The Stone of Foundation

By R. R. Anderson, Sr.*

Past Grand Secretary - Grand Chapter of Minnesota

      The Stone of Foundation constitutes one of the most important and abstruse symbols of Freemasonry.  It is referred to in numerous legends and traditions, not only of Masonry, but also of the Talmudic writers.  Masonically, it first appears in the Royal Arch, although it is not anywhere alluded to by that name.  The Stone of Foundation, according to legends, is supposed to have been a stone placed at one time within the foundation of the Temple of Solomon.

    The legend begins with the time of Enoch, who in obedience to instructions which he had received in a vision, built a Temple underground on Mount Moriah and dedicated it to God.  His son, Methuselah, constructed the building, although he was not acquainted with his father’s motive for its erection.  This temple consisted of nine vaults, situated perpendicularly beneath each other and communicated by apertures left in each vault.

   Enoch then made a triangular plate of gold, one cubit length on each side, enriched with precious stones, and encrusted the place upon a stone of agate of the same form.  On the plate he engraved the true name of God, the Tetragrammaton, and placed it on a cubical stone, known thereafter as the Stone of Foundation.  He deposited the whole within the lowest arch, the vault then being closed by a door of stone to which was attached a ring of iron, by which it could be opened.    Upon the death of Enoch and the destruction of the world by the deluge, the knowledge of the vault or subterranean temple and of the Stone of Foundation, with the sacred name upon it, was lost for ages to the world.  At the building of the Temple of Solomon this stone, bearing the ineffable name of God, was found while digging the foundations of the Temple, and as removed and place in the Holy of Holies.

   The tradition in the Talmudical book [tractate] Yoma says that the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the center of the Holy of Holies, upon a stone rising three fingers breadth above the floor, to be as it were a pedestal for it.  While the Stone of Foundation is not mentioned by name in any of the degrees, the Royal Arch student will recognize it as the stone discovered by the three workmen while removing the rubbish preparatory to laying the foundation of the second Temple, and by its removal discovered those valuable treasures alluded to in the legend of the degree.  The numerous legends regarding this stone, trace its existence from the time of Adam in the Garden of Eden, it being presumed to be the Foundation Stone of the world; that idea being probably derived from that magnificent passage in the book of Job in which the Almighty demands of Job:

    Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, “Where were you, when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Declare, since you have such knowledge!  Who fixed its dimensions, since you know?  Or who stretched the line upon it?  Upon what were its foundations fixed?  And who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38: 1-7)

   The Stone of Foundation, its discovery and symbolism, will be best understood by the Royal Arch Mason who has received the degrees of Royal and Select Master in the Council; in fact, every Royal Arch Mason should continue his Masonic journey at least through the Council degrees.  The Council degrees are illustrative of the Royal Arch and complete what is commonly called Ancient Craft Masonry.  In the Select Master’s degree, we behold a faint symbolic allusion to the union of the Triangle and the Cube – the triangular plate of gold incrusted with the Sacred Word set upon the Cubical Stone, as was done by Enoch of old, and deposited within that secret repository, to be unveiled in that dim and distant future in a realm of eternal Glory and Perfection.

    The Royal Master’s degree is associated with the building of the first Temple and events that occurred prior to its completion, concerns two distinguished characters in Masonic tradition, and furnishes a sublime symbolic conception of both the old Temple and the new.  In its beautiful legend associated with Hiram the Builder, is to be found the completion of the profound symbolism of manhood laboring for immortality, and there also we find the symbol of the broken Triangle, which is the light of the preceding degrees and sublimely expressive and significant.

    The Select Master’s degree is also associated with events that occurred prior to the completion of the first Temple and were known only to a chosen few.  The tradition in some respects parallels the symbolism of the Third Degree and illustrates some of the mysteries of the Royal Arch that must otherwise remain unexplained.  It discloses the secret repository of the object of the Mason’s search, and points, with unerring accuracy, to the ultimate conclusion of all the beautiful symbolism of the preceding degrees, the student has wisely employed both the Compass of Faith and the Square of Reason.

   Then, may we say with the illustrious Hiram:
                                           
    “There, the designs upon the trestleboard will be completed,” for the broken triangle will be restored.

     “There, the adoration of the twelfth hour shall be the everlasting joy,” for the Cube of Perfection will be complete.

     “There, the noon-tide of bliss will eternally shine,” for the Compass of Faith shall transcend the Square of Reason.

   (Adapted from an article from The Royal Arch Mason, Volume 17, Number 8, Winter 1992, pages 248 - 249)


* While this article was published under the by-line of Companion R. R. Anderson, Sr., large sections appear to have been taken verbatim from Charles Albert Snodgrass's book "Light from the Sanctuary of the Royal Arch," pages 186 through 192.  Attribution was given to Companion Snodgrass in the bibliography appended to the article.