And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,
Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon ... did build. The ark was placed in the temple by Solomon (1 Kings 8:1-66), where it remained until the idolatrous kings of Israel profaned the temple, when it was carried by the priests, in their pious zeal, from place to place, to be preserved from pollution. King Josiah caused it to be replaced in the temple. The Levites, the ministers or instructors of the people in all matters pertaining to the divine worship, were commanded (2 Chronicles 35:3) to 'put the holy ark in the houses which Solomon did build.' Their duty was to transport the ark from place to place, according to circumstances.
Some think that it had been ignominiously put away from the sanctuary by order of some idolatrous king, probably Manasseh, who set a carved image in the house of God (2 Chronicles 33:7), or Amon; while others are of opinion that it had been temporarily removed by Josiah himself into some adjoining chamber, during the repairs on the temple.
In replacing it, the Levites had evidently carried it upon their shoulders, deeming that still to be the duty which the law imposed on them. But Josiah reminded them of the change of circumstances-when, as the service of God was now performed in a fixed and permanent temple, they were not required to be bearers of the ark any longer, and, being released from the service, they should address themselves with the greater alacrity to the discharge of other functions. [What became of the ark afterward is not known, as this is the latest notice of it that is found in the sacred history. It is said (Malachi 2:4 Malachi 2:4) that it occupied its ordinary place until the period of the Chaldean invasion, and was lost during the disorders attending the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. No credit, of course, can be attached to an apocryphal legend. But the ark was certainly wanting in the second temple. And in another book of the Apocrypha (Ezra 10:22) the Jews are represented as lamenting that it had been taken away by the Chaldeans. All the Jewish Talmudists agree that it was never seen in Jerusalem. But the Jews themselves confidently expect its miraculous restoration at some future period (see Jeremiah 3:16).]