Cabletow 4th issue - GM Ebdane - Grand Lodge of the Philippines

The Cabletow
When they learned of the murder of the GMHA, Solomon and Hiram of Tyre
knew that, for all moral and practical purposes, the Master’s Word was lost since
the agreement was that it could only be given in the presence and with the
concurrence of all three. Fate had decreed and one was gone!
Twelve craftsmen are said to have been dispatched by King Solomon to search
for and apprehend the murderers. The three culprits were found in clefts of the
rocks in the countryside near Joppa. They were zeized and, upon confession of
their guilt, punished according to what they had uttered in remorse for their deeds.
There is another version of this part of the legend, and it goes as follows:
The Tyrian craftsmen who had killed the GMHA with a setting maul was the first
one apprehended. He had escaped and hid, thinking that he was safe. But a poor
herdsman named Pharaos learned of him and reported the intelligence to King
Solomon, who then dispatched nine craftsmen, under the leadership of Banaias, to
arrest him. He was captured and put to death. 5
Subsequently, King Solomon again received information that the other two
murderers had escaped to the country of Gath and were working in the quarries of
Ben-daker. This time he sent a group of 15 craftsmen to arrest the two remaining
culprits. Apprehended, the two murderers were initially imprisoned in the tower of
Akhizer and soon after also executed. 6
Justice having been meted out to the three assassins, King Solomon ordered
that the body of the GMHA, which had literally been accidentally stumbled upon as
marked by a sprig of acacia, be brought back to the Temple for proper burial.
Solomon ordered Adoniram, Grand Inspector of the Work, to make the funeral
arrangements. There mourning prevailed among the craftsmen, and eulogies were
offered to the memory of the great man whose life was cut short in an unseemly
manner.
After the interment of the GMHA’s remains, King Solomon proclaimed a substitute
for the Master’s Word for temporary use. 7
It is here that the story closes as far as the Master Mason is concerned. But it is
not yet the end of the legend.
In the history of the Jews we find that the Temple was completed seven years
after its foundation was laid in 960 BC. With much celebration and ceremony the
Temple was dedicated to the One True and Ever Living God.
Cabletow 48