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Hiram Abiff:  The Freemason's Messiah

I will present to you (in parenthesis) some of the Masonic Terms and will attempt to present the story, according to the Masons, of Hiram Abiff)  Note the terms in parenthesis.  If you ever hear them again, you'll know to what that speaker is referencing.

The Legend 

According to the Masonic legend, Hiram Abiff was a man of Tyre, the son of a widow, and the chief architect of the Temple built by King Solomon. He was the central character in the building of the Temple and one of three leading characters along with King Solomon and Hiram, King of Tyre.

Hiram Abiff, Masonry teaches, was the only one on Earth who knew "the secrets of a Master Mason," including the most important secret of all, the "Grand Masonic Word," the name of God (the "ineffable name"). In the Occult,  knowing the name of a spirit is a key to having its power, there was a very great power in knowing this word.

Knowing the other "secrets of a Master Mason" would enable the masons/workmen working on the Temple project to go out on their own, working as Master Masons and earning Master Mason's wages."

Hiram Abiff had promised to reveal the "secrets of a Master Mason," including the name of God ("Grand Masonic Word"), upon completion of the Temple, and to make the workmen Master Masons, enabling them to go out on their own as masters (instead of  "fellowcraft" Masons). One day Hiram went, as was his custom, into the unfinished Holy of Holies at noon ("High Twelve") to worship and to draw up the work plans (on his "trestleboard") for the workmen to follow the next day. The workmen were outside the Temple for their lunch break ("…the craft were called from labor to refreshment…").

As Hiram was leaving the Temple he was accosted by three men in succession, who demanded that they be given the secrets immediately (without waiting for the Temple to be completed). He was handled roughly by the first man (Jubela), but escaped. Accosted and handled roughly by the second man (Jubelo), he again refused to divulge the secrets and again escaped. The third man (Jubelum) then accosted him and, when Hiram again refused to divulge the secrets, the man killed him with a blow to the forehead with a setting maul.

The body was then concealed under some rubbish in the Temple until midnight ("low twelve") when it was taken out to the  a hill and buried. The grave was marked by an Acacia branch, and the three men then tried to leave the country.   They couldn't get  passage on a ship so they retreated into the hills to hide.

King Solomon was notified that these 3 men were missing in addition to Hiram Abiff who was also missing.  Two searches were conducted.  The temple was searched (presumably at the King's request) and none of the men were found.   At this point 12 "fellowcrafts" reported to the King that they and three others had conspired to extort the secrets of Hiram Abiff from him but they had repented and refused to go through with the plan. They informed the King of the three men that murdered Hiram Abiff and King Solomon then sent out a second search party to look everywhere they could and find the body of Hiram Abiff.

It is unclear at this point how the search party ended up at the proper grave, but apparently, the sea captain who refused to take the three men onboard had some information that could be used. In either case, the search party finally discovered the grave with the Acacia branch at the head. They dug up the body and sent word back to King Solomon.  It is then stated that King Solomon sent an "Entered Apprentice" to attempt to dig up the body, but because the body had already begun to decompose, they could not raise it..

King Solomon reportedly then sent a Fellowcraft to attempt to raise the body.  This too failed since the "Grip" of the Entered Apprentice and the "Grip" of the Fellowcraft were inadequate for the job.  The story then continues that King Solomon himself  went to the grave and raised the body up with the grip of a Master Mason, (the "Strong Grip of a Lion's Paw.)"

It is then stated that Hiram was not only brought up out of the grave, but restored to life.

The first word he spoke was the replacement for the "Grand Masonic Word" lost at his death and that word is the one passed down to Master Masons to this day.

Most Blue Lodge Masons believe that this story of Hiram Abiff  is a factual, scriptural and historical account.

The Masonic leaders and writers of doctrine agree that it is not only a myth, unsupported by facts, but acknowledge that it is but a retelling of the story of Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris!

Why then, would people believe the story?  Is this story actually recorded in scripture?

The Bible and Hiram Abiff 

Is there anyone named Hiram Abiff ever recorded in the bible? NO, there is no such person despite the fact that King Solomon's name is used in the Masonic teaching.

The Scriptures do record two men named Hiram (1 Kings chapters 5, 7, 9 and 10) concerning the building of the Temple by King Solomon; one is Hiram, King of Tyre, who was supportive of Solomon and who provided materials and workmen for the project. The other Hiram, called "a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali," who was a worker in brass, not the architect of the entire Temple. He made the brass pillars, the brass lavers, shovels and basins.

The Scriptures record that this Hiram, the widows son, completed all the work that he had come to do on the Temple and then he then returned to his home in Tyre, safe and sound (there is no indication in the Bible of anything to the contrary).

Concerning the Masonic claim that Hiram, the widow's son, was chief architect of the Temple, the Bible is clear in establishing that he was not at all, the chief architect!  

The Bible reveals that God, Himself, was the designer and architect of the Temple, that He gave the plans in minute detail to David and that David gave them to Solomon along with most of the materials. To claim that anyone but God was the Chief Architect of the Temple is unfounded and, I believe it is at the very least, blasphemous. 

The Real Story

It has been overwhelmingly by Masonic leaders and writers of doctrine that the legend of Hiram Abiff is the Masonic version of the Egyptian story of the pagan gods of  Isis and Osiris. 

Allow me to present that story  and to compare it with the story of Hiram Abiff.

Isis and Osiris:  Pagan gods of Egypt

Osiris, both King of the Egyptians and their god, went on a long journey (this is a common theme in pagan cultures) to bless neighboring nations with his knowledge of arts and sciences. His jealous brother, Typhon (god of Winter) conspired to murder him and steal his kingdom.

Isis was not only the sister  but the wife of  Osiris.  This of course, made her his queen.  What this also did, since Osiris was know as the "Sun God" of Egypt:  was to make Isis the "Moon-goddess" of Egypt.  The story states that she went to search for the body of Osiris in all directions, asking everyone she met.

She finally found the body with an Acacia tree at the head of the coffin. When she returned home with the body, she secretly buried the body, intending to give it proper burial as soon as arrangements were made.

Typhon, by treachery, stole the body, cut it up into 14 pieces and hid them in as many different places. Isis then made a second search and located all the pieces but one; the one missing and lost part was the phallus (if you know Egyptian culture, you understand this).

She made a substitute phallus, consecrated it, and it became a sacred substitute, and object of worship.

There is much more to the story, but these are the basics.

Allow me now to compare both stories.  Masonic leaders also acknowledge that this comparison is true and accurate.

Hiram Abiff compared to Osiris 

The story is easily seen and recognizable.  The basics of the stories are as follows:

(1) Both men went to foreign lands to share their knowledge of arts and sciences.

(2) In both legends there is a precious thing possessed: Hiram has the secret word; Osiris has the kingdom.

(3) In both legends there is a wicked conspiracy by evil men to seize the precious thing.

(4) In both legends there is a struggle and a murder of the leader. the one who holds the precious treasure.

(5) Both are murdered by their brothers (Osiris by Typhon; Hiram by Jubelum, his brother Mason).

(6) Both bodies are buried hastily, with the intention of a later, proper burial, hence the reason for the marker as outlined below:

(7) The graves containing the bodies were both marked by Acacia at the head.

(8) In both legends, there are two separate searches for the bodies.

(9) In both legends there is a loss of something precious: in Hiram's death, the secret word is lost; in Osiris' death, the phallus is lost.

(10) In both there is a substitution for the precious thing that has been lost; concerning Hiram it is the substitute for the secret word; concerning Osiris it is the substitute phallus.

CONCLUSION

It is clear that the Hiram Abiff of Freemasonry is not an historical character and certainly not a biblical one.  Hiram Abiff of Freemasonry  actually represents Osiris, the Egyptian Sun-god!

When the Mason's in their initiation rites reenact the Legend of Hiram Abiff, it is actually the reenactment of the legend of Isis and Osiris.

Each man who is initiated into the Third (Master Mason) Degree of Masonry impersonates Osiris, the Sun-god of Egypt, and enters into his life of good deeds, his death, his burial and is "raised" in his resurrection from the dead.   It is NOT the reenactment of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ to which Masons give honor or receive. 

With this understood, it is then easy to understand the statement in the Kentucky Monitor  that, while the Christian's Messiah is called Jesus, the Mason's Messiah is called Hiram (Kentucky Monitor, "the Spirit of Masonry," xv).

Even Most Masons don't quite realize that in the "Kentucky Monitor" (handbook for all Blue Lodge Masonry in the Grand Lodge of Kentucky), and other publications of the Masons, there is a statement that should be shocking to anyone who professes true Christianity: 

"while the Christian's Messiah is called Jesus, the Mason's Messiah is called Hiram"      (Kentucky Monitor, "the Spirit of Masonry," xv).

"For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him."
2 Corinthians 11:3-4

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." 
Galatians 1:6-7

References:

(2) I Kings 7:13-47

(3) I Chronicles 17;1-15; 22:11-29:9 (especially 28:19)

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