KeystoneVol5-4

The Arizona Keystone Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. Newsletter

OCT – DEC 2012 A.L. 6012

BIBLIC BIBLICΛ ΛL ΛRCHÆ RCHÆΟ ΟLΟGΨ

Volume 5, Issue 4

The Arizona Keystone Volume 5, Number 4 Oct - Dec 2012 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Boyd Robertson, Master MANAGING EDITOR Keith Rosewitz, Secretary The Arizona Keystone is an official publication of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. and printed quarterly. Unless otherwise noted, articles appearing in this publication express only the private opinion or assertions of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. or the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Arizona.

Articles are subject to editing and submittal grants Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M the right to publish and the authority to allow permission to reprint. Ownership of any article, photographs, or other materials remains with the author. No compensation is allowed for any article, photographs, or other materials submitted for publication.

CONTENTS 5 Ancient Petra—Jordan

6 Archaeology News

7 Pen and Paper

8 Lilith

FEASECTIONS

Permission to reprint articles will be granted upon written request to the Editor. When reprinted, articles should note “Reprinted with permission of The Arizona Keystone (Month, year).”

3 Master’s Notes 4 Scriptorium

Please direct all correspondence to: Editor: The Arizona Keystone 1908 Larchwood Cir.

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M as te r ’s N otes My Brothers, As the year 2012 draws to an end I would like to thank all of you for the honor and privilege of serving as the Master of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 for the past 2 years. I know that I have certainly grown in my Masonic knowledge over this time period and I hope that all of you have as well. If the presentations that were given did not give you food for thought, then at the very least, I hope that they have encouraged you to delve into research and find some answers to those questions and curiosities for yourselves.

On another note I would like for all of you to consider what your commitment to SCRL #4 is as we start the new year. Are you preparing presentations to give at one of our stated meetings? Are you interested in stepping into one of the officers positions? Or are you thinking about how you personally can improve and grow our research lodge? These are all important things to consider as we approach the new year. Each and every one of you know that there is always more work to be done. I look forward to seeing how we will meet the challenges that are set before us in 2013. The continued success of SCRL #4 is in your hands!

In closing, my greatest desire is for all of us to continue to grow in our Masonic and personal lives. To advance our faith and to improve all of humankind. What came ye here to do?

Fraternally & Sincerely, Boyd Robertson

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S CRIP TO RIU M

R

eferences to the construction of King Solomon's temple at Jerusalem have been included in the rituals of the operative freemasons since ancient times.

In operative lodges the layout of the lodge room in each of the several degrees symbolizes either a stone yard or the temple building at one of the various stages of construction. As he participates in each of the several degrees, the candidate progressively represents the various types of stone used in the building, until ultimately he represents the plan of the temple. Many aspects of the operative ceremonies and catechisms have been included in the rituals of speculative freemasonry, though in a very abbreviated form.

Thus, it would seem that Biblical Archaeology or research would be a logical link in the chain of understanding further our Masonic Order. This issue will provide a small window into the world of biblical research and archaeology.

Bookshelf 1. Biblical Archaeology Review— Monthly Magazine 2. The Freemasons— by Jasper Ridley

3. The Great Teachings of Masonry—by H. L. Haywood 4. Freemasonry And Its Ancient Mystic Rites— by C. W. Leadbeater

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ANCIENT PETRA—jordan

T

he Siq is a tortuous half-mile-long canyon that winds its way from the entrance of Petra to the large open plaza at the foot of the Khazneh. Formed through countless millennia of geological activity and water action, the canyon was used by the Nabataeans as a ceremonial route into their capital. The sides of the Siq were also outfitted with channels and pipes that carried fresh water into the city.

For every tourist who visits the ancient city of Petra in modern day Jordan, there is one breathtaking moment that captures all of the grandeur and mystery of this city carved in stone. After passing the final bend of the tortuous narrow canyon that leads into the site (the Siq), one is confronted by the awe-inspiring spectacle of a towering rock-cut façade, its sunstruck sandstone gleaming through the darkness of the canyon. The façade, popularly known as the Khazneh, or “Treasury,” appears first only as a faint vision, its architectural details and full dimensions crowded out by the darkened walls of the Siq. The Khazneh is both unexpectedly familiar, and at the same time, strangely exotic. Its ornamented face is adorned with the columns, capitals and pediments of classical Western architecture, yet it seems entirely out of place in the rugged desert landscape of southern Jordan, an area historically inhabited by flocktending Bedouin and simple farmers. Perhaps it was this bewildering juxtaposition that made the Khazneh the ideal backdrop for the climactic scene of the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Al-Khazneh (“the Treasury”), likely a tomb or monument to King Aretas IV who ruled over the Nabataeans from 9 B.C. to 40 A.D. In many ways, the Khazneh epitomizes the complex character and competing ambitions of the Nabataeans, the industrious Arab people who built the city of Petra and its towering rock-cut monuments (including the Khazneh) over 2,000 years ago. Almost everything about the Nabataeans—their history, their culture, their religion, their technologies and especially their architecture—reflect a society born out of two worlds: one authentically Arabian, and the other unquestionably Hellenized.

The Nabataeans arose from humble nomadic origins in the vast deserts of northern Arabia sometime during the Persian period (539-332 B.C.). By the late fourth century B.C., they had established themselves in the area around Petra (or Reqem, as it was known to them), but they still maintained a largely nomadic existence, moving seasonally across the desert with their tents and herds in search of water and fresh pasture.

But it was also about this time that the Nabataeans began to get involved in the lucrative trade in South Arabian frankincense and myrrh, the same business that had led the Queen of Sheba to visit the court of Solomon some five centuries earlier (1 Kings 10).

Other than Israel, no country has as many Biblical sites as Jordan: Mount Nebo, from where Moses gazed at the Promised Land; Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John baptized Jesus; Lot’s Cave, where Lot’s family sought refuge; and many more (Portions of the Article reprinted from Biblical Archaeology Society—Daily)

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ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS

I

sraeli archaeologists say two animal-shaped figurines discovered at the site of an Israeli highway construction project go back more than 9,000 years, and reflect the religious practices that were common in the region several millennia before Moses.

"It is known that hunting was the major activity in this period," Hamoud Khalaily, one of the directors of the Tel Mosa dig, said in a statement issued Wednesday by the Israeli Antiquities Authority. "Presumably, the figurines served as good-luck statues for ensuring the success of the hunt and might have been the focus of a traditional ceremony the hunters performed before going out into the field to pursue their prey."

One of the figurines, sculpted from limestone and measuring about 6 inches (15 centimeters) in length, looks like a horned ram. The other, smoothed and shaped from dolomite, seems to depict a buffalo, ox or other type of bovine animal, archaeologists said.

The Stone Age figurines turned up during an excavation that's being conducted a few miles north of Jerusalem to clear the way for widening Highway 1 to Tel Aviv. The project's directors said they were found last week, near a large round building that had a foundation built from fieldstones, and an upper wall section apparently made of mud brick.

Khalaily and excavation co-director Anna Eirikh said the finds date back 9,000 to 9,500 years. That's thousands of years before the time of Moses, who was thought to have lived in the time frame of 1400 to 1500 B.C. But the period when the figurines were created, known as the PrePottery Neolithic B, may have been as much of a turning point for the region's social and religious practices as Moses' time was.

This 9,000-year-old figurine was sculpted from dolomite, excavation directors Anna Eirikh and Hamoudi Khalaily said in a statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

They said it "seems to depict a large animal with prominent horns that separate the elongated body from the head. The horns emerge from the middle of the head sideward and resemble those of a wild bovine or buffalo."

By Alan Boyle

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PEN A N D PA P ER

G

old is mentioned 285 times in the Hebrew Bible—more than any other metal—and the use of its imagery by the Biblical writers is as rich and varied as the precious objects into which it was formed throughout antiquity. Gold jewelry offered to Rebecca (Genesis 24) and to Joseph (Genesis 41:39–44) reflect their honored status as Isaac’s bride and Pharaoh’s viceroy, respectively, but the idolatrous golden calf forged at the foot of Mt. Sinai brought shame and suffering on the Israelites. Abraham and Solomon both amassed great riches in gold (Genesis 13; 1 Kings 10)—a sign of God’s favor—yet in Deuteronomy, kings are advised not to seek material fortunes in silver and gold (Deuteronomy 17:17). God tests the faithfulness of his people and refines their hearts like gold (Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:3; Job 23:10), yet the Bible mentions several things more valuable than gold: a good name (Proverbs 22:1), wisdom (Job 28) and God’s law (Psalms 119:72).

T

he “Book of Enoch” (1 Enoch) is a collection of texts composed between about 350 B.C.E. and the turn of the era. It is the earliest extant example of an apocalyptic blend of Israelite prophetic and wisdom theologies best known from the Book of Daniel, and it witnesses the variety within Israelite religion in the Greco -Roman period.

Two myths shape the Book of Enoch. The first, related to Genesis 6:1–4, ascribes the origins of evil to the rebellion of certain angels who mated with women and begat a race of giants that devastated the earth and whose demonic spirits continue to produce sin and misery. According to the second myth, Enoch (as said in Genesis 5:21–24) was taken to heaven, where he learned the secrets of the universe and of the coming judgment.

The Enochic texts claim to be Enoch’s revelations transmitted through his son, Methuselah. The various parts of 1 Enoch were composed in Aramaic and translated into Greek, and from Greek into ancient Ethiopic, in which version alone the entire collection has survived.

Qumran Cave 4 yielded fragments of 11 Aramaic manuscripts of parts of 1 Enoch that cover perhaps one fifth of the Ethiopic text, as well as nine ­Aramaic manuscripts of “the Book of the Giants,” a text not included in 1 Enoch.

The 1 Enoch manuscripts attest both to how closely the Ethiopic text corresponds to its Aramaic prototypes in some places and to where it differs in others. The Giants fragments indicate that the Enochic tradition was richer than 1 Enoch suggests. Missing at Qumran are fragments of the Book of Parables (1 Enoch 37–71), a Jewish text that provides a context for New Testament “Son of Man” Christology. The absence of the Book of Parables from Qumran probably indicates that this expression of Enochic theology developed in circles different from those directly ancestral to the group that collected the texts at Qumran. The other Enochic writings were authoritative at Qumran, however, and were popular among early Christian writers as well. The Enochic texts remain a canonical part of the Bible of the Ethiopian Church.

—George W.E. Nickelsburg, The University of Iowa 7

F

LILITH

or 4,000 years Lilith has wandered the earth, figuring in the mythic imaginations of writers, artists and poets. Her dark origins lie in Babylonian demonology, where amulets and incantations were used to counter the sinister powers of this winged spirit who preyed on pregnant women and infants. Lilith next migrated to the world of the ancient Hittites, Egyptians, Israelites and Greeks. She makes a solitary appearance in the Bible, as a wilderness demon shunned by the prophet Isaiah. In the Middle Ages she reappears in Jewish sources as the dreadful first wife of Adam.

In most manifestations of her myth, Lilith represents chaos, seduction and ungodliness. Yet, in her every guise, Lilith has cast a spell on humankind.

The ancient name “Lilith” derives from a Sumerian word for female demons or wind spirits—the lilītu and the related ardat lilǐ. The lilītu dwells in desert lands and open country spaces and is especially dangerous to pregnant women and infants. Her breasts are filled with poison, not milk. The ardat lilī is a sexually frustrated and infertile female who behaves aggressively toward young men.

The earliest surviving mention of Lilith’s name appears in Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree, a Sumerian epic poem found on a tablet at Ur and dating from approximately 2000 B.C.E. The mighty ruler Gilgamesh is the world’s first literary hero; he boldly slays monsters and vainly searches for the secret to eternal life.a In one episode, “after heaven and earth had separated and man had been created,”3 Gilgamesh rushes to assist Inanna, goddess of erotic love and war. In her garden near the Euphrates River, Inanna lovingly tends a willow (huluppu) tree, the wood of which she hopes to fashion into a throne and bed for herself. Inanna’s plans are nearly thwarted, however, when a dastardly triumvirate possesses the tree. One of the villains is Lilith: “Inanna, to her chagrin, found herself unable to realize her hopes. For in the meantime a dragon had set up its nest at the base of the tree, the Zu-bird had placed his young in its crown, and in its midst the demoness Lilith had built her house.” Wearing heavy armor, brave Gilgamesh kills the dragon, causing the Zu-bird to fly to the mountains and a terrified Lilith to flee “to the desert.”

Over time, people throughout the Near East became increasingly familiar with the myth of Lilith. In the Bible, she is mentioned only once, in Isaiah 34. The Book of Isaiah is a compendium of Hebrew prophecy spanning many years; the book’s first 39 chapters, frequently referred to as “First Isaiah,” can be assigned to the time when the prophet lived (approximately 742–701 B.C.E.). Throughout the Book of Isaiah, the prophet encourages God’s people to avoid entanglements with foreigners who worship alien deities. In Chapter 34, a sword-wielding Yahweh seeks vengeance on the infidel Edomites, perennial outsiders and foes of the ancient Israelites. According to this powerful apocalyptic poem, Edom will become a chaotic, desert land where the soil is infertile and wild animals roam: “Wildcats shall meet hyenas, / Goat-demons shall greet each other; / There too the lilith shall repose / And find herself a resting place” (Isaiah 34:14). The Lilith demon was ap­ parently so well known to Isaiah’s audience that no explanation of her identity was necessary.

The Isaiah passage lacks specifics in describing Lilith, but it locates her in desolate places. The Bible verse thus links Lilith directly to the demon of the Gilgamesh epic who flees “to the desert.” The wilderness traditionally symbolizes mental and physical barrenness; it is a place where creativity and life itself are easily extinguished. Lilith, the feminine opposite of masculine order, is banished from fertile territory and exiled to barren wasteland.

(Portion reprinted from Bible History Daily. Article written by Janet Howe Gaines ) 8