Faith and Values: Temples throughout the ages

In my last two columns, I've written about a new temple being constructed in the city of Philadelphia by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The temple, which is near Logan Square, is due to be completed in 2016.

Since the closest temples are in Washington, D.C., and in Manhattan, local Latter-day Saints are excited to have a temple so close to home. A public open house will be held prior to the dedication. I will provide details about how to obtain tickets as they become available. For information, in the interim, you can visit our visitor center in a trailer at the construction site or online at http://www.mormontemples.org to learn about the Philadelphia temple and other Latter-day Saint temples around the world.

The construction of temples by the Latter-day Saints today is a continuation of the pattern the Lord established anciently.

As the Israelites were traveling through the wilderness, they received instructions to create a mobile temple from tent material that could be carried during their journeys. Exodus 25:8-9 reads: "And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle."

Moses followed very detailed instructions about the construction of the tabernacle (Exodus 25-31,35-40). When completed, the tabernacle was the center of worship for the Israelite nation, a place of learning and a place for sacred ordinances and personal worship.

The tabernacle served as the temple for Israel until the Temple of Solomon was constructed in Jerusalem by King Solomon. As described in 1 Kings 5-8 and 2 Chronicles 2-5, it was built from the finest materials that the wealthy king could obtain.

Skilled craftsmen were brought from distant lands to adorn the House of the Lord. For more than 400 years, the temple was the center of Jewish worship, a place where the most sacred rites were performed until its destruction by King Nebuchadnezzar. Israel, for the first time in many generations, was without a temple.

Upon their return from Babylonian captivity, one of the first things the Jews did was to rebuild the temple (see Ezra chapters 1-7). The completion of the temple was accompanied by great rejoicing and renewed commitment to righteousness by the Jewish nation. That temple stood for many years. When Herod conquered Jerusalem in 37 B.C., portions of the temple were damaged. To gain favor with the conquered nation, he began a process of renovating and enlarging the temple that lasted a century.

The Temple of Herod, as it was called, was the temple the Savior knew during his mortal life. The New Testament records many sacred events occurring at the temple both in the Savior's life and the lives of his apostles. This temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., only three years after its completion, and has not been rebuilt.

The Book of Mormon, which has the history of the ancient inhabitants of the New World, describes the building of ancient temples on this continent as well. Shortly after the people arrived in the Americas from Jerusalem, their first prophet-historian Nephi describes the construction of a temple (2 Nephi 5:16).

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Faith and Values: Temples throughout the ages