18. Ezra, chap. 6.
19. Ezra 3:12, 13.
20. Ezra 4:4–24.
21. Ezra 6:15–22.
22. Matt. 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6.
23. See Book of Mormon, II Nephi 5:16.
24. See Book of Mormon, III Nephi 11:1.
25. See the author's "The Great Apostasy," chap. IX.
26. See the author's "The Great Apostasy," chap. X.
27. See the author's "The Articles of Faith," Lecture I, and references thereto.
28. See the author's "The Articles of Faith," specifically Lecture I, and notes thereon.
29. See Doctrine and Covenants 36:8; 42:36; 133:2.
30. See Doctrine and Covenants 115:7–16.
31. See Doctrine and Covenants, Section 95.
32. See Doctrine and Covenants, Section 109.
33. See Doctrine and Covenants, 110:1–10.
CHAPTER II
SANCTUARIES IN EARLIER DISPENSATIONS
As understood and applied herein, the designation "temple" is restricted to mean an actual structure, reared by man, hallowed and sanctified for the special service of Deity, such service including the authoritative administration of ordinances pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and not merely a place, however sacred the spot may have become. If sacred places were to be classed with sacred buildings as essentially temples, the category would include many a holy Bethel rarely considered as such. In the more extended application of the term, the Garden in Eden was the first sanctuary of earth, for therein did the Lord first speak unto man and make known the Divine law. So too, Sinai became a sanctuary, for the mount was consecrated as the special abode of the Lord while He communed with the prophet, and issued His decrees. The sanctity of such places was as that of Horeb, where God spake unto Moses from the midst of the flame; and where, as the man approached he was halted by the command: "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."[1] A temple, however, is characterized not alone as the place where God reveals Himself to man, but also as the House wherein prescribed ordinances of the Priesthood are solemnized.
THE "TESTIMONY"
Prior to the construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and indeed during the early stages of the memorable journey from Egypt, the people of Israel had a certain depository for sacred things, known as the Testimony. This is definitely mentioned in connection with the following incident. Under Divine direction a vessel of manna was to be preserved, lest the people forget the power and goodness of God, by which they had been fed:
"And Moses said. This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.
"And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.
"As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept."[2]
There appears little room for doubt that the Testimony here referred to was a material structure, and that its name is suggestive of Divine witness as to its sacred character. Inasmuch as the account of the exodus contains no mention of the making of such a structure, and moreover as its existence and use were definitely affirmed before the people had had time or opportunity to shape it in the wilderness, it would seem that they must have brought the sacred Testimony with them from Egypt. This incident is of interest and importance as indicating the existence of a holy sanctuary during the formative stages of Israel's growth as a nation, and while the people were in subjection to idolatrous rulers. This application of the term Testimony must not be confused with later usage by which the tables of stone bearing the divinely inscribed Decalogue are so designated.[3] It is to be noted further that the Tabernacle, wherein was housed the Ark of the Covenant containing the sacred tables of stone, is distinctively called the Tabernacle of Testimony. These several uses of the term lead to no ambiguity if the context be duly considered in each case.
THE PROVISIONAL TABERNACLE
While Moses communed with the Lord on Sinai, the people, left for a time to themselves, set up a golden calf in imitation of Apis, an Egyptian idol; and in consequence of their idolatrous orgies, the Lord's anger was kindled against them. During the period of their consequent estrangement, before a reconciliation had been effected between Jehovah and His people, Divine manifestations ceased within the camp and only afar off could the Lord be found. In connection with this condition we read of the establishment of a temporary place of meeting—possibly the dwelling tent of Moses, which became sanctified by the Divine Presence. Thus runs the record:
"And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out into the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.
"And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.
"And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.
"And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle."[4]
That the tent here called the Tabernacle of the Congregation[5] is not the elaborate and costly structure specially built as the Lord directed, is evident from the fact that the greater and more enduring Tabernacle had not been constructed at the time referred to in the scripture last cited. Unlike the later Tabernacle, which was set up in the center of the camp with the tribes massed about it in specified order, this Provisional Tabernacle was pitched outside the camp—afar off—perhaps as an indication of the Lord's withdrawal following Israel's idolatrous turning away from Him. That the Provisional Tabernacle was, however, a holy sanctuary is attested by the personal communion therein between Jehovah and His servant Moses.
THE TABERNACLE OF THE CONGREGATION
From amidst the clouds, and to the accompaniments of thunders and lightnings on Sinai, the Lord gave unto Moses the law and the testimony. Not alone did Moses there talk with the Lord in person, but by Divine command, Aaron and his sons Nadab and Abihu, together with seventy of the elders of Israel, went up upon the mountain and did see God, even the God of Israel. Over Sinai the glory of the Lord abode for many days: "And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights."[6]
When he descended Moses bore with him the