Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 8:9

"There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt." — 1 Kings 8:9 (ASV)

There was nothing. —The emphasis of this statement (repeated in 2 Chronicles 5:10) is remarkable. It seems intended to make clear that the various items placed “before the testimony”—the pot of manna (Exodus 16:33–34), Aaron’s rod (Numbers 17:10), and the copy of the Law (Deuteronomy 31:24–26)—were not in the ark. Instead, as is actually stated in the last case, they were at “the side of the ark.”

Unless any change occurred later—which is highly improbable—this clear statement must determine the interpretation of the well-known passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 9:4). In that passage, no stress needs to be placed on the literal accuracy of the word “wherein,” for its purpose is simply a general description of the Temple, its chief parts, and its most sacred furnishings.

The command to deposit the tablets in the ark is recorded in Exodus 25:16, and their actual deposit there in Exodus 40:20, immediately after the erection of the Tabernacle.

There is something singularly impressive in the special sanctification of the granite tablets of the Law of Righteousness, as the most sacred of all revelations of the Nature of God; this indissolubly binds religion and morality together and shows that God is best known to humanity not in His omnipotence, or even in His infinite wisdom (which humans can only imitate to a small degree), but in His moral nature, as the very Truth and Righteousness, of which all that in humanity is called true and righteous is but the reflection.

The one main objective of all prophetic teaching was to bring out the truth implied here, thus writing the law on the heart and on the mind (Jeremiah 31:33), and rebuking moral evil at least as strongly as religious error and apostasy. The very name of the Messiah for whom they prepared is “Jehovah our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6).