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Why in 1 King 8:9, it was mentioned that "There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb"; while in other places, such as in Hebrews 9:3-4, it was mentioned that the ark of covenant contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron 's staff, and the stone tablets of the covenant?

What appears to be a discrepancy between the contents of these two passages is a result of the differences in the details of the structure of the tabernacle during the time of Moses and the time of Solomon and the time of Zorobabel. For example, in later scripture, we learn that there was a wall instead of the original veil, and the placement of the golden censor was to be accessible to the priest who was to go into the holy of holies. Thus, many details were later added. In the Holy Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul is trying to make a case for the resemblances of these details, which point only to Christ, and would be understood by the Jewish (Hebrew) scholars. St. Paul is referring to the original Ark of the Covenant that was built at the time of Moses. Thus, he drew inferences to prove the correlation between all the symbolisms of the items mentioned in this epistle to Jesus Christ.