THE SYMBOLISM OF STONE
by Bro. Leon Zeldis Editor, "The Israel Freemason"
This STB was taken from a longer article printed in Vol. 106 for the year
1993 of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum transactions.
A fundamental question, rarely asked, is the reason why our ancient brethren,
who developed the complicated symbolic structures of moral and philosophical
teaching we now know as speculative Freemasonry, would choose to base their
system on such modest materials as the builder's trade, his tools and legends.
Such activities as seafaring, metalworking, agriculture and husbandry, among
others, could have been used just as well in developing a 'peculiar system of
morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.' Indeed, they have been
used for this purpose at one time or another, by various individual thinkers and
organizations.
However, the Stonemason' s trade, and his material--stone--have such
profound, far-reaching and universal significance and connotations that the
choice was not only justified but inevitable.
Stone has been, since prehistoric times, the principal material used to build
and adorn important structures, where solidity and permanence are the paramount
considerations. Stone became paradigmatic of stability, hardness and endurance
in all languages, bearing a wealth of symbolic meaning, with many deep rooted
psychological and historical associations and suggestions.
Stone was in all probability the first material used by primitive man. The
first coarse tools were simply rough stones used to hammer, cut and grind. The
first giant step taken by mankind towards civilization was the change from using
natural stones to chipped or flaked implements and arrowheads, with improved
cutting edges or allowing the use of a handle. By this apparently simple act, of
modifying a stone before using it as a tool, Man became homo faber and started
to fashion his environment, instead of being the passive receiver of what nature
had to offer.
Stones were not only used as tools, but became the object of veneration of
primitive men, whose survival depended on them. Rubbing and polishing stones is
a well-known, exceedingly ancient activity of man. In Europe, holy stones,
wrapped in bark and hidden in caves, have been found in many places; as
containers of divine powers they were probably kept there by men of the Stone
Age.
STONE IN JEWISH TRADITION
Sacred stones or pillars, called in Hebrew 'Matzevot,' are mentioned by
Herodotus (5th Cent. B.C.) and appear in several places in the Old Testament.
Jacob, after striking a pact with Laban, erected a stone monument which he
called Gal-Ed (Testimonial Pillar). Moses erected twelve stone pillars near the
altar of sacrifices.
After crossing the Jordan river, Joshua ordered the taking of twelve stones
from the river bed, one for each tribe, setting them up in their camps and
carrying them later on their shoulders as a memorial of the crossing on dry
ground (Joshua 4). Joshua also set up twelve other stones in the middle of the
river, in the place where the priests carrying the Ark of the Testimony had
stood. Finally, Joshua erects at Gilgal the twelve stones he had brought from
the Jordan, so that future generations would know that the Lord had done to the
Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea.
Later, Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal, made of uncut stones, on which no
iron tool had been used (Joshua 8:30-31). Finally, before dying, wrote down the
Law on a large stone he set up under an oak tree in Shechem, as a witness
against the people of Israel should they betray their covenant (Joshua
24:26-27).
Samuel put up a stone which he called 'EbenEzer' (Stone of Help) after the
Philistines were routed at Mizpah (I Samuel 7:12). Adoniah offered a sacrifice
near the rock of Zohelet (Joyful), near the fountain of Rogel (I Kings I :9).
Jacob's ladder, which figures on the First Degree Tracing Board, is directly
related to the stone pillar erected by Jacob after his dream. He had used the
stone as a pillow and poured a libation of oil to consecrate the memorial
(Genesis 28: 18). Jacob names 'Beth-EI', the house of God, as the place where he
had his dream.
This identity of stone, human being and anthropomorphic deity throws light on
the saying: 'Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry whence
you were hewn; look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave you birth'
(Isaiah 51 :1-2). There is a Jewish custom, of placing a small stone over the
grave one has visited. This may be connected to the Greek traveler's adding a
stone to the Hermes monuments, in order to secure a safe journey.
STONE IN CHRISTIAN TRADITION
The best example of the importance of stone in Christian teachings is, of
course, the case of Simon the fisherman, called Peter (Petrus--the stone) by
Jesus: 'I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church'
(Matthew 16:18).
The Pope, as linear successor to Peter, is called Holy Father. The connection
between Pater (father) and Petrus (stone) is obvious. In the Hebrew language as
well, the same letters forming the word 'father' (av: alef-beth) appear in the
word for 'stone' (even: alef beth-noon).
In another instance, Christ himself is compared to a rock (1 Cor. 10:4).
A passage in the book of Revelation (2:17) mentions a white stone with a
secret name written on it, which only the recipient will understand.
STONE IN ISLAMIC TRADITION
The central point of worship for a Muslim is the Ka'aba at Mecca. Every pious
Muslim must make a pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hadj) at least once in his lifetime,
making seven circumambulations around the sanctuary of the Ka'aba, the Black
Stone which, according to witnesses' reports, appears to be a meteorite. The
pilgrims also throw stones at pillars representing the devil, in the vicinity of
Mina.
In Jerusalem, there is a stone in the Dome of the Rock, built on the spot
where the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple is supposed to have been located, from
which Muhammad is said to have jumped to heaven, mounted on 'Al Burak.'
STONE IN MASONIC LITERATURE
In Masonic rituals and legends, stone plays a leading role. Beginning with
the Entered Apprentice, who is enjoined to polish the rough stone with hammer
and chisel, and culminating with the variously shaped stones appearing in the
Master Mason Degree, there is hardly a ceremony in symbolic Freemasonry which is
not connected in some way with stones.
After completion of the initiation ceremony, the new Brother is placed in a
particular position within the Lodge and is usually told that he represents the
cornerstone on which Freemasonry's spiritual Temple must be built.
In the Edinburgh Register House MS (1696), the Jewels of the Lodge include
the Perpend Esler and the Broad Ovall. The first is a perpendicular ashlar, that
is, a stone placed crosswise through a wall, while the second is believed to be
a corruption of a 'broached dornal,' that is, a chiseled stone.
Similar information appears in the Chetwode
Crawley MS (c. 1700): 'perpendester' and 'broked-mall.'
The Mason's work is thus described in the Dumtries No 4 MS (c. 1710): 'to
work in all manner of worthy work in stone: Temple, Churches, Cloysters, Cities,
Castles, Pirimides, Towers & all other worthy buildings of stone.' In the same
manuscript we find a reference to the 'two pillars of stone,' one that would not
sink and the other that would not burn, which held the noble art or science.
The Mason himself, as we have noted, is likened to a stone. In Robert
Samber's dedicatory Preface to Long Livers, (London, 1722), we find this pithy
definition: 'Ye are living stones, built up a spiritual House, who believe and
rely on the chief Lapis Angularis, which the refractory and disobedient Builders
disallowed..."
In conclusion, the deep and various meanings of stone as a physical object
and as allegory make it easy to understand why the art of the builder should
have been selected as the appropriate vehicle to convey the philosophical and
mystical teachings of speculative Freemasonry in its different manifestations.
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