The Salt Lake Temple, a modern-day house of the Lord.(Charles Roscoe Savage, Church History Library.)
It is a pleasure to honor Richard Cowan, who has been a colleague and friend for nearly forty years, and a beloved, cherished teacher of both old and young. For many years we served together on the Gospel Doctrine Writing Committee. There could not have been a more kind and competent chairman directing our work than Richard. One of the best ways to start a day of teaching has been exchanging morning greetings at our faculty prayer meetings with Richard—in Hebrew. He was also able to greet others in multiple languages. In tribute to his ongoing interest in ancient and modern temples, this essay will examine and compare two of the most famous.
Some have overstated the similarities between ancient and modern temples. This can confuse our understanding of both. The function of the temple has always been to provide a place to meet and be taught by the Lord, but the means to that end have differed over time. The purpose of this essay is to clearly identify some of the similarities and some of the differences between Solomon’s Temple and the Salt Lake Temple. Comparing these two sanctuaries will help distinguish between the ordinances performed in ancient Aaronic Priesthood temples and those performed in modern Melchizedek Priesthood temples.
Temples as a Place to Meet the Lord
Before the building of Solomon’s Temple, the Lord invited Moses to construct a portable temple, the “Tent of Meeting.” The Hebrew ohel moed is usually translated in the King James Bible as “tabernacle of the congregation” rather than its literal translation, “Tent of Meeting.” “Tabernacle of the congregation” suggests a group of people formally sitting together. “Tent of Meeting,” favored by later translators, suggests a place where a person comes to meet God, rather than a place where a group of people congregate.[1] This connotation is illustrated by the call of Joshua in Deuteronomy 31:14: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.”
Thus we see a meeting between the Lord and Moses, with his successor, Joshua, in the tent they had constructed for just such a purpose. Such theophanies also occurred in the Temple of Solomon. In fact, the temple had barely been completed when the Lord appeared to Solomon in the temple as described in 1 Kings 9:1–3: “And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord. . . That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.”
The Salt Lake Temple has been the site of similar theophanies. There are few public accounts of such events, but one such account involved President Lorenzo Snow, who described his experience of meeting the Lord in the Salt Lake Temple. Milton Snow, son of Lorenzo Snow, said that one night after everyone in the family was asleep, their father came home, awoke the family, and gathered them for prayer. He prayed, “Help my family to understand what I’m about to testify.”
He then told them of an experience he had just had in the Salt Lake Temple. “The Savior stood above the floor as if something was under his feet.” President Snow described the magnificence of his personage and of his countenance. He testified to his family that the Lord had spoken to him.[2] Thus, in both ancient and modern times, temples have been places to meet the Lord.
Tent of Meeting.(Illustration by Michael P. Lyon. Reproduced courtesy of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University.)
Temple of Solomon.(Illustration by Michael P. Lyon. Reproduced courtesy of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University.)
The Temple as a Center Place
The temple was meant to be the center of the community. Exodus 25:8 illustrates this concept: “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” The children of Israel were living in tents at this time, so the Lord asked for a tent that he might camp among them. The camp of Israel was organized with the Tent of Meeting in its center, with Levite tents surrounding it and the tents of the other tribes fanning out in all directions. One obvious outcome, as noted in Numbers 1:53, was that the Lord moved with them when they moved and that his tent would be pitched safely at the center of their camp.
The Temple of Solomon carried on this tradition of centrality in the community. Many scholars assume that the Temple of Solomon and the king’s palace in Jerusalem were part of the same complex, making the Temple of Solomon the figurative center of the Israelites’ government.[3] Similarly, as in the camp of Israel, temples in this dispensation are the spiritual center of their communities, where the faithful come to meet with and be taught by the Lord. In speaking of the New Jerusalem, D&C 84:3–4 states: “Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord,. . . the city New Jerusalem shall be built. . . beginning at this place, even the place of the temple.” Joseph Smith, in Nauvoo, planned according to this pattern of streets fanning out from a temple, and Brigham Young followed Joseph in numbering Salt Lake City blocks from the temple.[4] Thus the Salt Lake Temple began as both the physical and spiritual center the community.
Revealed Plans for the Buildings
Plan of the Camp of Israel with the Tent of Meeting at the Center.(Courtesy of Preston Heiselt.)
The building of the Temple of Solomon marked the time when the practices of the law of Moses moved from a temporary Tent of Meeting, which had served as a movable temple, to a magnificent, stationary home on a mountain, which some believe to be Moriah, where Abraham had experienced the Akedah, the near sacrifice of his son.[5] The design for the temple, as for the Tent of Meeting, was revealed by the Lord in minute detail, as recorded in 1 Chronicles 28:11–12: “Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things.”
These God-given plans[6] were to be carried out in the land the Lord had given them. They had settled in a promised land, and he would now settle with them. Even the location for the temple was given by revelation when the Lord saved Israel from destruction, as recorded in 2 Samuel 24:18: “And Gad [the prophet] came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” David then purchased the property on a prominent hilltop, where the temple would eventually stand.
The Lord gave careful instructions for temple construction in this dispensation as well. The location and appearance of the Salt Lake Temple were given in vision to Brigham Young. In fact, Brigham Young saw the Salt Lake Temple in vision every time he returned to the spot where the temple was to be built.
I scarcely ever say much about revelations, or visions, but suffice it to say, five years ago last July [1852] I was here, and saw in the Spirit the Temple not ten feet from where we have laid the Chief Cornerstone. I have not inquired what kind of a Temple we should build. Why? Because it was represented before me. I have never looked upon that ground, but the vision of it was there. I see it as plainly as if it was in reality before me. Wait until it is done. I will say, however, that it will have six towers, to begin with, instead of one. Now do not any of you apostatize because it will have six towers, and Joseph only built one. It is easier for us to build sixteen, than it was for him to build one. The time will come when there will be one in the center of Temples we shall build, and, on the top, groves and fish ponds. But we shall not see them here, at present.[7]
Looking east through nave on 23 June 1976, two days after the summer solstice Mary Magdalene's relics in the crypt
In 1976, Hugues Delautre, one of the Franciscan fathers charged with stewardship of the Vézelay sanctuary, discovered that beyond the customary east-west orientation of the structure, the architecture of La Madeleine incorporates the relative positions of the Earth and the Sun into its design. Every June, just before the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, the astronomical dimensions of the church are revealed as the sun reaches its highest point of the year, at local noon on the summer solstice, when the sunlight coming through the southern clerestory windows casts a series of illuminated spots precisely along the longitudinal center of the nave floor.[13][14][15][16][17]
The Salt Lake Temple is a landmark and symbol for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For Church members, it is considered a sacred place for the worship of the Savior Jesus Christ. The purpose of this temple and all other Latter-day Saint temples is to help all of God’s children come closer to Jesus Christ. The temple is located on Main Street between North and South Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah on Temple Square.
When Latter-day Saints settled the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, Apostle George A. Smith declared that a temple in the valley would fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy that “the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established” in the last days (Isaiah 2:2–3). Shortly after, Brigham Young, the President of the Church at the time, saw in a vision the place where the temple should be built.
Under the guidance of Brigham Young, construction of the granite temple began in 1853. The construction took 40 years, and much of it was completed by hand. Church architect Truman Angell designed a large building inspired by old European styles to give a sense of permanence for the area. The Salt Lake Temple was dedicated, or consecrated, to the Lord in 1893. The Salt Lake Temple is the centerpiece and reason for the name of Temple Square, a five-city-block area around the Salt Lake Temple and headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This temple was the sixth dedicated temple of the Church. Although it was the first to begin construction in the Utah region, it was the fourth dedicated in the region.
The Salt Lake Temple stands 222 feet high and is topped with a statue of Moroni, a Book of Mormon prophet. Stone carvings on the exterior of the temple—including stars, phases of the moon, the sun, and other symbols—remind people of the importance of promises made in God’s temple in guiding His children back to Him. The building and its supporting annex buildings include more than 250 thousand square feet of interior space.
Currently, the Salt Lake Temple is undergoing a seismic renovation process and other upgrades. The renovation work began in 2020 and is expected to take four years. Visitors can view the construction from the roof of the Conference Center and through the observation windows next to the construction site.
When the upgrades are complete, the Salt Lake Temple will be open for public viewing before it is rededicated.
After the temple is rededicated, it will reopen for Latter-day Saint worship. Because of the sacred nature of temple services, the Salt Lake Temple will at that point no longer be open for public visitation or tours.
To help visitors to Temple Square understand the purpose of temples and how Latter-day Saints worship Jesus Christ through temple service, exhibits about the Salt Lake Temple are on display in the Conference Center. A full-scale cutaway model of the Salt Lake Temple’s interior before renovation is also on display in the Conference Center. Short descriptions and interactive video presentations about the purpose of the temple and temple ordinances accompany the scale model of the Salt Lake Temple.
Salt Lake City (pronunciación en inglés: /ˈsɔlt ˈleɪk ˈsɪti/ lit. 'Ciudad del Lago Salado'), a menudo abreviada a Salt Lake o SLC, es la capital y la ciudad más poblada del estado de Utah, Estados Unidos. Con una población estimada de 189 314 habitantes en 2012,3 la ciudad se encuentra en el núcleo del área metropolitana de Salt Lake City, que tiene una población total de 1 175 905 habitantes; además, se sitúa en una zona urbana mucho mayor conocida como Wasatch Front, que tiene una población de 2 328 299 habitantes.4 Situada a 1288 m, al sureste del Gran Lago Salado, es una de las dos principales zonas urbanas de la Gran Cuenca (la otra es Reno, Nevada), y la más grande de la zona montañosa del oeste.
La ciudad fue fundada en 1847 por Brigham Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley y otros seguidores de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, que irrigaron y cultivaron extensivamente el valle árido. Debido a su proximidad al Gran Lago Salado, la ciudad fue nombrada originalmente "Great Salt Lake City"; la palabra "Great" fue retirada del nombre oficial en 1868 por la 17.ª Legislatura Territorial de Utah.5
La inmigración internacional, los auges mineros y la construcción del primer ferrocarril transcontinental del país trajeron inicialmente crecimiento económico, y la ciudad fue apodada Crossroads of the West ("Cruce de caminos del oeste"). Fue atravesada por la autopista Lincoln en 1913, la primera carretera transcontinental de Estados Unidos, y en la actualidad dos grandes autopistas interestatales, I-15 e I-80, cruzan la ciudad. Salt Lake City ha desarrollado una fuerte industria turística de recreación al aire libre, basada sobre todo en el esquí; además, la ciudad fue sede de los Juegos Olímpicos de invierno de 2002. Por otra parte, Salt Lake City es el centro de la banca industrial de los Estados Unidos.6
Antes del establecimiento de los europeos hacia el siglo xix, los Shoshón, los Paiute, y otras tribus de nativos americanos, ya habían habitado en el Valle del Lago Salado desde miles de años atrás.
La primera exploración europea de la que se tiene conocimiento, fue realizada por el misionerofranciscanoSilvestre Vélez de Escalante y sus hombres aproximadamente en 1776, aunque no se establecieron bases permanentes en ella.
Los primeros colonos que se instalaron en el valle lo hicieron el día 24 de julio de 1847 y eran miembros de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, más conocidos como mormones. Habían viajado a través de la nación en busca de una zona aislada donde poder practicar su religión, distantes de la persecución que habían afrontado en el Este. Cuando llegaron, su profeta religioso, Brigham Young dijo: "Este es el lugar adecuado", que más tarde fue abreviado simplemente a "Este es el lugar".
En el momento de su fundación, la ciudad era parte del territorio de Alta California, correspondiente a México, y tras la firma del Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo en febrero de 1848, el territorio es transferido a los Estados Unidos de América. La cesión forzosa fue consecuencia de la derrota en la guerra de intervención, luego de culminar la ocupación militar de Estados Unidos en la capital de México el 14 de septiembre de 1847.
Tan solo cuatro días después de la llegada al Valle del Lago Salado, Brigham Young designó el sitio para llevar a cabo la construcción de un templo conocido como Templo del Lago Salado, que actualmente es el templo más conocido de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. Este templo fue construido en una zona llamada la plaza del templo, situada en el centro de la ciudad. Se tardó 40 años en completar el templo, siendo dedicado el día 6 de abril de 1893.
En el año 1911 la ciudad eligió por primera vez a un alcalde que trabajó para mejorar las precarias infraestructuras de las que disponía. En el año 1929 la Gran Depresión la golpeó fuertemente e hizo que muchas de las 61 000 personas que por aquel entonces la habitaban, perdieran su empleo y su casa y se vieran obligados a vivir en la calle. Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial se establecieron bases militares en la ciudad y, al finalizar la guerra, creció rápidamente recuperándose de nuevo su economía.
El siglo xx se puede definir como un período de gran crecimiento para la ciudad tanto económico como poblacional ya que al principio de siglo vivían en la ciudad unas 53 531 personas que poseían una renta per cápita de unos 200 dólares y al final del siglo vivían en la ciudad 159 936 personas con una renta per cápita de 24 000 dólares lo que supuso triplicar la población y multiplicar por 120 la renta per cápita.
Durante el siglo xxi la ciudad sigue creciendo y cambiando y el ayuntamiento de la ciudad ha dispuesto una renovación progresiva de los edificios del Distrito financiero para ayudar así a mejorar la economía de la ciudad.
También durante los últimos años el aumento de la inmigración está convirtiendo a la ciudad en una sociedad multiculturalismo en la que conviven un 15% de hispanos que ya son la minoría más importante no solo de la ciudad sino de todo el estado de Utah.
Salt Lake City tiene una superficie total de 285,9 km² y una elevación media de 1320 m sobre el nivel del mar. El punto más bajo dentro de los límites de la ciudad es 1280 m, cerca del río Jordan y el Gran Lago Salado, y el más alto es el Grandview Peak, a 2868 m.7
La ciudad está situada en la esquina noreste del valle del Lago Salado, rodeado por el Gran Lago Salado hacia el noroeste y las montañas Wasatch y Oquirrh en las fronteras oriental y occidental, respectivamente. Las montañas que la rodean tienen muchos cañones tallados, glaciares y arroyos estrechos. Entre ellos, City Creek, Emigration, Millcreek y Parley's en los límites orientales de la ciudad.
El Gran Lago Salado está separado de Salt Lake City por extensos pantanos y marismas. Las actividades metabólicas de las bacterias en el lago dan como resultado a un fenómeno conocido como "lake stink", un aroma que recuerda el olor a huevos podridos, dos o tres veces al año durante un par de horas.8El río Jordan fluye a través de la ciudad, el río sirve de drenaje al lago Utah que desemboca en el Gran Lago Salado.
La cima más alta visible desde Salt Lake City es Twin Peaks, que llega a 3454 m.9 Twin Peaks se encuentra al sureste de Salt Lake City, en la cordillera Wasatch. La falla de Wasatch se encuentra a lo largo de la base occidental de las montañas Wasatch y se considera suficiente como para generar un terremoto de hasta 7,5 grados. Se prevén daños catastróficos en caso de un terremoto, con daños importantes como consecuencia de la licuefacción de la arcilla y la base de arenosa del suelo, y la posible inundación permanente de partes de la ciudad por el Gran Lago Salado.10
La segunda cadena montañosa más alta son los montes Oquirrh, que alcanzan una altura máxima de 3237 m en la parte más alta. Las montañas Traverse al sur se extienden a 1830 m. Las montañas cerca de Salt Lake City son fácilmente visibles desde la ciudad y tienen relieve vertical agudo, causado por terremotos antiguos, con una diferencia máxima de 2164 m.
El suelo del valle del Lago Salado es el antiguo lecho del lago Bonneville, que existía al final de la última Edad de Hielo. Varias líneas de la playa del lago Bonneville se puede ver claramente en las faldas o los bancos de las montañas cercanas.
El clima de Salt Lake City se define como clima de estepa semiárida con cuatro estaciones distintas. El verano y el invierno son largos y la primavera y el otoño son breves.
Los veranos de la ciudad se caracterizan por su clima cálido y muy seco. El monzón llega desde el Golfo de California desde mitad de julio hasta septiembre, produciendo varias tormentas focalizadas por las tardes. Los inviernos son fríos y con muchas precipitaciones en forma de nieve. La primavera y el otoño son confortables periodos de transición entre el invierno y el verano.
Tema anterior
The Salt Lake Temple, a modern-day house of the Lord. (Charles Roscoe Savage, Church History Library.)
Tent of Meeting. (Illustration by Michael P. Lyon. Reproduced courtesy of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University.)
Plan of the Camp of Israel with the Tent of Meeting at the Center. (Courtesy of Preston Heiselt.)
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