Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

GEMARA
GENERAL 291
only two of them were contemporary with the
destruction of the Temple.
Gedaliah the son of Pashur is mentioned by
the prophet Jeremiah (xxxviii . 1) as a prince
of the court of Zedekiah . He was present at its
destruction, and is known to have been one
of the advisers of the king . It was through
his counsels, and those of his colleagues, that
Zedekiah was persuaded to deliver up the
prophet Jeremiah to death, from which he was
rescued only by the intercession of a eunuch of
the palace .
The other Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam .
He seems to have been greatly in favor with
Nebuchadnezzar, for after the destruction of
Jerusalem, and the deportation of Zedekiah,
he was appointed by the Chaldean monarch
as his satrap or governor over Judea . He took
up his residence at Mizpah, where he was
shortly afterward murdered by Ishmael, one
of the descendants of the house of David.
The question now arises, which of these two
is the one referred to in the ceremonies of a
Council of Superexcellent Masters? I think
there can be no doubt that the founders of the
degree intended the second officer of the Council
to represent the former, and not the latter
Gedaliah-the son of Pashur, and not Gedaliah
the son of Ahikam ; the prince of Judah,
and not the governor of Judea .
We are forced to this conclusion by various
reasons . The Gedaliah represented in the
degree must have been a resident of Jerusalem
during the siege, and at the very time of
the assault, which immediately preceded the
destruction of the Temple and the city. Now,
we know that Gedaliah the son of Pashur was
with Hezekiah as one of his advisers . On the
other hand, it is most unlikely that Gedaliah
the son of Ahikam could have been a resident
of Jerusalem, for it is not at all probable that
Nebuchadnezzar would have selected such a
one for the important and confidential office
of a satrap or governor . We should rather
suppose that Gedaliah the son of Ahikam had
been carried away to Babylon after one of the
former sieges ; that he had there, like Daniel,
gained by his good conduct the esteem and respect
of the Chaldean monarch ; that he had
come back to Judea with the army ; and that,
on the taking of the city, he had been appointed
governor by Nebuchadnezzar . Such
being the facts, it is evident that he could not
have been in the council of King Zedekiah,
advising and directing his attempted escape .
The modern revivers of the degree of Superexcellent
Master have, therefore, been wrong
in supposing that Gedaliah the son of Ahikam,
and afterward governor of Judea, was
the person represented by the second officer of
the Council. He was Gedaliah the son of
Pashur, a wicked man, one of Zedekiah's
princes, and was most probably put to death
by Nebuchadnezzar, with the other rinces
and nobles whom he captured in the pins of
Jericho .
Gemara . See Talmud.
General Assembly . See Assembly.
General Grand Chapter . Until the year
1797, the Royal Arch Degree and the degrees
subsidiary to it were conferred in America,
either in irresponsible bodies calling themselves
Chapters, but obedient to no superior
authority, or in Lodges working under a
Grand Lodge Warrant . On the 24th of October,
1797, a convention of committees from
three Chapters, namely, St . Andrew's Chapter
of Boston, Temple Chapter of Albany, and
Newburyport Chapter, was held at Boston,
which recommended to the several Chapters
within the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont,
and New York to hold a convention at
Hartford on the fourth Wednesday of January
ensuing, to form a Grand Chapter for the said
States.
Accordingly, on the 24th of January, 1798,
delegates from St . Andrew's Chapter of Boston,
Mass . ; King Cyrus Chapter of Newburyport,
Mass . ; Providence Chapter of
Providence, R . I . ; Solomon Chapter of Derby,
Conn . ; Franklin Chapter of Norwich, Conn . ;
Franklin Chapter of New Haven, Conn . ; and
Hudson Chapter of Hudson, N . Y. ; to which
were the next day added Temple Chapter of
Albany, N . Y., and Horeb Chapter of Whitestown,
N. Y., assembled at Hartford in Convention,
and, having adopted a Constitution
organized a governing body which they styled
"The Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the Northern
States of America ." This body assumed
in its Constitution jurisdiction over only the
States of New England and New York, and
provided that Deputy Grand Chapters, subject
to its obedience, should be organized in
those States. Ephraim Kirby, of Litchfield,
Conn ., was elected Grand High Priest ; and it
was ordered that the first meeting of the
Grand Chapter should be held at Middletown,
Conn ., on the third Wednesday of September
next ensuing.
On that day the Grand Chapter met, but
the Grand Secretary and Grand Chaplain
were the only Grand Officers present . The
Grand King was represented by a proxy . The
Grand Chapter, however, proceeded to an
election of Grand Officers, and the old officers
were elected . The body then adjourned to
meet in January, 1799, at Providence, R . I .
On the 9th of January, 1799, the Grand
Chapter met at Providence, the Deputy Grand
Chapters of Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
and New York being represented . At this
meeting, the Constitution was very considerably
modified, and the Grand Chapter assumed
the title of "The General Grand Chapter
of Royal Arch Masons for the six Northern
States enumerated in the preamble ." The
meetings were directed to be held septennially
; and the Deputy Grand Chapters were
in future to be called "State Grand Chapters."
No attempt was, however, made in words to
extend the jurisdiction of the General Grand
Chapter beyond the States already named .
On the 9th of January, 1806, a meeting of
the General Grand Royal Arch Chapter was
held at Middletown, representatives being
present from the States of Rhode Island, Con-