Thursday, July 2, 2009

My Nephite Temple


Ok blog buddies. I am finally posting my picture of Nephi's temple, which I drew a few weeks back. What do you think? It is based on a ruin of a temple in Tulum (Central America), seen in the following photo--just a different angle.

I am not sure I like it well enough to use. Nephi writes that he based his temple on the architecture of Solomon's temple, so I am not sure this is close enough. But this was one of the least pyramid-y type ruins I could find to use as a source of inspiration. (**Be sure to read David G. Woolley's comment about Nephi and Solomon's temple--very good info!**)

Other personal critiques I have of it: 1. Should have done palm trees instead of leafy trees and 2. It needs greater contrast.

Maybe I will make one more go of it...

Scripture of the Day: Moses 1:39

10 comments:

  1. I think you did a great job, Becky!

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  2. I love it! How wonderful it is to put a picture to what we know and read.

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  3. Hope you have a great 4th of July weekend :)

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  4. I thought you were taking a break?? I think the temple looks really good. Not so different than Mesa.

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  5. Opps. I don't mean to by nosey, but I will be nosey for just one moment.

    Solomon's temple was destroyed, but I'm pretty sure it happened about eight to ten years after Nephi left Jerusalem. The Babylonian occupation of Judah happened while Nephi was living in Jerusalem, but the destruction didn't occur until after his family left town. Zedekiah was put on the thrown after the Babylonians took over control, about the time Nephi tells us his father was preaching to Jerusalemites. Prior to them heading out of town, and prior to the destruction of the temple.


    So Nephi likely saw Solomon's temple. Remember, the Lehites escaped Jerusalem prior to the destruction. If it had already been destroyed, Laman and Lemuel wouldn't have been so crabby about everything. In fact, they may not have been alive to crab about leaving Jerusalem.

    So Nephi likely knew very well the archichture of Solomon's temple. He also likely knew about the much smaller temple at Arad, a small Jewish outpost between the south extreme of the dead sea and the northern Port at Aquaba on the Gulf of Aquaba, which, in the Book of Moron was known as the Fountain of the Red Sea. It was right on their way south. In fact, Nephi goes out of his way to tell us that they traveled three days south of the port at Aquaba (the northern most point on the Fountain of the Red Sea) before they made a sacrifice, which is in keeping with the Law of Moses. If they traveled less than three days from that point, they would have been required to travel back to Arad to make sacrifices, but since they were more than three days away from any operating Jewish temple sanctuary, they could offer their own sacrifices within their family group and still be within the Law. That reference to THREE DAYS in the opening travel bulletin of the family's travles is a likely clue in the Book of Mormon that they were devout Jews, that they knew about the smallish temple at Arad and that they were keeping their covenants in the Law of Moses.

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  6. PS: Love you drawing. Can I use it in one of my upcoming novels? I'm working on volume five right now. This would fit nicely in volume seven or eight. Probably volume eight. What do you say?

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  7. I love the picture, Becky. And I always learn so much from David. The chapter notes in his books are a constant reference for me.

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  8. I do like the picture but I agree that palm trees might be better. That is how I would picture it but I don't know how geographicly accurate that would be. I am far from the expert on this subject.

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  9. I like it too! Though I agree with you that palm trees might be better. Can't you just erase the leafy trees and add some palms like the ones in your model picture? Redoing the whole thing seems like a lot.

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Comments are much appreciated!