User:Hanuman Das/Jahbulon

Jahbulon or Jabulon is a word which can be demonstrated to have been used historically in the rituals of two Jusrisdictions of Royal Arch Masonry. The word's meaning, however is unclear. One Masonic scholar alleges that the word first appeared in an early 18th Century Royal Arch ritual, as the name of an allegorical explorer searching for the ruins of King Solomon's Temple; another Masonic scholar believes it is a discriptive name for God in Hebrew; and a few Anti-Masonic authors have alleged that it is a Masonic name for God, and even the name of a unique Masonic God.

It has been claimed that the last of these allegations "proves" that the Royal Arch Degree - and by extension all of Freemasonry - is incompatible with Christianity.^[1] The Southern Baptist convention has mentioned this as an offensive concept that is incompatible with Christianity.^[2]

Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor uses the term in the Royal Arch degree^[3] and states in a footnote that this was a combination of sacred names^[4]. Masonic authors claim that this is an outdated exposure^[5] while other authors claim that it had been superseded by another explanation.^[6]

Royal Arch Masonry

Royal Arch Masonry is an appendant body to regular Freemasonry. In some areas it forms part of the York Rite. To be eligible to join one must first be a Master Mason. However the administration of the Royal Arch (or any other appendant body, for that matter) is entirely separate from the administration of Craft Freemasonry.

Most importantly, every Masonic organization (Craft or otherwise) is sovereign only in its own jurisdiction, and has no authority in any other jurisdiction. This means that there is no standardization whatsoever with regards to words, signs, grips, or any other Masonic "secrets".^[7]

Much of the available material that discusses the word Jahbulon ignores these distinctions, indicating that the authors are not Masons. In most cases, a "separate parts of the same whole" situation between Royal Arch and Craft Freemasonry has been assumed.

Suggested etymologies

According to Masonic Historian Art DeHoyos, early French versions of the Royal Arch degree say Jahbulon is the name of an allegorical explorer living at the time of Solomon^[8]

According to The Rev. Canon Richard Tydeman, in an address to the Supreme Grand Chapter of England on 13 November 1985, the word is a compound of three Hebrew terms:
- יהּ (Yah, I AM, which indicates eternal existence),
- בּעל (bul, on high, in heaven) and
- און (on, strength); pronouncing three aspects or qualities of Deity, namely Eternal Existence, Transcendence, and Omnipotence and equating to "The True and Living God - Most High - Almighty".^[9]

According to Anti-masonic author Stephen Knight, following Walton Hannah^[10] the word is a compound of the names of three gods worshipped in the ancient Middle East.^[11]
- Jah (= Yahweh)
- Baal
- On (a name in Genesis in the Bible (in "Potiphar priest of On"), thought in older times to be a name of Osiris (but now known to be a form of the Ancient Egyptian name of the city of Heliopolis).

It was this interpretation that was reported to have disturbed Albert Pike, the Grand Master of the Southern Jurisdiction when he first heard the name, who called it a "mongrel word" partly composed of an "appellation of the Devil".^[12]

Notes

^ "A useful allegation to bias the Christian reader against Freemasonry is to claim that the fraternity is anti-Christian, or even more boldly, to claim that it is an anti-Christian religion. In fact, no Grand Lodge, no Supreme Council, and no subordinate body claims to be, or functions as, a religion. It is significant that Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon cannot produce any official documents to the contrary. Undeterred, they are content to ignore the facts and resort to innuendo and subterfuge. What better way could there be to 'prove' that Masonry is a religion than to reveal that Freemasons have secret modes of worship, mysterious names for God, or even their own secret god? This is just what some anti-Masons, including Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon, claim to do. The name of this "god", they say, is Jabulon, which allegedly means "Jehovah-Baal-Osiris". Sensational as it sounds, this claim is not original. Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon base their charge on Stephen Knight's anti-Masonic book "The Brotherhood". Chapter Three: John Ankerberg and John Weldon, authors of The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge From "Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? The Methods of Anti-Masons" by Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris, hosted by The Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Scottish Rite
^ First Incompatibility: The prevalent use of offensive concepts, titles, and terms such as "Worshipful Master" for the leader of a lodge; references to their buildings as "mosques," "shrines," or "temples"; and the use of words such as "Abaddon" and "Jah- Bul-On,"4 the so-called secret name of God. To many, these terms are not only offensive but sacrilegious. Freemasonry, by NAMB Staff
^ They then balance three times three, bringing the right band with some violence down upon the left. The right hands are then raised above their heads, and the words, Jah-buh-lun, Jehovah, G-o-d, are given at low breath, each companion pronouncing the syllables or letters alternately ROYAL ARCH, OR SEVENTH DEGREE Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor, by Malcolm C. Duncan, 1866
^ JEHOVAH. Of the varieties of this sacred name in use among the different nations of the earth, three particularly merit the attention of Royal Arch Masons:
1. JAH. This name of God is found in the 68th Psalm, v. 4.
2. BAAL OR BEL. This word signifies a lord, master, or possessor, and hence it was applied by many of the nations of the East to denote the Lord of all things, and the Master of the world.
3. ON. This was the name by which JEHOVAH was worshipped among the Egyptians.
I have made these remarks on the three names of God in Chaldaic, Syriac and Egyptian, Baal, Jah, and On, in the expectation that my Royal Arch Companions will readily recognize them in a corrupted form.--Lexicon. From footnote 226:1 in ROYAL ARCH, OR SEVENTH DEGREE Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor, by Malcolm C. Duncan, 1866
^ An example of this pre-1871 misunderstanding is seen in Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor (an outdated exposure cited by Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon some 30 times) which declared the tri-lingual word to be the Grand Omnific Royal Arch Word. Chapter Three: John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? The Methods of Anti-Masons, by Art deHoyos
^ With Jah and On, it has been introduced into the Royal Arch system as a representative of the Tetragrammaton, which it and the accompanying words have sometimes ignorantly been made to displace. At the session of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, in 1871, this error was corrected; and while the Tetragrammaton was declared to be the true omnific word, the other three were permitted to be retained as merely explanatory. Entry for Bel, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES, by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.
^ Freemasons for Dummies, Christopher Hodapp, ISBN 0-7645-9796-5, Hungry Minds Inc, U.S., 2005.
^ "Early French versions of the Royal Arch degree relate a Masonic legend, or allegory, in which Jabulon was the name of an explorer, living in the time of Solomon, who discovered the ruins of an ancient temple.(56) Within the ruins he found a gold plate upon which the name of God (Jehovah) was engraved." Chapter Three: John Ankerberg and John Weldon, authors of The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge From Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? The Methods of Anti-Masons by Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris, hosted by The Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Scottish Rite
^ An Historical Address to Grand Chapter, (of England), The Rev’d Canon Richard Tydeman, Grand Chapter Proceedings, 13th November 1985.
^ Darkness Visible, pps. 34-5, Hannah, 1952, reprint 1998, ISBN 1-901157-70-9
^ Each syllable of the 'ineffable name' represents one person of this trinity JAH = Jahweh, the God of the Hebrews BUL = Baal, the ancient Canaanite fertility god associated with 'licentious rites of imitative magic' ON = Osiris, the Ancient Egyptian god of the underworld."p. 236, The Brotherhood, Stephen Knight, Harper Collins, 1994, ISBN 0-586-05983-0
^ Pike, The Holy Triad, 1873, from p. 35, Darkness Visible, Walton Hannah

References

Weir, Rev. Thomas E., Ph.D. (1991) "Masonry and Religion" in Transactions of A. Douglas Smith, Jr. Lodge of Research #1949, AF&AM, Vol. 2, 1988-1992.

[1] "A useful allegation to bias the Christian reader against Freemasonry is to claim that the fraternity is anti-Christian, or even more boldly, to claim that it is an anti-Christian religion. In fact, no Grand Lodge, no Supreme Council, and no subordinate body claims to be, or functions as, a religion. It is significant that Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon cannot produce any official documents to the contrary. Undeterred, they are content to ignore the facts and resort to innuendo and subterfuge. What better way could there be to 'prove' that Masonry is a religion than to reveal that Freemasons have secret modes of worship, mysterious names for God, or even their own secret god? This is just what some anti-Masons, including Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon, claim to do. The name of this "god", they say, is Jabulon, which allegedly means "Jehovah-Baal-Osiris". Sensational as it sounds, this claim is not original. Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon base their charge on Stephen Knight's anti-Masonic book "The Brotherhood". Chapter Three: John Ankerberg and John Weldon, authors of The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge From "Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? The Methods of Anti-Masons" by Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris, hosted by The Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Scottish Rite

[2] First Incompatibility: The prevalent use of offensive concepts, titles, and terms such as "Worshipful Master" for the leader of a lodge; references to their buildings as "mosques," "shrines," or "temples"; and the use of words such as "Abaddon" and "Jah- Bul-On,"4 the so-called secret name of God. To many, these terms are not only offensive but sacrilegious. Freemasonry, by NAMB Staff

[3] They then balance three times three, bringing the right band with some violence down upon the left. The right hands are then raised above their heads, and the words, Jah-buh-lun, Jehovah, G-o-d, are given at low breath, each companion pronouncing the syllables or letters alternately ROYAL ARCH, OR SEVENTH DEGREE Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor, by Malcolm C. Duncan, 1866

[4] JEHOVAH. Of the varieties of this sacred name in use among the different nations of the earth, three particularly merit the attention of Royal Arch Masons:
1. JAH. This name of God is found in the 68th Psalm, v. 4.
2. BAAL OR BEL. This word signifies a lord, master, or possessor, and hence it was applied by many of the nations of the East to denote the Lord of all things, and the Master of the world.
3. ON. This was the name by which JEHOVAH was worshipped among the Egyptians.
I have made these remarks on the three names of God in Chaldaic, Syriac and Egyptian, Baal, Jah, and On, in the expectation that my Royal Arch Companions will readily recognize them in a corrupted form.--Lexicon. From footnote 226:1 in ROYAL ARCH, OR SEVENTH DEGREE Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor, by Malcolm C. Duncan, 1866

[5] An example of this pre-1871 misunderstanding is seen in Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor (an outdated exposure cited by Rev. Ankerberg and Dr. Weldon some 30 times) which declared the tri-lingual word to be the Grand Omnific Royal Arch Word. Chapter Three: John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? The Methods of Anti-Masons, by Art deHoyos

[6] With Jah and On, it has been introduced into the Royal Arch system as a representative of the Tetragrammaton, which it and the accompanying words have sometimes ignorantly been made to displace. At the session of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, in 1871, this error was corrected; and while the Tetragrammaton was declared to be the true omnific word, the other three were permitted to be retained as merely explanatory. Entry for Bel, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES, by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.

[Dummies-7] Freemasons for Dummies, Christopher Hodapp, ISBN 0-7645-9796-5, Hungry Minds Inc, U.S., 2005.

[8] "Early French versions of the Royal Arch degree relate a Masonic legend, or allegory, in which Jabulon was the name of an explorer, living in the time of Solomon, who discovered the ruins of an ancient temple.(56) Within the ruins he found a gold plate upon which the name of God (Jehovah) was engraved." Chapter Three: John Ankerberg and John Weldon, authors of The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge From Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry? The Methods of Anti-Masons by Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris, hosted by The Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Scottish Rite

[9] An Historical Address to Grand Chapter, (of England), The Rev’d Canon Richard Tydeman, Grand Chapter Proceedings, 13th November 1985.

[10] Darkness Visible, pps. 34-5, Hannah, 1952, reprint 1998, ISBN 1-901157-70-9

[11] Each syllable of the 'ineffable name' represents one person of this trinity JAH = Jahweh, the God of the Hebrews BUL = Baal, the ancient Canaanite fertility god associated with 'licentious rites of imitative magic' ON = Osiris, the Ancient Egyptian god of the underworld."p. 236, The Brotherhood, Stephen Knight, Harper Collins, 1994, ISBN 0-586-05983-0

[12] Pike, The Holy Triad, 1873, from p. 35, Darkness Visible, Walton Hannah

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