The porch before the Temple was twenty cubits in length, and ten cubits in breadth. The inner walls were lined with planks of cedar, on which were carved cherubim and palm-trees and divers flowers, all standing out, as it were, from the wall, so skilfully were they carved. All the furniture[1] was of the purest gold. The walls and floor of the Holy of Holies were covered with plates of fine gold, fastened by nails of gold.
When, after seven years, Solomon had finished the Temple, he assembled all the ancients of Israel with the princes of the tribes, to carry the Ark of the Covenant in triumph to the Temple. And all the people marched before the Ark in an ecstasy of joy and religious fervour, making peace-offerings to the Lord at every step they took. The Levites played on the harp and cymbal and many other instruments of music, while a hundred and twenty priests sounded the trumpet.
And the multitude sang in one grand chorus: “Praise the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endureth for ever.” Then the Ark having arrived at the gates of the Temple, only the priests who carried it entered in, and they brought it to the Holy of Holies, and the cherubim shaded it with their wings. And the majesty of God in the form of a cloud[2] filled the Temple, so that the priest could not stand to minister, because of the dazzling glory thereof.
Then Solomon, arrayed in his richest robes, fell on his face before the altar of holocausts, and stretching out his hands he said: “Lord God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in heaven or on earth. If heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built! O Lord my God, hear the hymn and the prayer which Thy servant prayeth before Thee this day, that Thy eyes may be open upon this house night and day, that Thou mayest hearken to the prayer which Thy servant prayeth in this place to Thee. Mayest Thou hearken to Thy people when they pray in this place. Mayest Thou hear them and show them mercy.”
