seventh month, at the feast, Solomon gathers the elders, and the priests carry the ark up from the city of David with the Tent of Meeting and its holy vessels, while sheep and cattle are sacrificed beyond counting. They set the ark in the inner sanctuary under the cherubim's wings; it holds nothing but the two stone tablets Moses put there at Horeb. As the priests come out, a cloud fills the house and they cannot stand to minister, because the glory of the LORD fills it. Solomon blesses the people and prays at length, admitting that even the highest heaven cannot contain God, and asking him to hear prayers made towards this house by a sinner, a foreigner, an army at war or exiles in an enemy land. The dedication ends with 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep, a feast of fourteen days, and the people going home glad.

What the lab shows, and where to look

Solomon's Temple lab has a dedication view for this chapter, in which the procession, the people and the light are stylised, and the cloud is drawn as a bright mist because the text never describes it. Open The ark of the covenant in the most holy place: it is the wilderness ark, not a new one, with its poles drawn east to west so the ends point towards the holy place, a plausible reading of verse 8. Above it stand The two great cherubim, ten cubits high, their wings reaching wall to wall; their bodies and veiled faces are an artistic choice. Outside, The bronze altar is the one verse 64 says was too small for that day's offerings. The Tabernacle lab has the same ark in its first home.

• The ark of the covenant · Solomon's Temple
• The two great cherubim · Solomon's Temple
• The bronze altar · Solomon's Temple
• Ark of the Covenant · The Tabernacle

Questions people ask