ALAS, MY BROTHER!
Bro. Burgess is a Past Grand Master of Louisiana and is currently Editor
of the "Louisiana Freemason " This article was originally published in the
"Louisiana Freemason" and we are grateful to them For their permission to
reprint it as a Short Talk Bulletin.
Bro. Burgess also wrote the July 1991 Short Talk Bulletin "Amos, What
Seest Thou?" Editor
The Worshipful Master, holding the evergreen, says:
''This evergreen, which once marked the temporary resting place of the
illustrious dead, is an emblem of our faith in the immortality of the soul. By
it we are reminded that we have an immortal part within us, which shall survive
the grave, and which shall never, never, never die. By it we are admonished that
though, like our brother whose remains lie before us, our bodies too shall soon
be clothed in the habiliments of death and deposited in the silent tomb; yet,
through our belief in the mercy of Cod, we may confidently hope that our souls
will bloom in eternal Spring. This, too, I deposit in the grave." He then
exclaims, "Alas, My Brother!"
(While Bro. Burgess is referring here to Louisiana Ritual the phase is very
common throughout Masonry and the following story relates how it started.)
This part of our Masonic Burial Service has always intrigued me because of
the exclamation, "Alas, My Brother" Solomon was a harsh ruler. His wild
extravagances and vain ambition to make Israel a world power led him to impose
burdensome taxation on his people. Forced labor was utilized in his vast
building programs including a tremendously expensive capital. Rehoboam,
following the death of his father, Solomon, ascended the throne as king of all
Israel.
The northern tribes, believing that the new king might treat them better than
his father, sent for Jeroboam, who had fled to Egypt to escape the wrath of
Solomon, to intercede for them. The coronation was to take place at Shechem.
Jeroboam joined the rest of Israel at the inauguration and was the ringleader in
getting the people to make certain demands on Rehoboam.
"Your father was a hard master," they told Rehoboam. "We don't want you as
our king unless you promise to treat us better than he did."
The king requested that they give him three days to think over their demands,
but heeding the advice of young men, refused to respond to the appeal. As a
result, Israel rebelled.
Jeroboam was then made king of the ten tribes. Only Judah and Benjamin
remained loyal to Rehoboam. Although divinely set apart for his task, and raised
to the throne with the approval of the people, Jeroboam nevertheless failed to
rise to the greatness of his opportunities. It was not long after his coronation
that he began to depart from the counsels of the Lord. Fearing that if he
allowed his people to annually journey to Jerusalem to worship, it would not be
long before they would be enticed to come back to the house of David. So he
decided to establish centers of worship at Dan in the north and Bethel in the
south. This was at variance with the law of Moses which allowed only one altar
of burnt-offering and one place of meeting God. In further defiance of the
commandment forbidding the worship of God by means of images, he had two golden
calves made and placed one in Bethel and the other at Dan.
He told his people, "It's too much trouble to go to Jerusalem to worship;
from now on these will be your Gods." Because the worship of idols radically
conflicted with the law of Moses, God gave him a solemn warning through an
unnamed prophet who came to Bethel from Judah.
One day, as Jeroboam stood ministering at the altar, the man of God suddenly
appeared and admonished the king for his evil ways and prophesied that the altar
would be desecrated. When the king heard these words, he pointed to the prophet
and cried out, "Lay hold on him," whereupon the hand that was extended
menacingly, instantly withered and became paralyzed; he couldn't pull it back
again! At the same moment the altar cracked open and the asher spilled to the
ground. The king then begged the prophet to pray to his God to restore his arm
again. The prophet prayed and his arm was restored. He refused the king's
invitation to go home with him to dine, because it was against the will of God
and then left for home.
There was an old prophet living in Bethel. When he heard what the prophet
from Judah had done and what he had said to the king, he rode after him and
found him sitting under a tree. The old man invited the prophet to come with him
and eat. The prophet refused, saying "I can't; for I am not allowed to eat
anything or to drink any water at Bethel, and God also told me not to return
home by the same road I came on."
But the old man told him that he was also a prophet, and that an angel gave
him a message from God. He was to take him home with him and give him food and
water. But the old man was lying.
So they went together to the old man's home and the prophet ate some food and
drank some water.
Suddenly, while they were sitting at the table, a message from God came to
the old man, and he shouted to the prophet from Judah, "God says that because
you have been disobedient and have come here, and have eaten and drunk water in
the place he told you not to, your body shall not be buried in the grave of your
fathers."
After finishing the meal, the prophet started off again. As he was traveling
along, a lion came out and killed him. Passers-by saw the body lying in the
road, with the lion standing quietly beside it, and reported it in Bethel where
the old man lived.
When he heard what had happened, he called his sons and they found the
prophet's body. They carried it back to the city to mourn over it and bury it.
As they laid the body in his own grave, they exclaimed, "Alas, my brother!" (I
Kings 13:30)
"Be then persuaded, my brethren, by this example of the uncertainty of human
life, of the unsubstantial nature of all its pursuits, and no longer postpone
the all-important concern of preparing for eternity. Let us each embrace the
present moment, and while time and opportunity permit, prepare for that great
change when the pleasures of the world will be as a poison to our lips, and the
happy reflection consequent upon a well-spent life will afford the only
consolation."
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