Then Solomon spake unto all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every governor in all Israel, the chief of the fathers.
Then Solomon spake unto all Israel - namely, the heads, or leading officers, that are afterward specified, were summoned to attend their sovereign in a solemn religious procession. The date of this occurrence was the second year of Solomon's reign, and the high place at Gibeon was chosen for the performance of the sacred rites, from the tabernacle and all the ancient furniture connected with the national worship being deposited there. Zadok was the officiating high priest (1 Chronicles 16:39). It is true that the ark had been removed, and placed in a new tent which David had made for it at Jerusalem; but the brasen altar, "before the tabernacle of the Lord," on which the burnt offerings were appointed by the law to be made, was at Gibeon; and although David had been led by extraordinary events and tokens of the divine presence to sacrifice on the threshing-floor of Araunah, Solomon considered it his duty to present his offerings on the legally appointed spot "before the tabernacle," and on the time-honoured altar prepared by the skill of Bezaleel in the wilderness (Exodus 38:1).