The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

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4. Broken Column
Chapter 5 - Technical Terminology
In our chapter on symbolism, we have already encountered the broken
column in connection with the weeping virgin, the scythe, and the hourglass as a
symbol of death: "A perfectly wrought column would represent a finished work
and, hence, would symbolize a captain or leader. So, a broken column suggests
the ruin or death of the work or leader." 759 It is a very ancient custom to place a
column or pillar as a monument erected over a tomb as a significant symbol of
the character and spirit of the interred. In Mackey's EOF 760 , the metaphor of the
broken column is traced back to the Hebrews, and substantiated with quotations
from Biblical passages as they appear in their original language:
Among the Hebrews, columns, or pillars, were used metaphorically to
signify princes or nobles, as if they were the pillars of a state. Thus, in
Psalm xi. 3, the passage, reading in our translation, "If the foundations
be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" is, in the original, "when the
columns are overthrown," i.e., when the firm supporters of what is right
and good have perished. So the passage in Isaiah xix. 10 should read:
"her (Egypt's) columns are broken down," that is, the nobles of her
state. 761
It is not clear when or by whom this imagery was introduced into the
Masonic ritual. According to Mackey, it is accredited to Jeremy L. Cross, but
this is doubtful. 762 The broken column in Masonry is not only associated with
death but also with charity. Hence the familiar expression, "it is for the broken
column" when giving to charities (see also Chapter 10. on Masonry in Folk Art).
759 CME, p. 111.
760 EOF, p. 120.
761 Ibid.
762 Cf. ibid.
broken column medal from Tennessee