SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX   December, 1931   No.12

THE THREE SCRIPTURE READINGS

by: Unknown

In almost all of the Jurisdictions of the United States the Volume of 
the Scared Law is open at the 133rd Psalm in the First Degree, at the 
Seventh Chapter of Amos in the second degree and at the Twelfth 
Chapter of Ecclesiastes in the third degree.
British Freemasons open their Bible in the first degree at Ruth iv:7:
“Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning 
redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man 
plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the 
testimony in Israel.”
In the second degree, the English use Judges xii:6:
“Then said they unto him, Say Now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth; 
for he could not frame to pronounce it right.  Then they took him, 
and slew him at the passages of Jordan; and there fell at that time 
of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.”
In the third degree the Masons of the British Jurisdiction open the 
Bible at I Kings vii:13-14:
And King Solomon sent forth and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.  He was a 
Widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of 
Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom, and 
understanding, and came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work.”
Various other passages have been used at different times; the account 
of Abraham’s intended sacrifice of Isaac in the first degree; I Kings 
vi:8, and again at II Chronicles iii:17 in the second degree; and 
Amos v:25,26 and II Chronicles vi:14,15 (the prayer of King Solomon 
at the dedication of the Temple) during the third degree.
Whether any of these passage are more appropriate than those almost 
universally in use in this country is a matter of opinion.  Ours have 
to us the sanctity of long use, the sacredness of the familiar, and 
he would be a bold man indeed, who would try to change them.  Alas, 
many who would fight vigorously for their retention understand them 
not; the grasshopper and the almond tree, the plumb line of the Lord 
and dew of Herman are still sealed mysteries to many Masons, although 
their interpretation is as beautiful as it is simple.
The 133rd Psalm used in an Entered Apprentice’s lodge reads as 
follows:
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together 
in unity!  It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran 
down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard; that went down to the skirts 
of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended 
upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord Commanded the 
Blessing, even life for evermore.”
Unity is an essential in a Masonic Lodge; unity of thought, of 
intention and of execution.  It is but another word for harmony, 
which Freemasons are taught “is the strength and support of all well 
regulated institutions, especially this of ours.”  Dew is nature’s 
blessing where rain is little in quantity, and the dew of Hermon is 
proverbially heavy.  Israel poured precious ointments on the heads of 
those people honored; that which “went down to skirts of his 
garments” was evidently great in quantity, significant of the honor 
paid to Aaron, personification of the high priesthood, representative 
of the solidity of his group.  The whole passage is a glorification 
of the beauty of brotherly love, which is why it is a part of the 
entered Apprentice’s Degree, in which the initiate is first 
introduced to that principle tenet of the Fraternity.
“Thus he shewed me; and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a 
plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.  And the Lord said unto 
me, Amos, what seest thou”  And I said, a Plumbline.  Then said the 
Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people 
Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.” (Amos vii:7,8)
The vital and important part is that the Lord set a plumbline “in the 
midst of his people Israel.”  He did not propose to judge them by a 
plumbline afar off, in another land, in high Heaven, but here - here 
“in the midst” of them.
This is of intense interest to the Fellowcraft Mason, since it 
teaches him how he should judge his own work - and, more important, 
how he should judge the work of others.
Presumably plumblines hang alike.  Presumably, all Plumbs, like all 
Squares and all Levels, are equally accurate.  Yet a man may use a 
tool, thinking it accurate, which to another is not true.  If the 
tools of building and the tools of judging be not alike, either the 
judgment must inaccurate, or the judgment should take into 
consideration the tool by which the work was done.
By the touch system a blind man may learn to write upon a typewriter.  
If a loosened type drops from the type bar when the blind man strikes 
the letter “e” he will make but a little black smudge upon the paper.  
It would not be reasonable to criticize the blind man for imperfect 
work as he has no means of knowing that his tool was faulty.  If the 
smudges which stand for the letter “e” are all in the right places, 
then it is obvious that in spite of his handicap the blind man has 
perfectly operated his machine.  This is a judgment by a plumbline 
“in the midst” of the man and his work.  If, however, the paper with 
the smudged letters “e” was examined by one who knew nothing of the 
workman’s blindness or nothing of his typewriter, doubtless he would 
judge it as imperfect.
The builders of the Washington Monument and the Eiffel Tower in Paris 
both used plumblines accurate to the level of the latitude on which 
these structures stand.  Both are at right angles with sea level.  
Yet, to some observer on the moon, equipped with a strong telescope, 
these towers would not appear parallel.  As they are in different 
latitudes they rise from the surface of the earth at an angle to each 
other.
Doubtless he who engineered the Monument would protest that the 
Memorial to Washington was right and the French Engineer’s Tower 
wrong.  Knowing his plumbline was accurate, the Frenchman would 
believe the monument crooked.  But the Great Architect, we may hope, 
would think both right, knowing each was perfect by the plumb by 
which it was erected.  Thus the lesson from Amos is that we are to 
judge our work by our own plumblines, not by another’s; if we erect 
that which is good work, true work, square work by our own working 
tools - in other words, by our own standard - we will do well.  Only 
when a Fellowcraft is false to his own conscience is he building 
other than fair and straight. 
Of all the quotations, allusions, facts and names from the Great 
Light which are a part of the Masonic ritual, none has a more secure 
place in the hearts of the brethren than the first seven verses from 
Ecclesiastes xii.
Of the two favorite interpretations of Biblical commentators, one 
makes this dramatic passage a description of old age and senile 
decay; the other a reference to the seldom experienced and much 
feared thunder storm in Palestine.
The physical interpretation may be most easily considered verse by 
verse:
1.	“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:”

The darkening of light and luminaries refer to coming blindness 
or extreme near-sightedness, and the clouds which return after 
the rain to a continuation of poor sight, even after much 
weeping.
3.	“In the days 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.”

The keepers of the house are the hands which tremble with palsy 
in old age.  The strong men are the legs which become bowed with 
the years.  The grinders which cease because they are few are 
the teeth, and those that look out of the windows is a poetic 
expression for sight.
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 musick shall be brought low;”

The doors are the ears which grow deaf in age and can no longer 
hear the sound of the grinding of grain in the little stone 
mills which the women use.  To rise up at the voice of a bird 
may signify the light sleep of age easily interrupted by any 
slight sound, or nervousness which is so extreme in some old men 
that they start at any little noise.  The daughters of music are 
the vocal cords which lose their timber in age, resulting in the 
cracked voice of senility.
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 
streets:”

The old man fears any height, knowing his brittle bones will 
stand no fall.  He is timid, and he has no strength with which 
to defend himself.  The almond tree blossoms white, like an old 
man’s hair.  Any little weight, even a grasshopper, is too much 
a burden for extreme age to carry.  The old have no desires.  
The long home is the grave, in preparation for which the 
mourners go about the streets.
6.	“Or ever the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl be 
broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel 
broken at the cistern.”

The silver cord is the spinal cord.  The golden bowl is he 
brain, the pitcher broken at the fountain a failing heart, and 
the wheel broken at the cistern the kidneys, bladder and 
prostate gland, all of which give trouble to an old man.
7.	“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the 
spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

Whether or not the writer possessed a sufficient knowledge of 
anatomy to symbolize parts of the body as the “silver cord” the 
“golden bowl” the “pitcher”, the “wheel broken at the cistern” 
is so problematical that much skepticism of this interpretation 
has been expressed.  The people of Israel were nomads, tillers 
of the soil, vinyardists, tenders of flocks.  Their wisdom was 
of the spiritual rather than the material.  That they had 
dissected dead bodies enough to gather the relationship between 
its parts is not impossible as animal sacrifices were so common.  
But the imagery seems to be rooted in too high a degree of 
scientific knowledge to be wholly credible.
The storm interpretation is not open to this objection, and 
certainly it is far more in keeping with the magnificent poetry 
of the words.
Think of a windy day, with clouds and rain; towards evening it 
begins to clear, and the heavens turn black again as the “clouds 
return after the rain.”  This was a signal for caution if not 
for terror in Palestine.  Men and women and children feared the 
thunder storm, probably because it came so seldom.  Doors were 
shut in the streets. The strong guards who stood before the 
houses of the wealthy were afraid, and trembled, for they might 
not leave their places.  The little mills with which the women 
ground grain eventide ceased; few would remain at their tasks in 
the face of the storm.  Women in upper rooms drew back into the 
dark.  Those outdoors became nervous; no one sang; the black 
thunderheads flourished their white tops like the almond tree; 
everyone feared the lightening and the thunder which was on 
high; even a little weight which kept a man from running to 
shelter was a burden.
Here the admonition is to remember the Creator before the terror 
of death, which is worse than the terror of the storm.  The rich 
man with his golden water bowl hung on a silver chain must fear 
it.  The poor man with his earthen pitcher who must send his 
women to the well for water is in terror.  Even the man strong 
and rough as the crude wooden wheel which drew the skin bucket 
to the top of the well shook with fear.  Death is the same for 
all, and feared alike by all.
Such an interpretation almost equals the poetry of expression.  
But read it how we will, the majestic awe-inspiring poetry rings 
home the solemn warning with a shake of the head and a shiver up 
the spine. . . Remember “now” thy Creator - “now,” before the 
fearsome storms of life. or the decay of old age are upon you; 
wait not until “fears are in the way” to cry for help to the 
Almighty.  Delay not until toothless, sightless, white haired 
age asks for help from on high because there is no help left on 
earth!  Remember “now” thy Creator, while limbs are strong and 
desire ardent, while life pulses readily and the world is all 
before -.
Such is the intention of these ringing sentences, and such do 
they mean to Freemasonry.  Every Master Mason learns so that he 
can never forget, when he who had received the benefit of lodge 
prayer had now to pray for himself.  He who had been taught to 
fear not while in the hands of his brethren, stands at last, in 
allegory, in danger and alone. 
No man thinks of his Master Mason’s degree but hears again in his 
heart at least the beginning and ending of this sermon in poetry.  
“Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth - then shall the 
dust return to the earth as it was, the spirit shall return unto God 
who gave it.”  The solemn strokes on the bell which is Ecclesiastes 
and the soul-gripping drama of the legend of Hiram Abif are never to 
be known apart by him who met them together.


