Hey guys! If you're familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, you know that we've got hundreds of special buildings called
temples throughout the world. Now for some people there's been this
long-standing idea that anciently God only ever allowed one temple to be built,
the temple at Jerusalem. It's for this reason that some people
also have questions about temples built in the new world, as described in the
Book of Mormon, like Nephi's temple. If there can only be one, why are
multiple built in the Book of Mormon and in modern times? Let's see what we can
find out!
Okay guys, so here's where the rubber meets the road. Many people believe God
has only allowed one temple to ever be built, primarily because of these verses
from deuteronomy 12. "Take heed to thyself that thou offer not
thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest but in the
place which the lord shall choose in one of thy tribes,
there thou shall offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do
all that i command thee." Now there are two kings from the ancient kingdom of
Judah that tried to reform and centralize
temple worship in the Jerusalem temple. King Hezekiah who ruled from about 715
to 686 BC and King Josiah who ruled from 640 to
609 BC. There's quite a bit of controversy surrounding those reforms
and there's disagreement on why or even if those reforms happened. Many
people assume that the reforms were based on those verses from Deuteronomy
12. But before we go any further, let's get
some background information on the Book of Deuteronomy.
Remember that the first generation of Israelite slaves Moses leads out of
Egypt are not allowed to inherit the land God
promised them in Palestine because of their wickedness
so they wander in the desert for 40 years. Deuteronomy contains what Moses
says to the next generation in preparation
for them to inherit the promised land. Moses makes some speeches and reiterates
the laws they were to keep. Now fast forward to King Josiah. As the
story goes, he finds the book of the law in the temple and realizes the people of
God are way off track and the king is going to fix things with this book that
some assume was a form of the book of Deuteronomy.
The only problem is that although Deuteronomy is presented as an address
by Moses, scholars generally agree that it dates from a much later period of
Israelite history. to this original core of materials that
Josiah found in the book of the law, other materials were added by interested
parties in the years following the reforms
instituted by King Josiah, so were these verses in Deuteronomy about
centralization found in the original Deuteronomy or were they added
later.It's open for debate, however, as one non-Latter-day Saint scholar noted,
"it is being increasingly recognized that the demand for centralization in
Deuteronomy rests upon a very narrow basis only, and
is, from the point of view of literary criticism,
comparatively easy to remove as a late and final adaptation of
many layers of material." Now there are also reasonable people who disagree with
a lot of what i just said and they may be right.
These are just theories. Some scholars take Deuteronomy 12 very literally.
"His people are completely literal. Metaphors are going to go over his head.
Nothing goes over my head." Others believe these verses are only
meant to insist on yahwehism versus baalism, not on central sanctuary
versus many sanctuaries. In the words of another scholar,
Deuteronomy is not aiming at the centralization of the cult in one place
but has in mind primarily the purification of the cult which already
exists. Another scholar added that the original
Deuteronomy did not demand an absolute centralization of the cult of Jerusalem
but only a relative one at several larger sanctuaries.
In any case, archaeological research attests to the fact that multiple
ancient israelite temples did exist both inside
and outside of Jerusalem. These are the recently discovered telmosa temple ruins
on the outskirts of Jerusalem. According to the biblical archaeology
review, this temple apparently stood, operated, and welcomed worshipers
throughout most of the second iron age from its establishment around 900 BC
until its demise sometime toward the end of the iron age,
early 6th century BC. It has become clear that temples such as the one at Moza
not only could but also must have existed throughout most of the second
iron period, as part of the official royally
sanctioned religious construct. Indeed, the temple of Moza is not an
anomaly at all; rather, it is the exception that proves
the rule! Simply put, despite the biblical
narratives describing Hezekiah's and Josiah's reforms,
there were sanctioned temples in Judah in addition to the official temple in
Jerusalem. Another notable temple was located in
Elephantine, Egypt. We have documents from these island ruins
that describe the temple. It's documented that the governor of Judah
even gave the Jews at Elephantine permission to rebuild their temple
after Egyptian priests destroyed it in the early 5th century BC.
This temple is also interesting because it is thought to have been founded by
Israelites who fled Jerusalem as the Babylonian empire grew in power,
similar to Lehi and his family in the Book of Mormon
and like Lehi's group, once these exiles reached their new home,
they recognized the need for a temple. There was also a temple in Heliopolis,
Egypt. Archaeologists have also discovered temples at Megiddo,
Arad, Lakish and Beersheba. More examples could be given
but you get the idea. The building of multiple temples was an accepted
practice for a very long time. Check out the links in the
description for more info on this topic and have a great day.