Hiram Abiff

[jason]

Some say Hiram Abiff comes from the old French word Biffet, meaning eliminated or eliminate. Hiram Abiff to some means Hiram the eliminated.

 

[Winter]

According to Glen Knape in 2002:

There was no such person as “Hiram Abiff.” He does not appear in the bible, or
in any historical source. The “Master of Works” exists only in the Temple Legend, as
a character in that great allegory.
Hiram Abiff is, in part, a composite of three biblical figures, Betzalel, Adoniram,
and Hiram Abi. According to the Bible:
• Bezaleel (God is protection) was placed in charge of constructing the Tabernacle,
including the foundation stones, the wood beams, and the gold, silver,
and brass works.1
• Adoniram (my Lord is high) was in charge of the levy of thirty thousand unskilled
workers assigned by Solomon to the Temple building project.2
• Hiram/Huram Abi (noble, free father) was a brass smith, who made the brass
furnishings and ritual tools of the Temple.3
Of these three biblical characters, only Bezaleel is described as working with
stone.
Thus, the figure of Hiram Abiff combines the wisdom of Bezaleel and the supervising
skills of Adoniram with the metal working skills of Hiram Abi, and adds those of
a Master Mason. However, the question remains, who is he really?

It also begs the question, why would the early fathers of Freemasonry create the the Hiramic Legend? Is it merely a morality play or is there much more to it?

BTW, Thank you for making this esoteric section!

 

[PatrickWilliams]

It also begs the question, why would the early fathers of Freemasonry create the the Hiramic Legend? Is it merely a morality play or is there much more to it?

Well, just because it may be a morality play doesn't mean that there isn't something more behind it.

Back, lo those many years ago, when I was first in college, I thought I'd go for a theatre degree. Part of that was Theatre History and we read a few authentic morality plays. You know, the kind that the trade guilds of medieval England performed at pageants and on holidays. Years later, when I took the third, I immediately thought of those morality plays (with updated language, of course). Anyhow, I've often wondered if just maybe the whole Hiramic Legend isn't really an old Mason's Guild morality play from the 1300's or earlier updated into the English of the 1700's. Just a thought.

 

[Gary]

Albert Pike addresses this in his book Esoterika. I've not fully read the chapter, so I'll save comments until I have done so.

His thought basically is that morality plays a part, along with allegorical death and rebirth. The Hiram Legend was likely developed in 1723 or later in Lodge #4, Lancashire England from what I gather. He goes deeper, and when I get to that part I'll post more.

So far he speaks of Hiram symbolically represented Christ. Or rather the creative energy of the Deity. There is more talk in the book about the tools, and three who killed him than anything else so far. I think therein lyes the substance of the legend. Not so much the man per se.

 

[Winter]

Good points, Brother. But what about the argument that the Hiramic Legend predates Christianity?

 

[jason]

Good points, Brother. But what about the argument that the Hiramic Legend predates Christianity?

I wish I could remember which book it was in. But it talked about the name Hiram coming from either Roman or Greek mythology.

In the Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual, he also proposed the Hiram the Eliminated theory. But for Hiram he came up with this:

"This relates to the very name Hiram Abiff, or ChRM Abiff in Hebrew. Fire in Hebrew is called ChAMAH and relates to the head. Air in Hebrew is RUACh and relates to the chest. Water in Hebrew is MAYIM and relates to the abdomen. The first Hebrew letter in each of these words spells the name ChRM or Hiram."

 

[Gary]

I wish I could remember which book it was in. But it talked about the name Hiram coming from either Roman or Greek mythology.

In the Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual, he also proposed the Hiram the Eliminated theory. But for Hiram he came up with this:

"This relates to the very name Hiram Abiff, or ChRM Abiff in Hebrew. Fire in Hebrew is called ChAMAH and relates to the head. Air in Hebrew is RUACh and relates to the chest. Water in Hebrew is MAYIM and relates to the abdomen. The first Hebrew letter in each of these words spells the name ChRM or Hiram."

Pike does go over both of those possibilities when discussing the Name "Hiram Abiff". I really think that the name was combined from other languages to create the character. Hermetics played a large part in the creation of not only the "Hiram" in the Legend in in the 1720's, but also with the working tools used in it as well.

 

[waterchilde]

Chiram...

Hiram, spelled Chiram in Hebrew means "Teacher from the Father" and to cut all the poop, Hiram is within each of us, it is our "Vital and Immortal Principle".
Our EGO covers our spiritual self with a series of false personas until we begin to realize that we are spirit. and it is then that the Third Degree can be seen
and understood for what it is, a symbol for the ressurrection of the Astral Body into the spiritual realm, being "Born Again". Chiram is also on the Emerald Tablet and the teaching is straightforward within the Hermeticum
that we are to learn to do this. put it together with Alchemy and it is all too simple, the path is laid out before us as plainly as the Suns' Light. Thats another topic, the ENERGY of the SUN... Ehben Masu Ha-Bonim

 

[PatrickWilliams]

[/diatribe begins]

Now, we're on a slippery slope here, Brothers. How do we talk about this without revealing too much? I'm going to say this (and hope that I don't reveal too much) because it's a real sticking point with many fundamental religions out there and their objections to our fraternity. Hiram Abif is NOT raised from the dead. Only God can do that. Hiram's dead body is taken from the grave and moved to a new resting place in Jerusalem. Had Hiram been brought back, he would not have been reburied.

The allegory, which is what confuses most everyone, is that the candidate is figuratively reborn into a life where Masonic principles should be his rule & guide. But Abif himself is dead, and remains dead.

[/Diatribe over]

 

[Gary]

[/diatribe begins]

Now, we're on a slippery slope here, Brothers. How do we talk about this without revealing too much? I'm going to say this (and hope that I don't reveal too much) because it's a real sticking point with many fundamental religions out there and their objections to our fraternity. Hiram Abif is NOT raised from the dead. Only God can do that. Hiram's dead body is taken from the grave and moved to a new resting place in Jerusalem. Had Hiram been brought back, he would not have been reburied.

The allegory, which is what confuses most everyone, is that the candidate is figuratively reborn into a life where Masonic principles should be his rule & guide. But Abif himself is dead, and remains dead.

[/Diatribe over]

Thank you.

 

[PatrickWilliams]

Thank you.

You're welcome. I hate to be such a stick-in-the-mud about this issue, but my Lodge lost an otherwise good Brother over this. His church could point to a website that claimed to speak for a Masonic jurisdiction (indeed it did - it was a GL website). On that website, they wrote about the Hiramic Legend and purported that Hiram was raised from the dead by King Solomon. The church in question came down hard on my former Brother, as they knew he was a Mason. Even though I, and others from my Lodge, assured him that Hiram's body had merely been moved, this argument could not sway his church. The Brother, following his Masonic obligation to be true to his faith, resigned from Freemasonry.

 

[Ashlar2006]

How can a Brother , who went through the MM degree , not know this ?

 

[Gary]

Well, obviously the cowan's or profane are afoot. And Patrick, you are not being a stick in the mud. You are right on target.

 

[PatrickWilliams]

How can a Brother , who went through the MM degree , not know this ?

Look back at the comments in this thread, Ash. Otherwise well-educated and knowing Brethren all across the planet are confused on this particular issue. Like I wrote earlier, there are even GL websites that are confused on this issue. How come? Well, you have to think about how human memory works.

Science tells us that we don't really 'remember' as such, but that we have a series of pictures that our subconscious looks at and fills in the most probable details about (based on each individual's experience). I'm sure we've all been in arguments where someone says, "You did/said/meant that" and you say, "No I didn't, I did/said/meant this". Why do we get those arguments? Because person A's subconscious is filling in different details, based on their own experience, to tie the pictures together than person B does.

Now, most Lodges have slide lectures, yes? This provides similar pictures to every candidate to go along with the lectures and so, in conjunction with the lecture itself, could communicate a distinct meaning. But most slide lectures are delivered by rote. The lines are just parroted back and are not spoken with meaning or even much thought. The mind, then, just tunes out the lecture and the eyes store the pictures in our brain without a verbal context to support them. And in this particular case, I don't recall ever seeing a slide with a picture of HA being reburied. The monument is explained in detail and with a pic, but the reburial, while mentioned, is not pictured.

Darn, I NOW wish that we had a tyled forum so that we could talk about this in detail.

 

[Gary]

Interesting points Patrick. I learned a little something from your explanation.

I still find it odd that some brothers go through the degrees without "seeing" the big picture and looking deeper into the allegory. Not all of the stories are meant to be literal. Even in retrospect, I asked what does this mean?

Yeah, a Tyled forum is something that could be helpful in situations like these.

In thinking about my previous comment, I meant no offense.

 

[PatrickWilliams]

I still find it odd that some brothers go through the degrees without "seeing" the big picture and looking deeper into the allegory. Not all of the stories are meant to be literal. Even in retrospect, I asked what does this mean?

In An Actor Prepares, Constantin Stanislavski, the inventor of The Method (I'm sure we've all heard of method acting, well, Stan invented it) wrote that there are two kinds of people drawn to the theatre. There are those who are serious about the craft and there are those who come to socialize and dance. He really hated the socializers and dancers.

We have those same divisions within the fraternity. There are those who come seriously seeking light, and those who come for other reasons (sometimes just so they can belong to something). This is where Stanislavski was wrong, in my opinion. Even the socializers and dancers have a valid reason to be there. There's nothing wrong with socializing or dancing (AND it pays for those of us who have deeper, more serious reasons to belong). So I try not (sometimes without much luck) to judge those who do not take the Fraternity as seriously as I do. But that also means that I have to be ready to be ready to educate when and where I can; to be ready, willing and able to communicate my feelings and learnings about the craft (keeping in mind, of course, that my subconscious is filling in details between pictures and that many times those details can be dead wrong).

In the end, "What does this mean"? It means what the pictures in our head and our own subconsiouses tell us it means.

 

[PatrickWilliams]

In thinking about my previous comment, I meant no offense.

None taken, my brother.

 

[Gary]

I can agree with that. Each man takes from it what he will, and uses it for his betterment. That doesn't mean that "his" interpretation is meant as doctrine for the whole though.

Like you said earlier, it's a slippery slope.

 

[Ashlar2006]

Look back at the comments in this thread, Ash. Otherwise well-educated and knowing Brethren all across the planet are confused on this particular issue. Like I wrote earlier, there are even GL websites that are confused on this issue. How come? Well, you have to think about how human memory works.

Science tells us that we don't really 'remember' as such, but that we have a series of pictures that our subconscious looks at and fills in the most probable details about (based on each individual's experience). I'm sure we've all been in arguments where someone says, "You did/said/meant that" and you say, "No I didn't, I did/said/meant this". Why do we get those arguments? Because person A's subconscious is filling in different details, based on their own experience, to tie the pictures together than person B does.

Now, most Lodges have slide lectures, yes? This provides similar pictures to every candidate to go along with the lectures and so, in conjunction with the lecture itself, could communicate a distinct meaning. But most slide lectures are delivered by rote. The lines are just parroted back and are not spoken with meaning or even much thought. The mind, then, just tunes out the lecture and the eyes store the pictures in our brain without a verbal context to support them. And in this particular case, I don't recall ever seeing a slide with a picture of HA being reburied. The monument is explained in detail and with a pic, but the reburial, while mentioned, is not pictured.

Darn, I NOW wish that we had a tyled forum so that we could talk about this in detail.

We do not use slides , we use our words and we go into great detail concerning the matter so there will be no confusion .

 

[PatrickWilliams]

We do not use slides , we use our words and we go into great detail concerning the matter so there will be no confusion .

Very cool! I hope someday to sit in a KY Lodge and see the degrees.