"One thing have I desired of the Lord…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple."
—Psalms 27:4
The Jerusalem temple was preceded by a portable, prototype temple, or tabernacle. The tabernacle was built some time between the 15th and 13th centuries B.C.1 according to detailed plans divinely revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai (Exodus chapters 25-27, 30, 35-40). The temple worship system with its tabernacle/temple, Aaronic priesthood, and sacrifices is a major component of the Mosaic law commonly designated the "ceremonial law." Whereas the moral code of the Mosaic law (Ten Commandments) reflects the righteous character of God, and shows us our desperate spiritual need before a holy God2 ("by the law is the knowledge of sin" — Romans 3:20; see also 4:15; 5:13; 7:7); the ceremonial law demonstrates the redeeming love of God and His gracious provision of atonement, forgiveness and reconciliation.
The Old Testament Hebrew word for atonement is kapar; it means, "to atone by offering a substitute."3 It refers to the priestly ritual of sprinkling sacrificial blood, thus "making atonement" for the worshipper. Indeed, atonement was central to everything connected with the temple worship system, as spelled out in the three components of the ceremonial law:
- The animal sacrifices were the appointed means of atonement under the old covenant.4 Not any sacrifice was acceptable, but only the animal specified by the law, in most cases a male lamb. The person bringing the sacrifice placed his hand on the animal’s head as it was slain (Leviticus 1:4; 3:8,13; 4:15,29,33; 16:20-22). This signified the transfer of human sin to the substitute, which bore God’s judgment in the sinner’s place. These sacrifices foreshadowed the death of Christ, the "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29; Hebrews 10:10), and were provisional until His coming (Romans 3:25, Hebrews 9:15; 10:8-14.
- The Aaronic priests were the appointed mediators of these atoning sacrifices. By God’s explicit appointment, only men from the tribe of Levi and the family line of Aaron were qualified to serve in the priesthood (Numbers 3:10; Exodus 29:9; Numbers 18:1-7). Male Levites from family lines other than that of Aaron performed subordinate temple duties under priestly supervision (Numbers 3:5-9). A recent scientific study published in the prestigious British journal Nature, found a genetic link among contemporary Jewish men claiming priestly lineage; this lends support to their claim of common ancestry tracing back 3400 years to the biblical Aaron.5 The LDS Church’s claim of a restored Aaronic priesthood clashes with both the clear lineage requirements of Scripture, and this modern scientific corroboration. This also constitutes a major objection to the Book of Mormon. For whereas the Nephites are said to have observed "all things according to the law of Moses" (2 Nephi 5:10; 25:24), since they are described as descendents of Joseph (1 Nephi 5:17; or Manasseh, one of the "half tribes" associated with Joseph, Alma 10:3), not the tribe of Levi, they would not have had a valid Aaronic priesthood.6
- The tabernacle/temple was the appointed place where the atoning sacrifices were to be offered. Israel was to have but one temple to reflect the fact that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 12:5,13,14; 16:5,6), and to avoid the corruption of their worship (1 Kings 12:26-33). The tabernacle’s portable nature was suited to the nomadic period of Israel’s forty years of wilderness wandering, and the early, unsettled years in the promised land. Later, when the nation was fully settled in the land, the Lord Himself chose Jerusalem as the location for the permanent temple (1 Kings 8:44,48; 11:13,32,36; 14:21; Psalm 78:68-70).7
1 Some conservative Bible scholars date the exodus to the 15th century B.C., for example, Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954), pp. 140-152. However most scholars, including many conservatives, date the exodus to the late 13th century B.C., for example, William Sanford LaSor, David Allan Hubbard, Frederic W. Bush, Old Testament Survey, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982,1996), pp. 59-60, and John Bright, A History of Israel, 3rd ed. (Philadephia: Westminster, 1972,1981), pp. 123-24.
2In Matthew 5:21-28 , Jesus shows that the true demands of God’s law are not simply outward conformity, but an inner heart attitude. Thus, a heart attitude of hatred constitutes a violation of the sixth commandment (murder), and a heart attitude of lust is a violation of the seventh commandment (adultery). By this understanding, who can say that they perfectly keep God’s law? (2 Chronicles 6:36; Romans 3:19-20).
3R. Laird Harris, ed., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 1 (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), "kapar," pp. 452-53.
4 As the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews makes clear, the Old Testament animal sacrifices could not truly atone for sins (Hebrews 10:4), and were provisional only until the coming of Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross they foreshadowed (Hebrews 7:23-27; 9:6-10; 10:1-4).
5 The study, headed by Prof. Karl Skorecki of Rambam Medical Centre, Technion-Israel Institute in Haifa, Israel, "found clear differences in the frequency of Y-chromosome haplotypes between Jewish priests and their lay counterparts." This genetic commonality was found in those claiming priestly ancestry from both the Sephardic and the Ashkanazic communities. The Y chromosome is found only in men and is transmitted through the father. See "Y Chromosomes in Jewish Priests," in Nature, vol. 385, 2 January 1997, p. 32.
6 Although the name "Aaron" appears 48 time in the Book of Mormon, it is never used with reference to the Biblical Aaron or the Aaronic priesthood. Here are a list of other tabernacle/temple-related terms used in the Old Testament (with number of times used in parenthesis) that are not mentioned even once in the Book of Mormon: laver (13), incense (121), ark of the covenant (48), sons of Aaron (97), mercy seat (23), Day of Atonement (21), Feast of Tabernacles (17), Passover (59), house of the Lord (627).
7 The tabernacle had long been located in Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim. However, Jehovah Himself chose mount Zion in Jerusalem ("the city of David") in Judah as the place where He would "put His name." The election of Jerusalem is closely associated with God’s covenant with David, that his family line would always rule over God’s people. In the words of the Psalmist: "Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: But he chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved ... He chose David also his servant" (Psalm 78:67-70). This again makes the point that biblical revelation appointed only one temple.
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