=4.= _the Levites took up the ark_] According to 1 Kings the _priests_ performed this duty. In the days of David and Solomon all Levites were possible priests, Levi being the name of the priestly clan and not of a lower order of priests. At a later period the Levites were regarded as a class subordinate to the priests, having duties distinct from those of the priests――e.g. the task of bearing the tabernacle and all its furniture (see Numbers i. 50, etc.). The Chronicler believing that this distinction had been in force from the time of Moses onwards “corrects” the text of Kings by changing “priests” into “Levites”: compare 1 Chronicles xv. 2, 12, 13. See the special note on 1 Chronicles vi., pp. 51 f. ⁵And they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; these did the priests the Levites bring up. ⁶And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. =5.= _the tent of meeting_] i.e. the Mosaic tabernacle, which the Chronicler believed to have been in existence in the time of David and Solomon, and to have been at Gibeon (i. 3 f.). The parallel statement in Kings comes not from the early sources but from the hand of a late reviser. _the priests the Levites_] here the older phrase, which does not indicate a distinction between Priests and Levites, has been allowed to stand, perhaps “because certain utensils might well have been borne by the priests” (so Curtis), or possibly through slight carelessness on the Chronicler’s part. The parallel in Kings has “the priests _and_ the Levites.” ⁷And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above. =7.= _the priests brought in the ark_] Only the priests might lawfully place the Ark within the Holy of Holies (compare Numbers iv. 5 ff.). The Chronicler therefore had no cause for changing _priests_ into _Levites_ here. _into the oracle_] See iii. 16, note. ⁹And the staves¹ were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without: and there it is, unto this day. ¹ Or, _they drew out the staves, so that &c._ =9.= _from the ark_] Read (with LXX. and 1 Kings viii. 8) =from the holy place=. One standing in the Holy Place and looking towards the Holy of Holies could see the heads of the staves.