Rosslyn Treasury

by P. L. Snow

  It was a mighty caravan of travellers that left Ur of the Chaldees, for Abram was a man of princely bearing, and had a large household. He was joined by his nephew, Lot. Together they travelled to the land of Canaan, where Abram raised up an altar to his God.

  Now, a famine fell upon the land, and Abram decided to journey to Egypt, though he knew that his wife Sarai would be seen as very comely by the Egyptians, and he knew that there was a danger that they would take her and kill him. Therefore he told Sarai to pose as his sister. Sure enough, when this rich caravan arrived in Egypt, Sarai’s beauty was praised to Pharaoh, and he took her into his household, but laid no rough hand on Abram, whose faith was such that he had no fear for the well-being of his wife.

  It followed that diseases and plagues struck Pharaoh’s household, and when he consulted his wise men and soothsayers about the reason for their suffering, their magical researches told them that the cause was Sarai: she was another man’s wife.

  Pharaoh, not wishing to draw more trouble on his household, sent Sarai back to Abram, along with livestock, such as sheep, asses and camels. He also gave him slaves, both male and female, and Abram departed for Canaan, richer than when he had arrived.

  Abram and Lot now parted company, and Lot went to make his home on what were then the lush and verdant plains of Jordan, near the city of Sodom. Abram remained in Canaan, and was honoured as a king and revered as a priest. He travelled through Canaan, and his God told him that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust, though as yet, Sarai had borne him no children.

  There came a time of war among the kings of the region. Lesser kings rose up in rebellion against Kedorlaomer, King of Elam, but Abram remained apart from the strife, until he learned that his nephew Lot and all his household had been carried off by the men of Kedorlaomer. Abram was living by the terebinth groves belonging to his friend Mamre, at the time. On receiving the news, he gathered an army of three hundred and eighteen men and rode in pursuit, catching up with them just north of Damascus. He brought back the members of his family and their households, as well as the captured goods, flocks and slaves.

  Abram and Melchizedek

  On his triumphal return, he was met in the Valley of the Kings by Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, who received Abram with bread and wine, and blessed him in the name of the Most High. Melchizedek saw in Abram one who was to be a servant of El-Elyon, the Most High God, though he worshipped Jahweh, but Jahweh reflected El-Elyon as the moon reflects the sunlight. The place where Melchizedek met Abram with bread and wine was later to be the place where Christ celebrated the sharing of bread and wine with His disciples at the Last Supper. But the city of Jerusalem was not yet built. Melchizedek lived in a place made holy when the great flood of Noah retreated.

  An ancient legend tells that once Adam and Eve had been driven out of Paradise, Adam wished to consummate his marriage to her. Therefore he took gold, frankincense and myrrh and brought them to a cave where they could be together in memory of Paradise, and the cave was called the Treasure Cave. When Adam died, long years later, Noah was instructed by El-Elyon the Most High to take the body of Adam from the Treasure Cave where it had been lain, and place it in the Ark, and to place the gold, frankincense and myrrh on the coffin. When the waters receded, Noah and his son Shem went to a hill at the deepest part of the world, where the earth opened in a crevice in the form of a cross, to receive the body of Adam. This was where the body was laid to rest, and it was called the Hill of Golgotha. This was nearby the place where Melchizedek lived, out of the way of men. Now, he and Abram communed together on matters of a high spiritual nature, as priest to priest, and Abram gave to Melchizedek a tenth of the livestock that he had rescued, though this was to be a place where no blood was to be shed in sacrifice; only the sharing of bread and wine was to be the sacrament here, for it was a place of great holiness.

  Abram becomes Abraham

  When Abram left Melchizedek, he met Bera, the King of Sodom, who had been chased by Kedorlaomer into the tar pits of Siddim. Now that Kedorlaomer was defeated, he demanded from Abram the slaves and servants who had been rescued from the battle near Damascus, offering him wealth in exchange. But Abram despised the black magical practices of Sodom, and would have nothing to do with Bera, dividing the wealth he had won instead among Mamre and his brothers.

  Now Sarai had still not given Abram a son, even though God had promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth and the stars of the sky. So Sarai sent her Egyptian slave Hagar to Abram, and she conceived a son. When Hagar knew that she was pregnant, she began to feel superior to Sarai, and sneered and mocked her. Sarai complained of this to Abram, who told her to deal with Hagar as she wished. Sarai punished Hagar for her impertinence, and Hagar, unable to bear the punishment, ran away.

  As she was resting by a well, an angel told her to return to Sarai, and told her a little of her son’s destiny. Hagar could hardly believe that an angel had spoken to her in this remote place. ‘Can I see a god and live?’ she wondered. Thereafter, the well was called Beer-lahai-roi, which means the Well of One Who Has Seen a Vision and Lived. Hagar returned to the tents of Abram, and brought forth her son, who was named Ishmael.

  One day, Abram felt himself in the presence of the Lord, and threw himself on the ground in reverence. He learned that the covenant was soon to be fulfilled, and Sarai would soon bring forth a son. Furthermore, he was no longer to be called Abram, Father of the Height, but Abraham, Father of a Host of Nations. Sarai, too, was to change her name. No longer was she to be named She who is Destined to Rule, but Sarah; She who is Consecrated to Rule. The boy that she was to bear would be called Isaac.

  Not long after this, three men passed by Abraham’s tents at his camp among the groves of terebinths. One was dressed all in white, one all in red, and the last all in green. These were no ordinary men, for an archangel spoke through each one. Michael spoke through the man all in white, Gabriel through the man in red and Raphael through the man in green. Abraham invited them to join him and eat. He washed their feet, in the tradition of those who welcome strangers in the desert lands, and they sat down together to eat. The man all in white asked where Sarah was.

  ‘There in the tent,’ replied Abraham.

  ‘When I pass this way in a year’s time, she shall have a son,’ the stranger said. Sarah heard him and laughed. The man asked why she laughed, but she denied having done so. She was, after all, past childbearing age. The man quietly repeated that she had laughed, and said: ‘Is anything impossible with the Lord?’

  The three now arose and made their way towards Sodom, where Lot made his home, near the gates of the city. They had heard terrible things about the evil magic practices of the city, and were going to see for themselves whether it was true. It had been said that, among other abominations, by coupling with animals, they had created creatures to serve them that were half man, half beast. Clearly, the world of gods and angels could not permit such things to continue.

  Abraham knew that the fate of the Cities of the Plain now hung in the balance, and began to question his God: would He spare the city if there were fifty upright men living there, or even forty? Would the Lord spare the city for ten good men’s sake? What about five? The Lord replied that He would spare the city if there were as many as five upright men living there.

  When the three arrived at the gates of Sodom, Lot welcomed them in, advising them against entering the city. Almost at once, a gang of evil men, sensing the spiritual quality of the three, and wishing to use them for their dark magic, demanded that they come out. Lot tried to send them away, even offering them his daughters, instead, but the crowd was not to be appeased. Two of the three pulled Lot inside and caused the men of the crowd to become confused, so that they could no longer find the door.

  The three now told Lot that he should gather his family together and all his goods and belongings, and leave the city, as it was to be destroyed. They should all go, and not look backward wh
en they went.

  The destruction of the cities of the plain

  Lot gathered his family and servants and worldly goods together, and they set out, away from the city. Lot’s wife, however, turned to look back the way they had come, and at once she became smitten with arthritic pains among her bones; the arteries and veins of her body became stiff and sclerotic, and it was said that she had become like a pillar of salt.

  But God’s judgment was upon the cities of the plain, and fire and brimstone rained down upon Sodom and Gomorrah. The lush, verdant plain of Jordan became a rocky wilderness, and the Cities of the Plain were destroyed.

  Abraham went up to a high place and saw the destruction. Sadly he turned away, and moved his great camp onwards into the Negeb, where Abimelech ruled. Like Pharaoh before him, Abimelech saw Sarah, and took her into his household, believing her to be Abraham’s sister. Abraham, wishing to avoid all strife, allowed this to happen, trusting in the Lord his God to make all right. This time, the Lord came to Abimelechin a dream and told him who Sarah was. Abimelechat once sent Sarah back to Abraham, with gifts of livestock and slaves. Abraham prayed to Jahweh on behalf of Abimelech that he and his household should not suffer, for the women of Abimelech’s family had become barren once Sarah had been brought in among them. Jahweh answered Abraham’s prayer, and the fertility of Abimelech’s women was restored. More than this; Sarah at last conceived and gave birth to a son, Isaac.

  Now, the sign of Abraham’s covenant with his God was that all the males of his household should be circumcised. After eight days, Isaac was circumcised, and Sarah saw Hagar, once again, laughing in scorn. Sarah demanded that Hagar be sent away, and thus it was that Hagar and Ishmael left the camp of Abraham early one morning, with a few provisions and a skin full of water.

  When the skin was empty, Hagar set Ishmael down under a bush, and walked away from him, weeping at their plight, for the length of two bowshots. As before, Hagar was approached by an angel who told her to go back and pick up her infant son, who was crying under the bush. The angel also showed her a well nearby, where she was able to refill the water skin. The child enjoyed the favour of God and became a mighty archer, and the father of a great race. Many Moslems today trace their origins and those of their Prophet from Ishmael.

  The sacrifice and the founding of Jerusalem

  Now the time came that Abraham understood that his son was to be a sacrifice to his God. He knew no other form than the blood sacrifice, and set off with wood for a fire and Isaac at his side.

  Eventually they came to a hill where Abraham began to make ready, though with a heavy heart.

  ‘Father, here is the wood, but where is the beast that we must sacrifice?’ asked Isaac. Abraham replied: ‘God will provide the sacrifice.’ Then, he bound Isaac, and placed him on the stone altar. He drew his knife, and when Isaac felt the metal on his neck, he fell into a deathly swoon.

  Then, from the realm of the Cherubim, Abraham heard a voice telling him to stay his hand, and not to touch the boy. There, in a thicket, a ram was caught fast by the horns, and this was the beast that should be offered up on the altar. But Abraham was blessed by God for his willingness to sacrifice what he held most dear in the world, though this was a sacrifice that was not desired of God.

  On the same day that Isaac was offered to God, so an old legend tells, twelve Priest Kings came to Melchizedek and asked him to come to go with them. Melchizedek explained that he could not go to another place. Here was where he belonged. The twelve then held a solemn council together and decided that a city should be built there, for Melchizedek was the greatest among them, and of the kings of the earth. And so it came about that a city was raised up in that place by order of the twelve. Abraham had called the place Jare or ‘God appears’ but Melchizedek insisted that the place should bear the name of peace, or ‘Salem’. So the city was called ‘God appears in peace’, or Jerusalem. Thus, an old legend tells of twelve builder Priest-Kings gathering around their master to build a city on sacred ground.

  Sarah was very old when she passed away; she lived to the age of a hundred and twenty seven. Abraham made sure that the very best grave was found for her. He bought the plot from a Hittite prince. Melchizedek was present at the funeral. Kings and princes came to mourn Sarah as she was buried in a cave in Machpelah, east of the grove of terebinths, in Hebron.

  Abraham married again and had more children, but did not live long thereafter. It was said that he was the first man ever to show the signs of age: grey hair and lined skin. Before he died, he made sure that a wife was found for Isaac. She was Rebecca, a beautiful maiden of Aram-Naharaim, and thus the line of descent continued from Abraham, the Father of a Host of Nations.

  ***

  The carving in the chapel, opposite the carving of Melchizedek, is much damaged, and now, all that remains to be clearly seen is the ram of the sacrifice. In the north aisle, almost opposite, is the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God; sign of a still greater sacrifice.

  The sacrifical ram caught in the bush. Abraham and Isaac have been removed.

  6. Moses

  The Horned Moses with Tablets of the Law and Staff of Jethro.

  Many pulpits in churches, for instance, in North Germany, are supported by a statue of a horned Moses. Michelangelo’s statue in Rome is probably the best known representation of this, where the horns seem like organs of sense, feeling their way into the world. In Rosslyn, the carving in the window shows Moses, holding the tablets of the law in his right hand, and the priestly staff that he received from Jethro in his left. His horns, though, are set back on his temples, and rise more like those of a cow than a ram, which would be the usual representation. In Rosslyn, the carving reminds us that Moses was, first, a priest of Isis, a son of the widow; Isis being often represented with the horns of a cow encircling a sun disc. The tablets of the law show the new direction to be taken by the Habiru, or Hebrew people, and the staff that the new direction is indeed continuous with the flow of destiny that began with Adam’s expulsion from Eden. Opposite the carving of Moses, a helmeted angel offers the heart of Robert the Bruce, in homage to the leader who brought a new impulse into the moral life of the world and who brought a new emphasis to the life of thought.

  The birth and childhood of Moses

  There lived in Egypt, in the time of the Pharaohs, a brotherhood of free people, made up of many nationalities, close to the city of Thebes. These were the Pious of the Land, honourable people who turned their back on the decadent and cruel excesses of Egypt’s rulers of the time.

  Among these was a man named Amram, and a woman of the Habiru, or Hebrew people, named Jochebed, who had a child after seven months’ pregnancy. At that time, most of the Habiru people lived in the Valley of Goshen, east of the Nile delta, where they lived as slaves, subject to the cruelties of their masters. The Habiru people had lived in Egypt for some four hundred years, since the time of Joseph, and were sometimes called the sons of Jacob, or the sons of Israel. But Jochebed lived among the pious brethren, far south of the delta.

  At the birth, the chamber where she lay was filled with light, as though sun and moon shone together. Though premature, the child, a boy, was a sturdy and robust infant, and the leaders of the Pious of the Land knew that here was an important individual, who should be brought up within the precincts of the Temple.

  Miriam, a young woman of the pious brethren, was sent to meet Bathia, the daughter of Pharaoh, who would adopt the child into the royal household. Miriam waited for Bathia by the waters of the Nile. The day was hot, and to shield the boy from the heat of the sun, he was placed in a tightly woven cradle of rushes, floating on the river water, which reflected the sunlight in ever-moving fiery glints. Bathia arrived, stooped and picked up the infant boy, saying: ‘Look, I have rescued thee out of the water.’

  It was agreed that Bathia would adopt the boy, and that his mother Jochebed would be his nurse, and Miriam, who was taken to be his sister, attend upon him. Thus it was that the boy grew up as a member of th
e royal household, and was trained in the priesthood of Osiris. His name was Hosarsiph. He was taken to the city of Heliopolis,known in the Bible as On, to be taught by wise men from all over the Mediterranean basin: Hellenes, Chaldeans and Egyptian priests of Osiris. There he learned the secret of the threefold writing: to write simply and literally; to write figuratively and symbolically; to write in a way that veiled the higher truth. Thus, the priests of Egypt could write a text that was literal, metaphorical and transcendent all at once. This he was able to use later, when he had undergone more powerful experiences.

  It was part of the arrogance of the Pharaohs, and a symbol of their decadence, that they took themselves to be Initiates of the Mysteries of Osiris, to the extent that they claimed to be the replacement at the side of the goddess Isis for the slain Osiris. Hosarsiph, however, now a grown man, had looked deep into the mysteries, and knew that Isis remained a widow, silent and wordless, and that the soul of humanity still longed in its deepest being for the return of the goddess’s consort. Those who had this experience consciously of the silent and grieving Isis were known as ‘Sons of the Widow’, a term that was to remain through long ages among the initiated.

  The flight of Moses

  One day, when Hosarsiph was in his fortieth year, he chanced to be passing some building works. There he saw what was after all, in those days, a common enough sight: an overseer mercilessly thrashing a Habiru slave. All at once, he became aware as never before of a division within himself. The Egyptian in him was offended by the thrashing, but accepted it as part of the world to which he belonged. The Habiru in him was filled with rage, not only at the overseer, but at the part of himself that closed its eyes to the fact; that accepted without question a privileged existence in a world maintained at the expense of those who are unfree. It became necessary in that instant, to kill the Egyptian within himself, but the outer expression of this inner resolve was that he slew the overseer.