DONATHAN.TXT


                      R. L. DONATHAN, D.V.M., 32
                 716 East 6, Okmulgee, Oklahoma 74447


  IN OUR TEMPLE BUILDING, God is the architect and we are both
laborers and building stones.  As laborers, we prepare ourselves as
living stones for that spiritual building, that house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens.

   As Masonic laborers in this great work of temple building, we
have the patterns set forth in that great edifice erected by the
design of God on His holy mountain, and we have the examples of two
tem ple builders whose motives and morals are in stark contrast.

   Of course, we do have the examples of Zerubbabel's builders in
the construction of the second temple, but let us set this great
effort aside for now, and consider the contrasts between Solomon
the Wise and Herod the Great, builders respectively of the first
and the last ancient Jewish temples. Both had elements in their
lives that are not worthy of emu lation, but which one in the
totality of his life offers the best pattern for us to follow?

  Divine providence made avail able great resources to both Solo-
mon and Herod.  In Solomon's case, his kingdom had been more or
less secured by David, his father who had amassed great re-
sources for the building of the temple.  There was a great deal of
commercial travel through the "fertile crescent," and as Solomon
controlled these caravan routes, he collected enormous revenues
from those seeking passage.

   He established a great copper mining and refining industry.
Copper became his chief export, bringing in many treasures in
trade.

   He also conducted a very lucrative trade in horses and
chariots, mostly between Egypt and Asia Minor.  Various internal
taxations and levies (which unquestionably became excessive), as
well as tributes and gifts from other nations, added enormously
to Solomon's wealth.  When Solomon asked only for wisdom, God
granted him also both riches and honor. Though we know from Holy
Writ that at times he abused both, he began and ended his rule as a
man of God.

   In contrast to Solomon, Herod started and ended his career as
one without honor.  Herod's father was Antipater, an Idumaean. The
Idumaeans were cousins to the Jews, being descendants of Esau. The
Macabees had conquered them and compelled them to conform to the
Jewish faith, but the Jews never had any great love for them.  The
Romans appointed Herod procurator of Galilee, then Marc Antony made
him a tetrarch. Later, Antony persuaded the Senate to make Herod
a king, but Herod had to capture Jerusalem in 37 B.C. to assert his
royal rights.

  He proceeded to carry out elaborate projects to win favor with
the Jews.  With this in mind, he set about to rebuild the temple.
One thousand wagons to draw stones and ten thousand skilled masons
to work them were employed. The Jews have a tradition that the
temple itself was constructed by the priests.  As Zerubbabel's
temple fell far short of the glory of Solomon's, Herod's temple
would exceed the glory of Zerubbabel's effort.  John 2:20 reports
that the temple had been in building "forty and six years." Even
after that, the temple building continued until A.D. 64, just six
years before the temple was destroyed by the armies of the Roman
Emperor Titus.  So Herod's completed temple lasted only six years,
compared to the many years of Solomon's temple.

   Herod's motives were about as honorable in his temple building
as in his erecting a monument over the royal tombs at Jerusalem,
which he did only to appease the people after he had attempted to
rob the dead of their sacred treasures.  It has been said that he
was an Idumaean in race, Jew in religion, a heathen in practice,
and a monster in character.  He had a number of wives, and in a
rage had his favorite put to death. He also had a number of his own
family killed.

   Just five days before he died, for instance, while lying on his
deathbed, he ordered the execution  of  his son Antipater.  This
is the same man who ordered the male children at Bethlehem to be
killed.  He also ordered the principal men of the Jewish nation
be shut up and, immediately upon his death, be killed, in order
that there would be "an honorable mourning at his funeral."

  There are some lessons here for all Masonic temple builders.
Solomon was a saint who sometimes strayed.  Herod was a monster
who was consistently evil.  Our motives are all important. Solo-
mon sought the will of God in his temple building. Herod sought
only his own ends. Solomon's temple lasted for centuries; Herod's
for only six years after it was finally completed.

  What are our motives, and how long is our temple to last?

