Ancient Temple Covenants in the New and Everlasting Covenant | Covenants in the LDS Temple Endowment

The format of the covenants that we find in the modern Latter-day Saint temple ceremony, has strong parallels to how covenants were made in the ancient world. Knowing the technicalities of ancient covenant structures may sound tedious or unnecessary, but I think they help us put the temple endowment into context a little better. By covenanting with God in the temple we enter into a new relationship with Him as His sons and daughters. Using this covenant format helps us acknowledge the antiquity of these promises and formalize our worship.

Each covenant we make in the temple builds upon each other to help us progress from sincere disciples to selfless members of a covenant community. Each covenant we make in the temple inducts us into the larger New and Everlasting Covenant, which describes the relationship God forged with mankind throughout different periods of history. Each individual endowment covenant follows an ancient pattern that connects the primeval company of Saints that came before us, back to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Adam.

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CONTENTS

00:00 – Ancient Temple Covenants in the New and Everlasting Covenant
00:40 – Relationship Between the Covenants
02:54 – The New and Everlasting Covenant
03:56 – The Ancient Covenant Treaty Pattern
06:44 – The Covenant Treaty Pattern in Exodus
09:21 – Covenant Treat Pattern in the Temple Covenants
11:20 – Conclusion

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TRANSCRIPT/BLOG
https://templeendowment.wordpress.com...


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FURTHER READING AND SOURCES
Stephen D. Ricks, “Oaths and Oath Taking in the Old Testament,” in The Temple in Time and Eternity, ed. Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999).

Ricks, Stephen D. “Kingship, Coronation, and Covenant in Mosiah 1–6.” In King Benjamin’s Speech: “That Ye May Learn Wisdom”, edited by John W. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks, 233-275. Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1998.
https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.o...

Ricks, Stephen D. “The Treaty/Covenant Pattern in King Benjamin’s Address (Mosiah 1–6),” BYU Studies Quarterly 24, no. 2 (1984): 151–162.
https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/th...

John M. Lundquist, “Temple, Covenant, and Law in the Ancient East and in the Old Testament,” in Temples of the Ancient World: Ritual and Symbolism, ed. Donald W. Parry (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: FARMS and Deseret Book, 1994), 272–294.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mi/76/

Daniel Belnap, “A Comparison of the Communal Lament Psalms and the Treaty-Covenant Formula,” Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 1 (2009): 1–34.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sba/v...

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