I’m a week behind again due to Education Week, which I attended last week. It was so awesome! I hope to be able to share some ideas I learned there. But today’s post will largely be a collaboration of ideas from a book I read several years ago entitled, Ancient Temple Worship, Temple on Mount Zion Series 1. The book is a series of articles from The Interpreter Foundation. The first article is by Matthew Brown entitled, “Cube, Gate, and Measuring Tools: A Biblical Pattern.”
Brown notes the revealed pattern for Solomon’s Temple and the Holy of Holies described in 1 Kings 6:20 measuring twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height. This forms a perfect cube and symbolizes absolute truth, which is the same when viewed from any side or angle. Thus, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He also sees the temple as being a replica of the heavenly temple, or heavenly city described in Revelation 21. Verse 6 details the dimensions of the heavenly city: “And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.” It forms a perfect cube.
Regarding the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, Moses was commanded: “And thou shalt hang it (the veil) upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold” (Exodus 26:32). The four pillars create three gateways into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat (kapporeth in Hebrew, meaning “atonement seat”) are situated. The mercy seat represents the throne of God and His divine presence. The exact number of cherubim is not given in the Old Testament text, but three should be considered, since that would match the number of gateways and would match the number of gates on each side of the heavenly city in Revelation 21.
Brown notes that some early Jewish rabbis taught that there was a “Psalm 24” entrance liturgy used by the Israelite king to gain access to the Holy of Holies. Part of this ritual was that the king would knock three times, and then, based on certain character traits, symbolized by these three gateways, he (or she) could be admitted into the throne of God. Gates are mentioned in Psalm 24:7,9: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” Psalm 118:19 states, “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord.” In “Nephi’s Psalm,” he pleads, “O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me” (2 Nephi 4:32). And Jacob speaks of “the Holy One of Israel,” who is “the keeper of the gate.” He said,
“O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name. And whoso knocketh, to him will he open.” (2 Nephi 9:41-42).
This teaching in the Book of Mormon mirrors ancient temple entrance liturgy, which carried over into Catholicism. The Catholic officiator would knock three times on the door with a small mallet and recite parts of Psalms 24 and 118. See the image below.
Notice that the gates spoken of in Psalm 118 and 2 Nephi 9 and 41 all mention “righteousness.” This is one of the three traits represented by the three gateways leading into God’s presence. The heavenly city described in Revelation 21 also had three gates on each of the four sides. The foundation of the wall of the city was garnished with precious stones matching those found in the Garden of Eden and upon the breastplate of the high priest (see Revelation 21:19-20; Exodus 28:17-20; Ezekiel 28:13).
Psalm 15 is a temple entrance liturgy:
“Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
“He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” (Psalm 15:1-2).
The traits of righteousness, uprightness, and truth are represented by the three gateways and three sections of the veil. In Psalm 15, uprightly is the Hebrew word tamiym, meaning “complete, whole, and without blemish,” but in Isaiah 33:15, it’s the Hebrew word meyshar, a derivative of yashar, meaning “to be straight or level.” Notice that in 2 Nephi 9:41, the path lies in a “straight course,” and in Alma 37:44, “the word of Christ . . . will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss.” Neither is there a “shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong; therefore, his course is one eternal round” (Alma 7:20).
The word for righteousness is tsedeq and is part of the name Melchizedek (king of righteousness). Tsedeq is righteousness, rightness, or rectitude. Truth is the Hebrew word ’emeth and is related to the word emuwnah. It means “sureness, reliability, or faithfulness.” Truth is often translated as faithfulness in our King James Bibles. These words of truth, righteousness, and uprightness are often paired together.
Isaiah prophesied of Jesus Christ by saying, “And righteousness (tsedeq) shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness (’emuwnah or truth) the girdle of his reins” (Isaiah 11:5). This is significant because these traits are symbolized by His clothing. The Psalmist prophesied of the Restoration of the gospel by saying, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven” (Psalm 85:10-11). The Lord said to Enoch, “And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten” (Moses 7:62). This, of course, is a prophecy about latter-day revelation coming down from heaven and the Book of Mormon coming out of the earth. The previous verse speaks of a veil covering the earth, adding evidence of these three traits being connected with the veil.
There are at least two other verses of scripture that combine all three traits:
“And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.” (1 Kings 3:6)
“And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say: Thou speakest hard things against us.” (1 Nephi 16:3)
Remember, these three temple entrance traits are tied to the veil of the temple. I will expound the symbolism further later on in Psalms, Isaiah, and Ezekiel.
