The cloud. — The bright Shechinah of the Divine Presence, at once cloud and fire — which had been the sign of the presence of God on Sinai (Exodus 24:15-18), and had hallowed the consecration of the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35) — now similarly descended on the Temple, as a sign of its acceptance with God. In the visions of Ezekiel the same glory is seen, first filling the house of the Lord, and then departing from it, as polluted by manifold idolatry (Ezekiel 10:4; Ezekiel 10:18). Its return to the restored Temple is solemnly promised by Haggai (Haggai 2:7; Haggai 2:9) in distinct reference to the coming of the Messiah; and it is declared that it shall be even greater than in the magnificence of Solomon’s Temple. The symbol clearly implies a revelation of Divine glory, as it is seen, not in the unveiled brightness of heaven, but in the glorious cloud of mystery; through which it must always be seen on earth, and which, indeed, is all that the eye of man can bear to contemplate. Out of that glory comes the only revelation which can be distinct to man — the voice or the word of the Lord (Deuteronomy 4:12).
The record of the Chronicles (2 Chronicles 5:11-13) — dwelling, as usual, on the musical and ritual service of the Levites — notes here that this descent of the glory of the Lord came, as it were, in answer to a solemn burst of worship from the Levites and the people, “praising the Lord, because He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever.”