THE BUILDER JUNE 1915

WHEN THE ALMOND TREE BLOSSOMS

BY BRO. WM. F. KUHN, P.G.H.P., MISSOURI

THE Scripture Reading in the Master's Degree belongs to the best
productions of Hebrew literature. In all literature, there are few
that excel it. It is full of imagery, eloquence and beauty. In
outward form it is poetic; a prose poem. It is a beautiful example
of balanced phrases, gnomic in expression abounding in metaphor,
and Semitic parallelism. An intense and graphic description of old
a 

It is to be regretted that the literary excellency of the Old
Testament is so often overlooked and metaphors not understood. It
is indeed true, that to the Gentile Church and to Masonry has
fallen the honor of perpetuating the rare beauty of the literary
art and the deep religious thought and feeling of the Heb.
Prophets, Poets, Priests and Sages.

The arrangement of the Discourse into verses, often mars the
connection and continuity of the thought. The Revised Translation
of this Reading is herewith given, and while it may destroy the
beauty of some of metaphors and take away some old familiar
friends, yet the Discourse, as a whole, is much improved, is bet
connected in thought and more clearly stated. It will be noted that
the future tense of the old, gives place to aphoristic mode of
expression in using the present tense.

The gloomy picture of old age, as delineated by Ecclesiastes is
from the human side and as a result of disobedience to the
injunction: "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before
the sad days come."


KING JAMES VERSION

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil
days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say:--"I
have no pleasure in them."

2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars be not
darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain.

3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble and the
strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because
they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened.

4. And the doors shall be shut in the Streets, when the sound of
the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird,
and all the daughters of music shall be brought low

5. Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears
shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the
grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man
goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the street:

6. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken,
or the pitcher be broken at the fonntain or the wheel broken at the
cistern.

7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the
spirit shall return to God who gave it.

REVISED VERSION

Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth before the sad days
come, and the years draw nigh when Thou shalt say:--"I have no
pleasure in them;" before the sun, the light, the moon and the
stars, be darkened and the clouds return after the rain; when the
house guards tremble, and the strong men bow; when the maidens
grinding corn cease because they are few, and those who look out of
the windows are darkened, and the street-doors are shut; when the
sound of the grinding is low, when one starts up from sleep at the
voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music are brought low,
and one is afraid of that which is high, and terrors are in the
way; when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper is a burden,
and all stimulants fail; because man goeth to his long home, and
the mourners go about the streets; before the silver cord is
loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at
the fountain, or the wheel be broken at the cistern, and the dust
return to the earth as it was and the spirit return to God who gave
it.

In this vivid imagery of old age, we have a minor chord, a note of
sadness.

Has old age no recompense, no paean of victory, no laurel wreath of
race well run ? Is there no sunlight in the realm of three score
years and ten ?

Let us not mistake Ecclesiastes; The Preacher has not drawn aside
the veil, that hides the Holy of Holes of the spiritual nature of
man, but he has with the brush of experience, placed upon the
canvas, mortal man, nature's child, unadorned and human.

It is old age with its mental enfeeblement, with its physical
decay, bringing to you and to me, the Master, man, two great
lessons:--That youth is the vigorous season of life; youth the seed
time; youth with its possibilities, prophetic of the future; a
harbinger of sunshine, when the almond tree blossoms:--and to
remember our Creator in the days of our youth before the sad days
come.

The Preacher graphically refers, in verses one and two, to the
mental attitudes of old age toward the Past and to the Present. The
recollection of the former brings no joy, in the latter he feels
like "one who treads along some banquet hall deserted, whose lights
are fled whose garlands dead and all but he departed." The cup of
life is nearly drained; the joys of youth but annoy and irritate;
nothing satisfies him; he is querulous and fretful. The years have
drawn nigh, in which he can say, "I have no pleasure in them."

He is a wanderer in a strange land, speaking in sadness:--Remember,
before the sun of Ambition, the light of Hope, the silver sheen of
the moon of Happiness, and the stars of Faith, be darkened, or the
clouds of unrest and of disappointment play like a weaver's shuttle
over the sky, obscuring the light and shutting out the rainbow of
promise.

Verses three and four represent the cessation of the activities of
life, the decay of the natural powers of man and his failing
physical structure.

The comparison is to that of a great house falling into ruin, while
the activities of the inhabitants there are gradually ceasing.

How startling, in its naturalness, is the description of the old
man with trembling arms and hands,--"the keepers of the house"  as
he slowly moves along, while the legs,--"the strong men"--are like
the columns of the building, tottering under the weight of years;
bent (flexed), at the knees, like a bow, through weakness and
decrepitude. The maidens--the teeth--have ceased grinding the corn,
because they are few. Failing sight has dimmed the "windows of the
soul," the eyes are darkened. His wants are few, the avenues to the
senses are slowly closing; visitors to his mind and heart are
diminishing; it is seldom that any one knocks; "the street doors
are shut." The sound of the grinding is low, feeble, almost
pulseless; the machinery of life no longer throbs with the force of
its former power.

He is "Worn out with age, yet majestic in decay."

Sleep, "Tired Nature's sweet restorer," is fitful and restless,
even the voice of the bird as it chants its early matin disturbs
his uneasy slumbers. In vain would he say:

"For I am weary, and am overwrought
With too much toil, with too much care distraught;
And with the iron crown of anguish crowned,
Lay thy soft hand upon my brow and cheek, 
O peaceful Sleep."

"All the daughters of music are brought low," because the avenues
of all enjoyment are dulled, insensible and clouded. The daughters
of music, attending angels, tender, solicitous and loving, have
ceased their ministrations. Music, the universal language of the
world, finds no responsive chord. The memory of a mother's voice,
a father's council, of friends of long ago; the laughter and
melodies of the Past, quicken not the pulse beat, stir not the
harmonies of the soul. The lute of life is broken.

The first portion of the fifth verse delineates more literally the
waning powers. With all the senses dulled, the muscular powers
weakened, the nervous system unresponsive, he totters on his
uneasy, uneven way, fearing lest he stumble:

"The pavement stones resound,
As he totters o'er the ground, with his cane."

Truly, he is afraid of that which is high and fear is in the way.
The blossom of the almond tree, as it bursts into bloom, is of a
delicate pink color and unfolds its tinted petals before the leaf
appears; when therefore seen from a distance the tree seems to wear
a crest of white.

The striking appearance of the dead branches covered with a burst
of silver, to that of old age with its crown of white hair, has
given us one of the most beautiful metaphors: "The almond tree
blossoms."

This metaphor as expressed in the revised version is far more
appropriate and impressive than: "The almond tree shall flourish."

The grasshopper (locust) is a burden, because the lightest weight
is onerous; every effort is oppressive; the smallest task is
irksome; little things worry and annoy until they appear as a cloud
of locusts devouring and devastating everything pleasurable and
gratifying in life.

All stimulants (desires) fail. The end is at hand. The roads to
further activity bring no response. The race is run. There is in
life nothing that longer charms. The armor will soon fall from the
trembling body. The summons comes: "Because man goeth to his long
home and the mourners go about the streets." He is borne to the
grave and the funeral coltege is seen upon the streets.

In the sixth verse, the Preacher refers again to the admonition of
the first clause of the first verse, which, when placed with its
context, will read: "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth,
before the silver chord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or
the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel be broken at
the cistern, and the dust return to the earth as it was, and the
spirit return to God who gave it."

Here again is an impressive metaphor of man's final dissolution;
more graphic, more poetical and the most beautiful trope ever
penned by mortal man.

The silver cord refers to the spinal cord or marrow, from its
silvery appearance. The golden bowl to the brain, the seat of man's
intelligence. The pitcher broken at the fountain refers to the
circulation of the blood, dipping the vital fluid with a pitcher
from the fountain. The wheel refers to the heart, the force pump,
the wheel that draws the water from the cistern. These four
physiological conditions are essential to health, and man dies when
one or more are broken.

The fountains of life have ceased to flow. The dust or physical
body shall be resolved into its original elements. Earth to Earth;
Ashes to Ashes. But the spirit of man shall return unto God who
gave it.

Immortality is the great doctrine of Masonry. Without this
doctrine, there is no Masonry. Immortality, Man's inheritance from
the Father.

"It must be so, Thou reasonest well;--
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality ?
Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror,
Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the Soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us;
'Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man."


PURPOSE.

We dwell on this earth for a purpose--
That purpose may not be clear,
But the Father of Love, in His kingdom above,
Well knoweth why we are here.
Have we given this thought our attention,
Or are we drifting along,
Content the while, our days to beguile,
With meaningless chatter and song?
Then let us awaken in earnest,
And seek what our duty may be;
Let us work to fulfill God's purpose and will,
'Til our innermost soul shall be free.
--U. G. Herrick, Minneapolis.

