textfiles/magazines/STB/stb-1932-11.txt

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X   November, 1932   No.11

SPRIG OF ACACIA

by: Unknown

Any discussion of the Acacia, important to Freemasonry as one of is 
fundamental and most beautiful symbols, should begin with clearing 
away a little of the <20>rubbish of the Temple<6C> which results from the 
careless writing of unlearned men.  So much has been published about 
the Acacia which simply is not so that it is no wonder that 
Freemasons are frequently confused as to what the plant really is, 
how it came to be a symbol of immortality, and what its true place in 
religious history may be.
We cannot accurately denote a particular plant or tree as <20>the Acacia 
plant<EFBFBD> or <20>the Acacia tree<65> for the same reason that we cannot 
accurately specify <20>the Rose bush<73> or <20>the pine tree.<2E>  There are too 
many varieties of roses, too many kinds of pine trees to distinguish 
one from the other merely by the definite article.
As botanists know more than four hundred and fifty varieties of 
Acacia, <20>the acacia can be only the most general of terms, meaning 
them all.<2E>  So perhaps it is not to be wondered at that we find one 
Masonic writer speaking of the <20>spreading leaves of the Acacia tree<65> 
and another talking of <20>the low thorny shrub which is the Acacia.<2E>
We have no certainty that the trees and shrubs now growing in 
Palestine are the same as those which flowered in Solomon<6F>s era.  So 
that it is not impossible that <20>Acacia totilis (in Arabic, Es-sant)<29> 
and <20>Acacia Seyal (In Arabic Sayal)<29> grew to greater size three 
thousand years ago than they do now.  But authorities doubt that the 
Acacia which grows low, as a bush, and which in all probability must 
have been the plant which one of the three plucked from the ground as 
the <20>Sprig of Acacia,<2C> ever grew large enough to supply boards three 
feet wide.  Wynn Westcott says:  <20>The Acacia is the only tree of any 
size which grows in the deserts of Palestine, but it has been doubted 
that even it ever grew large enough to provide planks one and one-
half cubits in width.<2E>
Scholars are united in saying the <20>Shittah Tree<65> of the Old Testament 
is an Acacia; and that <20>Shittim<69>, the plural, refers to Acacia.  In 
Joel (3-18), one of the poetic and beautiful prophecies of the Old 
Testament, we read:
<EFBFBD>And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop 
down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers 
of Judah shall flow with waters, a fountain shall come forth of the 
house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.<2E>
Commentators place the <20>valley of Shittim<69> as possibly the Kidron of 
Exekiel; but certainly as some dry, thirsty valley where the Acacia, 
which flourished where other plants perished from lack of water, was 
known to grow; another reason for thinking the original Acacia which 
Freemasons revere was the smaller shrub, rather than the large tree.
Inasmuch as Akakia<69> in Greek signifies <20>Innocence,<2C> it was wholly 
natural for Hutcheson (Spriti of Masonry, 1795) to connect the 
Masonic plant with the Greek definition.  He said:
<EFBFBD>We Masons, describing the deplorable state of religion under the 
Jewish Law, speak in figures; <20>Her Tomb was in the rubbish and filth 
cast forth of the Temple, and Acacia wove its branches over her 
monument;<3B> <20>akakia<69> being the Greek word for innocence, or being free 
from sin, implying that the sins and corruptions of the old law and 
devotees of the Jewish altar had hid religion from those who sought 
her, and she was only to be found where innocence survived under the 
banner of the Divine Lamb; and as to ourselves, professing that we 
were to be distinguished by our <20>Acacy,<2C> or as true <20>Acacians,<2C> in 
our religious faith and tenets.<2E>
It is now well understood that Hutcheson, great as is the debt we owe 
him, was too anxious to read a Christian interpretation into 
everything Masonic to be considered as infallible.  While the 
coincidence of the Greek word our name for the Shittah-Tree is 
suggestive, it hardly seems sufficient to read <20>innocence<63> into the 
symbol when it already has so sublime a significance.
Mackey considers the acacia also as a symbol of initiation, because 
sacred plants were symbolical of initiation in many of the Ancient 
Mysteries, from which Freemasonry derived so much.  The modern 
Masonic scholar is rather apt to pass over this meaning, he is also 
thinking that a symbol already so rich needs no further meanings to 
make it important and beautiful.
Apparently the beginning of the association of the acacia with 
immortality is in the legend of Isis and Osiris, one of the oldest 
myths of mankind, traced back into Egypt many thousands of years 
before the Christian era.  Its beginnings, like those of all legends 
which have endured, are shrouded in the mist which draws a veil 
between us and the days before history.
According to the legend, Osiris, who was at once both King and God of 
the Egyptians, and was tricked by his brother Typhon (who was very 
jealous of Osiris), during the King<6E>s absence on a beneficent mission 
to his people.  Later, at a feast provided for the King-God<6F>s 
pleasure, Typhon brought a large chest, beautiful in workmanship, 
valuable in the extreme, and offered it as a gift to whoever 
possessed a body which best fitted the chest.  When Osiris entered 
the box, Typhon caused the lid to shut and fastened; after which the 
whole was thrown into the Nile.
Currents carried it to Byblos, Phoenicia, and cast it ashore at the 
foot of an acacia tree.  The tree grew rapidly and soon encased the 
chest holding the body of Osiris.
When Isis, faithful queen, learned of the fate of her husband she set 
out in search of the body.  Meanwhile the King of the Land where the 
acacia concealed the body, admiring the tree<65>s beauty, cut it down 
and made of its trunk, a column.  Learning this, Isis became nurse to 
the King<6E>s children and received the column as her pay.  In the tree 
trunk, preserved, was the body of Osiris.
During their long captivity at the hands of the Egyptians; what more 
natural than that the Israelites should take for their own a symbol 
already old, and make of the <20>Shittah-Tree<65> a symbol of immortality, 
just as had been done in Egypt?
It is perhaps to much to say that Israelites were the first to plant 
a sprig of acacia at the had of a grave as a symbol of immortality.  
But that they did so in ancient times is stated by many historians.  
Dalcho assigns a novel reason for this practice; that as the Codens, 
or Priests, were forbidden to step upon or over a grave, it was 
necessary that spots of internment be marked, and, the acacia being 
common, it was elected for the purpose.
Mackey disagrees with Dalcho as to these reasons for marking a grave 
with a living plant.  Perhaps the origin of the custom is not 
important; certain it is that all peoples in almost all ages have 
planted or laid flowers on the graves of those they love, as a symbol 
of the resurrection and a future life.  The lily of the modern 
church, the rosemary which is for remembrance, the sprig of acacia of 
the ancient Israelites and the modern Mason, have all the same 
meaning upon a grave - the visual expression of the dearest hope of 
all mankind.
It is both curious and interesting to learn that many trees, in many 
climes, have been symbols of immortality.  India gave to Egypt the 
lotus, long a sacred plant; the Greeks thought the myrtle the tree of 
immortal life, and the mistletoe, which survives in our lives merely 
as a pleasant diversion at Christmas, was held by the Scandavavians 
and the Druids as sacred as we consider the acacia.
Association of a plant and immortality is emphasized in the New 
Testament - see John 12:24:
<EFBFBD>Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the 
ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth 
much fruit.<2E>
Also familiar passages from St. Paul (First Corinthians 15:36,37) 
used so much in funeral services:
<EFBFBD>Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; 
and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, 
but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain . . .<2E>
Finally we find in our own stately prayer in the Master<65>s Degree, 
such a coupling up of a tree and life immortal; <20>For there is hope of 
a tree if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the 
tender branches thereof will not cease.<2E> - which of course, is taken 
from Job 14:7.
Thus there is ample historical recognition of the connection between 
that which grows and dies and grows again, and the idea of 
immortality; we do not have to consider the undoubted fact that 
<EFBFBD>shittah-trees<65> cut to form beams of house, often sprouted branches 
even when they had no roots, nor our own thought of almost any 
variety of pine as <20>the evergreen, or ever living<6E> tree, to see that 
there is much background behind the symbol.
It is one of the glories of Freemasonry that so much has been made of 
the symbol, so dear and deep a meaning vested in it, that it has 
almost equaled the square as Freemasonry<72>s nearest and dearest.
All that was mortal on Tyrian lay murdered in a grave <20>dug six feet 
due east and west.<2E>  The genius of the Temple was no more.  No more 
designs upon the trestleboard; no more glorious architecture to come 
from that mighty brain; no more holding of meetings with Solomon and 
Hiram in the Sanctum Sanctorum - the Widow<6F>s Son was dead!
Of those who search one finds a sprig of acacia.  Oh, immortal story; 
thrice immortal ritual makers, who coupled together a resurrection 
and a sprig of green!  True, he whose mother was of the Tribe of 
Naphtali was destroyed, but his genius lived, his spirit marched on, 
his virtues were recorded in stone and in the hearts of those who 
built on Mt. Moriah<61>s heights.
For at least two hundred years and probably much longer the sprig of 
acacia has held Freemasonry<72>s premier teaching.  The grave is not the 
end.  Bodies die and decay, but something <20>which bears the nearest 
affinity to that which pervades all nature and which never, never, 
dies,<2C> rises from the grave to become one of that vast throng which 
has preceded us.  Error can slay, as can evil and selfish greed, but 
not permanently.  That which is true and fair and fine cannot be 
destroyed.  Its body may be murdered, its disappearance may be 
effected, the rubbish of the Temple and a temporary grave may conceal 
it for a time, but where is interred that which is mortal, there 
grows an evergreen or ever living sprig of acacia - acacia none the 
less that it may be a spiritual sprig, a plant not of the earth, 
earthly.
When he who was weary, plucked at a sprig of acacia, he had <20>evidence 
of things not seen.<2E>  When we toss the little sprig of evergreen 
which is our usual cemetery <20>sprig of acacia<69> into the open grave of 
one of our brethren who has stepped ahead upon the path we all must 
tread, we give evidence of belief in a <20>thing not seen.<2E>
For never a man has seen the spirit of one who has gone, or visioned 
the land where no shadows are.  If we see it in our dreams, we see by 
faith, not eyes.  But we can see the acacia - we can look back 
through the dragging years to the legend of  Osiris and think that 
even as the acacia grew about his body to protect it until Isis might 
find it, so does the acacia of Freemasonry bloom above the casket 
from which, in the solemn words of Ecclesiastes <20>the spirit shall 
return unto God who gave it.<2E>