In response to some requests that have been received, the following is the written script for the first video of the temple video series (The Temple: Part 1 — Sacred Space) that David Tayman and I have been working on. Hopefully this is helpful for those who have slower internet connections or for some other reason are not able to easily view the videos.

This video is the first installment of a series of productions covering the topic of ancient temples, presented by David Larsen and David Tayman. The focus of these presentations will be to explore the nature, function, doctrine, and rituals of the ancient temple, especially the ancient Israelite Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, in a manner that is especially helpful for those who are familiar with modern Latter-day Saint Temples. The basic assumption we are working with is that, although there are important differences, there are also a number of significant similarities that can be found between the ancient temple and the modern.

BYU Professor Richard O. Cowan explained:

Modern revelation affirms that both the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon were built so that “those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was” (D&C 124:38). Hence the Lord’s people in these Old Testament times had access to at least some of the temple ordinances that would be restored in the latter days. …The Lord’s requirements for exaltation, and therefore the need for temples, were the same then as they are now.

(Richard O. Cowan, “Sacred Temples Ancient and Modern,” in The Temple in Time and Eternity (Provo: FARMS, 1999), p. 105)

Looking at the structure and function of the ancient temple, the first major point to note is that the temple was built on a location that was understood to be sacred space.

1. The sanctity of the location was often attributed to one of the following characteristics. It was: the initial place of creation, the center of the world, the top of a holy mountain, or, in many cases, a combination of all three.

2. The tops of mountains were often chosen because they were seen to be half-way between heaven and earth — an ideal place for a meeting between God and man.

3. In addition, the temple itself was an architectural reproduction of the Holy Mountain of God. According to ancient Semitic religious tradition, the holy mountain, the highest and most exalted of all mountains, was the personal dwelling place of the Most High God, and His sons, the Holy Ones.

As one ascended the mountain, one drew closer to the presence of God, who resided at the top. Only those invited and duly authorized could do so. We see the disastrous results of an unwelcome ascent in the story of the unauthorized temple known as the Tower of Babel.

The three-fold structure of the Temple of Jerusalem can be understood by its parallels to the events described in the ascent occurring at Mt. Sinai in the Book of Exodus:

a.    the children of Israel stayed at the bottom (outer courts)

b.   Aaron and the 70 elders went up to the middle (holy place)

c.   only Moses went to the top (Holy of Holies).

Each degree of the temple is more holy than the last, because of its representative closeness to God.

The script for the following installment of this temple video series, Part 2a, will be posted shortly.