Sacred Secrets by Mike Neville

Author:Mike Neville
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978075490458
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2012-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Ezekiel

• Chapter 17 v11–21 (Zedekiah’s fate foretold)

• Chapter 17 v17 (Babylon’s use of siege devices)

• Chapter 21 v3–4 (Babylon used as God’s sword)

Masonic reference Royal and Select Master

• Super Excellent Master

Holy Royal Arch

• Ceremony of Exaltation

Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia

• Fifth Grade ‘Adeptus Minor’

Historical context 612 BC – Collapse of Assyrian Empire

Following the first Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, Mattaniah, the uncle of the deposed ruler, was made vassal king. His name was changed to Zedekiah, which according to the Masonic ritual means ‘Justice of Jehovah’ or literally ‘Yahweh is might’, in case he forgot his loyalty. The Bible relates that, despite counsel from the Prophet Jeremiah, Zedekiah rebelled. This forms the basis of the Super Excellent Master degree. In an attempt to free the country from Babylonian rule, he made an alliance with Egypt, which had been a major power for many centuries, but by this time its influence was waning – a political situation which is clearly described in the Bible in the penultimate chapter of II Kings and in Ezekiel. The alliance triggered an attack by the Babylonian overlords.

Jerusalem was besieged for eighteen months and a famine spread. The Book of Kings explains that there was no bread to eat. In more poetic language, Isaiah states that Jerusalem had angered God so much that its inhabitants had drunk ‘the dregs’ of the ‘cup of His fury’. Jeremiah is believed to have composed the Book of Lamentations and this describes the destruction of the city and the capture of Zedekiah in a ‘pit’ or trap. The once great Jerusalem is likened to a ‘widow’ and a ‘tributary’ (slave). As with the story of David and Goliath, Jeremiah states that bodies will be devoured by the ‘fowls of the heaven’ and ‘beasts of the earth’. This is quoted on five occasions in the Book of Jeremiah and is similar to the ‘physical penalty’ formerly included in the Second Degree obligation.

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