Speculative Freemasonry 231the house of God. To wit, the two pillars, and the pommels, and
the capitals which were on the top of the two pillars.Adoram, Adonhiram, or Adoniram, son of Abda, was one of
Solomon's high officials, the head of the conscripted workers (Kings III,
4:6). It was he who, in this capacity, directed the works of the temple,
but we know that in reality the true architect of the Temple was God
himself. When King David gave his son Solomon the plans for the
building of the Temple and the models of the tabernacle and all the
tools, he declared: "all of this was written by the Lord's hand which
gave unto me the understanding." (Chronicles I, 28:19). Solomon and
Hiram were merely executing (albeit perfectly) the will of God.
In the commingling of Hiram and Adoniram, the masons followed
the customary interpretation of all the medieval commentaries and inter-
pretations of the Bible. But the masonic legend—a major theme of the
initiation of the mason to the grade of master—invented the tragic death
of Hiram, who was said to have been killed by three evil journeymen to
whom he had refused to give the master "word." He was then transfig-
ured and resuscitated in the person of the newly initiated master.
In this story, the masons embroidered upon the Bible. What's more,
as we shall see, Adoniram was killed in circumstances that bear resem-
blance to Hiram's death through their sacred and spiritual significance.
Hiram is mentioned in the old charges (see the Tew manuscript,
circa 1680, which describes him as the son of King Hiram; see also the
Inigo Jones manuscript from the same era). But the legend of his death,
with its initiatory and therefore secret character, appears in documented
form only with modern Freemasonry, specifically in Prichard's expose
Masonry Dissected (1730). The ancient provenance of this legend
seems accurate, however, for it seems its full meaning and the source for
its inspiration could be found only in a mediveal reading of the Bible, a
mind-set that was completely lost with the arrival of the Reformation
and Counter-Reformation.
We may invoke additional arguments in support of this legend's
age. The creation of legends based on biblical themes was a widespread
practice during the Middle Ages. It was encouraged by popular fervor
and a taste for the marvelous. The Church itself, far from condemning