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Any discussion of the
Acacia, important to Freemasonry as one of is fundamental and most
beautiful symbols, should begin with clearing away a little of the
“rubbish of the Temple” which results from the careless writing of
unlearned men. So much has been published about the Acacia which
simply is not so that it is no wonder that Freemasons are frequently
confused as to what the plant really is, how it came to be a symbol
of immortality, and what its true place in religious history may be.
We cannot accurately denote a particular plant or tree as “the
Acacia plant” or “the Acacia tree” for the same reason that we
cannot accurately specify “the Rose bush” or “the pine tree.” There
are too many varieties of roses, too many kinds of pine trees to
distinguish one from the other merely by the definite article. As
botanists know more than four hundred and fifty varieties of Acacia,
“the acacia can be only the most general of terms, meaning them
all.” So perhaps it is not to be wondered at that we find one
Masonic writer speaking of the “spreading leaves of the Acacia tree”
and another talking of “the low thorny shrub which is the Acacia.”
We have no certainty that the trees and shrubs now growing in
Palestine are the same as those which flowered in Solomon’s era. So
that it is not impossible that “Acacia totilis (in Arabic, Es-sant)”
and “Acacia Seyal (In Arabic Sayal)” grew to greater size three
thousand years ago than they do now. But authorities doubt that the
Acacia which grows low, as a bush, and which in all probability must
have been the plant which one of the three plucked from the ground
as the “Sprig of Acacia,” ever grew large enough to supply boards
three feet wide. Wynn Westcott says: “The Acacia is the only tree of
any size which grows in the deserts of Palestine, but it has been
doubted that even it ever grew large enough to provide planks one
and one-half cubits in width.” Scholars are united in aying the
“Shittah Tree” of the Old Testament is an Acacia; and that “Shittim”,
the plural, refers to Acacia. In Joel (3-18), one of the poetic and
beautiful prophecies of the Old Testament, we read: “And it shall
come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new
wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of
Judah shall flow with waters, a fountain shall come forth of the
house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of
Shittim.”Commentators place the “valley of Shittim” as possibly the
Kidron of Exekiel; but certainly as some dry, thirsty valley where
the Acacia, which flourished where other plants perished from lack
of water, was known to grow; another reason for thinking the
original Acacia which Freemasons revere was the smaller shrub,
rather than the large tree. Inasmuch as Akakia” in Greek signifies
“Innocence,” it was wholly natural for Hutcheson (Spriti of Masonry,
1795) to connect the Masonic plant with the Greek definition. He
said: “We Masons, describing the deplorable state of religion under
the Jewish Law, speak in figures; “Her Tomb was in the rubbish and
filth cast forth of the Temple, and Acacia wove its branches over
her monument;” “akakia” being the Greek word for innocence, or being
free from sin, implying that the sins and corruptions of the old law
and devotees of the Jewish altar had hid religion from those who
sought her, and she was only to be found where innocence survived
under the banner of the Divine Lamb; and as to ourselves, professing
that we were to be distinguished by our “Acacy,” or as true “Acacians,”
in our religious faith and tenets.” It is now well understood that
Hutcheson, great as is the debt we owe him, was too anxious to read
a Christian interpretation into everything Masonic to be considered
as infallible. While the coincidence of the Greek word our name for
the Shittah-Tree is suggestive, it hardly seems sufficient to read
“innocence” into the symbol when it already has so sublime a
significance. Mackey considers the acacia also as a symbol of
initiation, because sacred plants were symbolical of initiation in
many of the Ancient Mysteries, from which Freemasonry derived so
much. The modern Masonic scholar is rather apt to pass over this
meaning, he is also thinking that a symbol already so rich needs no
further meanings to make it important and beautiful. Apparently the
beginning of the association of the acacia with immortality is in
the legend of Isis and Osiris, one of the oldest myths of mankind,
traced back into Egypt many thousands of years before the Christian
era. Its beginnings, like those of all legends which have endured,
are shrouded in the mist which draws a veil between us and the days
before history.According to the legend, Osiris, who was at once both
King and God of the Egyptians, and was tricked by his brother Typhon
(who was very jealous of Osiris), during the King’s absence on a
beneficent mission to his people. Later, at a feast provided for the
King-God’s pleasure, Typhon brought a large chest, beautiful in
workmanship, valuable in the extreme, and offered it as a gift to
whoever possessed a body which best fitted the chest. When Osiris
entered the box, Typhon caused the lid to shut and fastened; after
which the whole was thrown into the Nile. Currents carried it to
Byblos, Phoenicia, and cast it ashore at the foot of an acacia tree.
The tree grew rapidly and soon encased the chest holding the body of
Osiris. When Isis, faithful queen, learned of the fate of her
husband she set out in search of the body. Meanwhile the King of the
Land where the acacia concealed the body, admiring the tree’s
beauty, cut it down and made of its trunk, a column. Learning this,
Isis became nurse to the King’s children and received the column as
her pay. In the tree trunk, preserved, was the body of Osiris.
During their long captivity at the hands of the Egyptians; what more
natural than that the Israelites should take for their own a symbol
already old, and make of the “Shittah-Tree” a symbol of immortality,
just as had been done in Egypt? It is perhaps to much to say that
Israelites were the first to plant a sprig of acacia at the had of a
grave as a symbol of immortality. But that they did so in ancient
times is stated by many historians. Dalcho assigns a novel reason
for this practice; that as the Codens, or Priests, were forbidden to
step upon or over a grave, it was necessary that spots of internment
be marked, and, the acacia being common, it was elected for the
purpose. Mackey disagrees with Dalcho as to these reasons for
marking a grave with a living plant. Perhaps the origin of the
custom is not important; certain it is that all peoples in almost
all ages have planted or laid flowers on the graves of those they
love, as a symbol of the resurrection and a future life. The lily of
the modern church, the rosemary which is for remembrance, the sprig
of acacia of the ancient Israelites and the modern Mason, have all
the same meaning upon a grave - the visual expression of the dearest
hope of all mankind. It is both curious and interesting to learn
that many trees, in many climes, have been symbols of immortality.
India gave to Egypt the lotus, long a sacred plant; the Greeks
thought the myrtle the tree of immortal life, and the mistletoe,
which survives in our lives merely as a pleasant diversion at
Christmas, was held by the Scandavavians and the Druids as sacred as
we consider the acacia. Association of a plant and immortality is
emphasized in the New Testament - see John 12:24: “Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Also
familiar passages from St. Paul (First Corinthians 15:36,37) used so
much in funeral services: “Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not
quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest
not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat,
or of some other grain . . .” Finally we find in our own stately
prayer in the Master’s Degree, such a coupling up of a tree and life
immortal; “For there is hope of a tree if it be cut down, that it
will sprout again, and that the tender branches thereof will not
cease.” - which of course, is taken from Job 14:7. Thus there is
ample historical recognition of the connection between that which
grows and dies and grows again, and the idea of immortality; we do
not have to consider the undoubted fact that “shittah-trees” cut to
form beams of house, often sprouted branches even when they had no
roots, nor our own thought of almost any variety of pine as “the
evergreen, or ever living” tree, to see that there is much
background behind the symbol. It is one of the glories of
Freemasonry that so much has been made of the symbol, so dear and
deep a meaning vested in it, that it has almost equaled the square
as Freemasonry’s nearest and dearest. All that was mortal on Tyrian
lay murdered in a grave “dug six feet due east and west.” The genius
of the Temple was no more. No more designs upon the trestleboard; no
more glorious architecture to come from that mighty brain; no more
holding of meetings with Solomon and Hiram in the Sanctum Sanctorum
- the Widow’s Son was dead! Of those who search one finds a sprig of
acacia. Oh, immortal story; thrice immortal ritual makers, who
coupled together a resurrection and a sprig of green! True, he whose
mother was of the Tribe of Naphtali was destroyed, but his genius
lived, his spirit marched on, his virtues were recorded in stone and
in the hearts of those who built on Mt. Moriah’s heights. For at
least two hundred years and probably much longer the sprig of acacia
has held Freemasonry’s premier teaching. The grave is not the end.
Bodies die and decay, but something “which bears the nearest
affinity to that which pervades all nature and which never, never,
dies,” rises from the grave to become one of that vast throng which
has preceded us. Error can slay, as can evil and selfish greed, but
not permanently. That which is true and fair and fine cannot be
destroyed. Its body may be murdered, its disappearance may be
effected, the rubbish of the Temple and a temporary grave may
conceal it for a time, but where is interred that which is mortal,
there grows an evergreen or ever living sprig of acacia - acacia
none the less that it may be a spiritual sprig, a plant not of the
earth, earthly. When he who was weary, plucked at a sprig of acacia,
he had “evidence of things not seen.” When we toss the little sprig
of evergreen which is our usual cemetery “sprig of acacia” into the
open grave of one of our brethren who has stepped ahead upon the
path we all must tread, we give evidence of belief in a “thing not
seen.” For never a man has seen the spirit of one who has gone, or
visioned the land where no shadows are. If we see it in our dreams,
we see by faith, not eyes. But we can see the acacia - we can look
back through the dragging years to the legend of Osiris and think
that even as the acacia grew about his body to protect it until Isis
might find it, so does the acacia of Freemasonry bloom above the
casket from which, in the solemn words of Ecclesiastes “the spirit
shall return unto God who gave it.” |
