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The return to
jerusalem
LECTURE 3
ROYAL ARCH HISTORY
ALBERT G. MACKEY, MD
“For lo, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my
people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause to return to the
land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it."
---
Jeremiah xxx.
3 We have now arrived at
that portion of history of the Babylonish captivity which is
allegorised in the concluding ceremonies of the Royal Arch degree.
And here we may incidentally observe, that the same analogy which
exists in the Master’s degree to the ancient mysteries, is also to
be found in the Royal Arch. The Masonic scholar, who is familiar
with the construction of these mysteries of the Pagan priests and
philosopher, is well aware that they inculcate by symbolic and
allegoric instruction, the great lessons in the resurrection of the
body and the immortality of the soul. Hence they were all funereal
in their character. They commenced in sorrow, they terminated in
joy. The death or destruction of some eminent personage, most
generally a god, was depicted in the beginnings of the ceremonies of
initiation, while the close was occupied in illustrating, in the
same manner, the discovery of his grave, the recovery of the body,
and the restoration of life eternal. The same religious instruction
is taught in the Master’s degree. The evidenced of this fact, it is
unnecessary for us here to demonstrate. It will be at once apparent
to every mason who is sufficiently acquainted with the ritual of his
order.
But is it not equally
apparent that the same system, though under a thicker veil, is
preserved in the ceremonies of the Royal Arch? There is a
resurrection of that which has been buried—a discovery of that which
had been lost—an exchange of that which, like the soul, is intended
to be permanent. The life which we pass on earth is but a substitute for that glorious
one which we are to spend in eternity. And it is in the grave, in
the depths of the earth, that the corruptible puts on incorruption,
that the mortal puts on immortality,1
and that the substitute of
this temporal life is exchanged for the blessed reality of life
eternal.
The interval to which
we alluded in the last lecture, and which is occupied by the
captivity of the Jews at Babylon, is now over, and the allegory of
the Royal Arch is resumed with the restoration of the captives to
their home.
Five hundred and
thirty-six years before the Christian era, Cyrus issued his decree
for the return of the Jews. At the same time he restored to them all
the sacred vessels and precious ornaments of the first temple, which
had been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, and which were still in
existence.
Forty-two thousand
three hundred and sixty of the Jews repaired, in the same year, from
Babylon and the neighbouring cities to Jerusalem. The leaders of
these were Zerubbabel, Joshua and Haggai, of whom, as they perform
an important part in the history of this event as recorded in the
Royal Arch, it is incumbent on us to speak more particularly.2
Zerubbabel was, at the time of the restoration, the possessor
of the regal authority among the Jews, as the prince of the
captivity and a descendent of the house of David, and as such he
assumed at Jerusalem the office of King. He was the son of
Shealtiel, who was the son of Jehoiachin, the monarch who had been
deposed by Nebuchadnezzar and carried away to Babylon. He was the
intimate friend of Cyrus, and indeed, it is supposed that it was
principally through his influence that the Persian monarch was
induced to decree the liberation of the
captives.
Joshua, the High Priest, was, like Zerubbabel, entitled to
his office by the indisputable claim of direct descent from the
ancient hierarchy. He was the son of Josedech, and the grandson of
Seraiah, who had been the High Priest when Jerusalem was taken by
Nebuchadnezzar.
Of Haggai, the Scribe, but little is known that can be relied
on. We know nothing of the place or the time of his birth, but it is
supposed that he was born at Babylon during the captivity. He was
the first of the three prophets who flourished after the captivity,
and his writings, though few, (so few, indeed, that some theologians
have supposed that the larger portion of them has perished,) all
relate to the building of the second temple. The office of scribe,
which is the one assigned to him in the Royal Arch degree, was one
of great importance in the Jewish economy. The sophors or scribes
constituted, says Dr. Beard,3
a learned, organised, much esteemed
and highly influential body of men, recognised and supported by the
state. They were learned in the laws, and it was their duty to
expound them to the people. Horne4 says that the scribe seems to
have been the king’s secretary of state, and as such to have
registered all acts and decrees. It is, perhaps, in this capacity
that we are to suppose that Haggai claims a place in the Grand
Council of the Royal Arch.
Zerubbabel, assisted by these advisers, proceeded to arrange
his followers in such a form as would enable them most safely and
expeditiously to traverse the long and dangerous road from Babylon
to Jerusalem, which latter place they reached after a journey of
four months , on the 22nd of June , 535 years before the
birth of Christ.
The first object of the Jewish leader was, we may well
suppose, to provide the means of shelter for the people who
accompanied him. We are irresistibly led to the conclusion that for
this purpose it was found necessary to erect tents for their
temporary dwelling. Extensive and populous as was Jerusalem at the
commencement of the captivity, after the ruthless devastation of its
unsparing conqueror it could hardly have retained sufficient means
for the convenient accommodation for the fifty thousand souls who
were thus suddenly and unexpectedly brought within its walls. Tents,
therefore, afforded rude and temporary dwellings, until, in the
course of time, more substantial buildings could be erected.
The next thing was to
restore the ancient sacrifices and religious services, and for this
purpose to provide a temporary place of worship until the second
temple could be completed. Accordingly, a few months after their
arrival, they met together at Jerusalem and celebrated the Feast of
Trumpets, and a few days subsequently, the Feast of Tabernacles. It
was probably the celebration of this latter observance, as well as
the necessity and expediency of the measure, that led the Grand
Council of leaders to the erection of a temporary tabernacle near
the ruins of the ancient temple, the existence of which is so
familiar to us from the traditions and ceremonies of the Royal
Arch.
Having thus furnished dwellings for the workmen, and a sacred
edifice for the celebration of their religious rites, our Masonic
traditions inform us that Joshua, the High Priest, Zerubbabel, the
King, and Haggai the Scribe, daily sat in council, to devise plans
for the workmen and to superintend the construction of the new
temple, which, like a phoenix, was to arise from the ashes of the
former one.
It is this period of time in the history of second temple,
that it is commemorated in the concluding portion of the Royal Arch.
The ruins of the ancient temple are begun to be removed, and the
foundations of the second are laid, Joshua, Zerubbabel and Haggai
are sitting in daily council within the tabernacle; parties of Jews
who had not left Babylon with the main body under Zerubbabel, are
continually coming up to Jerusalem to assist in rebuilding the house
of the Lord.
During this period of laborious activity a circumstance
occurred, which is alluded to in the ritual of the Royal Arch. The
Samaritans were desirous of assisting the Jews in the construction
of the temple, but their propositions were at once rejected by
Zerubbabel. To understand the cause of this refusal to receive their
cooperation, we must for a moment advert to the history of this
people.
The ten tribes who had revolted from Rehoboam, the son of
Solomon, and who had chosen Jeroboam for their king, rapidly fell
into idolatry, and having selected the town of Samaria for their
metropolis, a complete separation was thus effected between the
kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Subsequently, the Samaritans were
conquered by the Assyrians under Shalmanezer, who carried the
greater part of the inhabitants into captivity, and introduced
colonies in their place from Babylon, Cultah, Ava, Hamath and
Sepharvaim. These colonists, who assumed the name of Samaritans,
brought with them, of course, the idolatrous creed and practices of
the region from which they had emigrated. The Samaritans, therefore
at the time of the rebuilding of the second temple, were an
idolatrous race,5
and as such abhorrent to the Jews. Hence, when
they asked permission to assist in the pious work of rebuilding the
temple, Zerubbabel, with the rest of the leaders replied, “Ye have
nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we
ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as King
Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.6
Hence it was that, to
avoid the possibility of those idolatrous Samaritans polluting the
holy work by their cooperation, Zerubbabel found it necessary to
demand of everyone who offered himself as an assistant in the
undertaking, that he should give an accurate of his lineage, and
prove himself to have been a descendant (which no Samaritan could
be) of those faithful Giblemites who worked at the building of the
first temple.
It was while the
workmen were engaged in making the necessary excavations for laying
the foundations, and while numbers continued to arrive at Jerusalem
from Babylon, that three worn and weary sojourners, after plodding
on foot over the rough and devious roads between the two cities,
offered themselves to the Grand Council as willing participants in
the labour of erection. Who these sojourners were, we have no
historical means of discovering; but there is a Masonic tradition
(entitled, perhaps, to but little weight) that they were Hananiah,
Misael and Azariah, three holy men, who are better known to general
readers by their Chaldaic names of Shadrach, Mesheck and Abednego,
as having been miraculously preserved from the fiery furnace of
Nebuchadnezzar.
Their services
were accepted, and from their diligent labours resulted that
important discovery, the perpetuation and preservation of which
constitutes the great end and design of the Royal Arch
degree.
This ends the connection of the history of the restoration
with that of the Royal Arch. The works were soon after suspended in
consequence of difficulties thrown in the way by the Samaritans, and
other circumstances occurred to prevent the final completion of the
temple for many years subsequent to the important discovery to which
we have just alluded. But these details go beyond the Royal Arch,
and are to be found in the higher degrees of masonry, such as the
Red Cross Knight and the Prince of Jerusalem.
footnotes
1 I. Corinth xv.
53
2
In the English ritual of the Royal Arch, Ezra and Nehemiah
are added to the number of scribes.
3
In
Kitto’s Cyclop. Of Bib. Literat. Art. Scribe.
4 Introduction
to Crit. Stud. And Knowl. Of Script. Vol iii p.
98.
5 They
were not, perhaps, altogether idolators, although idolatry was the
predominant religion. The Rev. Dr. Davidson says of them:
- “It
appears that the people were a mixed race. The greater part of the
Israelites had been carried away captive by the Assyrians, including
the rich, the strong, and such as was able to bear arms. But the
poor and the feeble had been left. The country had not been so
entirely depopulated as to possess no Israelite whatever. The dregs
of the populace, particularly those who appeared incapable of active
service, were not taken away by the victors. With them, therefore,
the heathen colonists became incorporated. But the latter were far
more numerous than the
former, and had all power in their own hands. The remnant of
the Israelites was so inconsiderable and insignificant as not to
affect, to any important extent, the opinions of the new
inhabitants. As the people were a mixed race, their religion
also assumed a mixed
character. In it the worship of idols was associated with that of
the true God. But apostasy from Jehovah was not universal” See the
article Samaritans in
Kitto’s “Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature.”
6 Ezra, iv. 3.
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