Temple Themes

There is much temple imagery in 1 Kings chapter 1. David is on his death bed and Adonijah attempts to seize the throne. Bathsheba intervenes upon Nathan’s advice and approaches and bows before the king. Approaching the king is in likeness of approaching God. The king asks, “What wouldest thou?” (1 Kings 1:16).   David […]

I love how you can have your choice in the scriptures. You can get the pure doctrine in the Doctrine and Covenants, or you can get the symbolic story in the Book of Mormon or the Bible. King David is a great example. As I read about David in 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel chapters

Second Samuel chapter 6 has the perplexing story of Uzzah, who steadied the Ark of the Covenant.   But first, I have to mention the story of Abigail. She is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. David is still running from Saul. He and his travel companions support themselves by defending farms and

After David slew Goliath, “the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music” and chanting, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” Saul became jealous, and the scripture says, “Saul eyed David from that day and forward” (1 Samuel 18:6-9).

As David prepares to battle Goliath, Saul comes to his aid by providing “armor,” a helmet of brass, and a “coat of mail.” The translation is deceptive. It would seem to partially match the armor of Goliath, but it doesn’t. In the original Hebrew, Goliath is wearing the brass helmet and fish scales, which is

The Lord chose Saul to be king over a united Israel. “Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head” (1 Samuel 10:1) and anointed him. In the Old Testament, there is a close relationship between kingship (and queenship) and the Messiah. The king was actually referred to as a “messiah.” The

Sometimes when the Israelites fought an enemy, they would take the Ark of the Covenant into battle. After the Philistines killed 4,000 Israelite soldiers, the elders of Israel said, “Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto

Previous posts have dealt with gestures of approach as we progress through the temple in a symbolic journey to enter God’s presence. These were used in ancient times to discern a friend from a foe, and thus, certain gestures could be seen from far away. The main steps of covenant making were followed anciently in

In the story of Ruth, we have some interesting temple imagery relating to covenants. Boaz seems to take an interest in Ruth as she gleans the barley fields. He commands his servants to let her glean in the sheaves and to let some of the barley fall to the ground so she can easily gather

There are several examples and symbols of temple theology in the Book of Judges. I want to write about two occurrences of this.   First, we have the story of Gideon. His name literally means “hewer.” In the Old Testament, there are many references to trees. My last post explains how sacred trees can be