Freemasonry in History, Myth and Religion.

The origin of the Freemasons is fairly attributed to King Solomon and the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem, or Euclid of Alexandria who is referred to as the Father of Geometry; his Elements is one of the most influential works in the history of Mathematics.

The collar jewel of each Freemason Past Master, and just below the square, there is a curious shape that looks like an odd "Y" consisting of three differently sized squares. This is known as Euclid's 47th Theorem, which in brief states that the longest side of a triangle, squared is equal to the squares of the other two sides.

Freemason's origin could also be related to Pythagoras, who founded a school known as Pythagorianism, and his students seemed to be formed into a mystical society known as the Order of Pythagoras.

Like the Freemasons' Order, the Order of Pythagoras has three degrees of membership: Novices - Nomothets and Mathematicians.

He believed that odd numbers are males and even numbers are females, and he considered odd numbers as masters and therefore male numbers.

The Scottish Rite freemasons write ‘there is a point within a circle round which a Mason cannot err; this circle is bounded between North and South by two grand parallel lines, the one representing Moses, the other King Solomon’. Which is a reference to the solstice sun.  So according to the freemasons, Moses must be equalled to the solstice sun!

In the book Exodus a "Pillar Cloud" is mentioned that guided Moses out of the desert during daytime, and a "pillar of fire" that accompanied him by night.

The pillars themselves appear in three styles ‘Doric’, ‘Ionic’ and ‘Corinthian’ representing Wisdom Strength and Beauty that are the attributes of the pillars that support a Scottish Rite freemason’s Lodge. According to the website they also represent Solomon King of Israel, Hiram, King of Tyre and Hiram Abif.

The astronomical significance of Moses (representing the Sun) is revealed while he ascends mount Sinai on his way to receive the Ten Commandments from God.

Freemasons are also thought to be linked with The Essenes, who were a Jewish religious group lived in Judea and believed to be the last generation of the last generations and anticipated Teacher of Righteousness, Aaronic High Preist and High Guard Messiah, similar to the Prophet, Priest and King expectations of the Pharisees.

Some believed that Jesus has been an Essene because many of the precepts of the New Testiment are to be found among the laws of this sect.

Like Freemasons, they instructed the young member in the knowledge, which they derived from their ancestors. They admitted no women into their order.

They also had particular signs for recognizing each other, which have strong resemblence to those of the Freemasons.

They had colleges and places of retirement, where they resorted to practice their their rights and settle their affairs of the society.

Freemasons are also thought to be the intellectual descendants of Noah.

IN reality, there is no Legend of Noah to be found in any of the Masonic Rituals. There is no myth, like that of Enoch or Euclid, which intimately connects him with the legendary history of the institution. And yet the story of his life has exercised a very important influence in the origin and the development of the principles of Speculative Masonry.

The influence of Noah upon Masonic doctrine is to be traced to the almost universal belief of men in the events of the deluge, and the consequent establishment in many nations of a system of religion known to ethnologists as the "Arkite worship." Of this a brief notice must be taken before to proceed to investigate the connection of the name of Noah with Speculative Masonry.

Noah, under whatever name he may have been known, would have been among the first to whom divine honors would be paid. Hence arose that system known to modern scholars as the "Arkite worship," in whose rites and mysteries, which were eventually communicated to the other ancient religions, there were always some allusions to the events of the Noachic flood to the ark, as the womb of Nature, to the eight persons saved in it, as the ogdoad or sacred number-and to the renovation of the world, as symbolizing the passage from death to immortal life.

It is not, therefore, surprising that Noah should have become a mystical personage, and that the modern Speculative Masons should have sought to incorporate some reference to him in their symbolic system, though no such idea appears to have been entertained by the Operative Masons who preceded them.

On examining the old records of the Operative Masons it will be found that no place is assigned to Noah, either as a Mason or as one of the founders of the " science."

In the Cooke MS. the record is a little more extended, but still is but an historical narrative of the flood, in accordance with the biblical details.

In the Dowland MS. and in all the other manuscripts of the Legend of the Craft that succeeded it, the reference to Noah is exceedingly meager, his name only being mentioned, and that of his sons, from whom descended Hermes, who found one of the pillars and taught the science thereon described to other men.

Anderson, who, in the Book of Constitutions modified and enlarged the old Craft Legends at his pleasure, calls Noah and his three sons "all Masons true," and says that they brought over from the flood the traditions and arts of the antediluvian and communicated them to their growing offspring. And this was perhaps the first time that the Patriarch was presented to the attention of the Fraternity in a Masonic character.

After Noah's emergence from the ark, he is said to have promulgated seven precepts for the government of the new race of men of whom he was to be the progenitor.

These seven precepts are : 1, to do justice; 2, worship God; 3, abstain from idolatry ; 4, preserve chastity ; 5, do not commit murder; 6, do not steal ; 7, do not eat the blood.

Anderson had, however, a particular object in the use of the word "Noachida." The Krause MS. says that the Mason "must obey the laws of the Noachites ; " that is, that he is to observe the seven precepts of Noah, without being required to observe any other religious dogmas outside of these-a matter which is left to himself.

The object of Anderson in introducing this word into the second edition of the Constitutions was to sustain his theory that Noah was the founder of the science of Freemasonry after the flood.

Freemasonry is also affiliated with knights Templar, which is a phianthropic chivalric order. this affiliation is based on texts that indicated persecuted Templar found refuge within the safety of Freemasonry.

The Knights Templar is the final order joined in the York Rite, and the only not to deal with Hiramic Legend. Also unlike other Masonic bodies which only require a belief in a Supreme Being regardless of religion, membership in the Knights Templar is open only to Christian Masons who have completed their Royal Arch and in some jurisdictions their Cryptic degrees.

The York Rite or American Rite is one of several Rites of the worldwide fraternity known as Freemasonry.

Throughout history it has been claimed that Freemasonry itself was founded by the Knights Templar or that the Knights Templar took refuge in Freemasonry after their persecution.

The Knights Templar confer three orders, and one passing order as opposed to the standard degree system found elsewhere in Freemasonry:
The Illustrious Order of the Red Cross
The Passing Order of St. Paul, (or the Mediterranean Pass)
The Order of the Knights of Malta (or simply Order of Malta)
The Order of the Temple

When operating outside of the York Rite membership is by invitation and candidates are required to be Master Masons, holders of the degree of the Holy Royal Arch and to sign a declaration that they profess the Doctrine of the Holy and Undivided Trinity

There are other lesser-known theories, such as:

Freemasonry is an administrative arm of the Priory of Sion.
Freemasonry is the intellectual descendants of the Roman Collegia.
Freemasonry is the intellectual descendant of the Comacine masters.
Freemasonry had its beginnings particularly in the German Steinmetzen, or the French Compagnonage.
Freemasonry was created by Francis Bacon, Oliver Cromwell, or the Stuart Pretenders to the British Crown.

The Middle Eastern conflict and Freemasonry are uniquely tied together, it all evolves around and is correlated to King Solomon (1024-967 B.C.E), the son of King David (1107-1007 B.C.E), the Holy City of Jerusalem, and the Temple at Mount Moriah. Thus, over seventy-five (75) percent of the Free-masonic worldview and philosophy is constructed on the building of King Salomon's Temple

But the historical accuracy of the Masonic Solomon’s Temple does not totally lineup with secular history or biblical history as recorded by each school of thought, from the Masonic point of view part of this historical legend is based on mere allegory, symbolism, simile, metaphor, prototype, etc.

We will talk about this in details in the next blog.

Sami Cherkaoui