Latest / Scripture Central / Exodus 35-40, Leviticus I Holy Places I Handmaidens, Harems and Heroines I Lynne Hilton Wilson

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Exodus 35-40, Leviticus I Holy Places I Handmaidens, Harems and Heroines I Lynne Hilton Wilson · Scripture Central

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  With manna available, you don't have to spend as much time
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  cooking, and the Lord is asking them to spend their time with
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  their flocks. The women were using these
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  bronze mirrors to seduce a spouse.
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  The other thing that's interesting about these mirrors,
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  they were used to ward off evil spirits.
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  Once you get to the book of Hebrews, you get some very clear
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  information on the temple endowment.
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  As soon as he calls for help, the women jump in eagerly.
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  They volunteer. They donate their time and their
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  skills. When Joseph Smith was on the
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  earth, he organized the Relief Societies.
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  And he tells the sisters, hello, Welcome back to Scripture
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  Central. I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson, part of
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  the team that tries to build enduring faith in Jesus Christ
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  by illuminating and defending the Scriptures.
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  And today in the ending up the book of Exodus, we're going to
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  look specifically at those handmaidens and harems and
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  heroines and the female figures as they are seeking their
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  Messiah. And we have so much information
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  in these last five chapters of Exodus.
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  It's the time when Moses is finally putting the Tabernacle
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  together. You know, as soon as he calls
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  for help, the women jump in eagerly.
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  They volunteer. They donate their time and their
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  skills. They have a lot of precious
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  goods that they're using to help build and furnish the Lord's
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  house. In chapter 35 of Exodus verse 5
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  and 10 read Let everyone whose heart is willing to bring an
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  offering to the Lord. Gold, silver, bronze, blue,
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  purple, scarlet yarn, fine linen and goat's hair.
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  And every skilled Craftsman among you come.
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  You know they they do and they. But I just have to remind you
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  before you can do any spinning, you've got to gather your sheep
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  and shear them. Card the water or the goat's
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  hair, and then before you can weave, you've got to spin it.
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  And this takes hours and hours. And then the weaving begins
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  before you can sew it. In fact, I did a little bit of
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  research on this. Spinning wool with a hand
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  spindle took about four to 8 hours to produce 100 grams.
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  Or it's a small skein of yarn, 3.5 ounces.
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  And then if you want finer, more skilled yarn, it takes longer.
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  I would like to read from chapter 35, verse 21 in the NIV.
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  Moses calls everyone whose heart stirred within and whose spirit
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  prompted him, came and brought an offering to the Lord of the
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  works for the tent of the meeting, for all its services
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  and the holy garments. And then they describe the holy
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  garments and what was involved. And linen was difficult to
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  prepare, as well as the wool. The women and the men join in.
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  They bring their brooches, their earrings, their gold, their
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  necklaces. Now what this tells me is not
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  everybody gave everything to that awful golden calf shortly
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  before that. There's still some things that
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  they are giving and that these people who are now giving have
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  hearts that are prepared to build an offering to God,
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  Jehovah, not necessarily to this golden calf, but as they present
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  these gold and jewels. It's referred to as a wave
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  offering before the Lord. It's a Thanksgiving offering.
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  And the women that were wise hearted did spin.
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  Now this is verse 25 in Exodus 35 in the King James Version.
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  But this idea of women that were wise hearted did spin can also
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  be translated. Women who are skilled.
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  You know, the Hebrew word refers to wisdom or skill or expertise,
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  you know, and then we get a much broader picture of how these
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  women are spending their time. You know, with manna available,
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  you don't have to spend as much time cooking.
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  And the Lord is asking them to spend their time with their
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  flocks, shearing, carting the wool and then spinning it and
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  weaving it. And the same thing, of course,
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  with the fine linen. Now, just as a memory, you make
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  fine linen through the flax plant and you have to either
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  plant it or you have to harvest it.
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  And I don't know where you can find it in this place, but you
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  first harvest, then you soak, then you break up the grasses
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  and you comb it, you weave it, the plants together.
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  It's, it's extremely laborious and it's a very thin compared to
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  wool. And so it takes much longer to
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  produce as much. But we're told in verse 29 of
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  Exodus 35 that all the men and the women of the Israelites
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  whose heart prompted them brought these free will
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  offerings to the Lord for all the work of the Lord through
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  Moses had commanded them to do. And these women that are part of
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  this bring more than there was even necessary.
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  When you turn over to Exodus chapter 36, we're told in verse
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  6 that Moses had to command them to stop bringing their
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  contributions because they had so many.
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  And when it was time to make the brazen sea or the washing the
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  large, large large basin out of brass.
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  We're told in verse 8 that they ask the women who are serving at
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  the entrance of the Tabernacle or the Tent of meeting to donate
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  their mirrors. Now, the first question I have
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  in verse 8 is what are these women serving doing?
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  You know, are they musicians? Do we have the Tabernacle in
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  place yet? No, we don't.
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  So are they just helping organize all the donations?
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  I don't know. Obviously the sacrifices had
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  been offered outside without the Tabernacle, with the women
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  acting as the custodians. Were they acting?
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  I, I, I'm not sure. We're not told, but we are told
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  that from the very beginning of this, 40 years in the
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  wilderness, the women are serving at the entrance of the
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  Tabernacle. This makes me very, very happy
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  because that is not the case. By the time you get to the New
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  Testament, the women aren't allowed anywhere.
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  They're they're secluded over in their one little corner by the
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  treasury in the court of the women, but here they are
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  actively participating and serving.
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  The other thing that's interesting about these mirrors
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  is we've got examples of them in Cana and in Egypt, and they were
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  used to ward off evil spirits. Sometimes I hope that was not
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  the case with these women in this situation.
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  I doubt it, but 1000 more years later, the midrash is looking
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  back on this and they suggest that the women were using these
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  bronze mirrors to seduce a spouse and that the mirror was
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  supposed to help with fertility and one woman supposedly had
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  sextuplets because of this. You know, I just think that's
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  not accurate information that's been passed out.
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  But when these women donate their mirrors, Moses enlists
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  metal workers to melt them down. And these mirrors are used to
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  create the brass washing basin, which is referred to in the
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  Scripture as the sea of brass. And I just personally think that
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  their gift is more meaningful when I understand how meager
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  their existence was. You know, they're 40 years in
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  the wilderness. They don't know they're going to
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  be there that long quite yet, I don't think.
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  But they do know that they have very, very little, only what
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  they could carry on their backs and out of their meager
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  resources in the desert. They are sacrificing one of
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  their personal items. I think it's sort of significant
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  that these mirrors or these polished brass that they could
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  some get a foggy reflection of themselves, focus sort of on
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  themselves. And they are now using them to
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  focus on building God's Kingdom here in the desert.
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  By the time we get to Exodus chapter 40, the Lord tells Moses
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  that on New Year's Day, on the anniversary of the Passover,
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  they are to go in and anoint the different vessels and the
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  furniture and prepare it. Remember, in Hebrew the word
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  anoint is Messiah. Messiah is how we say it in
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  English. And the Lord calls them to begin
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  anointing the vessels, the altar, and the brass basin.
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  And then you go into the holy place and there's three pieces
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  of furniture there. They're very small table for the
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  incense, just about 12 by 1218 by 18, depending on what the
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  cubit is. And then you go to the bread of
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  the the table for the shoe bread, which is about 24 by 18
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  or so. It's also a small table covered
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  up with brass. And then you go in.
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  You have the menorah. This is also anointed.
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  Anything that is anointed is to become holy.
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  And as these articles in the Temple are anointed to become
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  holy, you realize that if a holy of person comes in and touches
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  them, then they receive some of that holiness.
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  And as you go through the veil into the holy of Holies or into
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  the throne room, was that is where it was to be placed the
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  ark of the covenant, and that is also anointed.
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  This becomes the throne of God or the throne room of God with
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  the angels on either end. You know, anointing was part of
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  the ancient world. They anointed kings, they
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  anointed priests, they anointed sacred things.
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  But when we are looking at the way God does it, it's not how
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  it's done in the world. These priests were next
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  anointed, but they first had to be washed.
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  We read about this not only in Exodus chapter 40, verse 12, but
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  also in First Kings. And then you order the New
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  Testament. You read about it in Ephesians
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  and in Hebrews and even in the Doctrine Covenants.
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  I love section 124, verse 27, talking about the need for the
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  washings to become physically clean, to represent the
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  spiritual cleansing that our Savior will do.
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  And then they were clothed and the sons of Aaron wore white
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  linens. Aaron himself would have worn
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  the very special high priestly garments.
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  And the women were the ones who were having to find this blue.
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  You know, it's usually they got blue from inside these small
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  little sea urchin animals down on the Philistine coast.
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  I don't know where they're finding it in the Sinai
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  Peninsula, unless they had some other forms of dyes, but these
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  were very rare and very difficult to receive.
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  The white linens would have been a little bit easier.
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  As we look throughout the Old Testament, you will see examples
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  of anointings when the prophet Samuel anoints David to be the
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  next king, and Saul and Solomon, you know, all of these
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  anointings are there. And I thought as we're in the
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  book of Leviticus and looking at the anointings there, it would
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  be interesting to see which scriptures have examples of
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  saving ordinances. And as we refer to saving
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  ordinances, I'm referring to those of baptism and the
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  washings and the anointings, the temple endowment, the ceilings
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  to families. Then there's other ordinances
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  that we don't hear of very often, but they're part of the
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  scriptural text, the washing of feet, receiving one's calling
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  election made sure. So as I look at the Old
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  Testament and the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, I was
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  thrilled to see a lot of these examples.
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  Now the Old Testament, not too many examples, just a handful,
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  but in the New Testament, you know, there's 99 examples, just
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  a baptism. And as we go down to this
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  washing anointing, we see it in Ephesians and in Second
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  Corinthians and in the Book of Revelation and even in the
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  Epistle of First John. So these things were not
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  unknown. And once you get to the book of
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  Hebrews, you get some very clear information on the temple
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  endowment. And on 1st Corinthians Chapter
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  11, the women have to veil their heads during a time of special
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  prayers and prophesying. So these things are not unknown
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  to the early Christian Church. The amazing thing is in the Book
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  of Mormon, we have 144 references to baptism.
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  We've got several of the washings and the anointings and
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  the clothing and the temple endowment and the ceilings of
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  families even. And then of course, those who
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  have been promised exaltation. We have a whole list of those
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  two. So if you want this information,
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  it's on my hand out which should always be attached or on our
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  slides as we're going through Doctrine Covenants saturated
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  with all of these Pearl great price just has the baptisms and
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  washing anointing and clothing, but still these ordinances began
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  in the Old Testament. We're told in the book of of
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  Moses that even the our first parents, Adam and Eve had
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  received these. But as we talk about Moses
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  preparing the Tabernacle and the Lord commanding him to anoint
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  these sacred things, each one of them are a type of the Messiah.
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  And remember the word Messiah. Messiah means the anointed one,
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  or in Greek, by the time we have the New Testament we call it
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  Christ, and there the original text always says Jesus the
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  Christ as if it were Jesus the Messiah or Jesus the Anointed. 1
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  And as he suffered in Gethsemane, and which means the
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  place of the olive press, and was crushed under the sins of
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  the world, he was able to produce what was required for
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  the atonement so that he could share his anointing with us and
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  those who had the opportunity to receive it in this life.
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  Cherish that gift, and those who have not cherish it on the other
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  side of the veil. But this example of Aaron being
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  washed and anointed and clothed and his sons at the door of the
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  Tabernacle is beautifully described in Exodus chapter 40,
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  verses 12 to 16. And as they go through this
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  order, they were washed 1st and then clothed and then anointed
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  in that order. And Aaron, we're told, had these
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  beautiful garments. He was not wearing the white
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  linen, but he did put on the white linen garments on the Day
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  of Atonement, which is Leviticus chapter 16.
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  And on that day he dressed like all the other priests, and it
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  was white linens, but there's a headpiece that he wears, and on
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  the brim of the headpiece is engraven in a golden piece.
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  Holiness to the Lord and this great high priest, you only have
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  one and initially it's one in your whole lifetime.
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  You are called as the first born of Aaron and then you maintain
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  that if you are righteous throughout your life.
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  And, and we see this even at the time of the New Testament in the
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  book of Hebrews, they talk about Christ as the great high priest.
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  But these early descendants of Aaron would wear the 2 Onyx
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  stones, wear the urine thummim where this beautiful blue
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  garment and it had little embroidery of pomegranates and
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  bells hanging on the bottom. It's the women who are making
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  all this. The women are the ones who are
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  doing the spinning and the weaving.
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  And this ephod had the beautiful 12 Stones that have the names of
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  the 12 tribes of Israel. I think he is representing our
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  Lord. He is a type and shadow, and His
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  breastplate is symbolic, especially with the Urim and the
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  Thummim, to be able to see the omniscience of God.
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  And he has a sash. And each of these are given
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  symbolic meaning when we get to the New Testament in the book of
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  Ephesians, there's one man out of all Israel who has this
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  opportunity to enter in and do these sacrifices, especially in
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  to the Holy of Holies. But when Joseph Smith was on the
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  earth, he organized the relief Societies.
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  And he tells the sisters, we have this all in our Joseph
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  Smith Papers projects. I have desired to organize the
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  sisters in the order of the priesthood.
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  I now have the key by which to do it.
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  And another sister who was at this meeting, Sarah M Kimball,
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  remembered that Joseph said I will organize you under the
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  priesthood after the pattern of the priesthood, because all
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  these women in the Relief Society, he hoped, would become
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  temple priestesses. Women who serve in the temple
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  are priestesses in Joseph's vocabulary, and Joseph wanted to
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  make a Kingdom of priestesses, according to Bathsheba Biggler
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  Smith's journal. Now, Eliza R Snow is the one
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  who's writing out the minutes for these meetings.
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  And she recorded that this society was to become a Kingdom
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  of priests as in Enoch's day, as in Paul's day.
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  And that tells us that not only was this something that was part
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  of the lower law of Moses, but it was also part of the higher
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  law of Enoch's day and Paul's day.
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  And when the endowment was first given by Joseph, shortly after
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  the relief study was organized on May 4th, 1842, Joseph met
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  with 9 men in the upstairs of the red brick store.
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  And then a year and a half later, in late September of
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  1843, when Emma was ready, he was able to give her her
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  washings, anointings and her endowment in their bedroom.
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  But returning back to the Book of Leviticus, when it's time to
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  set up the temple, all the free will offerings have been given.
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  Everyone is ready. Moses is given a pattern by
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  which to set up the Tabernacle. Remember, this is a portable
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  tent, but it is extremely well organized and has the most
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  wonderful things that available to them at the time.
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  And they all had to make enormous sacrifices.
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  I think there's something marvelous about the fact that
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  everyone contributed to this. Everyone is working as they
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  describe how it's put together. It's in the order of the
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  creation. In the creation it was darkness
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  before light. So they start with the darkness
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  layers, those that cut out all the light.
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  You know, the badger skin out there, several different layers
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  of the Tabernacle, you know, the waterproofing layers.
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  And, and they do it all in the order of creation.
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  And as the seven days or the seven time periods of creation
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  are explained in Genesis, that is how the Tabernacle, when it
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  says, let there be light, they bring in the menorah which
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  represents the tree of life. And just as a reminder, the
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  priest had to be first washed and then clothed and anointed,
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  and then they would go on the path, the way back to the tree
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  of life. Because they've offered
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  sacrifices, they are then cleansed.
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  Their sins are taken by our God, who is the great and last
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  sacrifice. And it's just typologically
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  represented by the lamb without blemish.
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  But all of these things represent our Savior.
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  They are types and shadows of our Savior.
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  Nephi understood this. King Benjamin understood this.
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  Alma understood this. We don't see it too often in the
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  Old Testament, but we see it in that ancient text.
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  And as they then enter into the holy place, they offer their
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  prayers at the incense offers altar.
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  They have the unleavened bread at the shoebread, the bread of
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  his presence, and the wine and the menorah, the beautiful
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  representation of the tree of life.
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  And then once a year. The High priest is able to enter
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  through the veil into the Holy of Holies, into the presence of
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  God. This is called the Way, the way
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  back to the Tree of Life. Do you remember in the Garden of
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  Eden there was trees and flowers?
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  And so inside this holy place the Lord commanded the Craftsman
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  to carve in trees and animals and in the gold inlay.
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  They have these beautiful representations of the Garden of
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  Eden. And then the veil itself is to
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  look like the cosmos, and they have blue and and scarlet and
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  all sorts of wonderful things woven into this.
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  And then of course, the angels on either side of the Ark of the
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  Covenant. And I believe this typifies the
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  mercy seat of the empty tomb where we have two angels on
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  either side. But this work of building the
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  temple, this work of developing a Kingdom of priests, of
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  preparing a people who are holy and sanctified, developing a way
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  back to the Garden of Eden, back into the presence of the Lord,
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  is something that was restored in our dispensation as well.
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  And I am so grateful that the women were involved a little bit
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  then and we are involved a lot more now.
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  And I am so grateful that we have had many prophets in a row
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  who have emphasized the need to go to the temple as often as you
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  can. And there, if you are looking,
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  you will see the Lord. And I have seen the Lord in my
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  life. I have felt the Spirit of God
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  witnessing to me that our temples are houses of God.
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  And I pray as you read these beautiful sections and these
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  chapters that you not only can appreciate the efforts of these
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  early children of Israel, but you can have a greater desire to
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  return to the Temple more often and feel of its sanctification
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  in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.