By Joel Bundy
Exoteric and esoteric philosophies from Christianity, Rosicrucianism,
and the ancient Egyptian mystery schools.
Freemasonry is "veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols"
because these are the surest way by which moral and ethical truths may
be taught. It is not only with the brain and with the mind that the
initiate must take Freemasonry but also with the heart.
C. H. Claudy
Who was Hiram Abiff?
We all know the story. The widow’s
son is sent for to be the architect of King Solomon’s temple. King
Solomon, Hiram, King of Tyre, and Hiram Abiff are the first three Grand
Masters. During work on the temple, three Fellowcraft Masons demand the
word from Hiram Abiff but he refuses. Each time he is assaulted with a
Masonic tool, and is killed by the third assailant. Subsequently the
murderers bury the body in a shallow grave, marked by a sprig of Acacia.
The body is found, the “ruffians” are brought to justice by King
Solomon, but the secret word is lost and replaced with substitutions
given by Solomon based on words and gestures at the time the discovery
of Hiram Abiff’s body. He is raised at that time, and this Rite of the
Raising has been part of the third degree.
The name Hiram Abiff (sometimes
written Abif) is not found in Scripture, but Freemasons accept him as
the architect of the temple of Solomon. Hiram, or Huram, is certainly
found in two parts of scripture, the first in Chronicles and the second
in the book of Kings.
Abstracting from the website
Ephesians 5:11, the following is noted about Hiram, who we believe is
Hiram Abiff:
Huram-Abi is found in 2
Chronicles 2:13 in the NAS and NIV translations. Huram is a variant of
Hiram. In the KJV translation of the verse, the name Hiram is found. The
KJV translation of 2 Chronicles 2:13 does not contain -abi, but rather "Huram
my father’s." The Hebrew word from which the KJV "father’s" was
translated is "‘ab," according to the Hebrew Dictionary found in
Strong’s Concordance. Strong’s entry for the word ‘ab indicates that it
can also mean father-less, as the son of a widow would be. The entry
also mentions "Abi-." Studying the various translations along with a
Hebrew dictionary allows us to see how Freemasonry may have settled on
the name Hiram Abi-ff, also sometimes spelled Abif.
2 Chronicles 2:11-14
Hiram King of Tyre replied by
letter to Solomon: “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you
their king.” 12 And Hiram added: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of
Israel, who made heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son,
endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for
the Lord and a palace for himself. 13 “I am sending you Huram-Abi, a man
of great skill, 14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from
Tyre. He is trained to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone
and wood, and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen. He
is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design
given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of
my lord, David your father.
2 Chronicles 4:16
The pots, shovels, meat forks and
all related articles. All the objects that Huram-Abi made for King
Solomon for the temple of the LORD were of polished bronze.
From 1 Kings 7:13-14 in the KJV: He
was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of
Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and
understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to
King Solomon, and wrought all his work.
‘Abif’ itself means “chief” or
“head”. We also know that at that time, the Tyrians and Sidonians were
felt to be the greatest mechanics in the world, and also celebrated
artists.
So, to summarize, from scripture we
can understand the following:
Hiram Abiff was likely the Hiram
who was a worker in metals, stone, wood and linens. He was a widow’s
son. His father was from Tyre and he was brought to the temple by Hiram,
King of Tyre. Whether and how his mother was from Dan and Naphtali both
is beyond the scope of this talk, but has been well reasoned by others.
On a side note, Albert Pike, most
likely incorrectly, felt that “Khurum, therefore improperly called
Hiram, is Khur-om, the same as Her-ra, Her-mes, and Her-acles”
attributing him to be the same as the god of the sun.
There is no mention of Hiram Abiff
in the Old Charges, such as the Regius Poem, the Matthew Cooke
manuscript, or the 1632 document. According to Worshipful Brother
Madhaven, writing for Pietre-Stones, The first record of the third
degree being conferred was at London in 1724. But the Hiramic Legend was
probably not part of the ritual of that time. We had seen earlier that
Anderson's Constitutions of 1723 make no mention of the tragedy, but
just fifteen years later, in the second Constitutions of 1738, the three
ruffians had killed the Prince of Architects. This is conclusive proof
that the Hiramic Legend became a part of Masonic Traditions between 1723
and 1738, and not earlier.
What became our three degrees is
similar to what was required for admittance to any of the middle age
craft gilds: oath, rules and regulations read to the apprentice, and
penalties for violations of the oath were impressed upon the candidate.
These were often combined into a ceremony or ritual. Many of these
guilds had many secrets. The extreme consequences of revelation to
others outside the gild was cause for the elaborate rites of passage.
Any “intellectual” knowledge that did not conform to orthodox teachings
could lead to accusations of heresy, with great consequences, regardless
of whether there were esoteric teachings involved, or only Masonic
discussions of deity and teachings of the enlightenment. Truly, only
those apprentices who were felt to be worthy could be trusted with the
secrets of the order.
Before we continue, some
definitions are in order (from the Oxford English Dictionary):
Allegory- The use of symbols in a
story, picture, etc., to convey a hidden or ulterior meaning, typically
a moral or political one; symbolic representation. The story itself,
picture, etc. which uses symbols to convey a hidden or ulterior meaning.
A character or figure that symbolically represents someone or something
else.
Exoteric- Designed for or suitable
to the generality of disciples; communicated to outsiders, intelligible
to the public. Hence of disciples, etc.: Belonging to the outer circle.
Esoteric- Of philosophical
doctrines, treatises, modes of speech, etc.: Designed for, or
appropriate to, an inner circle of advanced or privileged disciples;
communicated to, or intelligible by, the initiated exclusively. Hence of
disciples: Belonging to the inner circle. Private. Confidential.
What is the exoteric teaching we
can learn from Hiram Abiff? It appears to be lessons on virtue, justice,
and merit. Hiram appears to be a virtuous man, full of integrity,
regardless of the consequences - essentially the concept of virtue
ethics. This would be the opposite of consequential ethics, or the ends
justifies the means theorem. The concept of justice for wrongdoing is
universal across cultures and political and religious thought. Reap what
you sow, Karma, punishment by legal decree…We also learn that we have to
earn what we have, we should believe in our merits and achievements.
These are the basic tenets of the Hiram Abiff story. How are these
different from any esoteric (or hidden) philosophies found therein?
What did the raising of Hiram Abiff
denote? From Albert Mackey we know of at least 17 different meanings.
1. The real and actual death
of an historical Hiram Abiff
2. Legend of Osiris
3. Allegory of setting sun
4. Expulsion of Adam from
Paradise
5. Death of Abel
6. Entry of Noah into the Ark
7. Mourning of Joseph for
Jacob
8. An astronomical problem
9. Death and Resurrection of
Christ
10. Persecution of the Templars
11. Violent death of Charles I
12. A drama invented by Cromwell
13. A representation of old age
14. Drama of regeneration
15. A savage ceremony of initiation
16. A memorial to the murder of Thomas
Becket
17. An invention by the Jacobites
Due to the lack of time, I’d like
to devote a few minutes on three of these possible meanings from the
Hiram Abiff story: The Christ allegory, the Rosicrucian Temple Legend,
and that of Osiris from the Egyptian schools.
Christ Type
Mackey’s dictionary “Hiram Abif
was the architect; he made plans and designs (“the Word”). Was HA
himself “raised”? The text does not say so; nor do the self-imprecations
of the culprits; nor does he reappear to sit beside Solomon. There was a
substitution of one man to take the place of the old one, and this
appears to be the whole point of the raising. If this be true - and to
question it is to question the text - then the text itself does not
support the theory that we have a drama of resurrection.” Even so,
many
see similarities in the fact that
Hiram was raised from his earthly sepulchre, and the three murderers are
similar to Caesar’s agent (state), the Sanhedrin (the church) and the
incited mob. However, it is unlikely that these early Masons would have
made such a ceremony over something so sacred.
Rosicrucian Temple Legend
Rudolf Steiner is a modern
Rosicrucian and gave a lecture in 1904 on the Temple Legend, one not
well known in the craft, and having distinctly different ideas than what
we have just seen in the Christian allegory of Hiram Abiff. He founded a
Rosicrucian school of Anthroposophy and is known for his work in
biodynamic agriculture (a precursor to organic permaculture). His
teaching as to the meaning of this legend is that a union is required
between those who have wisdom and those with fires of passion, and
that this union, brought about by
Hiram Abiff, led to something lasting and durable. I will read parts of
this legend that also includes references to T…C…
There was a time when one of the
Elohim created a human being whom he called Eve. That Elohim united
himself with Eve and she gave birth to Cain. After this, another Elohim,
named Yahveh, created Adam. Adam also united himself with Eve and from
this union came Abel.
Thus we see that Cain is a
direct descendant of the gods, but Abel is a descendant of Adam and Eve
who are human.
Now the myth proceeds:
The sacrifices which Abel made
to Yahveh were pleasing to him, but the sacrifices brought by Cain did
not please him because the birth of Cain was not ordained by him. The
result was that Cain committed fratricide. He killed Abel and for this
he was excluded from communion with Yahveh. He went away into distant
lands and founded his own race there.
Adam again united himself with
Eve and from this union came Seth, also mentioned in the Bible, who took
over the role of Abel. Thus we have two generations of mankind: the race
of Cain, who was a descendant of Eve and one of the Elohim, and the
other race which had human parentage and was brought into existence at
the command of Yahveh.
Among the descendants of Cain
are all those who have been creators of art and science, as, for
instance, Methuselah, the inventor of the Tau script, and T…C…, who
taught the use and working of metal ores and iron. In this line of
descent, stemming from the Elohim, were all those who trained themselves
in the arts and sciences.
Hiram also descended from the
race of Cain, and he was the inheritor of all that had been learned by
the others of his line in technology and art. He was the most
significant architect we can imagine.
Out of Seth's line came Solomon,
who excelled in everything which came from Yahveh. He was endowed with
the wisdom of the world and all the attributes of calm, clear, objective
wisdom. This wisdom can be expressed in words which go straight to the
human heart and can uplift a person, but it is unable to produce
anything tangible of a technical nature, in art or science. It is a
wisdom which is a directly inspired gift of God and not attained from
below through human passions welling up from the human will — that would
be the wisdom pertaining to the sons of Cain, a legacy of the other
Elohim, not Yahveh. They are the hardworking industrious ones who seek
to accomplish everything through their own efforts.
Solomon now decides to build a
temple and calls upon Hiram, the descendant of Cain, to be his master
builder. It was at the time when Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, was
visiting Jerusalem because she had heard of the wisdom of Solomon. And
she was certainly impressed and charmed by the exalted and clear wisdom
and beauty of the King when she first arrived, and when he made love to
her she consented to be his bride. Now she heard about the temple which
was being built and she desired to make the acquaintance of the master
builder, Hiram. When she first met him she was captivated merely by his
glance. As a result, a certain mood of jealousy arose between Hiram and
Solomon and the latter wished to do something or other against Hiram,
but he was dependent upon him for the completion of the temple.
Now came the following: The
temple was almost complete. Only one thing was still lacking, which was
to have been Hiram's masterpiece; that was the Molten Sea, which was to
represent the ocean cast in bronze and was to have adorned the temple.
All the necessary mixtures of ores had been prepared by Hiram in a most
wonderful manner, ready to be cast. Now, however, three apprentices got
to work, whom Hiram had found so lacking in skill that he had been
unable to promote them to become masters. They had therefore sworn to be
revenged on him and desired to prevent the casting of the Molten Sea. A
friend of Hiram, who got to know about these plans, confided them to
Solomon, so that he should prevent their realisation. But Solomon,
through jealousy, did nothing to stop them, because he wished to destroy
Hiram. The result was that Hiram had to look on while the whole casting
disintegrated due to the addition of a wrong ingredient in the mixture
by the three apprentices. He tried to quench the bursting flames by
pouring water over them, but this only made matters worse. Just as he
was on the point of despairing about the work ever being completed,
T…C…, his ancestor, appeared to him and told him that he should not
hesitate to cast himself into the fire, as he was invulnerable to the
flames. Hiram did as he was advised and came to the centre of the earth.
He was led by T…C… to Cain, who there resided in a condition of pristine
divinity. Hiram was thus initiated into the Mystery of Fire and into the
secret of bronze casting, receiving from T…C… a hammer and a Golden
Triangle which he was able to carry with him as a pendant round his
neck. Then he returned and was able to complete the casting of the
Molten Sea and to put everything in order again.
Hereupon the Queen of Sheba
consented to become Hiram's bride. He, however, was set upon by the
three apprentices and murdered. But before he died, Hiram managed to
throw the Golden Triangle into a well. As no one knew where he had
disappeared, a search was made. Even Solomon was afraid and was anxious
to find out what had happened. It was thought that the ancient Master
Word could be betrayed by the apprentices, and therefore another one was
devised. The first word to be spoken when Hiram was discovered should be
the new Master Word. At last Hiram was found and was able to utter a few
last words. He said: ‘T…C…had promised me that I shall have a son who
will be the father of many descendants who will people the earth and
bring my work — the building of the Temple — to completion.’ Then he
pointed to the place where the Golden Triangle was to be found. This was
then collected and brought to the Molten Sea and both were preserved
together in the Holy of Holies. They are only to be discovered by those
who can understand the meaning of the legend of the Temple of Solomon
and its
Master Builder Hiram.
The interpretation is thus: There
are two races in mankind, those like Solomon who are in possession of
divine wisdom, and the other race who came from Cain, who are conversant
with fire, that of wishes and desires. The Sons of Seth have great
wisdom and are religious, but lack enthusiasm, while the Sons of Cain
are impulsive, but out of their desires came the arts and sciences. It
was not until Hiram Abiff was able to use the water of calm wisdom with
the fire of passion and desire, that he was able to create the union of
enduring brotherhood.
Isis and Osiris
There is much written about whether
Hiram Abiff could be the Masonic interpretation of a much older legend,
that of Osiris from Egypt. The most famous interpretation of the myth
comes from Plutarch, the famous second century Greek writer. The
following synopsis of the myth of Osiris was abstracted from Glen
Knape’s internet site on The Temple and the Word,
specifically chapter 10.
Osiris was a complex Egyptian
deity. The most familiar version of his myth (by the Greek writer
Plutarch) is the most recent. Plutarch wrote long after the pyramid era,
and closer to the period in which the Temple is set. However, his
version leaves out several important events, and misinterprets others.
Thus, the following is a brief composite of several versions. Seth, the
evil brother of Osiris, tricked him into a chest. The chest was sealed
with lead, thrown into the Nile, and floated downstream to the
Mediterranean. It eventually washed-up on the shore of Lebanon, at
Byblos, and a tree grew around it. The king of Byblos had the tree cut
down and turned into the central column of his palace. Isis the
sister/wife of Osiris, found the column, recognized that her
husband/brother lay within, and brought it back to Egypt. Seth
discovered the chest, stole it, cuts Osiris’ body into fourteen parts,
and scattered the parts along the Nile shore. Isis searched for the
parts, found them, reassembled the body of Osiris, and attempted to
raise it. She failed, and her sister Nephthys tried. Nephthys failed,
and their brother Thoth tried, using a special grip. The third attempt
worked, and Osiris rose up to heaven.
The mysteries of Isis and Osiris
included a ladder, a pillar, a tree or sprig of Acacia and a casket in
their symbolism, similar to those in Freemasonry. Both went to foreign
lands to share their knowledge. Both have something that evil men wish
to take, the word from Hiram, the kingdom from Osiris. After a struggle
both are murdered by their brothers, either biological or fraternal.
Both men are hastily buried and Acacia identifies the body.
So, was Hiram Abiff developed by
early Masons as an allegory for Christ, about Osiris, Noah, Adam, or a
son of Cain, or about a real Hiram Abiff? Does it matter? If one takes
the story at face value, as exoteric teaching, then it is a beautiful
drama about virtue, integrity, and brotherhood. These are so valuable to
the fraternity that the legend has great meaning, regardless of the
origin, or any hidden, esoteric meaning. We don’t need a metaphysical
explanation or spiritual mysticism to obtain the light we are looking
for. We see the underpinnings of modern ethical theories of autonomy,
beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.
Esoteric teachings draw upon hidden
or secret knowledge. These philosophies have been present for millennia
and across all cultures and belief systems. In Masonry, the esoteric
teachings from the Hiramic legend would lead us towards a deeper
understanding of man’s actions and motivations, having the perseverance
to continue to try to raise ourselves and fellow brothers out of earthly
bondage towards freedom. It is in the knowing that even when things that
are truly important to us are forever lost, we can find a substitute
that will allow us to continue a fulfilling life. We are reminded that
there are others outside our fraternity, and some from within, who may
do us harm out of jealousy or other of their uncontrolled passions. We,
by understanding this legend and living through its example, can be a
model to our leaders (represented by King Solomon and King Hiram) and
other fellow citizens and brothers by our pure actions and goodness,
despite repeated temptations. If we so choose, it can be tied to our
faith. We will be better humans, husbands, fathers, sons, and Freemasons
by delving deep into our histories and values that have been so richly
given to us by those masons who have come before.
I have to believe that Hiram Abiff
would have understood the sentiment from Mitch Albom (who wrote Tuesdays
with Morrie) who wrote “Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious,
you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.”