|
|
 |

Articles

print pdf file

The Blacksmith

It came to pass, when Solomon, the son of David, had finished the Temple of Jerusalem, that he prepared a feast for his chief craftsmen and artificers and spread the table with the fatness of the land and the wine and oil thereof. The seat of the King was at the head of the table on a raised dais, and the two famous pillars of bronze with their beautiful capitals of lilies, pomegranates, and delicate network, stood one on his right hand and the other on his left, and the lintel thereof was a canopy over the head of the King.

And Solomon had also prepared a seat of honor and set it on his right hand, ready for that craftsman who might be pronounced most worthy among all who wrought in building the houses of the Lord. And when all was ready he called unto him his chief architects and master overseers, and the head artificers who were cunning workers in gold and silver, in bronze and ivory, and in wood and stone; yea, all who labored in building the Temple of the Most High, and he said unto them, "Sit ye down at my table and partake of the feast which I have prepared. Stretch forth thy hands, eat, drink and be merry. The skilled artificer is worthy of honor. Is not the laborer worthy of his hire? Muzzle not the ox that treadeth out the corn upon the threshing floor."

And when Solomon and his guests were seated there came one who knocked loudly upon the door, and, having entered, forcibly advanced even to the festal board. And the King waxed wroth, and said, "What manner of man art thou? Why comest thou rude and unseemly and unbidden to our feast, where none were invited, save the chief workers of the Temple?"

And the man answered and said, "Please you, I come rudely because the servants at the portal barred my entrance, and obliged me to force my way; but I come not unbidden. Was it not proclaimed this day that the chief workmen of the Temple dine with the King? Therefore am I come."

And when the man had thus spoken, the guests talked with one another, and he who carved the cherubim spake loud and said, "This fellow is no sculptor. I know him not." And he who inlaid the roof with pure gold said, "Neither is he one of those who worked in refined metals." And he who wrought in raising the walls said, "He belongs not with those who are cutters of stone." And one who labored in shaping the timbers of the roof said, "We who are cunning in cedar wood and know the mystery of joining strange timbers together know him not. He is not of us."

Then said King Solomon, "How sayest thou now? Wherefore should I not have thee plucked by the beard, scourged with a scourge, and stoned with stones, even unto death?"

But the man was no wise daunted, and, taking a cup of wine from the table, raised it on high and spake aloud, saying, '0 King, live forever." He then drank until the cup was emptied. He now turned to the guests who had rebuked him, and said unto the chief of the carvers in stone, "Who made the instrument with which you carve?" And he answered, "The blacksmith." And to the chief of the workers in wood he said, "Who made the tools with which you felled the cedars of Lebanon and shaped them into pillars and roof for the Temple?" And he also answered, "The blacksmith." Then he spake unto the artificers in gold and ivory and precious stones, saying, "Who fashioned the instruments with which you made beautiful ornaments for my Lord the King?" And they, too, made answer the same, "The blacksmith."

Then said the man to Solomon, "Behold, 0 King, I am he whom men deride when they call me blacksmith, but when they would honor me they call, me the Son of the Forge. These Craftsmen say truly I am not one of them. I am their superior. Without my labor first, their labor could not be. The great Tubalcain, whom all men honor, taught those who in turn taught me my handicraft, and the mighty Vulcan, who wrought in fire and sweat as I do, it was not deemed unmeet should have the Queen of Beauty to wife."

"Son of the Forge," said King Solomon, "I too, honor thee, thou worthy successor of the great master Tubalcain. Take thou this seat at my right hand prepared for the most worthy. It is thy due."

Taken from Rabbinical sources and is quoted from the London Freemason

back to top

« back

|
|
 |