As could be assumed, the T.B. of the Master’s Degree bears reference to Hiram’s Legend. In a few words, I’ll remind you that the legend relates the murder of Hiram Abi or Abiff, the architect and builder of Jerusalem’s Temple, by three ruffians. They used building tools to strike him down. After killing him, they disposed of the body burying it and putting a branch of acacia on top to mark the place. The central image in all boards is either a grave or a coffin. The grave may be open or closed, the coffin may be closed, or it may be open, showing the body inside. The other central element is always the branch of Acacia.

          The Acacia, shittim in Hebrew, is an evergreen that holds a place of honor in the Bible. Of its wood was built the Tabernacle by Moses, to hold the sacred Tablets of the Law. In chapter 26 alone, the shittim-wood is mentioned no less than four times, specifying its use to make the planks to cover the tabernacle, the bars to carry it, the columns to stand upon and the five columns at the entrance of the Sanctuary that supported the curtain rod.

          In Freemasonry, the acacia symbolizes eternal life and the resurrection of the dead. In antiquity, acacia was considered to be incorruptible. Its name is a Greek word that means innocent or guiltless.

          The most important thing that must remember the Mason who has gone through the third-degree ceremony of “exaltation” is that he has seen the acacia. 

          Around the grave or coffin are depicted the tools of the degree, both those appearing in current rituals (compasses, square, etc.), and some which are no longer in use, such as the beehive and the trowel.

          One design, reproduced by Brother the Rev. N.B. Cryer [1]  shows several symbols no longer in current use.  The beehive represents industry. Masons, as we know, consider work to be an honorable occupation. This was a revolutionary idea in the 17th century, when manual labor was regarded as demeaning. As for the trowel, since it is used to spread plaster over a wall, covering any imperfections, it symbolizes the fraternal spirit that must prevail among Masons, helping to excuse any possible blemishes of character. This picture also has some designs that have vanished in present-day boards, such as the Tablet of the Law, both the hourglass and the scythe representing time, or rather the fleeting nature of life. Noah’s ark has now been transferred to a side degree (Royal Ark Mariners). The heart pierced by a sword represents Hiram. The tools on top are the working tools of a Master Mason, while those in the bottom are the tools used to kill the Master Architect. The letters in cipher are HAB, M, B, and AL 3000, i.e. Anno Lucis 3000, equivalent to 1000 B.C.E., the year when traditionally King Solomon’s Temple was built. All this, please remember, is symbolic. The dates do not correspond with present archeological findings. Masonic cipher is usually read from right to left, as in Hebrew.

          Another version of the Third Degree T.B., dated 1850, appears in Harry Carr’s The Freemason at Work. [2] 

          It shows an open grave with the coffin inside and the shade of the corpse. At the side of the grave is a sort of tombstone with a Hebrew inscription reading:
          “The Holy Temple of Jerusalem was built by King Solomon of Israel, Hiram King of Tyre and Hiram of the tribe of Naftali, the Builder, in the year 3000.”

          A similar stone on the left side is written in Masonic cipher, with the letters T, C, HAB, AL 3000, MB, MB, CCC and FFZ. All these abbreviations are quite clear: T and C refer to Tubal Cain, the artificer on copper and iron, parallel to Vulcan in Greek mythology, connected with the Third Degree.  HAB - as already explained - is the name of the Architect, AL 3000 the year the Temple was built, CCC according to Carr represent Chalk, Charcoal and Clay, three materials used by the Master Mason, while the last three letters, again according to Carr, represent Freedom, Fervency, and Zeal. With all due respect to the late Bro. Carr, I suggest that they actually refer to Fervency, Fastness and Zeal, because that is the motto appearing in 18th century rituals for the Third Degree.

          The three letters “heh”, the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, are common abbreviations for the Tetragammaton, the unpronounceable name of God. The “heh” is not the first letter of the Tetragammaton (which is Yod-heh-vav-heh) but rather the initial of the word “Hashem” (the Name), which is - again - a metaphoric reference to the name of the Lord. Religious Jews, fearful of mispronouncing the sacred name, use periphrases such as Adonai (my Lord) or Hahshem, the letter heh or the letter yod. The three letters heh are sometimes represented by three numbers 5 (the numerical value of the letter heh), they also remind us of the legend, about the fifteen Fellow Crafts who went searching for Hiram Abi. They separated into three groups of five, going out from the three entrances to the Temple.

          While in the first and second degree Tracing Board the East is at the top, indicating the direction of travel of the Apprentice and Fellow Craft, here the West is at the top, showing that the Master Mason travels westward to spread the knowledge he has acquired.

          The stele on the right shows the pentacle, perhaps a reference to the five points of Fellowship, while that on the left depicts the Theorem of Pythagoras, which at present is a symbol of the Past Master of a Lodge. 

          A final example, by J. Bowring in 1819, shows the coffin without a body, but it does include the Tablets of the Law, the urn (which, in Masonic tradition, held Hiram Abi’s heart), and interestingly, a circle with five points, obviously referring to the pentacle, and the point within a circle. The Hebrew letters below the skull are, reading right to left, M, B, T and C. [3]

          To conclude, I must point out that many of the same symbols appearing in the Tracing Boards were also used in the painted aprons so popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as in diplomas, lodge summons, medals, plates, and sundry items. A comprehensive study of Masonic iconography is still to be attempted.

 

 

[1]             Masonic Halls of England - The South, Lewis Masonic, 1989, p. 13.

[2]             Private Edition, London, 1976, p. 325. A revised and augmented edition has been issued by              Lewis Masonic.

[3]             Obviously referring to the secret word and the password of the Master Mason.