Temples, God’s People Always Commanded to Build

The great importance of temples is supported by the fact that the Lord has “always commanded” His covenant people to build them (D&C 124:39). Joseph Smith taught: “The object of gathering the Jews together or the people of God in any age of the world . . . was to build unto the Lord an house whereby he could reveal unto his people the ordinances of his house and glories of his kingdom & teach the people the ways of salvation.”303

The most famous Israelite temples of the Old World are the tabernacle of Moses, Solomon’s temple, and Herod’s temple. However, Biblical scholar Menahem Haran has produced evidence that temples also existed in Shiloh, Dan, Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, Hebron, Bethlehem, Nob, hill-country of Ephraim, Ophrah, Gibeah, Arad, and Jerusalem.304 Additionally, two Jewish temples existed in Egypt: the Temple of Onias at Leontopolis (about 200 BC) and the temple of Elephantine (about 500 BC). It is unknown which temples identified by Haran and the two in Egypt were authorized by and accepted by the Lord.

Calgary Canada Temple.

The Nephites built temples in the New World,305 and the first generation of Latter-day Saints in the last days built temples in Kirtland, Nauvoo, Manti, Logan, St. George, and Salt Lake City. Later generations of Saints have built scores of temples in multiple lands and countries on the face of the earth.

Elder Widtsoe summarizes, “All people of all ages have had temples in one form or another. . . . There are evidences that even in patriarchal days, in the days of Adam, there was the equivalent of temples, for the priesthood was held in its fulness, as far as the people needed it; and there is every reason to believe that from Adam to Noah, temple worship was in operation. After the flood the Holy Priesthood was continued; and we have reason to believe, in sacred places, the ordinances of the temple were given to those entitled to receive them.”306