THE TWO PILLARS
by H. Jordan Rosoce 32 degree
THE Fellow-Craft is introduced to the wonders of his world of art and science
through portals flanked by two massive pillars. Detailed description of these
pillars in the Books of Kings indicates a style of design common to Egyptian
architecture, where a pillar terminates in a capital representing a
conventionalized lotus blossom, or the seed pod of that sacred lily. Such twin
pillars are frequently found among Egyptian and Sumerian archaeological remains.
The pillars of King Solomon's Temple, and in fact that entire group of
structures, were the work of Phoenician artists, according to the Biblical
account. From other sources we gather that these same designers and craftsmen,
initiated Dionysiac architects, were responsible for the magnificent palaces and
temples at Byblos, the cultural and esthetic center of ancient Phoenicia. The
Phoenician realm occupied an area roughly the same as that of modern Syria and
Lebanon, and in Biblical accounts is usually cal led Tyre, from the name of its
then capital city. Byblos, also known as Gub'l or Gebal, the present-day village
of Jebeil, was particularly famous for architects and sculptors.
The twin pillars symbolize the dual nature of life and death, positive and
negative or rather active (establishment) and passive (endurance), male and
female, light and dark, good and evil, uniting in a central point of
equilibrium, the apex of an equilateral triangle; a circle between two parallel
uprights. Isis represented standing between two pillars of opposing polarity,
the Ark of the Covenant between two Cherubim, Christ crucified between two
thieves, are all symbols of the same trinity, the complete ness and perfection
of Deity.
That the twin pillars resemble the conventional symbol for Gemini, third sign
of the Zodiac, is no accident, but rather due to the common ancestry of the two
apparently unrelated symbols.
In some lectures the pillars are said to be 35 cubits high, the height given
in II Chronicles, King James Version. Another version of the same source gives
the height as 120 cubits. Since the height of the first or outer chamber was
probably no more than 30 cubits, the measurement given in I Kings: 18 cubits,
seems more likely to be correct. The addition of map globes atop the pillars is
a modern invention, with little Biblical or other authority and serving little
purpose but to permit the lecturer to harp upon the advantages of studying
astronomy, geography, etc., worthy pursuits but wholely unrelated to the
symbolism of the pillars.
Whether the three chambers of the Temple were connected by stairs is
debatable. The best-informed scholars believe the Temple roof was flat, in which
case the successively decreasing heights of the chambers, plus the somewhat
sloping configuration of the site, would require approach and connection by
means of either stairways or of some sort of ladder and trapdoor arrangement.
Certainly the fantastically elaborate many-storied versions of the Temple
depicted by some well-intentioned but ill-informed Bible illustrators and
Masonic artists are so illogical and at variance with the few known facts and
testimony of both the Bible and history as to seem the figments of a disordered
imagination. Josephus stated that the Temple was of Grecian style which implies
entablature and consequently a flat roof, although he had the cart before the
horse, since Greek architecture was derived from Phoenician, not the reverse.
In any case, the stairway of our lectures is purely symbolic, consisting as
it does of the significant numbers 3, 5, and 7. In such a series, 3 symbolizes
such qualities as peace, friendship, justice, piety, temperance, and virtue. 5
represents light, health, and vitality- 7 is a symbol of control, judgment,
government, and religion.
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