JAHBULON

"In Craft Freemasonry, God is the Great Architect of the Universe. The name of the Great Architect is revealed in the rite of the Holy Arch as JAHBULON. This is a composite name comprising the Hebrew God JAH (Yahweh), the Canaanite fertility deity, BUL (Baal, who had licentious rites of imitative magic), and ON (Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of the underworld)."

Comments like this on many Christian web sites indicate that the authors are not familiar with Hebrew or the writings of John Calvin, who repeatedly calls God the Architect of the Universe in the Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Ba’al, written with the letter Ain is a Hebrew word, which means husband or Lord. All the gods of the Cannanites were called Ba’als or Ba’alim and their worship was denounced by the prophets of Israel. Ba’al can have nothing to do with BUL, which is written with the Hebrew consonant Aleph.

JAHBULON consists of seven Hebrew letters representing "YHWH Elehenu YHWH". The letter B which refers to the Temple at Jerusalem replaces YHWH a word never pronounced except by the High Priest. This Hebrew phrase is at the center of the sacred confession of divine unity, "Hear, O Israel, YHWH, our God, YHWH is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4)

Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6:3-9)

A well known reference to this text occurs in Luke 10:25-28

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind (Deut. 6:5); and thy neighbour as thyself (Lev. 19:18). And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

The spiritual, intellectual and emotional values of the Bible are inseparable from the poetic form in which they are communicated.

back to in the news . . .

Jason's Toast - Orchestra - Food & Wine - History - em@son web ring