_and there it is, unto this day_] These words are taken over with the loss of one letter (which here makes the difference between singular and plural) from 1 Kings viii. 8, but they are out of place in Chronicles, for when the Chronicler wrote the Ark had long ago disappeared. The vessels which were brought back from the Babylonian captivity are specified in Ezra i. 9, 10, but the Ark of the covenant is not reckoned among them. ¹⁰There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put _there_ at Horeb, when¹ the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. ¹ Or, _where_. =10.= _which Moses put_ there] Exodus xl. 20. _at Horeb_] Deuteronomy v. 2. =11‒14= (= 1 Kings viii. 10, 11). THE DESCENT OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD. ¹¹And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, (for all the priests that were present had sanctified themselves, and did not keep their courses; =11.= _out of the holy place_] The priests could remain neither in the Holy of Holies where they had deposited the Ark, nor even in the Holy Place, but were driven altogether out of the Temple building into the Temple court (compare verse 14). =11‒13=a. _for all ... his mercy_ endureth _for ever_] a long parenthesis added by the Chronicler to intimate that the whole body and not merely the monthly “course” of priests and of Levitical singers were present (verses 11b‒12); and to suggest the grandeur of the musical service (verse 13a). =11.= _their courses_] Compare 1 Chronicles xxiv. 1‒19. ¹²also the Levites which were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brethren, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) =12.= _Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons_] Compare 1 Chronicles xxv. 1‒7. _psalteries ... harps_] See 1 Chronicles xiii. 8, notes. _at the east end of the altar_] Looking westward, facing the Holy of Holies. To face the east was to turn the back upon the sanctuary; Ezekiel viii. 16. _trumpets_] See 1 Chronicles xv. 24, note. ¹³it came even to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music¹, 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, ¹⁴so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. ¹ Or, _for song_. =13.= _of music_] Rather, as margin, =for song=. _for his mercy_ endureth _for ever_] 1 Chronicles xvi. 41. _was filled with a cloud_] Exodus xl. 34, 35. CHAPTER VI.