SH Archive Tektōn, or why Jesus was most likely a Mason

I was inspired to create this post based off this thread from @KorbenDallas, originally it was intended to be a reply but I figured it would be a bit too off-topic for the discussion at hand. I suppose I should say this up front: this post does not intend to prove or disprove the validity of a live, historical Jesus. This post is agnostic in the sense that this information is applicable regardless of Jesus being a real person, an allegory, or a bastardized depiction of a pagan sun god. I say this to avoid this thread derailing into a "Was Jesus real" which I am not interested in for the sake of the information presented.


Well, not exactly. Before we dig in here, let's examine the references to Jesus being a carpenter. It won't take long, because there are only two references to it in the bible.

Matt. 13:55 - Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
Mark 6:3 - Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?”

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This site helps give us a little more historical background.

Less than 4 miles NW of Nazareth - Sepphoris, the largest city in Judea apart from Jerusalem, and which was only an hour's walk from Nazareth. When Jesus was about nine years old, Herod Antipas initiated a large scale building program in Sepphoris that lasted for twenty years - all these buildings were made of stone and it was very possible that Jesus would have helped to build these stone buildings. Buildings were constructed of stone, not wood. There was NOT an abundance of wood in Jesus’ day in Nazareth.

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Jewish males generally were made to learn a trade – even rabbis! Jesus is most often referred to as rabbi/teacher, but would have had a trade (like Paul being a tentmaker, even though he was educated in the school of the great rabbi, etc.)

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I am taking the above information with a grain of salt, as I can not verify these conclusions myself. However, if true this would mean the trade of carpentry would not necessarily fit the area and time in which Jesus is said to have lived. So, why carpenter?

Let's take those phrases above and re-translate them back into Ancient Greek.

The Ancient Greek noun tektōn (τέκτων) is a common term for an artisan/craftsman, in particular a carpenter, wood-worker, mason, builder or teacher. The term is frequently contrasted with an iron-worker, or smith (χαλκεύς) and the stone-worker or mason (λιθολόγος, λαξευτής).

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So it seems that the eventual translation into modern society decided to take the carpentry route with the definition. However, it is a bit strange that there is nowhere in the New Testament that Jesus makes a reference or metaphor built around wood working and carpentry. However, there are a metric shit-ton of references to stone working and masonry.

Sacred temples were not built from wood, but from stone. This also is steeped in the symbolism of the initiatory death, something that Masons will go through in their initiation.
Not sure why his disciples would be asking a carpenter to admire the quality of stonework, seems more logical if he works with stone.
Rabboni (Ραββουνι), RB BNI (Hebrew): Master of the Builders
Translated to: Κυριε ει συ εβαστασας αυτον ειπε μοι που αυτον εθηκας καγω αυτον αρω = 7261 (Gemetria)

The Master Builder: Ο Αρχιτεκτων = 7261 In(counted in plenitude (2))

Source

I found some more interesting tidbits on the Phoenix Masonic website.

Another rather curious matter dealing with the meanings of names is the fact that Jesus was called a Nazarene, and that, as a boy, He lived in a city called Nazareth. Both Nazarene and Nazareth mean "seperated". It is interesting to find that a city called Nazareth is mentioned neither anywhere in the Old Testament nor in any Judaic literature. There are historians who claim that a town by that name did not exist in Galilee at that time, and that the name was indicative of Jesus being a member of a secret sect or order that existed in Northern Palestine for centuries. Quite interestingly, also, in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was called a "ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" (vs. 5)

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There is a very curious story about Jesus as a young boy in the apocryphal book known as the First Gospel of the Infancy of Christ. Joseph took Jesus to the school master Zaccheus to learn his Hebrew letters. As the teacher began to instruct Jesus to name the Hebrew characters, the boy soon turned the tables on Zaccheus by asking him the meaning of Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. As the master was about to whip Jesus, the boy proceded to explain the meaning of each part of each Hebrew letter and why the letters were in a certain order. Freemasons who have received certain degrees should know that each of the Hebrew letters have certain import. After Jesus finished the alphabet, the master was so astonished that he said, "I believe this boy was born before Noah," and to Mary he said, "Your son has no need of any learning."

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Imagine being a kid and schooling your teacher using Gemetria...

I would imagine that knowledge of Gemetria would not be very helpful if you were a carpenter in training. If you were a Master Builder in training however...

If all this is pointing towards the Christ figure being a Mason, then what exactly is Freemasonry? If this is true, @KorbenDallas, then Freemasonry either predates your 1212 hypothesis or at some point in history the entire bible was re-written by Freemasons to encode their teachings.

In my mind, it seems that Freemasonry evolved more or less directly from mystery schools that were popular in the areas where Jesus is alleged to have spent his time. Read through the sources I posted and there are some loose connections between Jesus and his disciples and The Essenes which are worth tugging on. It seems that the knowledge that they protect is that of Christian Gnosticism, the Occulted teachings kept in the private chambers of the church in the very early days. It is said that the bible is the single greatest achievement in encoded symbolism, and based off the research of many it appears to be the case.

The site I found with all the Gemetria had a few more interesting links I felt were worth sharing, though not necessarily in their own post.



Annuit Coeptis + Novus Ordo Seclorum

707 + 1742 = 2449

2449 = Ιησοθς Χριστος Νικα - Jesus Christ Conquers
2448 = Ο Φωσφορος - The Lightbringer / The Morning Star


I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star (Rev. 21,16)

Η ριζα και το γενος του Δαβιδ = 1646

1646 = Φαεσφορος - the bright and morning star

Note: This OP was recovered from the Wayback Archive.

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Note: Archived SH.org replies to this OP: Tektōn, or why Jesus was most likely a Mason

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