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About Ahiman And Rezon.

ABOUT AHIMAN AND REZON .

Br BBO . JACOB NORTON . WHEN I saw for the first time , many years ago , the Masonic Constitutions with the outlandish name of " Ahiman Rezon , or help to a Brofcher , " I never for a moment supposed , as friend Sadler did , thafc the said name was either of Irish or Arabic origin , bufc naturally supposed

they were Hebrew words which had escaped my memory . I first consulted " Cruden ' s Concordance , " bufc I could not find either of those words in it . I next tried Gesenius ' Hebrew Dictionary , but Ahiman was nofc there . I found , however , a word which German Jews would pronounce

" Rozoun , " to which I shall refer again hereafter . Some one , however , informed me that in " Mackey ' s Lexicon " I could find something about " Ahiman Rezon , " and here I give Dr . Mackey ' s solution . He says ,

"The title ( Ahiman Rezon ) is derived from three Hebrew words , —Ahim , brothers ; Manah , to choose , or to appoint , and Betzon , the will of the law . So thafc ifc literally signifies the law of the chosen brothers . " To

which he adds , in a foot-note , " Manah means to choose , appoint , or distribute into a peculiar class oufc of a generality , and is hence really

equivalent to' accept . ' Dalcho ' s signification , to prepare , is

incorrect . " Here , then , three Masonic luminaries are at loggerheads about the meaning of Ahiman Rezon , — " And who shall decide when doctors disagree ? " I , however , did nofc

believe in either of the above interpretations , and as I could not find these words in my reference books , I therefore supposed that Dermott invented them . The Masonic Review , of Cincinnati , reprinted one of my first articles on

" Facts and Fictions , " in November , and in the December number the following letter appeared in the said publication : —

To the Editor of the Masonic Review . Indianopolis , Ind ., Dec . 1 , 1888 . DEAR BRO ., —In yonr November nnmber , page 303 , you say the words " Ahiman Itezon" are not Hebrew , but an invention . The

words are Hebrew , " Ahiman " means " Bro . of a gift , " and was the proper name of one of the Anakim ; " Rezon " means " Prince , " ancl was the proper name of tha founder of the kingdom of Damascus . Numbers xiii . 22 , Ahiman ; Joshua xv . 14 , Ahiman ; Judges i . 10 , Ahiman j 1 Ohron . ix . 17 , Ahiman j 1 Kings xi . 23 , Eezon .

Fraternally yours , J . CAVES . The above information afc once senfc me to examine both the English and Hebrew versions of the Bible , and in the

latter I found } DT ! X , Achiman ; and in 1 Kings xi . 231 found \ \\\ Rezon . Now , let any one read the Bible about Ahiman , the son of Anak ; and of Rezon , the son of Eliadah , and ho will afc once see thafc the former was a

bitter enemy of Grand Master Moses , and Grand Master Joshua , and the latter was an oufc-and-oufc enemy of Grand Master Solomon ; hence , if Dermott had nofc been ignorant of Biblical history , he never would have Masonized the

bifcfceresfc enemies of the greatest traditional Masonic Grand Masters that ever lived .

I must here confess that I havo learned something new since Bro . Caven called my attention to the question afc issue ; for , up to thafc time , I supposed that our theological and Masonic type and symbol mongers were the greatest

and most ludicrous cranks outside of Bedlam . But I know now that our learned expounders of the meanings of names are as cranky as our symbologists ; and whafc-is more , this kind of madness seems to be of modern origin .

I never heard of any ono attempting to interpret the meaning of Alexander . Aristotle , or Plato ; nor did either Johnson , Worcester , or Webster make efforts in their

Dictionaries to define the meaning of names distinguished for literature , science , & c . Smith ' s " Dictionary of the Bible " gives no definition of names , nor did Gesenius . In a later edition of Gesenins , by Robinson , I am informed that the

About Ahiman And Rezon.

editor introduced Ahiman into the Dictionary , and explains it " Bro . of a gift ; " and in the latest edition of Webster ' s Dictionary I find , in the Appendix , several pages devoted

to explanations of " Christian names , and a hasty glance gave me a decided impression that it was also the work"of a crank .

To make rny meaning clear , we will suppose thafc one of these cranks undertook to explain the . meaning of the name of Wright . Of coarse Bro . Wright is a favourite , and a great Mason . Now the expounder would consult Worcester , where he finds ,

"WEIGHT , A workman , an artificer , a malcer , Shipwright , " & c . In another Dictionary he finds annexed to the word " Wright , " " In the North of England and throughout Scotland , a carpenter is known by no other

name than ' Wright , ' and amongst Anglo Saxons a carpenter was a wood-smith . " From the above definitions , a Masonic expounder of names would prove thafc a forefather of Bro . Wright was a carpenter , and as a carpenter

is a builder , and a mason is a builder , therefore Bro . Wright ' s ancestor was a Mason ; or he would trace thafc name from write , or from right , that he was righteous , ^ or right-handed , or from rite ; and thus prove that the original

Bro . Wright was 33 ° of the Scotch Bite . I know thafc some may think the above a sarcasm , and exaggerated . But Mackey's method of explaining the meaning of " Ahiman

Eezon , " his turning Betzon into Bezon , his mode of splitting and of joining words , together with his inferences , shows that I did nofc exaggerate , but here are similar specimens , viz .,

When I saw the Hebrew word jDTlK , I saw at once how some meaning could be screwed out of ifc , thus HX means brother , and ' nN is my brother , bufc I was greatly puzzled as to what the last syllable p mon , meant . I found , however , that n : o , mono means gift ( there are also several other meanings to it ) , hence , as } D , or Mon ,

forms part of the word Mono , so " Mon " was transformed into Mono , and Ahimono , was then explained to mean " Brother of a Gift . " Now , assuming thafc such a mode of explaining was legitimate and orthodox , even then ifc ought

to read " My brother Gift , " and nofc " Brother of a Gift . " Under the letter Best or R , in Gesenius' Dictionary , I find p Box a secret , np Bozo to be or to lean , and T \)~\ Boza the name of a country . Now , though all the above words begin with " Roz , " and the lasb two are composed of

the same letters , the vowels only differ , yet each word has

an entirely distinct meaning . The next word is }} p Bozoun , meaning leanness , consumption , destructive disease , diminution , smallness , scantiness , and also prince . Now , there aro many words in the Hebrew language

which aro spelled alike , but are differently pronounced , and have different meanings . For instance , DV Om , meaning " people , " DV Im means " with ' " fche letters are thesame ,. but fche vowels differ ; and , in a like manner , while ftp has

several meanings , pp the name ( mentioned in 1 Kings xi . 23 ) may have no meaning at all . Bufc if even ifc meant prince , it is utterly inappropriate and inapplicable for the name of a Masonic Constitution .

When I got throngh with searching for the alleged meanings of " Ahiman Rezon" I happened to recollecfc that in the Appendix to Cruden ' s Concordance there were

sorae pages filled with names , and there I found that Ahiram meant "a brother prepared , or a brofcher of the right hand . " Well , then , after wading through a mass of intricate nonsense , propounded by name expounders , I came to the conclusion that neither Anak the father , nor his son

Ahiram , ever supposed or dreamed thafc learned dreamers would ever torture the name in question , either into a "Brother prepared , " or a "Brother of the right hand , " or a " Brother of a gift , " or "Brothers to choose , appoint , or accept , " or " a help to a Brofcher . "

The facfc is , Dermott blundered , for he might have found a moro applicable name for his Constitutions . It , however , served his purpose , for it nofc only deceived his surrounding dupes with belief in his Hebrew scholarship , but even the

learned Rev . Dr . Dalcbo , of South Carolina , aud the Constitution makers of Pennsylvania , New York , and of Ireland , have also had faith in Dermott ' s Hebrew

knowledge , for their respective Constitutions were also headed with thc same inapplicable , meaningless aud senseless title of " Ahiman Bezon . " BOSTON , U . S ., 29 th January 1889 .