JARVIE

NIMROD OF BABYLON

The Lost Legend of Our Original First
Most Excellent Grand Master

by Mark L. Jarvie, MPS

In ancient times Lodges were
dedicated to King Solomon, because it
was said that he was our first Most Ex-
cellent Grand Master, or he was the
founder of our present system...

Our beloved Masonic ritual upholds
the time and place of the construction
of King Solomon's Temple as the legen-
dary beginning point of the organiza-
tion of Freemasonry. It not only does
this in the aforementioned passage from
the Entered Apprentice lecture, but
throughout almost all of the several de-
grees conferred in our Ancient Craft
Blue Lodges, Royal Arch chapters, and
councils of Royal and Select Masters.
And although many of the numerous
degrees conferred by the other appen-
dant bodies of Masonry remove them-
selves in time and place from Solomon's
Jerusalem, only a few of these degrees
place their stories at a time prior to the
building of his temple. Indeed, the
building of Solomon's Temple is quite
thoroughly cemented into our epic lore
as the beginning point of our Brother-
hood's organized existence.

Now it is safe to say that in this
modern day and age, almost every intel-
ligent and well-informed Mason knows
this story, concerning the time and
place of our society's foundation, to be
our own peculiar mythical tale, rather
than an actual historical fact. However,
granting that the story is indeed an alle-
gorical legend, few Masons would argue
with a statement to the effect that this
legend of our origins is the same legend
which has been presented and taught to
all Freemasons since the advent of pure-
ly speculative Freemasonry, about three
hundred years ago. And since most Ma-
sons today know that our speculative
fraternity is directly descended from the
brotherhood of operative stonemasons
of the middle ages, it is also likely that a
great many brothers also assume that
this mythic tale of our society's genesis is
substantially the same as that which was
presented to the newly made operative
apprentices of the fourteenth century,
or even earlier. But would this assump-
tion be correct? Let us look at the evi-
dence and find out.

As far as the operative Freemasons of
the middle ages are concerned it is rath-
er an easy task to prove that the story
which they propagated about the begin-
nings of Freemasonry was very different
than that contained in our ritual today.
We can be quite certain of this by exam-
ining the body of medieval and renais-
sance documents which have come to be
known as the 'Old Charges' or the Goth-
ic Constitutions of Freemasonry. There
are about one hundred of these old doc-
uments known to be in existence. And
even though they do not tell us all that
we would like to know, they do offer us
meaningful glimpses into the nature
and practices of Freemasonry during its
operative period.

No two of these documents are identi-
cal, yet they all share certain common
traits. For the most part they all begin
with an invocation, then move on to a
legend tracing the history of Masonry
from the founding of geometry, at a
time prior to Noah's flood, down to its
propagation in tenth century England
under good King Athelstan. They then
present a list of the charges for a Mason
and provide for taking an oath apper-
taining to these charges. It is the histori-
cal legend portion of these documents to
which we now turn in our investigation.

The following is a portion of the his-
torical lecture contained in the third old-
est of the Gothic Constitutions, which is
known as the 'Grand Lodge MS' and
which is dated December 25, 1583. The
English has been modernized, and the
portions which are not directly pertinent
to this paper have been copied from an
abbreviated version found in Coil's
Masonic Encyclopedia. Please keep in
mind that the details concerning names
and places in these lectures vary a little
from one document to the next, but the
basic story line is consistent.

"...The worthy Craft of Masonry was
begun and kept by worthy kings and
princes and other worshipful men, for it
is a worthy Craft and curious science,
being one of the Seven Liberal Sciences
which are Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialec-
tics, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and
Astronomy. These are all found by Ge-
ometry which is the most worthy. Before
Noah's F,ood, there was a man called
Lamech, who had two wives, Adah and
Sella. By the first, he had two sons,
Jabell and Juball, and by the other wife,
a son and daughter. These four founded
all the crafts in the world. Jabell founded
Geometry; Juball, music; Tubal Cain,
the smith's craft; and the daughter,
weaving. Knowing that God would take
vengeance on the world, they wrote these
sciences on two pillars of stone, one of
marble that would not burn in fire and
the other called Latemo that would not
drown in water. Hermes, the father of
wisdom, found one of these pillars after
the Flood and taught the Sciences to
others.

"And at the making of the tower of
Babylon Masonry was made much of.
And the King of Babylon at that time,
Nimrod, was a Mason himself and loved
the Craft well as it was said. And when
the city of Neneveh and other cities of
the East should be made, Nimrod King
of Babylon sent forth forty Masons at
the request of the King of Nineveh his
cousin. And when he sent them forth he
gave them charges in this manner. That
they should be true to one another, and
that they should live truely together,
and that they should serve their Lord
truely for their pay so that their Master
may have worship and all that belong to
him. And other charges he gave them,
and this was the first time that any
Mason ever had any charge of the craft.

"Abraham and Sarah went into Egypt
and taught the Seven Sciences to the
Egyptians, including Euclid, who be-
came a master of all seven sciences.
Egypt was suffering from overpopula-
tion and unemployment. In answer to
the King's entreaty made at a great
council, Euclid undertook to teach the
young men Geometry, whereby they
could earn their living and live honestly
by building churches, temples, castles,
towers, and manors. Euclid gave them
charges to be true to the king, to the
Lords they served, and to each other,
and to call one another fellow or broth-
er, and many other charges.

"King David began the Temple at
Jerusalem and paid the Masons well and
gave them charges. His son, Solomon,
finished the Temple and sent for Ma-
sons in devers countries so that he had
24,000 workmen in stone, 3000 of whom
were Masters. King Hiram loved King
Solomon and sent him timber. He had a
son called Aynom who was master of
Geometry and chief Master Mason and
Master of all graving and carving as
stated in the Bible. Solomon confirmed
the charges of King David."

The legend continues, tracing the
spread of Masonry into France and Eng-
land. However, it is this portion, apper-
taining to the time before Solomon's
Temple with which we are concerned.

So, now we have learned that the new-
ly made apprentice of the middle ages
was taught a legend of the Craft which
goes back much farther in time than does
ours. A legend which firmly credits the
first organization of Masons to Nimrod
the King of Babylon. A king whose reign
predates that of Solomon's by almost one
thousand five hundred years. Let us look
at this Babylonian legend again as it is
related in the two oldest versions of the
Gothic Constitutions.

The 'Cooke MS' was drafted some-
time in the early 15th century and con-
tains a detailed account of Masonry's
Babylonish beginnings. It relates the
story as follows:

"Every chronicle and history and
many other writers and the Bible espe-
cially relate the building of the tower of
Babel; and it is written in the Bible,
Genesis, chap. 10 how that Ham, Noah's
son, begot Nimrod, who grew a mighty
man upon the earth and waxed strong,
like unto a giant. He was a great king
and the beginning of his kingdom was
the Kingdom of Babylon proper, and
Arach and Archad and Calneh and the
land of Shinar. And this same Ham
began the tower of Babel and taught his
workmen the Craft of Masonry, and he
had with him many masons, more than
40,000 and he loved and cherished them
well. And it is written in Polychronicon,
and in the Master of History, and in
other histories, and beyond this the Bi-
ble, witnesses in the same 10th chapter,
as it is written, that Ashur who was of
near kindred to Nimrod went forth from
the land of Shinar and built the city of
Nineveh and Plateas and many more.
For it is written 'De terra illa.' It is but
reasonable that we should plainly say
how and in what manner the charges of
the Mason's Craft were first founded,
and who gave it the name of Masonry.
And you must know that it is stated and
written in the Polychronicon, and in
Methodus Episcopus and Martiris that
Ashur who was a worthy lord of Shinar
sent to Nimrod the king to send him
Masons and workmen of the Craft that
they might help him make his city which
he was minded to make. And Nimrod
sent him 3000 masons. And as they were
about to depart and go forth, he called
them before him and said to them, 'Ye
must go to my cousin Ashur to help him
build a city, but see to it, that ye be well
governed, and I will give you a Charge
that shall be to your and my profit.
When you come to that land, look that
you be true to him, even as you would
be true to me, labor at your Craft
honestly, and take a reasonable pay-
ment for it, such as you may deserve.
Love each other as though you were
brothers and hold together staunchly.
Let him that hath most skill teach his
fellow, and be careful that your conduct
among yourselves and towards your lord
may be to my credit, that I may have
thanks for sending you and teaching you
the craft.' And they received the charge
from him, being their lord and master,
and went forth to Ashur and built the
city of Nineveh in the country of Plateas
and other cities also that are called
Calah and Resen which is a great city
between Calah and Nineveh. And in
this manner the Craft of Masonry was
first instituted and charged as a
science. "

And now we turn to the 'Regius Poem,'
circa 1390 AD, the most ancient of
known Masonic documents. This docu-
ment is unique among the Gothic cons-
titutions in that it is the only version of
the Old Charges known to have been
written in verse. In contains only the
seeds of a Babylonian legend, as com-
pared to the fully flowered version
found in the 'Cooke MS' penned only a
few decades later. But it is worthy of in-
clusion, if only for the beauty of its
verse. Once again, the English has been
modernized .

Their feast will be without doubt,
After Hallow-e'en eighth day.
You may hear as I do read,
That many years after for great
dread
That Noah's flood wasn't all run,
The tower of Babylon was begun,
As plain work of lime and stone,
As any man should look upon;
So long and broad it was begun,
Seven miles the height shadoweth
the sun.
King Nebuchadnezzar let it make
To great strength for man's sake,
Though such a flood again
should come,
Over the work it should not take;
For they had do high pride, with
strong boast
All that work therefore was lost;
An angel smote them so with
divers speech,
That never one knew what the
other should reche.

It is interesting to note that in this
version the author has inserted the
name Nebuchadnezzar in place of Nim-
rod. Now every Royal Arch Mason knows
that Nebuchadnezzar was the Babyloni-
an king who destroyed Jerusalem and
the Jewish Temple many years after the
reign of Solomon. It's hardly likely that
he was also around some fifteen hun-
dred years prior to Solomon's age to
supervise the building of the tower of
Babel. But such is the nature of legends,
historical facts are of strictly secondary
importance.

Let us now turn away from the legen-
dary for the time being and focus on the
facts about ancient Babylon, its tower,
and the historical King Nimrod upon
whom this ancient Masonic legend was
based. Genesis chap. 10 verses 8-12
relate the following about Nimrod:
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to
be a mighty one in the earth. He was a
mighty hunter before the LORD:
wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the
mighty hunter before the LORD. And
the beginning of his kingdom was
Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and
Calah, in the land of Shinar. Out of
that land went forth Asshur, and build-
ed Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and
Calah, And Resen between Nineveh and
Calah: the same is a great city.

And in truth, this is about all that we
know about Nimrod. He was a Cushite
who established a kingdom in Shinar,
which flourished around 2450 BC and
came to be known as Babylon. Also that
he was directly or indirectly responsible
for the building of eight cities in that
region. Little enough, but still good cre-
dentials for a first Most Excellent Grand
Master of Masons.

Now about his fabled tower, the first
nine verses of the eleventh chapter of
Genesis relate the Biblical account of its
building. And although Nimrod is not
mentioned by name in this account, he
was named as the founder of this king-
dom in the previous chapter, which
would seem to imply that he was also
responsible for the construction of its
tower. The story is related as follows:

And the whole earth was of one lan-
guage, and of one speech. And it came
to pass, as they journeyed from the east,
that they Eound a plain in the land of
Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they
said one to another, Go to, let us make
brick, and burn them throughly. And
they had brick for stone, and slime had
they for morter. And they said, Go to,
let us build us a city and a tower, whose
top may reach unto heaven; and let us
make us a name, lest we be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole
earth. And the LORD came down to see
the city and the tower, which the
children of men builded. And the
LORD said, Behold, the people is one,
and they have all one language; and this
they begin to do: and now nothing will
be restrained from them, which they
have imagined to do. Go to, let us go
down, and there confound their lan-
guage, that they may not understand
one another's speech. So the LORD
scattered them abroad from thence
upon the face of all the earth: and they
left off to build the city. Therefore is the
name of it called Babel; because the
LORD did there confound the language
of all the earth: and from thence did the
LORD scatter them abroad upon the
face of all the earth.

Now this account is all very well and
good. But it must be kept in mind that
this story was set down long, long after
the tower was actually constructed. It
was also set down by a people who were
mostly antagonistic towards any reli-
gious beliefs or practices which did not
conform strictly with their own.

Modern scholars are now quite cer-
tain that the Biblical tower of Babylon
was one of the Zikkurats, or stage
towers, which were a common type of
sacred architecture in ancient Babylo-
nia and Assyria. The ruins of two such
towers are still in existance near old
Babylon. One at Birs Nimrod, and one
at Akerkuf to the south. Originally these
towers consisted of seven stages, stacked
one upon the other, diminishing in cir-
cumference as one went from one stage
to the next. They were constructed this
way in order to symbolize their builder's
notions of the universe. The tower near
Babylon at Birs Nimrod was called
E-ur-imim-an-ki, meaning 'House of
the seven divisions of Heaven and
Earth.' And since all seven levels are
present, it would seem that this tower
was completed to its final specifications,
regardless of the account found in
Genesis. Perhaps our ancient Jewish
fathers never saw it until it had already
begun to fall into disrepair. It is also of
interest to note that the word 'Babel' is
really an Assyrian word which means
'Gate of God.' This may have been con-
nected by the writer of Genesis with the
Hebrew root 'Balal,' which means 'to
confuse' giving them the notions for
their story concerning the diversity of
human speech.

Now that we are familiar with Nim-
rod of Babylon, and his place in the lore
of the Early operative Freemasons, we
must ask this question. What happened
to him7 He is certainly not a part of
modern Masonic lore to any great
degree. When did he disappear? And
why? To answer these questions we must
begin by examining the legends of the
early speculative period, of which we
are the direct ritualistic heirs. Since the
advent of purely speculative Masonry in
the early 18th century, a very great
number of exposures and memory aids
have been published which relate the
form and substance of early Masonic
ritual in great detail. When taken as a
whole these documents show that our
early speculative brothers, for the most
part, shared the same legend of Mason-
ry's inception as we do today. As an ex-
ample, the very first exposure of Mason-
ic ritual was published in 1723 under
the title 'A Mason's Examination.' It
contains the following question and
answer in its catechism:

Q: Where was the first Lodge kept?

A: In Solomon's porch; the two pillars
were called Jachin and Boaz.

By the study of these exposures,
which were published at intervals from
1723 to the early 1800's, we can trace
the refinement and expansion of this
modern Solomonic tradition about our
beloved fraternity's foundation right
down to the rituals which we use today.
Therefore, it was certainly sometime
prior to 1723 when Nimrod was de-
throned as our founding father and
Solomon installed in his stead.

This puts us into that gray period of
Masonic history known as the Transi-
tion Period. That time during the 17th
and very early 18th centuries when our
organization transformed itself from an
operative craft guild into a wholly spec-
ulative science and fraternal order.
Ironically, of the roughly 100 known ex-
isting copies of the old Gothic Constitu-
tions, containing the older legend, the
vast majority were penned or printed
during this transition period when the
legend most certainly began its change
into the modern version.

That this change did take place we
have shown. How long it took, where it
originated, and how it was effected we
can not demonstrate. There are no
known existing rituals from this period.
And all those copies of the "Old Char-
ges" are just that; copies of much older
documents, made to be preserved in the
Lodge archives, or perhaps to serve as a
sort of charter for the Lodge. As this
period progressed, they most certainly
exercised less and less influence over the
actual rituals performed and lessons
taught.

lt would seem safe to suggest how-
ever, that this change was a gradual
one, and perhaps not universally accep-
ted at first. For when we examine the
time period just after the formation of
the first Grand Lodge in London in
1717 we can find evidence of a prolifer-
ation of smaller rival Masonic groups.
Some of which claimed to adhere to tra-
ditions much older than those used by
the Grand Lodge group. These differ-
ences are not specified however, and
probably involved a great deal more than
the substitution of Solomon for Nimrod
as our founder, if this was indeed even
one of the points of contention.

Now for our final question. Why this
change? It is a question which I can not
answer for certain. No one left a record
of the 'why' of it. I can however, offer
this speculation.

The transition process of changing
from an operative craft guild into a
speculative order, presented opportuni-
ties for the Brothers of that time to
greatly enlarge upon the traditional
mythic lore which had been passd down
by their medieval counterparts. Indeed,
it was a necessity that they do so for the
survival of the fraternity. The old oper-
atives had obviously had to devote the
great preponderance of their time and
energy to the teaching, regulating, and
execution of the actual sciences of archi-
tecture and construction. The functions
of charity, fraternalism, and moraliza-
tion were of secondary importance, and
so took up less of their time. The estab-
lishment of Freemasonry by Nimrod,
and the resulting construction of many
cities, served well as a legend for our
operative brothers. After all, they were
concerned with producing real build-
ings. And according to history King
Nimrod was indeed a great builder of
buildings.

Butl during the transition period
came the gradual loss of any need on the
part of the membership to engage in the
building arts. The formerly secondary
functions of the order began to take on
primary importance. The rituals and
teachings of the order were being rede-
signed in order to help its members
learn moral, social, and spiritual
lessons, with which to build rightous,
God-pleasing lives. And for this purpose
the story of Nimrod just would not dol
For it was inevitable that Nimrod, the
great building King of Babylon, would
be primarily remembered for his role
with the infamous tower of Babel. A
project which, at least according to the
Jewish-Christian tradition, was anything
but pleasing to God. How much easier
and more fitting to their purposes, to
move forward two chapters in the Old
Gothic legends to the time of Solomon
and his Temple. A building which, ac-
cording to the seventh chapter of 2
Chronicles, pleased God to the extent
that when it was finished 'the priests
could not enter into the house of the
LORD, because the glory of the LORD
had filled the LORD'S house!'

And so the old legend was lost and
Nimrod was replaced by Solomon, not
so much by design as by default.

References

Brown, William Moseley, Ph. D.: From Operative
to Speculative, The Masonic Service Association,
Silver Springs, MD.

Coil, Henry Wilson: Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia,
Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., New
York .

Horne, Alexander: Kzng Solomon s Temple m the
Masonic Tradition, The Aquarian Press, Welling-
borough, Northamptonshire, U.K.

Encylopedia Americana, 1966, Americana Corp.,
New York. Vol. 3, pg. 5 & Vol. 20, pg. 356.

The Regius Poem, Freemasonry 's Oldest Docu-
ment, The Masonic Service Association, Silver
Springs, MD.

King James Version of the Holy Bible.
