(10) Put therein.--Heb., which Moses put--in Horeb. Kings is fuller and clearer: which Moses placed there in Horeb. The chronicler has substituted "put" for "placed;" perhaps remembering Exodus 40:20 : "And he put the testimony into the ark." The word sh?m, "there" or "therein," has fallen out of the text.

When the Lord made a covenant.--Which (the two Tables i.e., the Covenant) the Lord covenanted with the sons of Israel. (Comp. 2Chronicles 6:11 : "the Ark wherein is the covenant of the Lord," 1Kings 8:21.)

Verse 10. - Nothing in the ark save the two tables (see Deuteronomy 10:5; and Exodus 40:20; then Exodus 24:12; 25:16; 31:18; 32:19; 34:1, 4, 29; 40:20). The stones were therefore now, in Solomon's time, nearly four hundred and ninety years old. Why the "golden pot" and "Aaron's rod" (Hebrews 9:4) were not there does not appear. The language of the Epistle is partially confirmed, at any rate in harmony with Exodus 16:34; Numbers 17:10. Possibly they may have now been removed by Solomon, but it seems very unlikely that, if so, no mention of the removal is made. On the other hand, the "book of the Law" had not been consigned to the ark, but to a place "by the side of" it (Deuteronomy 31:25-27).

5:1-10 The ark was a type of Christ, and, as such, a token of the presence of God. That gracious promise, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, does, in effect, bring the ark into our religious assemblies, if we by faith and prayer plead that promise; and this we should be most earnest for. When Christ is formed in a soul, the law written in the heart, the ark of the covenant settled there, so that it becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost, there is true satisfaction in that soul.See Chapter Introduction