The priests could not stand to minister. — So in Exodus 40:35, “Moses was not able to enter into the Tabernacle; for the cloud rested thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.” They shrank from the glory of the Lord, whom none could see and live; just as Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5) felt “undone” when he beheld the glory of the Lord in the Temple; and as even the Apostles trembled, when they entered into “the bright cloud which overshadowed them” on the Mount of Transfiguration, and “knew not what they said” (Luke 9:33-34). But it was not so much from terror of the Lord, who is “a consuming fire,” as simply from awe and reverence of His unspeakable glory.
Related Commentaries of 1 Kings 8:11
1 Kings 8:11
11 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.