Anciently, temple officiants employed scores and hundreds of vessels as they served God in the tabernacle and temple (see Ezra 1:7–11). These “holy vessels” (2 Chr. 5:5) were anointed with oil and sanctified (see Ex. 40:9). In one sacred ceremony, Moses “sprinkled” blood on “all the vessels of the ministry” (Heb. 9:21).
Symbolically, a holy vessel of the temple might be interpreted to represent a righteous woman or man. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is called “a precious and chosen vessel” (Alma 7:10). The Lord designated Paul “a chosen vessel” (Acts 9:15). Paul would later write that whosoever would “purge himself . . . shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). Ministering angels declare “the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord” (Moroni 7:31). And Moroni wrote, speaking of individuals, “Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also” (Alma 60:23). Based on this last passage of scripture, President Ezra Taft Benson gave an important talk titled “Cleansing the Inner Vessel.”314