3:3 temple of the LORD. By this time, the original tabernacle, or tent, would certainly have worn out, for the Israelites had been in Canaan for several centuries at least. Evidently, since it had been established at Shiloh at what was assumed to be a permanent home, the tent had been replaced by a permanent structure of some kind, which was called a temple. The structure housed the Ark of the Covenant and the tables of the law. This was not, of course, the later temple built by Solomon at Jerusalem.