Ancient Mysteries held? This is a problem which bristles with difficulties. In our Traditional History it is repeatedly stated that the F.C.'s had to go into " the Middle
Chamber of the Temple"; and because the Holy Place lay in an intermediate position - between the Porch and the Sanctum Sanctorum - one is inclined to conclude that here we have a complete solution and that there is nothing more to be said. In reality, however, this is a half-truth.
Indeed, bearing in mind the allegorical character of everything said and done in the Lodge, any room or suite of rooms occupying an
intermediate position between two other such rooms or suites of rooms, might with equal propriety have been regarded as illustrations of the ideal chamber we have in mind.
While the Holy Place was indeed a Middle Chamber, some of the statements made in the Ritual about our "Middle Chamber" imply quite a different location. For the Holy Place in K.S.T. was practically on the level of the street, whereas the Middle Chamber in question was reached by a Staircase with two flights of steps; and after that, there was another flight which led to a higher place. Obviously the term " Middle," when used in this connection, implies a place above a lower chamber and with a third chamber above it.
Chambers built on its three sides, N., W., and S. And forasmuch as in some passages of the V. of the S.L., these Chambers are referred to as "the Chamber" (Nehemiah xiii. 4, in the
Vulgate as well as in the A.V.) in the singular, it
seems reasonable to suppose that here in the Chambers we have an alternative solution of the problem, that is to say, our "Middle Chamber" may have been the second row of Chambers.
This idea might be supported by the argument that our Middle Chamber is conceived to be the place to which the Craftsmen employed in K.S.T. had to go "to receive their wages." For obviously this could not be "the Holy Place," not at least if we take the statement literally. But it would apply to these Chambers, or to some of them, seeing that they were outside the Temple. Indeed, we might gather as much from the designation which is given to some of them; for what else are we to understand by the name of " The Treasuries of the House of God," in the plural, and sometimes " The Treasury House " in the singular, but that the said Chambers were actually used for such a purpose? (Nehemiah x. 38-39, I Chron. ix. 26.)
In them were stored all sorts of valuables, not only the costly furniture of the Temple, but also " the Corn, the new wine, and the oil," which the people brought in as tithe for the
maintenance of the fabric of the Temple. There, then, we may take it, the Masons went to receive their remuneration, whether it consisted of "wages" which were paid in specie, or, as in the case of the E.A.'s, in a weekly allowance of the necessaries of life, every seventh day.
There seem to have been thirty chambers on each row; so Ezekiel affirms (xli. 6). Some of them were assigned to certain persons:
Priests, Singers, Guardians, and Chief Porters, that is, men whose ordinary occupation was in the Temple; and they were in possession, although they did not live in them. (Nehemiah xiii. 4, 7-9, I Chronicles ix. 26.) At one time "the oversight" of the Chambers was entrusted to one Eliashib, who must have been a man of some eminence, seeing that eventually he became High Priest. One of his sons,
Johannes, is mentioned as in possession of a certain Chamber (Ezra x. 6); but he allowed the Ammonite Tobaiah to make use of another, and Nehemiah denounced it as an act of
profanation, for which he had to make amends. Evidently the people occupying those Chambers formed an exclusive community.
They existed in Ezekiel's Temple, but in it they were arranged in a different way.
In the Second Temple some of the Chambers were used as places of assembly, those attending the meetings being " the chief of the priests, and Levites and fathers of Israel "; this last expression designating the class of people who would now be described as "independent gentlemen," or simply gentry, the word used in Hebrew being the same as occurs in our history, Abiv.
One of the Chambers was used by the " sons," that is, the disciples, followers or adepts, of Hanan, who is described as " a man of God," the common designation for any notable teacher.
These three rows of Chambers agree with our three orders of Masons. And it is remarkable that their size became larger as one went up from one row to another. Those on the first floor were the smallest, 5 cubits high by 5 cubits long and 5 cubits wide; they would naturally be assigned to men of comparatively low rank. Those on the middle row were
slightly larger, that is, they were 6 cubits wide, and they would be for men in a higher position. Those at the top were the largest, being 7 cubits wide, and must have been reserved for men of eminent degree. This increasing width was obtained by the gradual narrowing of the Temple wall.
It is in the Book of Kings (I. vi. 8) that we learn that the Winding Staircase that led to " the Middle Chamber " was on the S. side. The higher Chambers were tyled by men answering to our W.'s. For we read that "the Chamber of the Chief Officers " was situated directly above one occupied by Maaseiah, " the keeper of the door," that is, this latter was immediately
beneath, in the lower floor, where the staircase was. There was then a Door of some sort and an Officer stationed at the spot who guarded it, no one being able to pass up the Winding Staircase without his consent. This is in
substantial agreement with what we read in the Explanation of the T.B., and therefore we may rightly describe Maaseiah as a J.W., who had been appointed, as ours is, to prevent any unqualified person ascending that Staircase and gaining admission into the Chamber of the
Chief Officers. (Ezra viii. 29, Jer. xxxv. 4.)
These Chief Officers were Menatschin, Craftsmen " of that superior class appointed to preside over the rest."
It is equally evident that " the Keepers of the Door " were three in number, which agrees with the
number of entrances into the Temple and with that of rows of Chambers. The Winding Staircase was near the porchway or entrance of the Temple on the S. side. There was only one Winding Staircase, and there must have been someone stationed on the second floor, as there was on the first;
presumably also on the highest floor.
Nor are we to suppose that these were common watchmen; they were, in fact, responsible Officers, having control of the entire Temple, including these Chambers. Hence it is that when they are
mentioned along with other notabilities they are placed next in order of precedence to the High Priest and the Assistant High Priest (Jer. Iii. 24, 2 Kings XXV. 18).
All this seems to suggest that we have identified the Middle Chamber of the F.C.'s; but is it really so? The first objection that will
occur to the mind is that even the largest chambers at the top were far too small to accommodate any considerable body of men, let us say a score of them, and therefore too small as the official home of a brotherhood, to say nothing of the space required for the Ceremonies, if we are to suppose anything like the Rites which take place in a Masonic Lodge.