“Temples… Sanctuaries… Synagogues”

The passage is most instructive relative to the nature of worship in both the New World and the Old during the Old Testament time period. From it we learn that the places of worship among the ancients were temples, sanctuaries, and synagogues. The reference to temples in the plural is of special interest because virtually all non-Mormon sources insist that for Israel there was to be but one temple, and that in Jerusalem. We have no interest in reviewing scholarly arguments, but simply observe that such an idea was not shared by the family of Lehi, who were in the Americas only a relatively short time before they began building a temple (see 2 Nephi 5:16). There are several Book of Mormon references to temples (see Jacob 1:17; Jacob 2:2, 11; Mosiah 1:18; Alma 10:2; Jacob 23:2; 3 Nephi 11:1).

“In Their Synagogues”

Further, the view generally reflected in non-Latter-day Saint publications is that the synagogue (i.e., “gathering-place”) did not come into being until the Babylonian exile. Since the exiles had no access to the temple, it is thought that the synagogue developed as its substitute. We would simply respond that the need to gather together for instruction in the principles of the gospel traces itself to the days of Adam. Nor would we expect to see it acknowledged in Bible commentary that sanctuaries existed apart from the temple as places of worship, yet the Book of Mormon refers to them as such, identifying them as places to worship “God before the altar” (Alma 15:17). Commentators reluctantly admit, however, that in pre-Mosaic times laymen freely offered sacrifices at altars of earth or stone. Nor did Moses put an end to such a practice, but simply sought to regulate it and avoid abuse (see Exodus 20:24-26; Deuteronomy 16:21).

Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 3

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