The Ark Is Brought into the Temple
5 Thus all the work that Solomon performed for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the [a]things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver and the gold and all the utensils, and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.
2 Then Solomon assembled to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3 All the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, that is in the seventh month. 4 Then all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. 5 They brought up the ark and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils which were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. 6 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing [b]so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 7 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim. 8 For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its [c]poles. 9 The poles were so long that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; and [d]they are there to this day. 10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.
As the people brought the ark into the new temple, it was a day of great celebration. A natural part of this was the giving of many sacrifices. So many, in fact, that the author says they could not be counted. I say “natural”, because giving should be our natural reaction to the greatness and the generosity of God himself.
It is part of his nature to give, and just as we often exchange gifts throughout the year with others, we engage in a bit of a gift exchange with God. Though while we often try to match the perceived value of the gift with our friends or family, there is no match found with God’s gifts to us.
His gifts are unparalleled, but in this instance, the Israelites certainly gave it all they had with sacrifices unnumbered! What will you offer God today? It doesn’t have to be money, and while giving of our monetary resources is good to stretch our giving muscles, we can give of our time and other giftings that God has given to us. See what you can give, give generously, and give from the heart.