The Pillars of Brass

By Bro.  JEROME B. FRISBEE, California

THE BUILDER OCTOBER 1923

This clear forthright article on a subject of much interest to Masons is a splendid example of how interesting research may be made.  The reader should search out of his old files of THE BUILDER other articles on the same theme, of which the following are typical: "Pillars of the Porch," by Bro. John W. Barry, June, 1917, p. 177; July, 1917, p. 200; Aug., 1917, p. 236.  "Accession of Solomon: Building of the Temple at Jerusalem," by H. H. Milman, Sept., 1919, p. 235.  "The Two Pillars," by Bro. H.L,. Haywood, C.C.B., Oct., 1919.  "The Pillars of the Porch," by Bro. W. B. Bragdon, March, 1922, p. 74.  "The Egyptian Influence on Our Masonic Ceremonial and Ritual," by Bro. Thomas Ross, Sept, 1922, p. 265.

Bro. Frisbee is the author of a book, magnificently illustrated, on King Solomon's Temple, price  $2.00. It may be secured through the National Masonic Research Society, or from The Temple Publishing Company, Lindsay, Cal.  The essay printed herewith, written especially for THE BUILDER, is representative of the style and nature of the volume, the author of which is a member of the American Institute of Archaeology.


THE two great pillars of brass, set up before the entrance of King Solomon's Temple, were at once the most striking objects that met the eye and the most puzzling symbols that ever challenged the intellect of man.  They are the prototypes of the significant pillars that stand today at the door of every Masonic lodge; mute reminders of a glorious past, exhaling the very essence of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, radiating a vague, superhuman air of eternity with the impressive imperturbability of the silent Sphinx, which, in majestic repose, maintains its eternal vigil before that other mysterious monument of the ages - the Great Pyramid of Egypt.

Masonry cherishes these spectacular pillars with a reverence that excites our wonder, but its explanation of their symbolism is superficial for the simple reason that it has lost their esoteric meaning.  These pillars are the keys of the Temple without which its treasure rooms remain unopened and the hidden mysteries forever concealed.  The necessity of interpreting their symbolism, before proceeding to explore the Temple, is declared in the most emphatic terms.  "Son of man, behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee." (Ezekiel XL; 4) "Then he brought me to the porch of the House, even by ten steps whereby they went up to it, and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side and one on that." (Ezekiel XL; 48) "And Jehovah said unto me, Son of man, MARK WELL, and behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears, and MARK WELL the entrance to the house." (Ezekiel XLIV; 5) Multitudes have  gazed with silent awe upon that mysterious entrance, unable to comprehend its meaning even with those eloquent pillars speaking their symbolic language.  Today the task is doubly hard, for we must first reconstruct the pillars before we can interpret their symbolism. Many have essayed the task of reproducing these mysterious pillars in pictorial form but the difficulty encountered in endeavouring to interpret the involved descriptions found in the Bible, without a full appreciation of the possibilities revealed by archaeological research, or a clear perception of the principles of artistic design, have produced results that are far from satisfactory.  Stade's crude design, reproduced herewith, is typical of them all and embodies the common error of supposing that the pillars supported a portion of the porch. This error is apparent to every Freemason, and should be evident to all students of archaeology, for it was a common practice in ancient times to set up two detached pillars before the temple entrance.  One of the best examples extant is the Egyptian temple at Medinet Abu.  An excellent illustration of this temple, showing the two pillars may be seen in DeClifford's work: Egypt, the Cradle of Ancient Masonry.

The capitals of the pillars, ornamented with an intricacy of lily work, rows of pomegranate blossoms, nets of checkerwork and wreaths of chainwork, have proved to be most puzzling and most difficult to understand and visualize.  The capital here illustrated is a reproduction of the most beautiful capital in the world; the delicate tracery of the tapering spirals and expanding parabolas of this marvellous carving has never been equalled.  The original - carved in white stone - stands on the sacred Isle of Philae, far up the Nile, where it was erected during the age of Solomon's Temple.  This capital is not only in the form of a lily, but it is conspicuously ornamented with lily work.  Its display of lily work, its surpassing beauty, its Egyptian origin and its existence coeval with Solomon's Temple, are the reasons for its selection by the author as the model for the reconstructed pillars.


EGYPT WAS THE SOURCE

Egypt is unquestionably the source from which the builders of King Solomon's Temple derived that peculiar entrancing and almost incomprehensible symbolic architecture which was the expression of their extraordinary intellectual attainments in art, science, philosophy and religion.  The hypothesis of a Babylonian origin, assumed by Chipiez and accepted by Caldecott and others, is disproved by the well-known fact that the Babylonians worked in crumbling brick, while the Egyptians wrought in imperishable stone; and by the further fact that the Gebalites and men of Tyre, employed by Solomon, were craftsmen of the Egyptian school.

The relationship existing between the Hebrews and the Egyptians was very intimate.  "Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See I have set thee over all the land of Egypt, and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and he gave him to wife the daughter of Potiphera, Priest of On." (Genesis XLI) Pharaoh's Daughter took Moses and he became her son, he was taught all the learning of the Egyptians and married the daughter of Yethru, a priest of On.  In later years Moses decreed: "Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou was a sojourner in his land.  The children of the third generation that are born unto them shall enter into the assembly of Jehovah." (Deuteronomy XXIII; 7) "Solomon built a palace for Pharaoh's daughter whom he had taken to wife." (I Kings VII ; 8)

The commercial intercourse between Tyre and Egypt was also very extensive, and the builders of Tyre could not have been unfamiliar with the wonderful temples standing in majestic splendour along the banks of the Nile.  About a hundred miles up the Leontes River, which flows into the sea at Tyre, are the ruins of the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek.  Among these ruins lie two hundred granite columns, twenty-five feet length by three feet in length by three feet in diameter, each cut from single block of the peculiar rose-colored granite found only at Aswan in Egypt, seven hundred miles up the Nile. 

The builders of Baalbek were Master Masons: they handled the largest blocks of stone ever quarried and polished them with the perfection of a gem.  There lies to this day, at the entrance to the quarry, three quarters of a mile from the temple, a rough ashler of pure white marble, sixteen feet square and sixty-nine feet in length, estimated to weigh 3,000,000 pounds. The uncompleted wall, extending around three sides of the temple and twelve cubits from it, is three courses high and contains stones fifteen feet square and sixty-five feet in length.  These stones were laid up wall without mortar and the joints between the stones are so fine that they are almost invisible.  "It is no exaggeration to say that they are like the joints in a polished mahogany table top."

King Solomon's Temple was undoubtedly a most beautiful building.  It has been famous for ages as the most wonderful structure ever erected by the hand of man, in fact, we are told that it was so perfect that it appeared more like the handiwork of the Supreme Architect of the Universe; while David told Solomon that he received the plans from the hand of Jehovah. In perfection of design and nicety of execution, it doubtless equalled the exquisite work at Baalbek.

These two temples resembled each other in more ways than one, for "Solomon built the inner court with three courses of hewn stone and one of cedar beams." (I Kings VI; 36) "The foundation was of polished stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits, cut according to measure." (I Kings VII; 10-11) These great stones of ten cubits were twenty feet and ten inches in length by twelve and a half feet square and weighed 500,000 pounds apiece.  The foundation under the two pillars of brass, as shown in the illustration, was thirty-two cubits in width (66 2/3 feet), and therefore required four great stones of eight cubits.  In comparison with this, one of the great blocks of marble at Baalbek is long enough to fill the entire space.

THE BUILDERS OF BAALBEK

Who built Baalbek? We do not know.  Those sublime artists were content to please the Grand Architect of the Universe and made no attempt to perpetuate their own names.  Their work indicates that they were in possession of the lost word and were masters of the royal secret; if so, they must have looked down upon the idolatrous worshippers with mild disdain. Perhaps the men of Tyre, who lived at the mouth of the river and monopolized the sea trade of the world, could have told who built Baalbek; perhaps they built it themselves.  It is a gratuitous assumption that the bricklayers of Babylon built it, and it is just as certain they had nothing to do with the building of King Solomon's Temple.  Solomon required men who could polish and juggle huge blocks of marble weighing hundreds of tons, and he found the master workmen of the world at his very door; and finally, we are told that he employed Gebalites, which means stone squarers, and men of Tyre.

"King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.  He fashioned the two pillars of brass, each eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits compassed either of them about.  And he made two capitals of molten brass to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits." (I Kings VII; 13-16) "As for the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; a line of twelve cubits did compass it; it was hollow and the thickness thereof was four fingers." (Jeremiah XLII; 21, 22) "He made in front of the house two pillars thirty-five cubits high." (II Chronicles III; 15) "Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and he measured each post of the porch; and there were pillars by the posts one on this side and one on that." (Ezekiel XL; 48, 49)

These descriptions differ: two give the height of the pillars at eighteen cubits, one at thirty-five.  This discrepancy is more apparent than real, and is explained by the assumption that the eighteen cubits is merely the length of the shaft, while the thirty-five cubits is the total height from the pavement to the top of the sphere and includes the following: foundation, six cubits; base, one cubit; shaft, eighteen cubits; abacus, one cubit; and sphere four cubits; all of which is clearly depicted in the detailed illustration of the pillar.

The design of the pillar herein described and illustrated is based upon the Biblical descriptions, interpreted by a study of numerous Egyptian pillars with capitals of lily work.  It was not designed with intent to make it thirty-five cubits in height: in fact, a sketch of this pillar hung on the walls of the author's study for years before he discovered that it measured exactly thirty-five cubits.  The shaft was made eighteen cubits in accordance with the description given in both Jeremiah and Kings: the base and abacus were each made one cubit in height for the sake of artistic proportion, and the diameter of the sphere was made four cubits for the same reason - to have made them a cubit either more or less would have destroyed the harmony.  "The foundations were a full reed of six great cubits." (Ezekiel XLI; 8) "And by ten steps they went up to it." (Ezekiel XL; 49, Septuagint) The foundation extended five cubits beyond the walls of the building, as shown, for "The breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about." (Ezekiel XLI; 11)

In the illustration here submitted the foundation extends fifteen cubits to the front of the porch, thus leaving a space of five cubits round about the bases of the pillars.  This was done primarily for artistic reasons in order to properly balance the design and give the pillars an appearance of stability; it was also necessary in order to insure a firm foundation for the pillars.  This arrangement leads to an important discovery: that the inner court was an oblong square, 250 cubits in length by 100 cubits in width - a use of the numbers 10 and 25 that becomes increasingly significant the further we explore.

PILLARS DID NOT HAVE TWO CAPITALS

As for the capitals, the prevalent notion that each pillar had two capitals, one of four cubits and on top, of that another capital of five cubits, is absurd; it is derived from a misinterpretation of the following: "19.  And the capitals were of lily work four cubits. 20. And there were capitals above also upon the two pillars." (I Kings VII) Reversing these sentences and transposing a word solves the puzzle thus: "There were also capitals above upon the two pillars, and the capitals were of lily work four cubits." There are, however, real discrepancies, for example:  "David bought the threshing floor of Araunath, the Jebusite, for fifty shekels of silver." (II Samuel XXIV; 24) "David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold." (I Chronicles XXI; 25) "The molten sea held two thousand baths" (I Kings VII; 26); while later, "It held three thousand baths." (II Chronicles IV; 5)
 
Much of this irregularity was doubtless intentional, being necessary, in order to preserve the cabalistic meaning.  The Bible teaches its great lessons by means of allegory; it abounds in "parables and dark sayings of old" which contain a double meaning-inviting endless research by the most inquisitive minds, yet rewarding the most humble inquirer, disclosing mysteries to everyone in proportion to his training and powers of comprehension.  The pillars of brass exhibit this peculiarity in the superlative degree: their size and beauty making them most impressive spectacles whose perfect balance symbolizes the universal equipoise of Nature, while inherent in their structure are concealed the means by which the earth is measured and weighed.

In order to understand the pillars it is necessary, first, to unscramble the descriptions, then to separate the wheat from the chaff and finally to sort and rearrange the sentences in logical order.  This having been accomplished we obtain the following result:

"16.  He made two capitals of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one capital was five cubits and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 19.  And the capitals were of lily work four cubits. 26.  Close to the belly, which was beside the network. 17.  There were nets of checker-work and wreaths of chainwork for the capitals. 18.  And there were two rows of pomegranates round about upon the one network. 20.  And there were two hundred pomegranates, in rows, round about upon the other capital." (I Kings VII)

"The height of the one capital was five cubits with network and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of brass, and there were ninety-six pomegranates on the four sides; in all there were a hundred pomegranates [in each row] upon the network round about." (Jeremiah LXII; 22, 23)

The full descriptions in the Bible are somewhat lengthy and repetitious in order to make all perfectly clear, but it is evident that each capital was five cubits in height and that four cubits of this were of lily work above the belly.  The belly or bowl was covered with nets of checkerwork and carried two rows of pomegranate blossoms round about, one hundred in each row.  There were also seven wreaths of chainwork for each capital, draped around the bowl of the capital.  The illustration shows the beautiful capital of Philae altered so as to conform to the above interpretation of the descriptions.

"WHAT IS A CUBIT?"

The measurements of the pillars being expressed in cubits, the next question to arise is, "What is a cubit?" There are many answers: the dictionary defines the cubit as eighteen inches, and practically every writer accepts this dictum as final; Frederick, however, makes it twenty-two inches, while Caldecott writes at great length for the purpose of proving that it is but 14.4 inches; the Masonic cubit is the twenty-four-inch gauge; while the Sacred Cubit is twenty-five inches.  The writer has proved to his complete satisfaction that King Solomon's Temple was built by the twenty-five-inch cubit.  This proposition is demonstrated by a study of the dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant, the Court of the Altar, and the Molten Sea.  The Pillars of Brass illustrate its use in a most clever manner for they abound in hidden and suggestive references to the sacred number twenty-five.  The Sacred Cubit when used to explain the temple measurements, reveals many of the parts and points of the hidden mysteries which have hitherto been concealed; it interprets the system of just weights and measures ordained by Moses, and most extraordinary as it may at first appear, it proves that King Solomon had not only determined the true diameter of the earth but had determined its weight as well.

Caldecott claims, however, that the Temple was measured by the Babylonian cubit of 14.4 inches.  This little cubit was found among some ruins in Babylonia in 1881, and, being the latest novelty in cubits, it has attracted considerable attention.  There is no evidence, however, that it was employed in the construction of King Solomon's Temple, in fact, it would dwarf the magnificent structure to the point of insignificance; for instance: it would make the famous Middle Chamber only six feet in height, for "He built chambers against all the house, each five cubits high." (I Kings V; 10) The taller Fellowcrafts could not have stood erect in such a tiny room.  Built by the Sacred Cubit the ceiling would be ten feet five inches from the floor, a good, sensible height.

These perplexing pillars, variously described as eighteen cubits in height and thirty-five cubits in height, become more intricate as we examine them, for while revealing these two extreme measures, they concealed their true and most significant height, which was twenty-five cubits - including base, shaft, capital and abacus, as shown in the detailed illustration of the pillar.  The ingenuity of the designer is further revealed by the fact that the pillars were twenty-five feet in circumference - for, "A line of twelve cubits compassed either of them about." (I Kings VII; 15)

The solution is as follows:

12 cubits multiplied by 25 equals 300 inches 300 inches divided by 12 equals 25 feet 

A third and most extraordinary use of the number twenty-five is found in the fact that the spheres upon the tops of the pillars were twenty-five hundred feet above sea level.  This statement is easily proved as follows: the topographical map of Jerusalem reveals the fact that the present elevation of the pavement on Mount Moriah is 2435 feet above sea level, with some parts a trifle higher and some a trifle lower; the pillars were twenty-five cubits in height and stood upon a platform six cubits high - a total of thirty-one cubits, or 64 feet 7 inches. Now from a point on the horizontal pavement, measuring 2435 feet, 5 inches above sea level, let us erect a perpendicular 64 feet, 7 inches by the plumb: the elevation of this point will be 2500 feet above sea level.

GREATER THAN THE PYRAMID

In order to secure this peculiar and significant elevation of 2500 feet, Solomon built up both slopes of Mount Moriah with stone work, making a level platform in the form of a perfect square, covering twenty-five square acres.  The amount of masonry in this huge platform exceeds by far the volume of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, which covers thirteen acres of ground and once rose 486 feet toward the sky.  Much of the temple platform still remains and one can stand on the wall today, with a plumb line in his hand, 150 feet above the lowest foundation stone.

There are other subtle employments of the number twenty-five: the distance from the center of one sphere to the center of the other was twenty-five cubits, while the combined width of the platform and steps in front of the porch was also twenty-five cubits.

These peculiar, involved and fascinating numerical relationships subsist only when we measure the pillars with the twenty-five-inch cubit; reconstructed by any other measure, the pillars are not only incomprehensible but meaningless as well.  The whole temple, with its two courts, its vessels and furnishings, respond in like manner to the touch of this magic rod - the Sacred Cubit.  Like the Sphinx, then, these two cabalistic pillars, standing at the entrance of the temple, challenge all comers for an interpretation; and unless their esoteric meaning is deciphered the temple remains a mystery.  A cowan might enter the Holy of Holies and not learn that it represents the diameter of the earth; he might gaze upon the Holy Ark of the Covenant and fail to perceive that it reveals the weight of the earth; he might even open the sacred Ark and examine the golden cup holding an omer and Aaron's rod that was laid up in the Ark for a token, and fail to recognize the standards of perfect weight and measure.  All this and more stands revealed to him who "Marks Well" the entrance to the Temple and solves the riddle of the Sphinx.

We are repeatedly admonished, "Look to the East," and if we gaze with a discerning eye we shall perceive, at the dawn of history, not only men of moral and intellectual development unsurpassed today, but artists and engineers whose work surpasses anything of the kind that the modern world has produced.

It is the province of Freemasonry to perpetuate and inculcate the divine spirit that actuated these marvellous men of the East, and the task of each individual Mason is to build, in Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, the spiritual temple, that house not made with hands.

For the structure that we raise
Time is with materials filled
Our Todays and Yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these
Leave no yawning gaps between
Think not because no man sees
Such things will remain unseen.

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