Hiram Abif

Anti-Mason William Whalen wrote, "The chief allegory, which forms the basis of the 3rd, or Master Mason's, degree, is that of Hiram Abiff (Hram-abi, cf. 2 Chron. 2:13f). Hiram appears briefly in the biblical descriptrion of the building of King Solom's Temple, but Masonry has added a legend about his assassination and burial that becomes the death-and-resurrection rite of the degree." (Christianity and American Freemasonry, page 15)

Anti-Mason Greg Lambert wrote, In the Third Degree Ritual a Mason re-enacts the story of Hiram. He supposedly is a son of a widow of Tyre who Solomon hires to build the Temple. Hiram is the only person who knows the secret name of God and when the temple is nearly complete, three 'ruffians' kill him when Hiram refuses to divulge the name of God. When Solomon hears of this, he searches for Hiram's body and raises it back to life with the 'strong grip of a Master Mason'. . . .
Of course the Bible does not support most of this story so it has no factual foundation at all." (Masonic Symbolism Explained, page 26)

Albert Mackey wrote, "The object of the masonic legends is not to establish historical facts, but to convey philosphical doctrines. They are a method by which esoteric instruction is communicated, and the student accepts them with reference to nothing else except their positive use and meaning as developing masonic dogmas. Take, for instance, the Hiramic legend of the third degree. Of what importance is it to the disciple of Masonry whether it be true or false? All that he wants to know is its internal signification; and when he learns that it is intended to illustrate the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, he is content with that interpretation . . . Each of these legends is the expression of a philosophical idea." (The Symbolism of Freemasonry)

Albert Pike, "We teach the truth of none of the legends we recite. They are to us but parables and allegories, involving and enveloping Masonic instruction; and vehicles of useful and interesting information." (Morals and Dogma, page 329)

Rex Hutchens, "The phrase 'Masonic tradition informs us' is an indication that we are not as much concerned with the details of historical fact as we are with the opportunities of symbolic instruction that are provided in the historical narrative. Thus the Biblical account of the story of Hiram is occasionally at variance with the legend as told in Masonic instruction. For example, we are told in 1 Kings 7:40 that Hiram finished all the work he had been commissioned to do by King Solomon and presumably returned to his own country, but Masonic tradition asserts the death of Hiram during the construction of the Temple. Pike explains what Hiram is to Masonry: 'Whatever Hiram really was, he is the type, perhaps an imaginary type, to us, of humanity in its highest phase; an exemplar of what man may and should become, in the course of ages, in his progress toward the realization of his destiny; an individual gifted with a glorious intellect, a noble soul, a fine organization, and a perfectly balanced moral being; an earnest of what humanity may be, and what we believe it will hereafter be in God's good time; the possibility of the race made real' (Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma, page 225)." (A Bridge to Light, page 10)


Anti-Mason Donald Prout wrote, ". . . the curious story of Hiram Abiff being put to death by the assassins and raised to life by King Solomon of Israel." (Freemasonry: Friend or Foe, page 32)

Anti-Mason Donald Prout wrote, ". . . the candidate re-enacts the supposed resurrection of Hiram Abiff, a stone-mason employed in the consruction of Solomon's Temple." (Freemasonry: Friend or Foe, page 7)

According to Masonic ritual, Hiram was not raised to life. Hiram was raised to be reburied.

Christopher Haffner, "In the ceremony . . . there is a point at which the candidate is physically 'raised'. It is suggested to him that he represents the hero of the degree, Hiram Abif, being disinterred after his murder, so as to be buried in a suitable place for the master craftsman of King Solomon's Temple. At no time is it suggested that he represents anything different from this, and certainly there is no 'resurrection'. He is reminded that, as he has symbolised a physical death in the ceremony, he will himself eventually suffer actual death, and must prepare himself for it. . . ." (Workman Unashamed, pages 197-198)

The central drama of the third degree involves the death of Hiram Abiff the legendary builder of King Solomon's temple. He is accosted by "ruffians" and assassinated. His loyal followers searchout his remains and upon finding those remains carried them back to the temple where he was buried in the cental sanctuary.


Anti-Mason Greg Lambert wrote, "All the Bible says is in First Kings 7:13-14 & 40." (Masonic Symbolism Explained, page 26)

Mr. Lambert is wrong again. 1 Kings 7 is not "all the Bible says" about Hiram. There is another passage which mentions Hiram Abif, 2 Chron. 2:12.

2 Chronicles 2:12 Then Huram continued, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who will build a house for the LORD and a royal palace for himself. 13 "Now I am sending Huram-abi, a skilled man, endowed with understanding, 14 the son of a Danite woman and a Tyrian father, who knows how to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone and wood, and in purple, violet, linen and crimson fabrics, and who knows how to make all kinds of engravings and to execute any design which may be assigned to him, to work with your skilled men and with those of my lord David your father.

Anti-Mason Greg Lambert, "Masons hold Hiram up in high regard. At the conclusion of the ritual the Senior Warden says of Hiram, 'Then finally my brethren, let us imitate our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, in his virtuous conduct, his unfeigned piety to God, and his inflexible fidelity to his trust . . ." (Masonic Symbolism Explained, page 26)

Notice, Freemasons are taught to be virtuous in conduct, have an unfeigned piety to God and faithful to his trust. There is nothing un-Christian or anti-Christian about these.

"The Legend of Hiram Abiff.
In the Sublime Degree you were doubtless impressed by the tragedy exemplified therein above all other features of its impressive ceremonies. As the Degree is the climax of initiation, so is that Tragedy the climax of the Degree. To understand and appreciate its richness of profound meaning might well be your ambition.
Since the drama is ritualistic, it is immaterial whether it be historical or not. The hero of this tragedy is a symbol of the human soul. If, therefore, you have been troubled with the thought that some of the events of this drama may not have happened, you may ease your mind. Even if not historically true, they are symbols of what occurs in the life of every man.
It is an inexcusable blunder to treat the drama as a mock tragedy, a serio-comedy. Savage peoples employ initiation ceremonies as an ordeal test of the nerve and courage of their young men, but Freemasonry is not savage. The exemplification of our ritualistic drama should be as sincere, as solemn, as earnest as a prayer before the Altar; he who takes it trivially or with perverted humor, betrays a shallowness of soul which shows him unfit to be a Mason.
Did you ask, while participating in that drama, why you were made to participate? Why you were not permitted to sit as a spectator? It was your drama, not another's! No man can ever be a mere spectator of drama in his own soul. It was intended that your participation should prepare you to become a Master Mason by teaching you the secret of a Master Mason, by which your soul may rise above its internal enemies if you are to be a Mason in reality as well as in name. The real Master Mason is master of himself.
Did you ask why the three enemies came form his own circle, not from outside? The enemies most feared by the soul are always within: its own ignorance, passions and sins. As the Great Light reminds us, it is not that which kills the body that we need most to shun, but that which has power to destroy the spirit.
Another lesson of profound significance is that of fidelity. Even in the face of certain death as a result of refusal to betray his trust, this ancient Grand Master steadfastly guarded his secret. His standards admitted of no compromise with evil; principle was not sacrificed to expediency.
The most we can obtain from others are such hints and suggestions as these. Let the story of this tragedy be indelibly printed upon your mind; ponder upon it. When you are at grips with your enemies recall it and act according to the light you have found in it. Your inner self will give, in first hand experience, that which the drama gave in the form of Ritual, and you will be wiser and stronger for having the guidance the tragedy provides."
(Excerpted from "The Masonic Scholar: A Manual of Masonic Education for Candidates" Printed by the Grand Lodge F.&A.M. of California)

Carl Claudy wrote, "There have been churches which, fearing that Freemasonry was about to set up a doctrine and a church to teach it, have frowned upon her because of this symbolism. But there is not in all the Master Mason Degree any suggestion of creed or dogma or even of a 'way to heaven.' . . . The Sublime Degree teaches, not how to win immortality, not ow to get to heaven, not any particular way to worship the Great Architect; it teaches that immortality is; that God is; and leaves to others the fitting of those ineffable truths into what frames they please." (Foreign Countries, page 102)

Carl Claudy wrote, "Some find in the symbolism of the Master Mason Degree a promise of the resurrection of the body. None can blame them; the symbolism is there. Nor can one blame the miner of an ore, for believing that the ore is all he can expect to find, even when a later delver in the earth goes through the ore and finds a diamond! To a devout and orthodox Christian, the Master Mason Degree may be symbolic of the resurrection of the body, but to others that doctrine may itself be a symbol of a spiritual raising. Each of us, then, may interpret this part of the degree according to the light which is given him, and no man has either the wisdom or the right to say 'that interpretation is true, this one false'." (Foreign Countries, pages 98-99)

Many Christian Masons view this as a dramatization of the resurrection of Christ and it serves to teach and reinforce for them the lesson that their salvation is through Christ. Many Christian Masons view this portion of the drama as representing that doctrine of being "born again" as being a condition precedent to salvation. Others see it as teaching the lesson that the path to eternal life is through 'righteousness." Others do not see it as representing life after death, but rather view it as symbolic of the idea that through philosophical development man is capable of reaching a new consciousness. Others see the central purpose of this segment of the drama is to teach Masons the necessity of accepting death as an integral and inevitable part of life itself. All would agree that it is not the Master of the Lodge, or the Masonic Lodge itself which is the instrument to salvation since the Master of the Lodge in playing his role in the drama is intended to serve a symbolic purpose himself.

Albert Pike, "Whatever Hiram really was, he is the type, perhaps an imaginary type, to us, of humanity in its highest phase; an exemplar of what man may and should become, in the course of ages, in his progress toward the realization of his destiny; and individual gifted with a glorious intellect, a noble soul, a fine orgainzation, and a perfectly balanced moral being; an earnest of what humanity may be, and what we believe it will hereafter be in God's good time; the possibility of the race made real." (Morals and Dogma, page 225)


September 17, 2007