Both ancient and modern temples have a literal pathway, or a course of direction that leads worshippers from profane to sacred space. For the tabernacle and Israelite temples (Solomon’s, Ezekiel’s, Herod’s), the path began outside the courtyard’s walls and continued to the Holy of Holies. The path traversed through three chief horizontal zones—the courtyard(s), the holy place, and the Holy of Holies. The pathway features architectural safeguards, gradations of holiness, and various rites (gestures of approach). The path represents the way to approach the temple’s most sacred center—the Holy of Holies. Biblical scholar J. G. Davies, who has researched the topic of the pathway in sacred monumental architecture, calls this pathway “the path that signals a direction.”237 Latter-day Saint temples, too, feature a literal pathway, which begins at the temple’s exterior door and continues to the celestial room.
Beyond the literal pathway, both ancient and modern temples also feature a symbolic pathway. At the St. Louis Missouri Temple dedication, President Russell M. Nelson spoke of “a symbolic pathway of progression” (but his words apply to all Latter-day Saint temples). “In this temple there is a symbolic pathway of progression. The baptismal font is located in the lowest part of the temple, symbolizing the fact that Jesus was baptized in the lowest body of fresh water on planet earth. There He descended below all things to rise above all things. In Solomon’s temple, the baptismal font was supported by twelve oxen that symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel. . . . From the baptismal font of the temple, we progress upward through the telestial and terrestrial realms to the room that represents the celestial home of God.”238