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L Edifice French Translated
L Edifice French Translated
The consequence of this historical pattern is the existence of three families of master words:
1 the family of the prototype "Mahabyn" with its derivatives (Matchpin, Maughbin, Magboe), witness to the ancient tr
2 the family of the prototype “Machbenah” and its abbreviated corollary “MB” with its derivatives (Makbenak, Makbe
Macbenack, Makbenah), adopted by the “Moderns” from the moment they opted for a trigradal system .
3 the family of the “Mahhabone” prototype and its derivatives (Moabon, Mahaboneh, Mohabon), from the creation of
“Antients”. We have often wanted to see, in these three families, deformations of the same word (SAINT-GALL 2001, p. 7
is not the only one, as others have already mentioned (ECHED 1998, p. 58; GUÉRILLOT 1995, p. 120). Much has also been
meaning of these words. However, it seems possible to do a detailed semantic analysis for each of these three families.
Now, contrary to what many have written and repeated, apart from a few (ECHED 1998, p. 58) there is actually a correspo
This word is transcribed in a perfectly identical way, "Machbenah", in the disclosure of Pritchard and in the text of the Ge
1560, long preferred to the King James of 1611, which also gives exactly the same transcription, both editions of which nu
used in the first half of the 18th century). It cannot be a coincidence:
One of the meanings given in English to this proper name is "bond" (= link and in the figurative sense, commitment, obliga
471).
“Machbenah”, quoted in Chronicles, is actually the name of a town in Judea (BROWN-DRIVERBRIGGS 1962, p. 460) found
clan. The root of this word is ןבכ the meaning of which is doubtful but which can be compared to modern Hebrew ןבכ (k
(To be put in relation, perhaps, with the five perfect points performed in when the new master receives the word?). JAST
gives this root the meaning of "to clasp, fasten" that is to say "to embrace, to attach".
By preceding this root with the pronoun המ , often reduced to its first consonant (- מ ) in compound words (BROWN-DRIV
and taken in its meaning of demonstrative pronoun (SANDER-TRENEL 1859, p . 340), we effectively construct a word who
which envelops” hence the notion of “link”.
The meaning of this sentence can be clarified when we compare it with the word "link" or its figurative meaning "obligati
the acceptance of a link (implied with God) and / or a commitment to all our Brothers. But is this really the meaning retai
they chose “Machbenah”?
In his Thesaurus Linguae Hebraeae , GESENIUS also gives “Machbenah” the meaning “cloak” (= cloak, cloak); we are close
envelops", but we cannot however neglect the meaning derived from "cloak" (= to hide, as to put under cloak, to put und
then be an allusion to the real word of Master ( הוהי ), hidden by the substituted word.
The disclosure of Pritchard however gives an explanation in the sense of "Machbenah": " The builder is smitten ", that is t
smitten". It does not correspond to the real meaning of the Hebrew word "Machbenah". This explanation would follow fr
tables of the 1580 edition of the Geneva Bible of the following note:
" Machbana, machbenah, poverty, the murder of the son, poverty of understanding or the murder of the builder " (LEGOU
But this note is in fact only an attempt by the translator to find meaning in the biblical word "Machbenah" from various H
ben ןב “ben” = son
makkä הכמ "makkah" = blow
bînä הניב “binah” = intelligence, understanding.
bonë הנב "boneh" = constructor.
makî יכמ "Makhi" = proper name, sometimes translated as "my poor".
Moreover this note is absent from the English edition of 1560. The French edition of 1669 only indicates "poverty of my s
doubtful that an apparently controversial note is at the origin of a choice as important as that of the word of Master. But
explanation some masons had found, including Pritchard, especially since it fitted well with the ritual by referring to a "bu
As for the phonetic deformations within the “Machbenah” family, they are easy to conceive: the final “He” not pronounce
word, it is a Mater lectionis which only serves as a support for the vowel “a” (we have seen that this same Hebrew word c
final "Aleph" like Mater lectionis), disappears in favor of a "k" sound by contamination of the same sound present at the e
the more easily since the word is pronounced in two parts, corollary of its abbreviation in "MB" which appears for the firs
The transcriptions "k", "kh", "c", "ch" are of course the reflection of different habits to render the same sound.
These variations are sometimes observed in the same disclosure; for example, the 1771 edition of " The Order of Freema
of the Mopses revealed " quotes the word Master five times, including three times with different spellings: Mac-benac (p
probably a fault of the printer who confused two close leads, the italic "h" and the italic "b") and Makbenak (p. 137, 149 &
2) The "Mahhabone" family
We have sometimes wanted to bring this word closer to the biblical history of Moab, and to consider “Moabon” ( נבאומ
of this character (VUILLAUME 1830, p. 56 & 64, GRASSE-TILLY 2004, p. 28, ECHED 1998, p. 61 and SAINT-GALL 2001, p. 82
Moab was Lot's eldest daughter incest son with her father. The meaning of his name is "From the father". We do not see
Freemasonry, apart from the phonetic resemblance.
What are the common sources of these various interpretations? The word "architect" or rather "builder", because the mo
absent from the voca Le Secret - Les Secrets bulaire Hebrew biblique, appears in the text of the bible only in the plural:
bonê ינב Constructors (constructed plural). 1 Kings, 5:18.
bonîm םינב Constructors (absolute plural). 2 Kings, 12:11, etc. (8 occurrences)
We can deduce the existence of a form in the singular, by comparison with the Talmudic texts:
bonë הנב Constructor (absolute singular or constructed, deduced)
Indeed, the Talmud (Shabbath, 102b) enlightens us on a possible form of this word in the singular; it is written there with
(which causes the doubling of the consonant "b") and in a non-defective form (presence of the mater lectionis "Waw" to
n is not the case in the Bible) :
hab-bônë הנובה The one who builds (JASTROW 1903, p. 176)
Extract from the Talmud, Shabbath 102b, showing several times the form הנובה .
We have seen that "Mahhabone" appears for the first time in the disclosure "Three Distinct Knocks" (henceforth noted TD
the "Antients" what "Masonry Dissected" is to the ritual of the "Moderns", because of its accuracy. Starting from the sam
“Machbenah”, that is to say that the word Master of “Antients” is correctly transcribed, since the rest is deemed to be ex
the various interpretations mentioned above.
The illustration taken from TDK shows a Hebrew alphabet transcription. It is therefore in this language that we must look
Here are the hypotheses that can be considered a priori by seeing these four Hebrew letters:
Indeed, from the first examination, we see that the vowels are incompatible with the "Mahhabone" transcription indicate
hand, if we shift them a notch to the right, we fall back on the correct phonetics:
We must therefore read נבהמ and not נבהמ
It is possible that the vowels are accidentally shifted, due to a printer error, in the transcription of TDK. But we cannot rul
which suggested to the reader, a little curious, that the consonants are out of place; especially since the final “Nun” is not
of ן . Are there any letters missing?
At this stage of the analysis, two answers are possible which will show that the master word of the “Antients” is in fact a s
a - “Mah” ( המ ) which is an interrogative pronoun that can be translated as “that”, “what” and possibly (but it is an appr
“why”. This pronoun always qualifies a thing and never a person (it is therefore absolutely impossible to translate it as "w
"what" it is (JOÜON 1965, p. 446) as in:
b - “Ha” (- ה ) which is either the definite article “the, the, the”, sometimes with a demonstrative vocation (this, this, thes
adverb which introduces the questioning. The choice between these three hypotheses is delicate; at most, the absence o
transcription in Latin letters (repetition which is always the rule after the definite article) would lead to the choice of a do
construction of the form [....] - ה ה מ
c - “Bone” ( הנוב or הנב ), the meaning of which we have seen previously, “constructor”. It is indeed the defective form,
“Waw”, support of the vowel “o”, which is written in TDK.
The possible translations are therefore "What is the constructor?", "What is this constructor?" or, more likely, " What is i
The Hebrew form written in TDK is in fact only a so-called “defective” writing, that is to say without any of the matres lecti
is therefore perfectly readable by a Hebrew language and the transcription in Latin letters is completely correct:
מ for המ mah
ה for ה ha
ב for וב bo
נ for הנ ne (h)
In addition, the Hebrew vowel pronunciation rules immediately give the reason for the pronunciation “Mohabon” instead
when the interrogative pronoun "Mah" is separated, it forms an independent word composed of a so-called "closed" sylla
consonant) and necessarily carrying a tonic accent. The vowel () is then a “qamats gadol” pronounced like a long “a”.
The formation of the compound word "mahhabone" transforms the separate interrogative pronoun "Mah" into
prefixed interrogative pronoun which thus loses its tonic accent, carried over to the end of the word; the closed syllable b
then becomes a “qamats hatuf” pronounced like a short “o”.
Our modern form “Mohabon”, apart from the fall of the final vowel, is therefore not as faulty as we often think, provided
pronounced, without making the diphthong “on”.
Simple Gematria assigns a numerical value to each of the twenty-two Hebrew letters, which gives:
Little Gematria does the same but only takes into account the level of the units (10 and 100, become 1, as 20 and 200 bec
By applying this technique to the word of Master reconstituted previously, one obtains:
Moreover, if we differentiate between the value of the first word ( המ ) and that of the second ( הובה ), we get:
Making this difference means quantifying the path to be taken to go from questioning (“mah”) to the nature of the builde
God.
17 = 5 + 5 + 2 + 5 = הובה
The builder "is therefore God.
And the sum of the two words, which makes 107 (= 17) in simple gematria, is worth in small gematria:
26 = 9 + 17 = )4 + 5( + )5 + 2 + 5 + 5( = המ הובה, single Gematria value of הוהי
This first level of reading is therefore perfectly coherent and refers in all its aspects to the perception of the divine.
We can complete this symbolism by recalling that seventeen is the tarot card symbolizing mutation and rebirth. It is also
the Greek alphabet, a number playing an important role in the Pythagorean tradition and subsequently among Muslim m
On the other hand, in symbolism of numbers (CHEVALIER-GHEER. 1982, p. 360-361), 17 (9 + 8) is intimately linked to 72 (9
gematria “riboua” of הוהי (cumulative dynamic gematria, cf. OUAKNIN 2004, p. 341-342):
י 10
הי
15
והי
הוהי 21
26
Total: 72
We can already see the figure of the triangle appear, which will develop in the second reading level.
ה ו
Aleph index אה 5+ 1 = 6 ואו 6+ 1 + 6 = 13
Hé index ("double") הה 5 + 5 = 10 וו 6 + 6 = 12
Yod index יה 5 + 10 = 15 ויו 6 + 10 + 6 = 22
The Kabbalah, and in particular the school of Safed with Rabbi Itshaq Louria and his students, from the end of the 16th ce
recognizes four digital deployments of the Tetragrammaton:
a) the shem (= name) "MAH " ( םש המ ), index Aleph, taking its name from the word "Mah" which is the way to write t
(Mèm = 40, He = 5) ; it is also the interrogative pronoun "What?" :
45 = 20 + 6 + 13 + 6 = רוי + אה + ואו + אה = י + ה + ו + ה.
b) the shem “BEN” ( םש ןב ), of index Hé (or “double”), taking its name from the word “Ben”, which is the way of writing
(Nun = 50, Bèt = 2); this word also means "Son":
52 = 20 + 10 + 12 + 10 = רוי + הה + וו + הה = י + ה + ו + ה.
c) the shem “SAG” ( םש גס ), with index Yod for “Hey” and index Aleph for “Waw”, taking its name from the word “Sag”
number 63 in Hebrew (Samekh = 60, Gimel = 3):
63 = 20 + 15 + 13 + 15 = רוי + יה + ואו + יה = י + ה + ו + ה.
d) the shem “AV” ( םש בע ), index Yod, taking its name from the word “Av” which is the way to write the number 72 in H
72 = 20 + 15 + 22 + 15 = רוי + יה + ויו + יה = י + ה + ו + ה.
These four digital deployments of the tetragrammaton, 45, 52, 63 and 72 have a considerable role in the Kabbalah, in rela
We have already seen the number 72 appear at the end of the first reading level. The values 45 and 52 will give us the ke
reading the word of Master:
We are therefore invited to separate this word into two fragments, starting respectively with the letters M ( מ ) and B ( ב
נבהמ then becomes המ + נב
We immediately see that these two fragments are identical to the names of two of the numerical deployments of the Tet
“BEN” ( נב ) of value 52, and the shem “MAH” ( המ ) of value 45.
Our Master word is therefore composed of two numerical equivalents of the Tetragrammaton; but TDK's intentional "def
non-final "Nun" and the vowel shift lead us to believe that letters are missing.
Since the divine name is supposed to be hidden and substituted by the word Master, is it not precisely the letters of the T
are missing?
One of them, the “Hey” ( ה ) is already present; the "Hey" symbolizes the divine breath, the questioning; it calls for the ot
three” below) which alone form the name “Yeho”, ( והי ) an abbreviation extremely common in Hebrew literature to mea
This approach to the divine name divided into "He" (h) on the one hand, and "Yod-Hé-Waw" (vhy) on the other hand, is a
Kabbalah, detailed in the Tiqouné Zohar (OUAKNIN 1991, p. 121-125):
“ The letter Hey is the presence (shekhina) in exile. His perfection and his life is the dew. That is, the three letters yod-hé-v
The hey (fourth letter of the name) is the presence that is not counted in the dew.
But the letters yod-hé-vav have a numerical value of 39 and they complete the presence, of their drawing from all the high
This text is better understood when we know that “Yod-Hé-Waw” deployed in “aleph index” gives 39 which is the value o
Hebrew; it is also that of the “name in movement”, the “kouzou” [cured by shifting a letter in the alphabet: YHWH ( הוהי
as of “YHWH EHAD” (God is a, 26 + 13 = 39).
This text of the Tiqouné Zohar is fundamental because it introduces the notion of break, of the break in God, which is the
Hebrew practice.
We will see that our substituted word was certainly influenced by this approach:
Indeed by inserting the three letters of the abbreviated Tetragrammaton in the four letters of the word of Master we obt
Redial word מ י ה ב ו נ ה
This word "recomposed" from the union of the Tetragrammaton and two of its main numerical equivalents is read very ea
interrogative construction:
The rebus is thus constructed that by bringing the answer, "God" ( הוהי ), one creates the question which solicits this sam
the divine trinity (the two "shem" and the abbreviated tetragrammaton) in the unity (the question-answer).
This type of process, where the question gives the answer, is extremely common in the Kabbalah: one of the best known
Moses asks God his name in these terms:
מאו ד ו - ל י מ ה - מש ו מ ה מא ד א ל םה
Literally: "and tell them to me what name of him?" What to say to them? ”
Translation: "and they say to me: what is his name?" what would I say to them? "
The answer is in the question, final letters of the four central words: הוהי
In addition, the value in simple Gematria of the word "recomposé" abounds in the same sense:
118 = 40 + 10 + 5 + 2 + 6 + 50 + 5 = ימ הנוב
which can be reduced to 1, the Divine Unity
The choice of two of the numerical equivalents of the Tetragrammaton to form the word of Master does not seem to hav
shem "Mah" and the shem "Ben" are the only two names which have a meaning other than numerical: "Mah" = what? an
Christians, the third term "Yeho", abbreviation of the Tetragrammaton, represents God the Father.
We are thus in the presence of a trinity of Christian aspect, uniting the “Father”, the “Son” and the “What?”, Assimilable t
through the Holy Spirit [= questioning] that a man can understand the word of God: the Bible (1 Corinthians 2: 9-14).
All these aspects of the ternary, hidden within the very heart of the sacred word of Master, also shed new light on the ne
the sacred word, a mention present from the earliest disclosures, as in Mason's Examination (1723) : " If you want to beco
observe the Rule of Three ".
We can thus better understand why the “Antients” were particularly keen on their master word “Mahhabone” because th
“Moderns”, “Machbenah” did not have the same symbolic power at all.
The "Mahhabone" family, which comes directly from the "Mahabyn" family, therefore seems to be the only correct expre
Master, and our modern variant "Mohabon" is ultimately very acceptable; as for the “Machnenah” family, it would only b
basis of the common consonantal skeleton (MBN), under the influence of certain biblical notes. But it seems futile to hop
habits!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BROWN-DRIVER-BRIGGS 1962 BROWN Francis, DRIVER SR & BRIGGS Charles A., A hebrew and english lexicon of the Old T
containing the biblical aramaic, based on the lexicon of William Gesenius as translated by Edward Robinson, 5th ed ., Lond
1962.
CHEVALIER-GHEER. 1995 CHEVALIER J. & GHEERBRANT A., Dictionary of Symbols, Paris 1982, 17th ed. (1995).
ECHED 1998 ECHED Sam, The real or distorted Hebraism in the AASR. and MM,
RA and RAM, by Sam Eched 33rd, member of the RL “La Fidélité” GLRB, O. of Ghent, Belgium. 3rd edition, revised and enl
GESENIUS 1857 GESENIUS Heinrich Wilhelm Friedrich., Hebrew and Chaldee lexicon to the Old Testament scriptures,
1847 (Samuel Bagster and Sons, translation of the original German edition of 1810) plus the notes "to the student" of the
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Grand Rapids (USA), Baker Books, 1979, reprint 1996.
GRASSE-TILLY 2004 GRASSE-TILLY Alexandre Auguste (Count of), Thuileur Scottish Rite Ancien et Accepté et Rite Mo
manuscript, Paris, SCPLF, 2004.
GUÉRILLOT 1995 GUÉRILLOT Claude, The Masonic Rose, Paris, Trédaniel, 1995, T. 1.
JASTROW 1903 JASTROW Marcus, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashi
Co. / New- York, Putnam's sons, 1903.
JOÜON Paul 1965 JOÜON Paul, Grammar of Biblical Hebrew, Rome, Institut Biblique pontifical, 1923. 3rd ed., 1965.
LEGOUAS 1999 LEGOUAS J.-Y., “Some terms used in Freemasonry de l'Arche Royale ”, translation of the article by Ro
1978, in Cahier de l'Arche, n ° 1-1998, Paris, GLNF, 1999.
OUAKNIN 2004 OUAKNIN Marc-Alain, Mysteries of the Kabbalah, Paris, Assouline, 2004.
OUAKNIN 1991 OUAKNIN Marc-Alain, Concerto for four consonants without vowels, Paris, Balland, 1991
SAINT-GALL 2001 SAINT-GALL Michel, Dictionary of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Hebraisms and other terms
unknown origin, 2nd ed., Paris Télètes, 2001
SANDER-TRENEL 1859 SANDER Nathaniel Philippe & TRENEL Isaac Léon, Hebrew-French Dictionary, reprint of the 185
2000.
VUILLAUME 1830 VUILLAUME Claude-André, Masonic manual or tiler of the various masonry rites practiced in France,
Du Rocher, 2000.