Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 8:21

"And there have I set a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt." — 1 Kings 8:21 (ASV)

In what is the covenant of the Lord? —the Tables, that is, containing the words of the covenant (Exodus 34:28). This remarkable application of the word “covenant” illustrates strikingly the characteristics of the Divine covenants with man. Such covenants are not (like most human covenants) undertakings of reciprocal engagements between parties regarded as independent. For such a conception of the relation between God and man is monstrous. God’s covenants proceed simply from His will, expressed in His call to an individual or a nation. They begin in free grace and blessing from Him; they require simply that men should believe and accept His call, and act in obedience to that belief.

Thus the Decalogue opens with the words, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, describing the gift of salvation from the mercy of God, which constituted Israel anew as His peculiar people. (See Exodus 3:7-15.) On the ground of this salvation, rather than of His Omnipotence as Creator and Sustainer of the world, He calls for their obedience to the commandments, which are thus the words of the covenant. Similarly St. Paul, when (Romans 12:1) he calls Christians to absolute self-devotion, appeals to them by the mercies of God, on which he had so fully dwelt—the larger and more spiritual covenant in Christ.