by Norma Robertson
When the Temple was built it was built according to True North, Not Magnetic North. I have noticed that the other theorists have begun to angle their temples, believing that the Temple Mount doesn't lay north to south. Perhaps it is caused by the use of a compass, GPS or Google maps. But there is a difference between True North and Magnetic North and even Grid North. A magnetic compass points to magnetic north, not geographic north. Magnetic declination is the angle on the horizontal plane between magnetic north (the direction the north end of a compass needle points, corresponding to the direction of the Earths magnetic field lines and True North (the direction along a meridian towards the geographic North Pole). This angle varies depending on position on the Earth's surface, and changes over time. The magnetic declination in a given area may (most likely will) change slowly over time, possibly as little as 2–2.5 degrees every hundred years or so.
In other words, there is no reason to place the Temple location at an angle contrary to the outer walls. Solomon knew what east was. And those that built the courts and outer walls also knew what east was in their day. The huge steps in front of the south wall cut into the bedrock makes it perfectly clear that Solomon knew exactly where east was. They didn't have a compass to tell them where magnetic North was. They had the sun and moon and stars to tell them. The temple sat within inner walls and outer walls that all lined up to the four directions. So if you think the temple mount does not lay north and south according to a compass or GPS then adjust your compass to match up with the Temple Mount, not your temple to match up with your magnetic compass. (See Wikipedia Reference).