The following is the script for the second installment released from the temple video series that David Tayman and I have been working on.

The Temple: Part 2, “Three Degrees of Glory” (section a, The Bronze Laver)

The ancient Temple of Solomon was built following a three-fold structure that represented the increasingly sacred gradations of space in the Cosmos between Man on Earth and God in Heaven. These three levels can be seen to correspond with the Restored Church’s doctrine of the Three Degrees of Glory:

From what we know from the existing descriptions of the Temple of Solomon, the temple complex was divided into:

The “courts” that surrounded the temple building represented the created world in graded levels of holiness, which increased in representative glory as one approached the pinnacle of the holy mountain.

1. All objects of worship – found in the inner court were made of bronze, in contrast to the gold furnishing found within the sanctuary.
2. The “brazen sea” – an enormous bronze basin of water, half as wide as the temple itself, stood in front of the temple, supported on the backs of twelve bronze oxen. It is believed that it was used for the priests to wash themselves in, likely in the form of a ritual immersion; It was meant to represent the Deep, the primordial sea from which the creation arose The cosmic sea was imagined as surrounding the created order, which was represented by the temple building. The containment of the raging sea was a sign of Yahweh’s power and primordial victory over the chaotic waters. The bronze sea may also be seen as a symbol of the fountain of living waters that flowed from Eden, with the four sets of oxen representing the four rivers flowing forth to water the whole earth. The oxen also represented the 12 tribes of Israel.