On The Hiram Key, by Knight and Lomas

In Progress. Preface: On Oaths

I am not a Mason, nor a professor at a Catholic college, having given priority to the saying of Jesus, ..."do not swear at all" (Matthew 5:34). Hence, we will not bind ourselves by oaths of fidelity, obedience or secrecy. Thomas Jefferson, too was not a Mason, because he would not swear an oath. Madison in his remonstrance gives the reason, too: What we owe to God, we cannot give to men. That said, the Catholics and the Masons were the two groups- in addition to government- to help out when an old woman and her servants were in poverty, two thousand years after he in whose name we work died for our sins, and told us to hence do better caring for one another.

Our oath to uphold the Constitution seems different because it is open at the top- not an oath of obedience or secrecy, and something about oaths is primarily political- to our political sovereignty, which includes the resolve to oppose EVERY tyranny. A strange thing happened while applying to teach American Government at a community college: the department head suddenly pulled out an oath to the Constitution, and like Socrates with his daimon, I was not stopped from swearing it. Now, I say, they are stuck with me- an oath sworn before God to uphold the US Constitution, despite our present government and how it was "elected." That is as far as I proceeded in the question of oaths, losing an attempt to persuade the Church under John Paul II not to require them. An example of a practical implication is that it is conceivable that Catholics be required to support a tyranny in an election because it has taken opposition to abortion as a plank in its platform. Americans- we don't do that! Significantly, Juliet takes up the question, and in the terms of Matthew: what should she swear by? In "love's sweet idolatry."

Thomas Jefferson did swear an oath, though:

For I have sworn on the Altar of God eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the minds of men."

Letter to Benjamin Rush, September 23,1800.

Since these servants were coming around, I set out to find my lost book of the Hiram Key, and now have found it misplaced among books set in storage. It struck me that some things need correcting, though it is a wonderful book and a book of wonders, if only for the questions it raises, giving us an opportunity to answer- as we think we can do better than many Masons on some Masonic things, and this might be of service to the organization. No Masons I have yet met are able to ask the questions or follow even the first point- we shall see how the universal populace does here in blogs on the internet.

Introduction, p. xii: Hiram Abif "is not mentioned in the Old Testament." Now, the Masons have a deep study- the best of all, regarding the Temple, teachers of some of the best readers of these sections of scripture. How could they not know Hiram Abif is in the scripture? The statement on p. 121 is clearly an error, inexcusable, and indicative of a presumption against the Bible common to our skeptical age. Knight and Lomas falsely state:

...no version of the Bible we have come across makes any mention of an architect for Solomon's Temple. Because Hiram, King of Tyre provided the labor and the cedar, some have connected the two, but there is no possible link apart from the fact that they share a name. We, like all Freemasons of our acquaintance, accept the Masonic hero despite knowing that he was not recorded as being involved in the creation of Solomon's Temple."

And at 2 Chronicles 2:13, from the letter of Huram King of Tyre to Solomon regarding the building of "a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself." :

...Now I have sent a skilled man, endued with understanding, Huram abi the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron and stone and wood, and in purple, blue and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving, and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen of my lord, David your father (RSV, Oxford translation, 1978).

Sometimes, we think we know what what we do not know.

But the murder of Hiram is is not in the Bible, and the passing on of what is QUITE likely a true story is a great mystery of history. Hiram of Tyre was the name of the King to whom Solomon applied (2 Chr. 2:3) at Tyre for materials and carpentry in building the Temple (1 King. Huram Abu is the architectonic carpenter:

And King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was full of wisdom and understanding and skill, for making any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon, and did all his work (RSV, Oxford translation, 1978).

1 Kings 7; 2 Chr 2:13, Oxford note. He is half an Israelite, and if faiths follow the maternal, he is of Moses. The word Abi is included in the Hebrew at 2 Chronicles :13, and the name means "of the father," like a genitive in Greek, with the Hebrew "Ab,"; "First-aleph-of the house-beth" (Chuck Missler). A.I. explains: "In Phoenician, Hiram likely means "benevolent brother," while in Hebrew, it means "high-born" or "exalted brother." The name "Huram" is a variant spelling used in the Hebrew Bible, and it also means "exalted brother." 

In an eponymous sentence, the Hiram Key of the title will refer to a new key to Western civilization provided by a genuine study of Hiram Abif, which begins in a king making ritual in ancient Egypt (xii).

Chapter One:

While discussing the appearances of Freemasonry, the author indicates that none of the initiates understand a thing about the Hiram ritual they are walked through at the first degree (p. 3) . This is fun!

We understand the Masons to be an association for the cultivation of virtue and mutual assistance, which, however, can become excessive- as regarding Mozart's Magic Flute and a murder in the 1840's. This murder ended the pervasive influence of Masons in the political and economic life of the US in the revolutionary generation. There may also be a Satanic wing or element, as can also be said of the Catholic Church, especially if there has been an intentional infiltration. That much about the appearance of Masonry. The subjection of the medieval Papacy- when the Crusades turned inward- led to an attack on the Knights of the Temple, and in 1309, de Molay, among many others, were arrested, and in 1314, he was executed along with some others, in a horrible execution that rings throughout the West even now, 7 centuries later. The Masons provided and continue to provide a refuge welcoming men of all faiths, for the simple pursuit of natural virtue outside Catholic convention, when that convention had degenerated to the making of martyrs.

After de Molay, the Masons found shelter among the Portuguese King and court. Has anyone ever wondered how Portugal became a world power during colonization? Spain, the Dutch, along with Italy, France and England, also took turns as the leading and colonizing world power, following Portugal. For the first time since Caesar destroyed the fleet of the Gauls, overseas travel to America became possible. We suggest this was due to the guest of the Portuguese King, who turned out to be his benefactor. The Masonic interest in the New World was already as a refuge from the religious violence of Europe.

Boaz, the name of the left column of the temple, is the name of the husband of Ruth, and he is the great great grandfather of David. The lineage is Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David, Solomon. The teaching of Chuck Missler on the book of Ruth addresses leverite marriage, when a brother covers the wife of a deceased brother. Jachin, meaning he will establish. AI includes that Jachin "is also the name of a priestly family that served in the Temple. Jachin is also the name of the fourth son of Simeon, who is mentioned in the book of Genesis." As Boaz is in the lineage of Jesus, so we might look for some similar reference, to the building on the solid foundation of rock referenced by Jesus. 

The rituals of the first three degrees are similar to the meaning of baptism as referenced by Paul (Romans 6), and the Masonic rites imitate the sacraments in function- walking through a symbol. The going through death and being raised with Christ is analogous to baptism, and prepares us for literal death, to which baptism is analogous. What is subjected or dissolved is the original ordering of the soul, in which reason as an instrument serves the appetites and the baser self interest, rather than the true self interest of the soul.

To philosophize is to learn how to die, and the conquest of the fear of death is related to the knowledge of ignorance- not holding on to, but being able to ascend through, our own hypotheses (Apology, center; Republic VI-VII). The fear of death binds men to the earth and appetites, with reason as servant of earthly ends. Reason is not freed for the things above unless forgetful of one's own and death. This is part of the apprenticeship of philosophy in general.

Reason returns, though, to care for one's own. That is a different end- and reason serves the good. Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep (John 21).

p. 11: For the Lord has said in strength will I establish my word in this my house that it will stand fast forever." In Boaz will I Jachin. The Biblical source for this is I Sam 7: 10-27- but it is DAVID that will be established, the house of David- leading as Chuck Missler notes to the Millennial Kingdom as distinct from the Kingdom of God. "Word" enters from the Psalm, "By his word" (33: 6-7) the Lord Created...for he spoke, and it came to be." Translated logos" in the Septuagint, John and Philo pick up "logos" from here. In Greek, logos means "account," or the natural articulation of things, with one of 3 other words used to mean a single "word" (onoma, rhema or even mythos, but not yet logos, at least until the parable of the sower in Plato's Phaedrus).

Socrates too worked in stone on the Parthenon of Phidias and Pericles? Socratic philosophy takes the examples of the "arts," i.e., the trades, quite seriously as examples, leading to the presentation of Aristotle of politics as the "architectonic art," (Politics, I).

That the Arthurian knights are completely separate from the knights of the crusades, and receive medieval characteristics cast back onto a late Roman world by the French and then English authors, will be an interesting clue. The travelling free masons Darrah cites William of Malmesbury calling for stone masons, as they had none. The Knight- stone mason connection comes through the interest and discoveries made by the knights in and under Solomon's temple (p. 22), their incredible wealth following, and the connection to Portuguese prosperity after de Molay. Melrose Abbey in Scotland 1136, displays a shield with two compasses, and in the Churchyard, a square and compass on the grave of Andrew Mein (Darrah, p.83). Darrah cites Melrose as the first reliable evidence of the medieval travelling free mason, to whom the Pope extended many privileges such as exemption from taxation and independence of the sovereign in whose domain they might labor." (p.75). When I myself worked as a laborer on single jobs, attached to no particular craftsman as a boss, I would call myself a "free laborer." There is an obvious difference between a laborer, an apprentice, and a craftsman, as well as the architectonic master craftsman, far more apparent than the hierarchy in politics or rule is apparent. Another meaning of the "free" in free mason was almost the opposite of mine, meaning a master craftsman, free of his apprenticeship. And it is odd that politics is the architectonic art (Aristotle, Politics, I.1), and yet knowledge in rule so rare and difficult to identify that hereditary kingships have often been the alternative to civil war and tyranny. The standard of legitimacy is visible and can be agreed upon. And in ancient kingships and aristocracies, superior lineage might be quite visible.

A third meaning of the "free" in free mason, and how the word was first used, was for a worker in "free stone," a stone which can be cut in any direction, useful then for detailed stone architecture. which then came to mean, "free of the guilds." There is also an obvious connection to American Liberty, as in our Declaration- a natural right of all, by which we intend to live.

Trade guilds are political associations in Machiavelli's Florentine Histories, as the many and few expel one another in every Italian city in the 13-1500's. The masons do not seem especially prominent or linked to the Knights- though Machiavelli ignores the warrior monks and St. Bernard in presenting an effeminate Christianity. King and priest, or philosopher-king, is the conjunction of the virtues of body and mind which may be impossible and would be extremely rare- something like Arthur and Merlin in a single character.

Chapter 3: St. Paul of course writes that as we are buried with Christ in baptism, so too we should walk in newness of life: The analogy of baptism and the resurrection- visible in this life, verifies rather than refutes the literal resurrection, by the induction of analogy, which is indeed the teaching of Jesus. Paul (Romans 6: 4, 11) writes:

...We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life....So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

So the realization that the Gospel happens in image in each through baptism is not so surprising, and the thought that it pertains to the soul but not the cosmos is a phase. It may appear that the resurrection is the image, and baptism, or the birth of intellect in the soul, the original of the image. But that is, like marriage in two, what it means to say that the soul or man is an image of God. It is the gateway of metaphysics.

The saying attributed to Phillip (p. 38), "Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error, they must receive the resurrection while they live" is not even heretical, and coheres with what Paul has said, and what Jesus in John has said: "You must be reborn." All men can be oriented toward this through the sacraments, through images and laws, but it is not itself a thing that man can make. That these can be saved through the image is what we hope, and the image of Purgatory pertains to this, as that in us is attracted to the things regarding the salvation of each soul, even its birth out of the earth..

There is something to the statement concluding chapter 3 that "the concept of gnosis (knowledge) is the opposite of the Church's concept of faith' and that it is a type of thought process that "fits well with Freemasonry." Episteme, though, is the Greek word for knowledge in the sense of science, while gnosis could be translated "intellection," as it is also a seeing. There is a Johanine gnosticism, because we say the Christ is the logos, and the light that enlightens man, or that that reborn in the soul is nous, the opening of the eye of the soul, or lifting of the veil- the same as that covering the law (2 Corinthians 3:14). 'Faith and reason' is of course a long story, but it is sufficient here to note that faith is, like philosophy, often in conflict with the city, convention and belief, and that Socrates achieved the knowledge that he knew nothing- in conquest of the fear of death.

The Knights may have been the ones to recover the Shroud of Turin.

An answer given by the Artificial Intelligence of Google and the internet states: "The Shroud of Turin's first documented public appearance was in the 1350s in Lirey, France, when it was displayed by the French knight Geoffroi de Charny. There is no reliable historical record of the shroud's existence prior to this time."

There are 2 Geoffroi. The second is the nephew of the Knight who died with de Molay: AI: "Some theories suggest this Geoffroi de Charney may have passed the Shroud on to his nephew (the other Geoffroi de Charny) at some point between his arrest in 1307 and his execution...He would need only to tell the nephew of the hiding place during a prison visit.

Chapter 4: The writings hidden when Rome became Christian and a Christian orthodoxy began to wield the political powers of the empire are as a rule not the best writings, though some may be genuine writings of Apostles- The Thomas of 114 sayings and James, and the Philip may contain authentic sections and teaching- the Mary Magdalene is authentic, and important for the rejected warning not to, as we say, make a law out of the Christ. That means these are priceless, but it does not mean these should have been scriptures.

The authors say that the similarities between the story of Jesus- the gospel- and the stories of other religions and divinities is "a fundamental difficulty for the church," What is said may follow from a premise, rather than lead to the conclusion, and this does not follow from what is said. If the Christ were simply true, one would expect that man at all times, or in a sense by nature, might be able to receive the truth.

p. 45: There is zero reason to think that Rome adopted Christianity after persecuting it for two centuries and then added pagan trappings "to create a hybrid theology that would meet the needs of the widest possible number of citizens. If the plebians had to have their superstitions, the Romans eventually reasoned, why not have one that was state controlled?" To say or imply that Roman Christianity was not imposed by men who believed in what they were doing is probably slander. But Imperial Rome always imposed worship of the emperor and when it became Christian, went right past the Edict of Toleration (313) and resumed persecuting and imposing worship, though not of the emperor, as though there were no alternative- these are men more common and of earthly concerns compared to the martyrs.

Here it is important to understand what custom is, and how the tradition upon which law and the city depend are bound by opinion. The realm of Light cannot be brought into the cave nor made by human artifice, which can at best reflect the higher truths. But a few might ascend into the light. Hence, sincere believers might do no other than make a sect, and the Protestant groups then require obedience and beliefs just as Rome did, repeating the Roman error throughout a splintered Christendom. The solution, we say, is the rejected philosophic way or life- the knowledge of ignorance, where humility goes with our dogma rather than arrogance or pride, the assumption of every tradition of the city that its opinion is knowledge. Old ladies are not required to achieve right opinions about divine physics. The phrase "divine and natural things," describes what Socrates, in turning away from pre-Socratic philosophy, turned away from- the attempt to know the divine and natural things directly. Jesus knows we are stupid, and likely loves us anyway. A universal Christian tradition made by man can almost not avoid becoming a continuation of Babylon, and what Augustine addresses as the earthly city. K&L (p. 61) cite Thomas Hobbes:

The Papacy is not other than the Ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof.

Yet the authors do not note the significance of this work being titled "Leviathan" (Part 4, Chapter 47). Hobbes is characterized by his reductionist statements of "nothing but" and is no more than," as he follows the modern rejection of formal and final causes obvious indeed to the architect, and to the architectonic art. Egypt is the first in a line of 7 world empires, or empires that ruled over Jerusalem. The latter 5, as the preachers explain, are those in the statue which as a while is named after its head- Babylon (Daniel 2). It is in Egypt and Babylon that the first kingdoms emerged and became empires, which is something different, and difficult to understand. That the Medieval church is also seated upon the ghost of the Roman empire is evident also in the 2 legs of the statue, following from the Eastern and Western parts of the Roman empire following Constantine. The Eastern empire fell just yesterday- in about 1453 AD., precipitating a flow of texts into the West that fueled the Renaissance.

There is an assumption that because folk holidays have nothing to do with the highest truths, we ought not practice and enjoy them. But to consider for example the convergence of All Saints day with Halloween, Christmas with the solstice etc- The church would have a calendar despite Paul, and these must be one way rather than another. They do not have the significance Protestants attribute to them. One is reminded of the sufficiency of the contribution of the poor widow.

Mithras was born of a rock, and Dionysius from the thigh of Zeus? The Buddha may be just what he says he is, and the Christ still be the Christ- in fact it is much what one would find if he found enlightenment. What we get nowhere else is the teaching "love one another," love your neighbor," love your enemies," and "God is love." A transcendent God, "Maker of heaven and earth," is fundamentally different from the Greek gods, who have come to be.

p. 46 the authors similarly find some debunking significance to the title messiah and the name Christ. But all the physics and biology in the world cannot refute the assertion that Jesus forgives sins and saves souls. This is much as physics cannot refute that life is- even though it cannot explain it- despite what humans might imagine as a result of it- a universe of particles in random motion, etc. Life defies entropy (Missler), and physics cannot explain it or hierarchy in nature. It is a different kind of cause.

p. 52 The family of Jesus and the history of the Apostles is a wonder filled field of study for us in part because the early church was persecuted and martyred. Much of the early history was lost. Eusebius in the fourth century has Heggisippus of the second century, but there were not histories published outside the scriptural and apocryphal Acts. That Jesus is the descendant of David through Joseph is thought by Knight and Lomas to be some decisive contradiction of the Immaculate conception- this is his descent by law, and its significance in Israel would have to be understood. The descent of Jesus from David through Mary is described by Luke! The point regarding law clarifies a number of other things thought difficulties that are solved if Joseph were quite old, and more like an appointed guardian to Mary, as described in the "Gospel of Mary," chosen by the Temple by lot.

K&L write that Mary was known to be a relative of John the Baptist, who was a Levite." Elizabeth the mother of John Baptist was apparently the aunt of Mary, the sister of her mother, St. Anne. John the Apostle is present at the wedding in Cana, and seems too to be a cousin by his mother Salome, with James the Apostle his brother. This whole family is especially holy. Eusebius writes that the Apostles, not being jealous of rule, chose James the Just to be Bishop of the Church at Jerusalem. That he was the son of Joseph by Mariamne (p. 71) as stated by Hippolytus confirms a reasoning that Joseph was much older, not younger than Jesus (p. 60), and is gone by the time of the ministry of Jesus. That he was martyred from the pinnacle of the Temple in 66 A.D. is told by Josephus ( ). We reason that, like Paul, he was a very serious Israelite until witnessing the risen Christ.

p. 58 The connection of the copper scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls, buried under the Temple, with that the Knights may have found when they excavated under the Temple, is profound. What if Hiram were buried beneath his work, after being murdered, together with a story written for future people to recover, and Essene treasure in addition? But the Scrolls do not add a great deal to the teaching, even less so than the New Testament times Nag Hammadi collection, but are more of great historical interest.

pp. 62-63: While the Christianity of Constantine himself may be difficult, the authors forget to consider that he was raised in the household of St. Helen, and that his father Constantius was a Christian. The presentation of how Constantine thought and deliberated regarding the council of Nicaea seems groundless, and based on false assumptions. Jesus is worshiped, by Israelites, in the scripture ( Mat. 2:2; 9:18; 14:33;15:25; 20:20; 28:9; Mark 3:31; 5:6; 11:9; Luke 4:11; 5:8; 24:52; John 5:23; 9:38; Phil. 2:10; Hebrews 1:6; 2 Peter 3:18; Rev. 5:8, 14. What he says is blasphemy if it is wrong- so it is not only what Isaiah said God said, that you are gods. He forgives sins (Luke 5:21). That refutes the fundamental assumption of the text, that the divinity of Jesus is some Roman invention. These text are present in scriptures used even by Jahovah's Witnesses, but go unnoticed.

p. 85-86. It is entirely possible that the story of Noah in Genesis and the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh have a common source, rather than as assumed by Knight and Lomas, that the Genesis story- far superior in writing- is derived from the Babylonian story because the earliest written texts are later. And once again, the authors assume that the story in Genesis cannot be what it is- the earliest historical account of the races and languages. There is for example no other scrap of an account of Egypt prior to the uniting of Northern and Southern kingdoms. And if the Noah story were simply or basically true, all the world would indeed be one language for some time. The Babylonian, or rather Sumerian, cities may come from peoples who had forgotten.

The Sumerians give us the 360 degree circle, based on the 360 days of the lunar calendar- while Egyptian geometry is derived from surveying, and so is linear and square, but not round. he wheel arrives in Egypt surprisingly late, and they are moving stone without the wheel for a time in the early kingdom. Nabta Playa is the earliest stone circle yet found that is astronomical, and one hypothesis is that lost travelers wound up in the Orkney Islands of the North of Scotland to make the oldest British stone circles and the earliest stone houses in Europe. But these are the square and compass, with mysteries including pie and the yet to be discovered Pythagorean theorem. The wheel is astonishingly recent, but the earliest examples are carts in Southern Europe, nearly as old as the oldest public building in Jericho, pre-deluvian though not quite as old as Goebeke Teppe in Turkey- the earliest stone house and a circle that is not astronomical.

Around Ur, there is a notorious layer of mud deposited as we say in the flood. The potter's wheel is found just above the mud, and there are no wheels in Genesis prior to Abraham,

AI: "Babylon, located in Mesopotamia, didn't invent the wheel but was part of the region where it first appeared, with evidence pointing to the invention of the potter's wheel by Sumerians (in Mesopotamia) around 3500 BCE, with wheeled transport emerging shortly after, revolutionizing early civilization. 

AI: "Egypt began using the wheel for transport relatively late, with the first solid wheels appearing in the late Old Kingdom (around 2675-2130 BCE) for things like siege towers, while spoked wheels and chariots arrived with the Hyksos invasion around 1650 BCE, transforming warfare in the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BCE)."

AI: "The first great Egyptian architect known by name was Imhotep, a multi-genius serving Pharaoh Djoser in the 3rd Dynasty (around 2700 BCE), who designed the revolutionary Step Pyramid of Saqqara—the world's first monumental stone structure—and was later deified as a god of healing, medicine, and wisdom."

The excuse for this is supposedly that Imhotep had no use for wheels! That there are no wheels in the Americas would seem to indicate that these travelers came from early Egypt rather than early Babylon, building stepped pyramids as done first under Djoser. The earliest known wheel is found in Slovenia, from a 2 wheeled cart dated to 5350-5100 BPE, or just before Narmer.

p. 102: The two pillars seem not to be related to the unification of the two lands. That the pillar was invented in Babylon and imitates the palm trunk is worthy of note (p. 91), as well as that the letter tau or t and the Greek P are related shapes( p. ).

p. 103 The level is added to the compass and square. A level can be made easily with a bowl of water, and would help set the cross beams of houses and stone circles such as Stonehenge.

p. 105: K and L have a very nice page here, which includes:

We were aware from our Masonic studies that the appreciation of all that is regular and harmonious is central to all freemasonry and the right to investigate the hidden mysteries of nature and science is bestowed upon the Fellowcraft, or Second Degree Freemason....The concept of Ma'at became the hallmark of a good king and ancient records show that every king and Pharaoah was described as 'he that does Ma'at, 'protector of Ma'at, or he that lives through Ma'at. Social order and the balance of justice cascaded down from the fountainhead of Ma'at, from the living god Horus, the king..."eventually Ma'at was perceived as a goddess. She was the daughter of the sun god Re, and sailed across the sky with him in a boat, and she is often depicted as standing at the bow ensuring that a true and perfect course is maintained...Ma'at's brother was the moon god Thoth...

In Plato's Phaedrus, Thoth is the inventor of writing, not the alphabet but Egyptian cuneiform. Plato's Republic- inaccessible to most masons until the nineteenth century, is the best book on Justice, and some consider this to be the best book simply.

Fact Check (p. 63) Was the Emperor Constantine a high priest of the Sol Invictus cult?

A. I. : "The claim that Emperor Constantine was a high priest of the Sol Invictus cult is partially accurate in a technical sense, but misleading in terms of personal devotion. 

As a Roman Emperor, Constantine held the traditional title of Pontifex Maximus, which was the chief high priest of the Roman state religion and presided over all official Roman cults, including that of Sol Invictus."

From the research and reflection of K&L, the possibility appears that the Essenes are the same as the Nazarenes, and that these are so named because they come to the area of the dead sea from the area of Nazareth, where John the baptist was born in just the next province, where Mary visited Elizabeth. A similar assumption pervades the study of Abraham and Isaac. Human sacrifice ends in Canaan when Abraham receives God Most High through Melchizedek. The Hebrew God is not derived from the Babylonian. Hebrew the word comes from Eber, and not some Egyptian word that is in truth derived from it. The people of Joseph may have BEEN the shepherd kings called Hyskos, later enslaved. There is no other account of some other shepherd kings entering Egypt from Canaan to usurp Pharaonic rule for a few centuries, nor are any except Hittites reasonable candidates. The descendants of Joseph could easily have come to rule Egypt in the 90 or so years between Joseph and theose called Hyskos. And by the time of Moses- about 1350 B.C., the connection and oral tradition in Goshen may have been obscured. The Alphabet may well have been brought to Egypt and developed by Joseph, as the Hebrews do not use the graven image, nor carve stone or write in clay. The earliest alphabetic writing is found along the rout of the Exodus, in mines a bit earlier than Moses. "And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds." (Acts, 7:22; Casey, Godword Podcast On Plutarch's Isis and Osiris).

Chapter 7

By the time that Abraham enters Egypt, there had been some 1300 years of history likely remembered no better than we remember the 7th century and following- it takes effort for any to be conscious of this at all.

Prior to the union of the Northern and Southern kingdoms by Narmer or scorpion, as known from the Steele of Narmer, these two kingdoms had become nations out of cities and the conquest of some cities by others- without leaving a trace of this history. Other peoples inhabited the area, and some think the Sphynx is from pre-dynastic Egypt or a much older people. The earliest pictures of boats along the Nile are found in the rocks , between 5 and 7,000 years old, or 3-5000 B.C.

The story of Osiris, Horus, Isis and Thoth are already old by the time Narmer or Scorpion united the Northern and Southern kingdoms, by conquering the north. In the reading of the steele, it is said that the falcon with the human hand is Horus.

While Nimrod was beginning the kingdoms of Babylon in the land of Shinar, Egypt his brother became the father of Ludim, Anami, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (whence came the Philistines) and Caphtorim. This is the only suggestion as to the source of the word "Egypt," and would indicate 5 tribes that may have become cities, and then nations. The strange names and words do not appear elsewhere. Of these 7, Ludim is thought to be Lydia, Lehabim, Libia, as their uncle Cush is thought to be Ethiopia. Casulhim is identified as the forefather of the Philistines, leaving 4 to be identified, and the suggestion is that two of these are Northern and Southern Egypt. The mention of Havilah (Genesis 10:6 among the sons of Cush seems to increase the argument for one of the missing rivers of the garden- the Pishon, flowing toward Egypt, or even being identical with the Nile- the rivers would of course flow differently before the flood Genesis 2:6).

The authors do not address the Akhenaton revolution. Akhenaton is often considered the first monotheist, but is quite obvious in hindsight that Joseph had been in Egypt for about 3 centuries before the institution of the sun god as the one god, suggesting monotheism to Egypt. The revolution did not last, but soon under Ramses, as it seems, Moses would free the enslaved Hebrews. K&L write..."eventually Ma'at was perceived as a goddess. She was the daughter of the sun god Re, and sailed across the sky with him in a boat, and she is often depicted as standing at the bow ensuring that a true and perfect course is maintained...a'at's brother was the moon god Thoth...

The treatment of the sun in Genesis and scripture is quite interesting- the sun is intentionally de-emphasized, though it is in a sense a cause of all life and most energy on the earth. Famously, in ancient Greece, Anaxagoras was charged with impiety in the generation prior to Socrates for saying the sun is not a god, but a burning stone. One sees here that scripture has something in common with Greek pre-Socratic natural philosophy. Both reject the cosmos of many gods, and both reject idolatry and superstition. That Christians and others are still superstitious though they are not taught these things indicates a naturalness to folk religion or spirituality, in that is occurs of itself without education.

K&L seem to be on to something obvious regarding the Egyptian king making rituals and symbols- especially regarding the apron- for which there is no other explanation (p. 110). "Oral traditions of Freemasonry date the founding of the ritual to be some 4000 years ago, but nobody believes it to be true." p. 106). Hiram would have been the leading builder among the Phoenicians, who were in connection with what would be the new kingdom, about 1000 B.C. Phoenician architecture would likely owe much to Egypt, some 3 centuries after Moses.K&L link the boat ritual to the way the ark is carried (107).

On the origin of kings and heroes, Socrates (Meno; amended Jowett tr, 81 a-b ) reports to Meno the reason given by certain priests and priestesses for their profession.

...they say that the soul of man is immortal, and at one time has an end, which is called dying, and at another time is born again, but is never destroyed. And so a man ought to live always in perfect holiness. "For in the ninth year Persephone sends the souls of those from whom she has received the penalty of ancient crime back again from beneath into the light of the sun, and these are they who become noble kings and mighty men and great in wisdom and are called saintly heroes in after ages..."

Here this is the reason also that learning is said to be recollection from having seen prior to our mortal origin. This knowledge in the soul is the same as what Jung calls archetypes, and the crown of the king represents wisdom- intelligence and practical wisdom, also a double crown. Symbols and rituals can remind us of these things, but kings in this sense are not made by man.

p. 113 Here the authors play a trick on the reader, presenting a Masonic prayer at the third degree which is considered the same as an Egyptian prayer when the king or pharaoh was undergoing the ritual death and resurrection thought to be the same. The obvious differences demonstrate the Christian Masonic prayer is not like the Egyptian king ritual in a number of things that could not be said in Egypt. "Fiat" cannot even be said in Biblical English, but is an interpretation. "Valley of the shadow of death" is from the Psalm, from David only, and not from Egypt. To partake of the secrets of the stars" could be Egyptian, and is modern, not Christian, though to shine as the stars could also be from Daniel (12:3), regarding the wise in the end times.

114-115 K&L cite a very nice paragraph from Mircia Eliade (Shamanism...") on the Egyptian funiary bridge:

...People can only cross the bridge in spirit either as a dead soul or in a state of ecstasy. Such a crossing would be fraught with difficulty. Not all souls would succeed, as demons and monsters cold beset those who were not properly prepared. Only the good and the skilled adepts who already knew the road from a ritual death and resurrection could cross the bridge easily.

This seems to be much of what the "Book of the Dead" and Egyptian practices were about. It is interesting that Mosaic Judaism de- emphasizes life after death, and it is difficult to find an explicit Old Testament teaching of salvation out of Sheol (Isaiah; Ezekiel; Job; Genesis). K&L add then a nice paragraph of their own on the safe passage of "the Osiris," including:

First, he lived by Ma'at, and so was a good man; secondly he knew the way from traveling the 'bridge'when he was made Horus....The new king could then follow the dead king across the heavens, learning the way so that he could in turn lead the next king at his own death.

While Egypt knew the use of drugs, their use in a king making ritual seems to be a guess.

AI: "In Homer's Odyssey, Helen, living in Egypt with Menelaus, adds a powerful Egyptian drug, possibly opium based, called nepenthe, (meaning banisher of sorrow) to the wine allowing guests to forget tragedy and continue feasting pleasantly, a skill learned from Polydamnia, the wife of the Egyptian King Thon, highlighting Egypt's powerful medicines and Helen's own cunning.

AI :When and how was the pentagram associated with Lucifer?

The pentagram's association with Lucifer (Satan) is a relatively recent development, starting in the mid-19th century with French occultist Éliphas Lévi, who declared the inverted pentagram (two points up) symbolized evil, representing matter over spirit, resembling the goat-headed Baphomet. This idea was popularized further by the Church of Satan in the 20th century, who adopted the inverted pentagram with Baphomet's head as their emblem, cementing its link to Satanism in popular culture through media. 

The shape of the pentagon seemed a strange allusion, so it is comforting to know that the pentagram was adopted later. "Morning Star" is applied to both Lucifer and Christ, strangely, and it may be that the rod of iron suppresses tyranny, and the kingship of Jesus supervenes after the was has been cleared by the destruction of tyranny- similar to the end of Richard III in Shakespeare. It is also the asterisk, and symbol for illumination from Egypt.

p. 121 Those called the "Hyksos" or desert princes may well be some who came with the sons of Abraham. If these are the same as the Hibiru, it will be likely that these are the offspring of Eber, distinct from others in the region of Canaan and Syria. Dates given (1760-1560 B.C. coincide with the drought in which Joseph and his brothers settle in the region of Goshen. The alphabet may have arisen when Joseph and his people dd not learn or use hieroglyphs, with a fully developed sound and syllable- based system replacing picture writing. But for the Hyksos, Avaris, the center of their power, is just north of Goshen. We should look at the nations defeated by Abraham- Hamites- and at the nations defeated and displaced by Joshua. The Hyksos may be those who displaced the partnership of Joseph and the Pharaoh in Egypt, or the New middle kingdom may have made slaves of all those non-Egyptians from the North after the deposing of the Hyksos.

and how much time it would take for the Pharaoh who did not know Joseph and his people to enslave them? Could that have occurred after the Hyksos were expelled, that the Hebrews were enslaved? Or were they enslaved by these Hyksos? Josephus and the Hebrew traditions may yet have some memory of this.

p. 136-139 Since Hiram Abif IS in the Bible, Sequenenre is not Hiram, though the transition to the Hyskos and the end of the new kingdom are a very interesting question- what it then meant to be Pharaoh- who could certainly command secrets were he obeyed.

p. 137: The "of course" is unconscionable- it is not at all a certainty, but false, that Jacob is called Israel because of "the idea of later authors of Jewish history who were seeking a clearly defined moment in time when their nation formally began." And from where or whence do they say the name of the nation is derived to begin? Oh. Some OTHER guy strives with God? [probably Ezra!]

Amid a false hypothesis that the last Pharaoh before the Hyksos is Hiram Abif, interesting points are the translation of Masonic words from Egyptian (p. 143) and the point that Seqenenre is the only Egyptian king known to have met a violent end. Translations of Ma'at, justice- as "Freemason" are not helpful- one may as well say that any dogma IS being or the truth itself, for those who do not see being or the truth itself but only the man-made organizations and opinion which originally are instituted to serve to serve those things. There is a logical difficulty at the bottom of p. 144, since Masonic ritual COULD contain a sentence of ancient Egyptian language while Hiram is not Sequenenre..The Biblical Hiram Abif could have the phrase from Egypt to Tyre in the assumed line of transmission.

But the end of the Middle Kingdom may presuppose the drought addressed by Joseph, and the extension of the same famine into Egypt.

Why did the Hyskos not rather abolish the office?

Notice Moses did not try to take over Egypt.

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, Chapter ix: p. 55. The genealogies are recorded in the Antiquities ( ), but little else of what occurred during some 400 years in Egypt.

It is very interesting that Moses did not take over from the Egyptians the teaching of the sun as a god and of the immortality of the soul. The de-emphasis on the sun in Genesis should be compared with the recent event of monotheism in Egypt, with the reign of Akhan-aton and then the restoration of the many gods. This occurred about 1350 B.C., while Moses occurred about 1250. The emphasis of Christianity on resurrection may be present, but it veiled in the Old Testament- there is the tree of life in Genesis, and the statement of Job, but otherwise, it is difficult to even establish that the Hebrew scriptures teach the immortality of the soul, and the Sadducies did not even believe in it.

"Nietzsche refers to concepts related to Christianity as "Egyptian" or "Egyptianism" in his 1881 work Daybreak (Morgenröthe), Book I, Aphorism #72. 

In this passage, he discusses the development of the belief in an afterlife and the obsession with retaining the body for eternity, linking this desire to what he calls "refined Egyptianism". 

The Christian and Egyptian ideas are different: Flesh and blood cannot inherit, but the body is transformed as in the twinkling of an eye- Jesus tells Magdalene, Do not touch me for I have not yet ascended...something occurs that is different from the taxidermy of the physical body, evident in the Turin Shroud, regarding light...

Chapter 9:

p. 152 Similarly, and far from taking some idea of king-making from the Egyptians, Moses did not even take the idea of kingship from the Egyptians, and did not make himself king of the Jews, crowning himself and devoting craftsmanship to his own throne and chambers. The craftsmanship that went into the ark and tabernacle is evident (Exodus 35:10- 39:43), and it is devoted to God. God is to be the king of the Jews.

Tom Paine (Common Sense, ) is the American to spell this out, because strangely Europe was filled with Kingships until the Seventeenth century, following John Milton and Puritan republicans. Prior to then, European monarchy led to the muting of this Biblical teaching. Egypt in 3 thousand years never developed republican government, and we see in Moses an early attempt to get by without a King. Hence, the judges and the period of the Judges. When the tribes ask to have a king as the other nations do, God advises against it and tells what will occur ( ). The anointing of Christian kings is not Biblical. Now, the Masons had much to do with the turn to republican government

There is an ancient rock painting of a man with lines coming out of his head, and this reminds us of the spikes or rays coming up on a crown. This is said in the rock painting to depict a Shaman, and spiritual connections. The crown is a symbol of wisdom, such as that which would be needed to rule- called practical wisdom and distinguished from theoretical wisdom. In this the symbol is similar to the halo in paintings.

It is interesting that the name of Moses appears in other Egyptian names and means "born of," or "out of." But from the similarity of the birth of Moses and the birth of Sargon, it cannot be concluded that the story of the birth of Moses is a 6th century invention! This is an error of logic repeated in numerous instances throughout the book. Archetypes do not work that way, one might say. He was a Jew yet ended up in the house of the Pharaoh? In some other way, then? Floating babies down the river during an ethnic cleansing decree can happen only once?

p. 185 The two pillars are attributed by Josephus to Seth. Brick and stone, to survive both flood and fire, according to the prophecy of Adam of the two cataclysms.

Siriad is said to refer to Egypt, where the pillars are supposed to be- but Josephus had a word for Egypt, and the pillars have been said to be in India. On these they inscribed their discoveries.

AI: "The earliest known textual account for the two pillars and Adam's prophecy of a dual destruction of the world is found in the writings of the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus."

"The Testament of Adam c. 3rd century AD): This Christian pseudepigraphical work (likely based on earlier Jewish traditions) explicitly details Adam's deathbed prophecy to Seth regarding the Great Flood and the coming of the Messiah.The Testament of Adam"

"Various versions of this text (dating from the 1st to 4th centuries AD) contain similar accounts of Adam's instructions to his children to record his life on stone and clay tablets to survive the coming judgment.The Life of Adam and Eve (Apocalypsis Mosis)"

Masonic tradition adopts the story you mentioned from Josephus, often attributing the construction to Enoch or the children of Lamech rather than Seth."

The two pillars, then, of "in strength" and he will establish" related to the two cataclysms prophesied, of flood and fire, Noah and the Apocalypse. These are related to God as Creator and as Redeemer, and in the soul, to two sacraments, Baptism and the Chrism.

There are two Lamechs and two Enochs, one set in the line of Cain and the other in the line of Seth, and it is the descendants of Cain that are responsible for trades, Jabal nomads in cattle herding, Jubal music, or the lyre and pipe, and Tubal-cain, bronze and iron or the forging of metals. (Genesis 3:17-22). This Enoch Cainson is third from Adam, the son of Cain, after whom the first city is named. The Cainson Lamech is 7th from Adam, while the Sethian Lamech is ninth, the father of Noah.

What if the stone circle at Nabta Playa were the pillars of Enoch? The dates nearly coincide, and Nabta Playa does record some profound astronomical knowledge.

p. 188: There is no reason to think that this reference at Genesis 49:6 to a crime of Simeon and Levi is about the murder of Sequenenre Tao.

Chapter 11

p. 189- More things are said to follow that do not follow. The Masons did not find Qumranian texts. The Qumranians were not even the first Christians, except in a sense that Jesus and John the Baptist had more affinity with the Jews of the desert than downtown, as truth always does. James the Just was not even a believer while Jesus was alive. Paul went to Jews in Ephesus that were followers of John the Baptist, but theses were not Essenes. The Masonic rituals are also similar- and moreso in some ways, to the Catholics, The Essenes did not influence the Protestant editing of the scripture, etc. Jesus was not a Freemason, but the Freemasons were and are overwhelmingly Christian. The Christian Gospel does not depend upon the history of a single event on a single day, but with the Prophets holds an astonishing consistency. We do not "now know that the story of Jesus is to a large extent a dramatic invention to wrap up his teaching in a 'reader friendly format. Analysis of the Gospels- the most detailed account of any non-political figure, such as Caesar- with eyewitness testimony that is confirmed; the cross references to Jesus are Josephus and Tacitus ("Christus").

It is not in the least surprising if Mark and Luke share a common source of sayings- the Apostles worked on their writings amid persecution from 32- 64 and then John continued to about 94 AD, and did a classics- level job. That the Bible is the word of God does not mean what these authors think it must! That text were found at Nag Hammadi does not refute the Christ- but that the shroud was found may well confirm the Christ with photographic evidence. The skepticism is assumed rather than demonstrated. Science has not and likely cannot demonstrate that Jesus does not forgive sins atoned for just as said in the Gospel.

Appendix: On Oaths:

When God gives Abraham the Promise, God swears an oath. The text of Hebrews 6: 16-18) reads:

Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us...

In Romeo and Juliet, she asks Romeo to pronounce his love faithfully, and Romeo attempts to vow by the yonder moon that shines silvery in the fruit tree tops. She tells him "swear not by the inconstant moon, lest his love prove alike variable. Romeo then asks:

Romeo: What shall I swear by

Juliet: do not swear at all,

Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,

Which is the god of my idolatry (II,ii, 112-115).

So in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asks what one would swear by: Not by heaven, the throne of God, nor by earth, his footstool, nor by one's own head...

The authors cite this book as well researched (p. 3):

Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry by John J. Robinson · Aud... https://youtu.be/IdbQazNtRHw?si=gpjQkMrSN3DZA_LM via @YouTube

I have:

Delmar Duane Darrah, 33rd degree, History and Evolution of Freemasonry. The Charles T. Powner Co. Chicago Ill., 1979.

And the Bible received through my father from his maternal grandfather, William H. Henderson, including "A description of King Solomon's Temple and Citadel and the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, by John Wesley Kelchner, A.J. Holman company, 1925. Henderson- my great grand father- was initiated in 1915.