William Hamblin wrote “The concept of sanctification is an important one in the Israelite temple mythos. Fundamentally, anything associated with the temple or the presence of God must be holy. There are many examples of this in the Hebrew Bible. The Israelites were required to consecrate themselves for the Sinai theophany, including washing themselves and donning clean garments.72 Aaron and the Levite priests must be consecrated to serve in the Tabernacle.73 Sacrificial offerings made to God must be consecrated.74 The tabernacle, temple, furniture, utensils, and clothing associated with it must likewise be consecrated.75 The verb in most of these passages is qaddeš (קדש), which means literally to make something qōdeš, or holy. Unfortunately, because of the nature of English, we often use several different words to translate this one idea: consecrate, make holy, and sanctify and their variants. In most English translations these three different English roots nearly always translate the [Page 80]Hebrew qōdeš in its various forms. Holiness language is temple language. The Septuagint, the ancient Greek Bible, consistently translatesqōdeš as hagios and its variants. In other words, throughout the Hebrew Bible, everything associated with the temple must be consecrated, or made holy. Only rarely do we find things not closely associated with the temple, described as being consecrated. Fundamentally, language of holiness, sanctity, and consecration is the language of the temple. This language is consistent throughout all books and periods of Israelite history.” Hamblin, The Hidden Temple in John 17, Mormon Interpreter 1:79-80)
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 17:51:39 +0000