CLC - Master Mason - 05.30.17

H IRAM A BIFF

From the Bible and ancient historian Flavius Josephus, we learn that the two bronze pillars at the entrance to King Solomon’s Temple were fabricated by Hiram Abiff, a skilled artificer and the son of a widow of the Tribe of Naphtali. He was also responsible for the other

mechanical works about the Temple. As he worked in brass, he was in the line of smiths going back to Tubal Cain, the first artificer in metals. Hiram was sent to King Solomon by Hiram, the King of Tyre. The word Abiff is variously translated, but can mean “his father,” and the name is often explained as “Hiram, my father.” In a certain sense, he could be regarded as the father of the workmen on the Temple, their primary supervisor and the chief architect of the work. Hiram in another sense may be regarded as the philosophical father of speculative Masonry, whose morality, determination of character in keeping his obligations, and his unflagging loyalty to his fellow Masons we strive to emulate.

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