The Two Pillars
Why this matters
At the porch of King Solomon's Temple, according to the published account in 1 Kings, stood two great pillars of brass. The one on the right was named Jachin and the one on the left was named Boaz. Each was eighteen cubits tall, with a chapiter (a capital) of five cubits, ornamented with chain work, network, and pomegranates. Every regular Lodge in the world reproduces these two pillars in some form, and the published Fellowcraft lecture walks the candidate between them.
The two pillars are the published gateway of the second degree. They carry specific names with specific meanings (Boaz = 'in strength,' Jachin = 'he will establish'), and they stand at the entrance of every published account of Solomon's Temple. Knowing the pillars (their names, their ornaments, their dimensions, their published lesson) is half the published Fellowcraft material.
What this chapter is
Boaz and Jachin: the two great pillars at the porch of King Solomon's Temple, freely described in monitorial lectures and reproduced in every regular Lodge.
How to practise it
A lesson walks the same seven steps every time. Read the intro, study the material, then drill it through Quick Fire, Matchup, Sequence, Flashcards, and the Mix capstone. Each step opens to the next; no choices to make in the middle of the work.
Habit loop
- Learn
Finish this step. - Plan
Decide the next sitting. - Do
Carry one part into action. - Reflect
Log what changed. - Teach
Pass one point on.
Learn, plan, do, reflect, teach
The lesson itself is only the first fifth of the pattern. Carry it through the full loop so the work becomes habitual.
-
Learn
Work The Two Pillars
Move through the seven-step lesson until recognition becomes recall and use.
Continue the lesson -
Plan
Plan the next sitting
Name when this chapter gets revisited so it becomes part of a real study rhythm instead of a one-time read.
Open personal planning -
Do
Carry the lesson into action
Find the place where this chapter leaves the page and enters your lodge, schedule, or conversation.
Open Do -
Reflect
Reflect while it is still fresh
Read 1 Kings 7:13-22 in your own VSL. The pillars are described in published detail, by Hiram of Tyre's hand. Notice what the lecture takes from the Bible and what it adds to it.
Open the gauge log -
Teach
Pass one part of it to another brother
Turn the chapter into a short explanation, a mentoring question, or a conversation at refreshment.
Open Teach
What if · take it further ▸
Sit with this
- Read 1 Kings 7:13-22 in your own VSL. The pillars are described in published detail, by Hiram of Tyre's hand. Notice what the lecture takes from the Bible and what it adds to it.
- If you had to teach a non-Mason what 'Boaz' and 'Jachin' mean and why the two pillars are placed where they are, could you, in two sentences? Try it before reading the chapter. The exercise locates where your published knowledge actually is.
Connect to
- Form and Furniture of the Lodge
Form and Furniture of the Lodge. Where the pillars sit in the published room.
- The Mosaic Pavement
The Mosaic Pavement. Another published Temple-floor element treated in the same set of lectures.
- The Three Great Lights
The Three Great Lights. The pillars stand at the porch; the Great Lights rest at the altar.