Wendy K. Young and Dr. Donald W. Parry, French and Italian
Scholars continue to find striking similarities among temples of the ancient world. Research yields evidence of similarities not only among ancient temples, but also between ancient and modern temples.
Arvid Kapelrud studied temple construction accounts in the ancient Near East and found two temple building motif narratives which vary slightly. In one narrative, a god ruled by a supreme god is the temple builder. The motifs include:
1. A victorious god after battle;
2. He wants to have his own temple;
3. Permission asked from the leading god;
4. Master builder set to work;
5. Cedars from Lebanon, building stones, gold, silver, etc., procured for the task;
6. The temple finished according to plan;
7. Offerings and dedication, fixing of norms;
8. A great banquet for the god.
In the second narrative, a king is the temple builder. The motifs include:
1. Some indication that a temple has to be built;
2. The king visits a temple over night;
3. A god tells him what to do, indicates plans;
4. The king announces his intention to build a temple;
5. Master builder is engaged, cedars from Lebanon, building-stones, gold, silver, etc., procured for the task;
6. The temple finished according to plan;
7. Offerings and dedication, fixing of norms;
8. Assembly of the people;
9. The god comes to his new house;
10. The kings is blessed and ‘promised everlasting dominion.’
Stephen D. Ricks and Michael A. Carter have found that the construction of Kirtland temple follow the motifs in the above narratives.
John Lundquist formulated the idea that the ancient temple played a major role in legitimizing the state, or the power of the king. Richard J. Clifford also explored the ancient temple as a tool for consolidating power. He described the temple as, among other things, “a platform where the King and his role in the divine governance of the world might be displayed and given legitimacy.”
I compared one modern temple, the Kirtland Temple, with ancient temples in Mesopotamia, ancient Israel, and Ugarit, and explored the role the temple played in consolidating the power of kings. I asked this question: Did the Kirtland Temple play a role in consolidating the power of its King and prophet in a similar way that ancient temples consolidated power in the hands of kings.
There is a complication of having both a king and a prophet in the Kirtland Temple model. Joseph Smith is the prophet, but he is only the agent to the king of the model who is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, plays a dual role of both the god who commands the erecting of the temple and who will be ushered into the temple, as well as the king who seeks to consolidate His power or establish His institution, the kingdom of God, on earth.
I used three criteria for comparing how ancient kings used temples as legitimizing tools with how Jesus Christ did the same with the Kirtland Temple. First, kings built temples to make a link between themselves and deity. Second, kings received greater power in and by temples than they previously held. And third, temples were a source of prosperity for a king’s land and people.
In discussing the first criterion, I explored the temple as a literal house for a god. The temple became a sort of physical, architectural proof or reminder that a king’s rule was sanctioned by a god. Through building the temple, Solomon secured God’s promise that the rule of David’s posterity would be established forever. Thus, temple-building was the tool by which Solomon’s reign as king, and that of his posterity, was symbolically and literally sanctioned by God. Jeroboam’s pseudo-temple was an attempt to secure Jeroboam the power and authority he needed to keep his people from going to Jerusalem to worship in the temple. The building of the Kirtland temple sanctioned Joseph Smith as Jesus Christ’s agent for Christ personally visited the Kirtland Temple and accepted it as His house.
A king’s need for greater power and a ceremony where a god endows a king with power are themes connected with the discussion of the second criterion. The Baal cycle in the Ugaritic myth is a prime example of the power a king received from the temple. In building a temple, Baal was given power to be an independent ruler on par with the other members of the assembly. Joseph Smith received an endowment of power in the Kirtland that gave him authority to act in the name of Jesus Christ. He received eternal powers, keys for the gathering of Israel, keys of the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, and keys of the present dispensation which included the sealing keys. These powers were requisite to the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on earth.
The temple has long been associated with prosperity. I analyzed accounts of prosperity brought by temples in my discussion of the third criterion. From Gudea cylinder A, we find Lord Ningirsu promising great prosperity to Gudea if he will build the temple Eninnu. The Queen of Sheba is quick to note King Solomon’s prosperity and she attributes it to his building of and association with the temple. I explored the promises God made to the Prophet Joseph Smith and the saints if they would build the temple. Prosperity poured out in the form of spiritual manifestations or supernatural occurrences on and surrounding the dedication of the Kirtland Temple.
The results of my research reveal that the Kirtland Temple was used as a tool to legitimize or consolidate the power of Jesus Christ in the acting figure of the Prophet Joseph Smith in a similar way that kings used ancient temples to consolidate their power.
References
- Kapelrud, Arvid S. (1963). “Temple Building, a Task for Gods and King,” Orientalia 32: 56-62. 1
- Ricks, Stephen D, and Michael A. Carter. (1994). “Temple-Building Motifs: Mesopotamia, Ancient Israel, Ugarit, and Kirtland,” Temples of the AncientWorld.- Ritual and Symbolism, ed. Donald W. Parry, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City 152-176.
- Lundquist, John M. (1994). “The Legitimizing Role of the Temple in the Origin of the State,” Temples of the AncientWorld.- Ritual and Symbolism, ed. Donald W. Parry, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City 179-235.
- Clifford, Richard J. (1979). “The Temple in the Ugaritic Myth of Baal,” Symposia Celebrating the SeventyFifth Anniversary of the Founding of American Schools of Oriental Research, ed. Frank Moore Cross, American Schools of Oriental Research, Chicago 137-145.