CABBALAH Ch. 5 Ralston Skinner

— No. V.
MASONIC CABBALAH IN THE BIBLE.
By Bro. J. Ralston Skinner (McMillan Lodge, No. 141).
Cabbalah is of the essence of Masonry. Its study, therefore, instead of being an abstraction, —mere antiquarian lore, and speculative philosophy, is built from the ground upward, with a practical application to present uses. Our present system of exact science is made up, for its foundations, upon broken, unconnected fragments of this very ancient Cabbalah, —which was claimed to be a complete divine unity, within itself. For the Mason, therefore, it is necessary, to an intense interest in the development of Cabbalah in the Holy Writ, to preface this work with certain formulations; and as preparatory thereto, an attentive reading of the article on Hebrew Metrology in the July number of this Review, is bespoken. Let me also beg of the reader a careful, contemplative study of the connected statements which will hereinafter be made, — for, «absque sudore et labore nullum opus pcrfectum est. » The key of this disclosed Cabbalistic system rests on the discovered fitness and use of the Imperial British or Masonic Inch, as applied, under Mr. Parker’s discovery, to these ancient unfoldings. This, on first view, is so incredible, that the subterfuge so readily run to, in such matters, of accidental coincidence, would find ample apology for use here, were it not that the denominations, also, of the British measures, based on that inch, are found to be of equal fitting with the inch, —their standard unit. These systems, —of the ancient cubit measures, the old Roman measures, and the present British measures, are found to be coordinately, essentially and intimately interrelated, the one with the other, —in just application — to such a vast extent, that the idea of accidental coincidence is forbidden. Moreover, —it becomes a matter of compulsory, and in the writer’s opinion, of overwhelming conviction, viz., that the origin of these systems cannot be, for a moment, ascribed to any artificial primordial human invention, —they must, ad origine , have rested in nature itself, and were developed out of nature into human use, —by whatever means, let us say by inspiration, or revelation by the Divine First Power who had created and made use of them;—who also created man, and placed him on this earth, whose (man’s) construction and place, in the cosmos, was governed by these very systems of measures. In other words, —the question keeps forcing itself, whether we are not treating of the Divine, —the real essential Divine, —in the Scriptures; that part of them, in which the essential, rational or inductive testimony of the Divine, is to be found in, and in the place of, the «thing in itself.» And this is just as it should be; for without this, or some such ingredient in the Holy Scriptures, they must fall to the ground, lame productions as to their divine character and origin. Cabbalah seems to embrace this ingredient. Its development, as disclosed, the writer firmly believes, will, the more it is studied, give satisfaction as to the embracement of this quality; and, thus should be regarded as one of those really marvelous radical discoveries, which once made, must serve for the base of a radically new religious philosophy:—which, once found, must take rank as the substratum of right thought, —that is, of the Holy Temple.
(1.) The ratio of 20612 to 6561, was rediscovered by the late John A. Parker, —as the least and proper integral relation of circumference to diameter of a circle, —while the measuring uses thereof, were, happily and accidently, discovered by the writer. 20612, practicalized as 20.612 British or Masonic Inches (this inch being the standard unit of measure), was an ancient Egyptian cubit:—as already said, the trial measure, microscopically taken, of the very perfect one in the Turin Museum, being 20.61172 B. inches. By multiplying part of this ratio (20612) by 4/3, from the product Mr. Parker got a result from whence, as a measure of time, he obtained the exact time of a revolution of the moon;—which product, again multiplied by gave a result from whence he obtained the exact measure in time of the earth’s passage around the sun (with this base, he also discovered a law of the secular variation of the magnetic needle, and other singular cosmic facts). But, in doing this, the other part of this ratio, viz., 6561×16/9 gives 11664; which, strange to say, recovers in 11.664 British or Masonic inches, the exact value of the old Roman Foot! (See researches of John Taylor, and Prof. Greaves, of Oxford).
(2.) Mr. Parker’s ratio of 20612 for circumference of a circle, to its diameter of 6561, was based on an area computation, as follows:—In a square of 81 to the side, whose area will necessarily be 6561, the area of its inscribed circle will be 5153 (John A. Parker);—and, then, by a true geometrical process, if the numerical value of this area of 6561, be considered to measure the linear length of the diameter of a circle, then, the circumference of that circle will be 5153×4=20612: — these elements producing our measuring ratio of 20612 to 6561, as derived from this geometrical truism. Thus, the base of this measuring ratio is 5153 to 6561:— which let the reader keep in mind, as this precise ratio is set forth in the history of Abram, in the Bible.
(3.) Let us now refer, again, to Mr. Parker’s process for finding, from 20612 to 6561, the measure of the moon’s and earth’s times of lunar and annual revolutions. The second product, or 20612:6561×16/9, is
36643.555+11.664
(wherein11.664 B. inches is, as said, the old Roman Foot). Now, ask the question: What will be the fourth proportional, in the statement
36643.555+:11664::11664:?
The fourth term will be found to be 3712.76465+. This is the use of a singularly beautiful proposition in geometry, viz.:—That where a line is dropped from the arc of a semi-circle, on to and perpendicular to its diameter line, such a line will be a mean proportional between the segments of the diameter line, so divided;—therefore, the geometrical diagrammatic display of this proportion will be, — a semi-circle, having a base, or diameter, of 36643.555+3712.76465 or 40356.3202+, with a line,11664 in length, perpendicular to and touching it, and also touching its arc.
(4.) But this last proportion of
11664:3712.76465+
is a very remarkable one:— For, divide it by 32.4, and the quotient will be
360 circumference, to 114.5915+, diameter,
or
360 circumference, to 57.295+, radius of a circle; —
which last result is, what is called in geometry, the “analytical unit of measure,” — a formulation, laying at the base of plane and spherical trigonometry, the logarithmic tables, surveying, engineering, architecture, etc., etc.
(5.) Divide, however, this 11664:3712.76465 by 18, and we will have a quotient of
648:206.26470+,
or we may have the full proportion of
206.12:65.61::648:206.26470:—
which brings us to a most significant state of results;—for, whereas, 20612, as British (or Masonic) inches, is the recovery of one ancient Egyptian cubit measure, 20.626470 is (in fact !) the recovery of another, viz., the so-called «Nilometer Cubit,» —the trial restoration of which, by Wilkinson, was
20.625 B. Inches.
(6.) This result, as the development of a measuring system, is nothing less than wonderful, when it is found to involve this further fact, viz.,
206264.70+ seconds
is the radius seconds of the circle of 360 degrees! And further, — this is the known quantity, selected to enter into the modern equation, by astronomers, to find the angle of parallax, and the sun’s distance.
Hence, from our geometrical base of 206.12, which as British inches, is 10 Turin (ancient Egyptian) cubits, we develop the fourth term of 206.26470, which is at the same time, radius seconds of the circle of 360 degrees (time measure), and, in British or Masonic Inches, 10 Nilometer (ancient Egyptian) cubits:—wherein we see we have a co-ordinating measure of Space and Time.
(7.) The number 10, the picture of the circle and its diameter line (one), was held as sacred, and in Hebrew was the letter Jod or j or i, the signature of the name Jehovah, by whom all things were created (and the Christ of the New—was the Jehovah of the Old —Testament). The two letters j or i, and h, or the numbers 10 and 5, composed the sacred name, Jah, for Jehovah, and together made the number 15. But these especial letters for these numbers, were so sacred that they were not permitted to be used to designate this value, —but other letters were substituted. In the Gospel according to St. John, Christ is called the «Light,» and the Light was the Word, or «Logos.» Now the Hebrew word Light was אור AOR, which triangular (because tri-literal) word, read on the bound of a circle, as will be shown, gives in numbers, this geometrical, measuring number 20612, which as 206.12 British, or Masonic inches, was
10 Cubits:—
So that it was expressive of its geometrical and numerical, and measure origin, and at the same time, of its use of this sacred number 10 such cubits. The number 5 (the letter h) is its lowest factor; which, with its double, 10, makes the Ineffable Name, Jah. The Holy of Holies of the Great Pyramid, of the Tabernacle, and of the Temple with its Porch, was built by the originating factor of this 10 cubits; —and from the architectural were said to proceed, or develop, the «laws and ordinances» of the spiritual house not made with hands. Hence the number 10 cubits, in its original of 206.12 Masonic inches, was esteemed as the
Sacred Foundation
for all manifestations, or incarnations of the Supreme Being, or Divine Architect; —which for this reason was considered —Most Holy. But because10 such cubits pointed to the two interrelated cubits, viz., 206.12 (Turin), and 206.26 (Nilometer) cubits, the number
206,
the, in-common, expression for either or both thereof, was made use of, which would carry in one word, this geometrical, numerical, measuring, sacred idea, with reference to both the cubits. This word was the Hebrew Dabar, or, in English, «Word;» and, just as Jehovah became the Christ of the New Testament, so this Hebrew word, «DaBaR,» became the Greek «Logos,» or as we have it, «The Word,» viz.,—that «Light» by which all things became:— because the letters of this original word DaBaR, or דבר, signified, in the sum of the values of its letters, R= 200, B= 2, and D= 4, together
206,
or this 10 Divine cubits; as derivative from the Light (AOR, or 20612), by which all things were made ( —»which, for us men, and our salvation, came down from heaven, and was made Man»), — that is to say, again:—the, in-common, designation, in whole numbers, for 10 Turin cubits (206.12 inches) and 10 Nilometer cubits (206.26 inches);—so, that, the mysterious use of DaBaR, Logos, Word, lays in the number 206, as expressive of this fundamental fact of measure, — the same fact carrying with it, to one acquainted with the system as said, the familiar knowledge of all the above, with an infinite extension of the same, by way of development, besides… The use of this word DaBaR, is supplemented by the use of its plural, DaBaRIM, in the description of the Ark of the Covenant;— by which what has been stated is both proven and explained.
(8.) If now we take the whole of this measuring proportion, viz.: 20612:6561::64800:20626.4700: and multiply it twice by 4/3, or once by 16/9, we will have, as product: (1) The measuring uses, by Mr. Parker, of the times of the moon and the sun, (2) The Roman Foot in British inches, and (3) In the fourth term, the value
36669.2800309+, —
which, as British inches, was, and is, the measure of the length of the four sides of the base, between sockets, of The Great Pyramid of Egypt!— or, reduced to feet,
3055.7733359+,—
or, for each one, of the four base sides of the pyramid, between sockets,
763.9433339+ feet.
(9.) I speak here by the card, —because, by the exactest measures between the sockets of the pyramid, taken most carefully by various parties, especially the French engineers under Napoleon, and Col. Howard Vyse, of England, this line was found to be
9168 British Inches,
— while 763 943+ feet, are
9167.32+ British Inches!
In which regard, we may say, in passing, this same measure is justified, over and over again, constructively, throughout the pyramid, —as to which, we will give the following, but one out of many proofs thereof, viz.:— I found, constructively, that the floor line of The Descending Passage Way into the Pyramid, was just 200 Nilometer cubits, or 2062.6470 British inches, multiplied by 2, or
4125.294 B. Inches; —
As to which, Col. Vyse, carefully restoring and measuring that line, says:—
«about 4126 inches !»
This is 343.7745+ feet, (but 3437. 745+ minutes, is the radius minutes of the circle of 360 degrees!). Now, to 343.7745+ feet, add its 1/9th, and we will have 343.7745+38, 197166+ =
381.97166+ Feet,
or the half base side of the pyramid; — or multiplied by 2, this gives the product of
763.9433339+ Feet,
as above. That is, 20/9ths the length of The Descending Passage Way, is the length of the base side, between sockets. To carry the matter a little further:—34.37745feet, or 20 Nilometer cubits, is the length of the King’s chamber, while the half of this, or 10 cubits, is the width of the King’s chamber. These are the measures of the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle and Temple. We may also add this: — 343. 7745+ is the diameter of a circle whose circumference is precisely 1080, — and 1080 is the sum, in time measure, of the three great circles of the year day values, viz., 355 the lunar year, 360 the calendar year, and 365 the solar year, or 355+360+365=1080; by which, the conversion into astronomical time measuring use is seen. To which may be added, that with the Jews, their least measure of time, was the division of the hour into 1080 chiliakim or scrupules.
(10.) Now John Taylor discovered that the height of the pyramid bore the relation to twice the side of its base, as diameter to circumference of a circle. Therefore for a base side of 381.971+ x 2, the height of the pyramid proper, would be 486.+ feet; and group with these measures, this further, viz., that the length of this base side would be 444.+ cubits (all these being measures, in-common, for construction by either Turin or Nilometer cubits, — their difference, in application, showing in decimal expression). This group of measures is shown in the names of the three sons of Noah, as given in Holy Writ; — for place these names, or «Shem, Ham and Japhet,» in Hebrew, as follows:
ש ם
ח ם
י
ו פ ת

— and then place the characterizing small numbers of the letters of these names in the same relative order and positions, and we have
4 3
4 8
1
4 8 6
wherein, in the measure of feet, —381 is the half base side, and 486 is the height;—while 444 is the cubit measure of the full length of the base side, as said above. Just as the word DaBaR, or 206 was the, in-common, designation for the two classes of cubits (either of which used carried the other use by intendment or implication), in their strict measure of 206.12 or 206.26 inches, for 10 Turin cubits or 10 Nilometer cubits, respectively, so I find in the Bible, 381 and 763, and other values, are used for a like implication of two connected, contrasted harmonic values, growing out of a common formulating base. The reason why I have given these pyramid measures is to show a direct connection between them and the Masonic 24 inch guage, as follows:—Take a circle, or clock face, whose circumference is exactly 24 inches, to indicate the scale of one inch to a hundred feet, its diameter will be
7.639433339+ inches;
or, agreeably to the scale,
763.9433339+ feet,—
or the exact measure of the base side of the pyramid, from which, as a base, or side of a square, the reproduction of the Egyptian Pyramid can be made by giving it a height proportioned as above, to this base. Hence, one can see the Masonic connection. What seems to confirm this is, that these measures, as shown, involve the circle of 360 degrees, —but the circle of 360 degrees is also that of 24 hours, represented by the 24 inch guage used for a time measure, that is, one inch to the hour; and the diameter of this is 7.63943+, as said.
(12.) I must note it as a phenomenon of the Biblical measures, that as to the cubits, they are almost always used in the double, just as the Holy of Holies is a double cube, and the altars are double cubes. The apparent reason is, that the double is always made use of to signify, or follow out, the law of nature in its doubled aspects, or polarities, —as, man and woman, heat and cold, summer and winter, day and night, the sun and moon, etc., etc., as necessities of conflict, or crossing, for production. For, where these circular cubit measures are brought into use, as we will show further on, instead of 20612, they are to be found as 41224, or the double of this. There are some exceptions, as for instance, —in the 18th chapter of Genesis and 10th verse, where there is a symbolic picture of Abram and Sarah standing in the door of a tent (a pyramidical structure with a triangular opening) these words occur, as explaining the use of the picture:—H’ahl—V’Hua
האהל והוא
1 6 5 6 3 5 1 5
wherein, by the numbers of the letters of the words, we have the direct ratio of 5153 to 6561, given, or the Parker base of this entire system of geometry and measures. In this connection, the fact is exceedingly interesting, that the vertical height of the lip of the floor of the mouth of The Descending Passage Way into the Great Pyramid, above its base, was 51.53 feet; —which measures I also found were made use of in the Ark of the Covenant, as 5153 feet, and 51.53 inches.
(13.) Thus we have: (1)The geometrical shape of a circle and its diameter line. (2) The numerical relation, or ratio, between that diameter line and the circumference of the circle, which, it is claimed, is the veritable and true integral relation; if for no other reason (and we have other good and sound ones) than because it is to be found as the base of a Divine system of measures in the Holy Bible. (3) This numerical value practicalized as a cubit measure, the standard unit being the precise length of the at present so-called Imperial British Inch, by which, on application, reconstruction of The Great Egyptian Pyramid can be made so as to recover the architectural intent, —in which is involved the use of the 24 inch guage; thus marking the system, as, at the same time, the most ancient, and yet the most modern of the world. (4) The recovery of the source from whence, not only our measures, but a unit system in which this source is contained, which shows us that our present measures are directly connected with geometry, —in the elements of the circle called «pi» the «analytical unit of measure» and the «circle of 360 degrees» with its various uses. (5) And, finally, this system seems to have been one of Divine use, out in the cosmos; and to have been imparted by The First Intelligent Cause, as his gift, for his creatures uses and purposes.
From this, the whole scheme seems to be Divine in its very essence, —and this is the claim that Masonry makes for its foundations; of like kind, application and import.
It now remains to be seen whether we can find this ratio of 20612 to 6561, used for measuring purposes in the Bible, as giving the cubit of 20 inches, —with its correlated one of 20.626470+ inches. If we can, then what I have claimed as to the Cabbalah, must be true.
I will now make a showing of this fact, —which is but partial, after all, and but one of a vast number of Cabbalistic readings of various nature. We know that this cubit value, in Masonic inches, was Egyptian, and if we find it also in the Bible, it but confirms this knowledge.
The first mentioned use of measures in the Bible is to be found in the narrative of the Flood, viz., in the description of the construction of the Ark or Theba.
There is a sort of preface preparatory to the use, in the alleged distance of time from Adam to the Flood. For, it is said that from Adam, whose primal location was in the center of the Garden of Eden, to the Flood, was 1656 years. Draw any right line, and write on it these numbers, in their order. They may be read in the reverse order as 6561,—and this is permissible by Cabbalah; by which we have our 6561 diameter to a circumference of 20612. But 20.612 Masonic inches is shown to have been practicalized as one ancient Egyptian cubit; and here, the geometrical ratio of its origin is seen to be implied in direct connection with the first narrative of the Bible in which the cubit is made use of as a measure. These numbers are here placed as a head line, —as a determinative of the measuring use immediately to follow. For, from this place, commences the development in the text of the Hebrew Bible, of the measures of The Great Pyramid of Egypt. And it must be kept in mind that the learning of the Egyptians was the learning of the old Hebrews; or, rather, the reverse of this. For our present showing, we are to take up in order the three covenants, viz, with Noah, with Abram, and that of the Ark of the Covenant at Sinai.
(A.) After Noah leaves the ark, which was constructed in the measures of cubits, God makes a covenant with him. He gives him a token, or sign, of this covenant, viz., the rainbow. The diagrammatic display of this is a semi-circle, based on the plane of the horizon as its diameter. Thus, this displays the identical geometrical origin from whence, as related, was derived the cubit, in terms of the Ma sonic inch used as a unit of measure. Both are connected together, viz., the sign or token, and the covenant, and the terms are so chosen as to interrelate, the one with the other, so as to ex plain and develop the purpose of this covenant. The word covenant is B’rith (ברית) The characterizing small values of the letters of the words are: ת =4, י =1, ר =2, and ב =2, or, in order, 4122. The sum of these small values is 4+1+2+2=9, and 9 is the root of 6561,—because 9×9=81, and 81×81=6561. But place the numbers in order on the bound of a circle, at equal intervals (let the reader try it for himself), and now read the numbers on the intervals of the circle: — We will commence with 4, and read from 4 to 1, from 1 to 2, from 2 to 2, and we now see that we have not covered the last space of the circle, nor can we do so until we have taken again in statement the initial number, or 4; and so, to complete the spacing of the circle, we must read 41224. But the token, or sign, was the half of a circle, so divide this 41224 by 2, and we have 20612, or the circumference of the circle, whose diameter is 6561; the origin of measures of the cubit, and the old Roman Foot, founded on the Masonic inch. We can now readily see the meaning of the use of the numbers 4122. They are so given that their use will bring out, in numbers, those very comparative elements of the circle, which they are designed to show forth, viz., diameter to circumference; for, their sum is 9, the root of 6561, while read on the bound of a circle, they will naturally be extended to read 41224; which circle so read, will have a radius of 6561; —which, again, is diameter to a circumference of 20612, twice which is this 41224.
(B.) Let us now pass onto the Covenant with Abram. From the Flood to the time of Abram’s going out of the land of Ur (or AOR, Light) of the Chaldeans, the interval is purposely divided into «from the Flood to Arphaxad 2 years,» and from Arphaxad to that time «365 years,» —a total of 367 years. Now 367 reversed is 763, in Masonic feet the length of the base side of the Great Pyramid, —whose pattern is Mount Arrarat, around which these measures are made to play, while 365, in time measure, are the number of days in the solar year. Ararat (אררת for אררט) reads also 4221, as B’rith. As in the Flood instance, so the narrative of the travels, and so on, of Abram, is prefaced by head lines, — expressive of the salient Cabbalistic features of his history. It is said of Abram that he went out of the «Land of the Chaldeans,» but the more literal reading is, that he proceeded out of the “Light of the Constellations,» that is, out of Light, for the word for «Land» is
AOR, or Light, that is Ur, Hebrew אור.
Now this word AOR, indicates a triangle, because it is a three letter word. Place a triangle, point downward, and place the Hebrew letters of the word, one at each corner, then make a circle pass through the points of the triangle (and you have that geometrical display from whence John A. Parker obtained his numerical elements of the circle, viz., 20612:6561, wholly unconscious and unwitting of this further parallel construction and use, for he was no Mason). Then read the numbers of these letters, around this circle, as follows: — A is 1, O is 6, and R is 200; begin with 200 and pass on to the 6, that is 206 (DaBaR, Word, or 10 cubits), then pass on to the 1, and read 206 — 1, then to complete the reading of the circle, the 2 of the 200 will have to be read again, making the total reading
20612
again. But take the small, or characterizing values of the letters, viz., 2 and 6 and 1; if we add them together we have 2+6+1=9; which is the root of 6561, the diameter of this circle.
Under this head line we will make the display of its use to develop this same system of proportions and cubits. But it is done with an advertisement, to intensify the appreciation of the development, for which let us quote the Biblical title of Abram himself: — The ordinary reading of Genesis, c. 14, v. 19, is, «Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth.» This sentence is of such a construction that the Hebrew word translated «possessor,» may be used in apposition with either of the names, «Abram» or «God.» In Hebrew the word is KNH (קנה), which word means measure, and in its secondary or more derivative sense possessor. The sentence can, therefore, be read, much more literally,
— “Blessed of the Most High God be Abram, measure of heaven.”
And, in fact, with the head line given, and with this advertisement, the name Abram, with the changes made on it, may be taken as the index of a system of measures, having this «Light» ratio, of 20612 to 6561, as its base. As said, the original (or Parker) ratio, of 5153 to 6561, is found in the 18th chapter of Genesis, in the 10th verse, in the words —»in the tent and he» or האהל והוא, that is, 5153—6561.
The Lord said to Abram: — «I am the Lord, that brought thee out of the land of the Chaldeans (AOR of the Constellations) to give thee this land to inhabit it.» He promises him a son out of his own loins, but with a condition, —of change of his name from Abram to Abraham, and the performance of a covenant («between thee and me»), viz., of circumcision. This circumcision was «the token» of the covenant; and it had this peculiar meaning, viz.:— prior to circumcision, the man was deemed to possess a feminine quality, impairing his manhood, which was removed by circumcision. In the affair with the Shechemites, the sons of Jacob say to them in relation to their being uncircumcised, — «for those having the prepuce are women to us,» the word charaphah, having a primary signification to which a feminine quality can be attached as the properer meaning in the connection, than the usually translated word «reproach.» And Lane, in his notes on the customs of the Arabs of the present day, says of the young lads about to be circumcised, that on the day of the ceremony, and just prior thereto, they are paraded around, dressed in girl’s clothes. (See Source of Measures, page 237).
So, the token, or sign, of the covenant with Abram, was the ring, or circle of the prepuce, which as a feminine mark had to be taken from him, for his new name of Abraham, and for his power to become a father; and this token was a circle in this case, as was the circle of the rainbow with Noah. In both instances, the proceeding had for its object the explanation of the use of the same word, viz., covenant, or B’rith, or 4122. Here, as there, the sum of these numbers is 9, the root of 6561, while the same numbers, read on the bound of the circle, or token, will give 41224, or our 20612×2.
Refer back to the formula
20612 to 6561 as 64800 to 20626+.
Multiply this by two, and we have
41224 to 13122 as 129600 to 41252.
In the first term of the last proportion we have our covenant reading, on a circle, of 41224. But, in this particular instance, the fourth term, or the Nilometer cubit value, multiplied by two, or 41252, is to be involved in the change of name of Abram to Abraham; — for which reason, the name or word Abram, itself, must involve the use of the same numbers with the word covenant, or B’rith; and they do so, —for the letters of the Hebrew word Abram, are אברם, an, give us 4221. These numbers, in their sum, are 9, the root of 6561, and read on the bound of a circle are 41224, as were those of the word B’rith. Thus the word Abram is chosen as a synonym, in this sense, with the word B’rith.
Now the word Abraham, אברהם has the same letters, with one additional one, as with Abram, אברם. The first name contains the numbers 45221, and the second 4122. But the use of this last, was to indicate the measure of a circle 41224, the first cubit term in the above proportion, and behold! We see that in 45221 we have the precise numbers of our fourth term of the same proportion, which reads 41252, with only the difference of arrangement. But this last value is that of diameter of a circle, and is not to be had by any reading on a circle; and this is provided for by the Cabbalistic law of T’mura, or change of position of the number letters of a word by permutation, as in our arithmetics; and where a system is shown to be evolving by Cabbalistic development, and the numbers of the letters of a word show themselves to fit precisely as the proper sequence of such evolution, we have the right to make such a sequence by the permutations of such numbers, —that is, in this case, to support the Turin cubit value 41224 worked on Abram’s name, a circumference of a circle value, we can work by permutation the «rearrangement» of 45221 of the name Abraham, to 41252, —the fourth term of the same proportion or Nilometer cubit value, raised on a diameter value as seen. As a fact, the circle has always been used as a feminine token, while the diameter straight line has, in like manner, been used to indicate the male.
Let us repeat a little. When treating of a subject, in which its parts manifestly, refer to a like or common subject matter, —the aim of the use of such parts can be so taken; and there is a law of Cabbalah called T’murah, or change of the order of letters (numbers) by permutation («re-arrangement and re-uniting»), by which, if the arrangement will fit in a scheme being elaborated, one has the right to rearrange the numbers of Abraham’s name, 45221 to 41252, to suit the manifest and determined intent. You can «halve it and syllable it»; you can «re-arrange and re-unite.» Apart from this (parenthetically), the word Abraham may be read as a word, HRM-AB, or Huram-Ab, so that by a permitted change of the Hebrew letter cheth to he, he is the Hiram Abi of the later books. By this little figure in the Hebrew text, the formation of the Nilometer cubit measure, (viz., 20626×2=41252, Abraham) is raised from the use of the Turin cubit (20612×2=41224);—the change being made from a feminine quality, the circle, to a masculine one, the arrow headed diameter line, —a sharp pointed instrument. And let us add, in closing this description of the covenant with Abram, the following: The point from whence Abram sets out on his travel, that is, Ur ( — that is, AOR, Light, or 20612), is marked by the 365 years, beginning with the 2 years after Arphaxad, closing on this point as that of his starting out. He travels down to Sichem, שכם , the sum of the values of the letters of which word is 360. And, then, he goes down into Egypt (Darkness) before Pharoah (פרעה), the sum of the values of the letters of which name is 355. These, respectively, are the days of the solar, the calendar, and the lunar years; —and their sum is 1080, which is circumference of a circle whose diameter is 343.7745+: —and —343.7745 + feet is, as has already been said, the length of The Descending Passage Way into the Great Egyptian Pyramid (while 3437.745+ minutes, time measure, is the radius minutes, of the circle of 360 degrees), which leads from without, just as does Abram’s travel, from the outer light of the starry constellations, down past the mouth of the Ascending Passage Way (which leads upward to the door of the Holy of Holies by 3, 5 and 7 steps to the three Johns), Sichem, the shoulder or turn, down again, into the blackness of darkness (that is, Egypt). The measure, in Masonic Inches, of this Passage Way is 200 Nilometer cubits, — 343.7745+ feet, or 41252.+ inches, — that is— ABRAHAM. Thus, from Adam to the Flood, to Abram, Abraham, and to Egypt before Pharoah, completes the embracement of the holy territory treated of in the Pentateuch. It would be taking too much space to go very much into detail, but this should be said:—The sum of the values of the letters of Abram’s name is 1+2+200+40=243, — and this is the height of a pyramid whose base side would be 381+. Now 381+ is the, in common, designation of the half base side of The Great Pyramid, just as the measures are taken from either of our two cubits, and both are always held to each other in connection by intendment. The Great Pyramid was 763 feet for its base side, or 444. cubits, —its half being 381 feet, with height for this last of 243. All which connects these measures, through Abraham, on the one side with «Egypt before Pharoah,» and on the other with «Shem, Ham, and Japhet» (see supra), as also with the 367 (or 763) years from Noah to the point in the Land of AOR (20612), whence Abram started out to go down into the Darkness. And so we might go on, for quantity.
(C.) We may pass now to the third covenant, viz., that between the Lord and the people of Israel at Sinai. In this instance, the measures used, and the evidences of their use, are united immediately together in one figure, namely, in the description of the Ark of the Covenant, with its contents. The measures of this ark, as given, are: height 1 1/2 cubits, and width 11/2 cubits, that is, the breadth and height are, each, the half of three cubits, and the length 21/2 cubits. In terms of 20.216 British or Masonic inches to the cubit, 3 cubits are 5.153 feet, and 2 1/2 cubits are 51.58 inches. The word covenant, — as before, read on a circle, gives us 41224, while the sum of its digit numbers gives us 9, the root of 6561; and this 6561, which is, as said, diameter of a circle whose circumference is 20612, is also the area of a square, the area of whose inscribed circle is 5153 (or the numbers of these very measures); so that here, we have reference back to this geometrical truism. But more than that, we see that we have worked the measures so as to bring out this number, (5153), in two denominations of measure, viz., the Inch and the Foot. There is precisely a similar use made of the coffer in the King’s chamber, or Holy of Holies, of the Great Pyramid. In the tables of measures, by Prof. Piazzi Smythe, of this coffer, we will find, among others, these measures as given in his pains taking trials:— outside width 39 inches, inside width 27 inches, inside length 78 inches, outside length 90 inches. The inside depth he gives, by trials, as 34.35+ inches, and the outside in depth as 41.2+ inches. Make these, respectively, 34.37745+ and 41.255+ inches, — and one will find that the construction is so made, by these chosen measures, that the inside cubic contents will be precisely one-half the outside cubic contents, — a marvel of constructive work, and one mode of doubling the cube. (These are in terms of the Nilometer cubit, whereas, as by the interrelated Turin cubit, these measures, for depths, would be 34.353+ and 41.224+ inches). But this is not all; for, the depth 34. 37745+ inches, is the measure of the length of the room in which the coffer is placed, in feet, while the same length is 412.52+ inches the outside depth of coffer being 41. inches in Nilometer cubits —thus bringing out these same denominations. In the Craftsman, page 154, will be found:— «The Ark, called the glory of Israel, which was seated in the middle of the holy place under the wings of the Cherubim, was a small chest or coffer, three feet nine inches long, two feet three inches wide, and three feet three inches high,» — that is 45 inches long (the half of 90 inches), 27 inches wide, and 39 inches high:— that is, the same dimensions are given as above for the pyramid coffer, to one who knows how to use the measures; for they are here purposely obscured and disarranged, — they should be 45 inches long (multiplied by 2 to double the cube), 39 inches outside width, and 27 inches inside width, with a supply of the key to the whole matter, viz., the measures of the depths, —which, for obvious reasons, have been omitted. In other Masonic works, the measures of this Ark are given as in the Bible text, showing that Masonry has both measures: — and we will now see that both sets flow together in one system.
And now to the Biblical Cabbalistic explanation of these measures of the Ark, as esoterically determined by the context. First, it is said to be the Ark of the Covenant, (B’rith), from whence, as before said, can be had 20612 and 6561. Rut the matter is more especially particularized in order to make the monumentation exceedingly sacred. There is a witness. The ark is called the «Ark of the Testimony,» and the testimony or, witness, was the Words, or Ten Commandments, which were placed in the ark. It is called «Aaron B’rith Jehovah,» «the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah.» But this covenant, itself, was the Ten Commandments, or «Words,» for it is said, in Exodus 24, 28: «And he wrote upon the Tables the Words of the covenant, the 10 Words»;—therefore the Words stood for, and in place of, the covenant itself, —and the ark was that of the covenant, or Words. The Hebrew word for Words is
דברים DaBaRIM.
and the characterizing numbers for this word are 41224 in full, or without any supplying whatever. But these words were written upon two tables of stone, which signifies division of these words by two, just as with the covenant of Noah. So divide, and we have
20612,
or, that cubit value which yields in the given measures of the ark, 51.53 inches, and 5.153 feet; which 5153 multiplied by four, is 20612. It is by these tables of stone that these measures are connected with the proceedings had at Sinai. For the word stone is abn אבן, or with the digit numbers of 125. There were two stones, by which we have the numbers 125,125. If these numbers are used in the order 251152, this in whole numbers will be the area of a square whose side will be 5011506 (numbers rearranged from those of Jehovah coming down on Sinai, or 1056501), which, in whole numbers, is, again, the diagonal of a square, whose side is 354.3670548+ or the precise value in the number of days and parts of a day, of the lunar year. That is, twice the square of this year, value, is 251152+; — the square root of which is 501.1506, as above. Thus it is that the two tables of stone represent the measure of the lunar year, under the symbol of the stones themselves as containing a mode for the measure of this year. It was the same with the Christian Church, and shown by the phrase: — » Thou art Peter (stone) and on this stone (thus twice mentioned) I will build my Church.» Therefore, the Words were written on the measure of the lunar year;—and the words contained the substance of the «Laws and Ordinances;» and the whole was contained in the Ark of the Covenant, or 20612 to 6561.