The Building of Temples - Ancient

Let Them Make Me a Sanctuary

The earliest examples of temple worship we have is of prophets who built altars to the Lord for the purpose of making sacrifices under the law of Moses. Abraham went up into a mountain east of a place he called called Bethel - meaning "the house of God" - to build an altar and make sacrifices. While there, he received what we now commonly call the Abrahamic Covenant, which included promises of posterity and a covenant of strict obedience between Abraham and God. (see Genesis 17:1-9)

Jacob also went to Bethel, where he received revelation concerning his destiny as a prophet in Israel, along with promises and covenants from the Lord. He set up a stone pillar and called the place "the house of God" as had Abraham before him. (Genesis 28:10-22, 35:6-7, 48:3-4)

The Lord commanded Moses to build a tabernacle. He then gave a description of how they should build it and ordinances that should be performed therein. The Lord has long asked his people to sacrifice, and even to donate materials, to build Him a temple after the pattern which He provides. Such was the case with the tabernacle which the Israelites built in the wilderness. The Lord commanded them, saying:

"Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, and rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood, Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. 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, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.



The Lord Gives Specific Instructions: Design and Features

When the Lord commanded Moses and the Israelites to build a tabernacle, He gave a lengthy list of features and requirements to guide its design:

• An "ark" to contain sacred artifacts (Exodus 25:10-21)
• dimensions:
• two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, 
• a cubit and a half the breadth thereof
• a cubit and a half the height thereof.
• thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without
• And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof... and thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
• And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
• And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work... and the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another... and thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
• Furnishings (Exodus 25:23-40)
• table
• bowls, dishes, vessels and spoons
• candlesticks
• shewbread
• A "tabernacle" (Exodus 26)
• ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work
• And thou shalt make a covering for the tent 
• how to raise the tabernacle for use in the wilderness: thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.
• And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.
• a "veil" and a "most holy place"
• thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: and thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. 
• And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony: and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.
• thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

It should be noted that the tabernacle was made portable so the Israelites could take it with them in the wilderness, to have a temple wherever they needed one. The account of the building of the tabernacle gives many, many more details that cannot be mentioned here. See Exodus chapters 25 and 26 for more.

Similarly, the Lord gave instructions and requirements that guided the building of the temple of Solomon on the temple mount:

• obtaining materials
• King Solomon and Hiram entered into a "league" whereby Solomon hired Hiram's people to cut and haul cedar and fir for the temple (see 1 Kings 5)
• The temple
• dimensions
• the length thereof was threescore cubits
• the breadth thereof twenty cubits
• the height thereof thirty cubits
• the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof... according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof
• And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.
• he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house 
• [a] door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house... with winding stairs into the middle chamber
• the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.
• And the whole house he overlaid with gold... also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.
• And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high.
• And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
• And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. 
• And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree... and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees.
• And he built the inner court with... hewed stone, and... cedar beams.
• he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple
• And he made a molten sea
• ten cubits from the one brim to the other
• it was round
• his height was five cubits
• a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about
• It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. 
• it was an hand breadth thick
• the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies
• it contained two thousand baths (11,170 U.S. gallons/42,290 liters)
• [it] was for the priests to wash in (2 Chronicles 4:6)
• a veil" and a "most holy place"
• And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place.
• And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
• And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.
• So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold
• furnishings
• bases - for containing/disposing of animal blood
• lavers - for washing hands/ritual cleansing
• shovels - for cleaning out the altar after use
• basins
• altar of gold
• table of gold for the shewbread
• candlesticks
• bowls
• snuffers (tongs for use at the altar)
• censers - to hold incense on the altar
• lamps

I've presented some of these items out of order, to emphasize certain features of the temple. There is much more detail given in the Old Testament. For the account of the building of the temple of Solomon, see 1 Kings 6:3-38, 7:21-51


Temples in the Latter Days

Isaiah frequently used the phrase "mountain of the Lord's house" to describe the temple. He prophesied that temples would be built again in the latter days:

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:2-3, compare Micah 4:1-2, 2 Nephi 12:2)


Also of Interest:

Ancient Temples and Their Functions