The Origin of Freemasonry and Knights Templar ... - Lodge Prudentia

FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAROne of the first acts of his reign was the conquestof Jerusalem, the principal town of the Jebusites,who were descendants of Canaan and occupied thatpart of the land of Canaan (Palestine) situatedsouth of the center of the country, ahout thirtysevenmiles from the Mediterranean, and abouttwenty- four miles from the river Jordan; an elevatedground upon which rests the city of Jerusalem,which they called Jebus. The old traditionsand natural prepossessions both of Jews and Christiansconnect it with Salem, of which Melchizedskwas king (Gen. xlv.). The Jebusites seem to havebeen territorially one of the smallest of the Canaanitishnations, 'but from their position one of thestrongest.In the conquest of Canaan, their king, Adoni-Zedek, was slain by Joshua at Makkedah, after thebattle of Beth-horon (Josh. x.). After Joshua'sdeath (1443 B. C.) the Israelites obtained possessionof the town, which they afterwards jointly inhabitedwith the ' Jebusites for nearly 400 years.When David became king (1055 B. C.) he expelledthe latter and made it the capital of his kingdom,under the name of Jebus-salem or Jerusalem, wherehe reigned for thirty-three years. In 1045 B. C. theark of the covenant, which was at Kirjath-jearim,was carried, under King David's instructions, toJerusalem, where it was placed in a temporary tabernacleerected for its use. Here the priests performedtheir daily service until Solomon erected thetemple, then the temporary or Davidic tabernaclewas put away as a relic. Both the old, or Sinaitic,and Davidic tabernacles were in time altogether lostsight of, and no doubt became victims of careless-39