The following is very off topic, especially for me, but I offer it for two reasons. First, I have been very busy this week and really haven’t had time to write something on topic, especially since the Super Bowl took a big chunk out of my Sunday routine, and secondly, because this small essay was made possible by our own Steve Steinbock.

It’s the address I gave at my installation as Master of Santa Monica-Palisades Lodge #307, F&AM of California. I hope you enjoy it. —JLW

PSALM 133

by James Lincoln Warren

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”

Entered Apprentices are charged with regarding the volume of the Sacred Law as the great light in their profession as newly-minted Masons, as the standard of truth and justice. Freemasons regard faith in Deity as necessary, and men of all faiths are welcome in our Temple. It is not therefore an adherence to the literal truth of any specific holy writings that is important to us as Masons, however fundamental such volumes may be to our respective faiths, but an appreciation of the spiritual and symbolic truths contained therein, their scriptural power for moral guidance and goodness.

This particular passage of scripture is close to the heart of every Mason of every faith, from the youngest Entered Apprentice in the Northeast corner of the lodge to the Worshipful Master in the East. It is the fourteenth of the fifteen “Psalms of Degrees”, which Jewish tradition informs us corresponded to each of the fifteen steps ascending to the entrance of King Solomon’s Temple.

A lodge of Free and Accepted Masons is said to symbolically represent that Temple, and so the relevance of the Psalm to our Craft, with its celebration of the joys of brotherhood and its evocation of that mighty edifice representative of how men of good character should construct their lives, is self-evident. But as with most of the symbolic structure of our timeless Fraternity, it contains valuable lessons in addition to those immediately apparent.

The Psalm compares the pleasures of fraternal unity to the anointment of Aaron, brother of Moses, the first man to preside in the Tabernacle, which was the model for King Solomon’s Temple. Aaron’s significance to the ideal of brotherly love cannot be overstated.

We learn from the Holy Writings that after God delivered to him the mandate of freeing the nation of Israel from bondage in Egypt, Moses expressed doubt in his ability to deliver God’s word.

The Holy Qur’an tells us that Moses told Allah: “And my brother Aaron—he is more eloquent in speech than I: so send him with me as a helper, to confirm (and strengthen) me: for I fear that they may accuse me of falsehood.” To which Allah replied, “We will certainly strengthen thy arm through thy brother, and invest you both with authority, so that they shall not be able to touch you: with Our Signs shall ye triumph,—you two as well as those who follow you.” (Sura 28 “The Narration”, ayahs 34-35, trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali)

Exodus concludes the story: “And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.”

The importance of this meeting is reflected in the Midrash Tanhuma, a Jewish commentary on the meaning of the Torah, or Pentateuch (as those of us raised in the Christian faith call the first five books of the Bible):

It is written: “The Lord said to Aaron, ‘Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.’” (Exodus 4:27). This reminds us of the passage: “O that thou wert as my brother . . . [when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee]1” (Song of Songs 8:1), which is to say that Israel says before The Holy One, “Thou wert as my brother.” But we find so many brothers who hate one another. Cain hated Abel, as it is written, “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” (Genesis 4:8). Ishmael hated Isaac, as it is written, “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.” (Genesis 21:9). Esau hated Jacob, as it is written, “And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then [will I slay my brother Jacob.]” (Genesis 27:41). The twelve sons of Jacob hated Joseph, as it is written, “they hated him” (Genesis 37:4). But of which brothers are likened to Israel and The Holy One? Moses and Aaron, as it is written, “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity.” (Psalm 133). They loved and were endeared to one another, thus, when Moses received the Kingdom, and Aaron received the Priesthood, they had no acrimony toward each other, but rather each found delight in the grandeur of the other.

(This passage was translated from the Hebrew by my good friend, Steve Steinbock.)

Thus we find another connection to the Masonic ideal, buttressed by the Psalm, and also by the Song of Songs, authored by Solomon, the builder of the Temple, whose significance to Freemasonry is without parallel.

I have always believed that there are three great metaphors at work in all of Masonry. The first is Craft, expressed in terms of architecture and the casting of metal artifacts, symbolizing taking charge of the erection of our own moral and Masonic life edifice. The second is travel, the journey through life. And the third is light, that knowledge that shines.

Aaron, like one illustrious in Masonic history, was a skilled worker in metals. Aaron, like all of his generation, was a traveler in the great Exodus. And Aaron, as High Priest, was responsible for the lights in the Tabernacle, as the Tanhuma reminds us: “Say to thy brother Aaron: Greater than the gifts of the princes is thy gift; for thou art called upon to kindle the light, and, while the sacrifices shall last only as long as the Temple lasts, thy light of the Law shall last forever.” (From the Salomon Buber edition.)

The Temple is no more, but the light endures.

So in the words of the Pirke Avot, from the Mishnah, “Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to Learning.” (Trans. Steve Steinbock again.)

Let that be our goal, my brothers and guests. Let us all love peace and pursue peace, and love each other, and achieve a closeness to learning, not just over the coming year, which I as your new Master look forward to with great humility and profound joy, but for all our lives, and “even life forevermore.”

1. The brackets indicate a part of the passage not included in the Tanhuma itself; I added them to make their meaning clear to the audience. My friend Steve Steinbock says that Midrash references to scripture only include the first few words of the passage being cited; the reader is expected to know the rest. [↩]