The Purpose of Nephi’s Temple – Part III

Continuing from the previous post, regarding an understanding of why the Nephites had temples.
    The lost 116 pages making up the original Book of Lehi were actually the earliest scripture of the Restoration, with the rest of the Book of Mormon translated after the first 116 pages were lost by Martin Harris. We also see that the first revelation we have, recorded from Joseph Smith, is Doctrine and Covenants 3, given in response to the loss of the 116 pages.
    Thus, we are missing the earliest scripture of the Restoration; however, when see some the available information surrounding these pages, it is clear that what some people considered to be a later development in the Nauvoo-era and thus not present in the Book of Mormon, actually was included. In fact, what we see from the information surrounding these lost pages is that the practices of the early Church in Nauvoo Mormonism, and the early temple ordinances and purpose was had in the days of Nephi and is the very faith propounded by Mormon in his book, beginning with its lost opening, the Book of Lehi (from Lehi through Mosiah I).

Jewish high priest and Levite in ancient Judah, along with Menorah, Table of Showbread and trumpets

The Mosaic Law, which the Nephites lived (1 Nephi 4:15; 2 Nephi 5:10;11:4), mandated that certain rituals be performed by the high priest, whom it was understood would be of the household of Aaron. However, there were no Aaronic priests among the Nephites, nor any Levites. Thus, the only way they could fulfill the requirements of the Law would have been to use a substitute, and to make it legitimate, they needed someone whose authority would greater than the usual (Aaronic priest) requirements.
    Consequently, to help us answer the more detailed questions of 1) who stood at the apex of the Nephite priesthood hierarchy, and 2) who possessed the means to inquire of God in the way the biblical high priest did; we need to know the identity of the Nephite high priest who had such authority. This is answered in the scriptural record that tells us who chose and ordained the priests, which during the Nephite monarchy, they were consecrated by the kings. Nephi, Benjamin, Mosiah II, Zeniff, and Noah are each so described.
    The only non-king who could consecrate priests in this time was Alma, the Elder. However, the record makes clear that Alma’s authority was obtained from and granted by the king. Alma was originally made a priest by King Noah. Later, as the leader of the church in the land of Zarahemla, while being a high priest that presided over other priests—he was not the highest authority, but the leader of the Church. His authority was granted to him by the king, Mosiah II, who was the greater authority. “Now king Mosiah had given Alma the authority over the church” (Mosiah 26:8). Whereas Alma’s authority was derived, Mosiah’s authority was inherent—that is, he was not only the king, but also the high priest.

Thus, in evaluating the Nephite priesthood structure shows that the king stood in its highest position, and thus to be the High Priest (or highest priest). In addition to the king’s position at the top of the Nephite priesthood structure, there is evidence of his status as high priest in his using the same or a similar instrument to the one used by the biblical high priest to inquire of God’s will for His people.
    Called the Urim and Thummim by the ancient Israelites, it was kept in the pocket of a breastplate. In the Book of Mormon the equivalent Nephite instrument, which also was attached to a breastplate, was called “the interpreters” and in revelation to Joseph Smith “the Urim and Thummim.” In addition, and most importantly, this Nephite equivalent to the Jerusalem high priest’s most important relic was the possessed by the Nephite kings.
    Mosiah II used it to interpret the twenty-four Jaredite plates (Mosiah 28:12-16), as his grandfather Mosiah I evidently used it to interpret the Jaredite stone record (Omni 1:20). This, then, puts the interpreters in the hands of the Nephite kings while the scriptural record of “the small plates” was still being kept and recorded by Jacob’s line, suggesting, as stated earlier,  that the Nephite high priestly relics and role belonged, not to the high priest, but to the kings.

    This completes the first question, or the “who,” and take us to the second question, or the “how” of Nephite temple worship. Nephi, of course, had built a temple like that of Solomon, a statement that has given much fodder to critics, who note the enormous size and grandeur of Solomon’s temple. However, as such critics fail to understand, it was not the size and splendor of the temple that Nephi was concerned about—it was the temple’s functionality, that is, its quality of being suited to serve the purpose of its design, which meant chambers constructed to serve as the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, a Great court, Middle court, Temple court, an altar, a laver, table for showbread, and a court around the building. All of this in order to perform the rituals prescribed by the Law of Moses, which required the temple parallel Solomon’s in rooms and relics.
    When Nephi wrote: “And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things…” he was referring to its purpose and it being capable of having the ordinances therein performed; however, it did not have the artifacts, the Ark of the Covenant and the cherubim in the Holy of Holies, for it was “not built of so many precious things for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple.”

The Ark of the Covenantin the Holy of Holies 

After all, the Jerusalem temple was, in one sense, a house for the Ark of the Covenant, and had been structured in layers of sacredness, or degrees of glory, around the Ark. The chamber containing the Ark was the holiest place of all, the Holy of Holies, which Ark contained the stone tablets God touched with His finger on Sinai during the Exodus. In addition, the Ark served also as an altar, upon which the Aaronite high priest was required to sprinkle sacrificial blood during the all-important Day of Atonement.
    Naturally, these missing parts were critical to the temple in Jerusalem and to Israelite worship.
    However, the workmanship itself, whatever type of timber, precious stones and gold overlays were involved would have been every bit as fine as was possible to obtain in the Land of Promise. Of this work, Nephi wrote: “But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.”
    Yet, the Nephites kept and lived the Law of Moses, so what did they do about the missing Ark, tablets, and miraculous relics of the Exodus that otherwise would sufficiently sanctify their Holy of Holies to make it an appropriate dwelling place for God? First of all, whether the Nephite temple was like Solomon’s on its exterior was irrelevant, other than it  be as magnificent as they were capable of making. What did matter was the heart of the building, the Holy of Holies, was vital. In the heart, something remarkable would be needed to sit in the place of the Ark.
    While they did not have the relics of the Exodus (“they were not found in the land”), such as the Ark, the stone tablets God had touched during the Exodus, and according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Aaron’s rod that budded, and a pot of manna, as well as the Urim and Thummim and breastplate, which attached to a garment referred to as the ephod, the Nephites had their own miraculous and sacred relics.

Joseph Smith uncovers  the stone box at Cumorah, filled with the gold plates and other Nephite relics 

These same relics were included in the stone box Joseph found in the hill Cumorah in New York, which Martin Harris repeated called an “ark.” In the box, Joseph found a set of Nephite sacred treasures that paralleled the relics associated with the Ark and its custodian, the High Priest. These included the gold plates, the breastplate and interpreters, the Liahona, and the sword of Laban.
    In comparison, the Israelites had the stone tablets, the Nephites had the gold plates; the Israelites had the breastplate, as did the Nephites; the Israelites had the Urim and Thummim and the Nephites had the Interpreters; the Israelites had Aaron’s rod, the Nephites had the Liahona; the Israelites had the pot of manna, the Nephites had a reliquary container for relics.
    In general terms, these are comparable sacred relics memorializing God’s mercy to the children of Israel in their Exodus and God’s mercy to Lehi’s family in their exodus. But the parallels are much deeper.
    The pot of manna memorialized God miraculously providing the Israelites with sustenance on their journey (Exodus 16:13-15). In comparison, it was the Liahona that showed the Nephites where to travel in the “more fertile parts” of the desert, leading them to waterholes, plants and animals for their sustenance on their journey (1 Nephi 16:16), as well as leading Nephi where to go and hunt for food (1 Nephi 16:30-31).
    The collection of sacred relics of the Nephites was more than sufficient, and at least equal in spiritual power to those in the Ark of the Covenant. Including as it did the interpreters, which had been touched by God and served as a medium of communication with Him, it made an ideal point of contact between God and man to rest at the center of the Nephite Holy of Holies. The temple, then, was a place for the revelation of higher truths that could only be understood through wisdom given by God’s Spirit.
    As for the lost 116 pages, they are still “lost.” But we have not been left without evidence of what was in them. Using the information we have been provided about this missing Book of Mormon text can deepen our study and understanding of the remarkable Book of Mormon text we do have and strengthen our testimonies of this second witness of Jesus Christ.