# What Is the Hiram Abiff Legend and the Raising? > The Master Mason degree acts out the murder of Hiram Abiff, the builder of Solomon’s Temple, and the raising of his body. Masonic writers call it a lesson of the resurrection. Many Christians see a staged death and raising as a counterfeit of being born again. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/freemasonry/hiram-abiff-legend-and-the-raising - Religions: Freemasonry - Denominations: none - Beliefs: none - Tags: freemasonry, hiram abiff, blue lodge - Updated: 2026-10-13 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) Hiram Abiff is the master builder of Solomon’s Temple in Masonic legend. In the Master Mason degree three Fellow Crafts demand the Master’s word, kill him when he refuses, and bury him; King Solomon raises the body with “the strong grip, or lion’s paw, of the tribe of Judah.” The candidate plays Hiram. Albert Mackey wrote that the third degree is “altogether founded on the doctrine of the resurrection to a second life.” ## Key Points - In the Bible, Hiram is “a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali,” a worker “in brass” ([1 Kings 7:14](/bible/1-kings/7/14)) [(3)](#ref-3). The murder is not in Scripture. - [Duncan’s monitor](https://archive.org/details/duncan-s-masonic-ritual) [(1)](#ref-1) has the candidate answer that he represented “Our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, who was slain just before the completion of King Solomon’s Temple” (p. 137). - The death was “by fifteen Fellow Crafts” who wanted “the secrets of a Master Mason” (p. 137) [(1)](#ref-1). Three of them carried out the attack. - [Mackey](https://archive.org/details/cu31924030273175) [(2)](#ref-2) says the third degree is “altogether founded on the doctrine of the resurrection to a second life.” - Duncan’s note says the Master Mason is “raised to the faith of salvation” (p. 126) [(1)](#ref-1). Christians are born again by the Spirit, not by a lodge rite ([John 3:3–7](/bible/john/3)) [(4)](#ref-4). ## The Legend as the Ritual Tells It The lecture in Duncan’s monitor gives the story in question and answer. The candidate was met by three ruffians, “who thrice demanded of me the secrets of a Master Mason; and, on being refused, the first gave me a blow with the twenty-four-inch gauge, across my throat; the second with a square, across my breast; the third with a setting-maul, on my forehead, which felled me on the spot.” (p. 137) [(1)](#ref-1) The body is hidden, a sprig of acacia marks the grave, and searchers find it. The Entered Apprentice grip fails because “the skin slips,” and the Fellow Craft grip fails because “the flesh cleaves from the bone.” (pp. 118–119) [(1)](#ref-1) Solomon raises the body by the lion’s paw, and the Master gives a substitute word on the five points of fellowship, “for, according to Masonic tradition, the right one was lost at the death of Hiram Abiff.” (p. 120) [(1)](#ref-1) ## What Masonic Writers Say It Means Duncan quotes a monitorial reading: the Master Mason “represents a man under the doctrine of love, saved from the grave of iniquity, and raised to the faith of salvation. It testifies our faith in the resurrection of the body.” (pp. 126–127) [(1)](#ref-1) Mackey wrote under “Creed, a Mason’s” that the order’s creed has two articles, belief in God “recognized as the Grand Architect of the Universe” and “a belief in the eternal life.” The second “is expressively taught by legends and symbols, and must be implicitly assented to by every Mason, especially by those who have received the third degree, which is altogether founded on the doctrine of the resurrection to a second life.” [(2)](#ref-2) His entry on the legend also records that eighteenth-century ritualists disputed whether the hero was Hiram or Adoniram [(2)](#ref-2). The legend changed over time. ## Why Many Christians Call It a Counterfeit A Christian is raised with Christ: “like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” ([Romans 6:4](/bible/romans/6/4)) [(5)](#ref-5). Jesus said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” ([John 3:5](/bible/john/3/5)) [(4)](#ref-4). The lodge drama has its own death, its own grave, its own raising by a grip, and a monitor that calls the result being “raised to the faith of salvation.” Many Christians read that as a rival new birth that leaves out Jesus. Masons reply that the drama is an allegory of fidelity and a hope of immortality, that it confers no grace, and that a Christian Mason brings his own faith in Christ to it. The ritual text itself names no Savior in the raising. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Was Hiram Abiff a Real Person? A Hiram of Tyre made the bronze work for the Temple in [1 Kings 7:13–14](/bible/1-kings/7). The murder and the lost word are not in the Bible. ### Is the Raising Meant to Be a Resurrection? Mackey and Duncan’s monitor say the degree teaches the resurrection. Masons today often call it a symbol, not a rite that saves. ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### 1 Kings 7:14 King James Version. > He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. ### John 3:3–7 King James Version. > [3:3] Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. [3:4] Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? [3:5] Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [3:6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [3:7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. ### Romans 6:4 King James Version. > Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ### John 3:5 King James Version. > Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ### 1 Kings 7:13–14 King James Version. > [7:13] And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. [7:14] He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Duncan’s Masonic Ritual and Monitor, pp. 86, 105, 118–121, 126–127, 137](https://archive.org/details/duncan-s-masonic-ritual) (Malcolm C. Duncan, 1866, public domain, on archive.org. An exposure, not a grand lodge text.) 2. [An Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, “Creed, a Mason’s”; “Legend of the Third Degree”](https://archive.org/details/cu31924030273175) (Albert G. Mackey, 1874, on archive.org.) 3. First Book of Kings, 7:13–14 4. [Gospel of John, 3:3–7](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/3). King James Version 5. [Letter to the Romans, 6:4](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/romans/6/4). King James Version ## See Also - [What Happens in the Master Mason Degree?](https://apologetics.wiki/freemasonry/master-mason-degree) — The third Masonic degree, as Duncan’s 1866 monitor prints it: an obligation with the penalty of a body severed in two, a drama in which the candidate plays Hiram Abiff, is struck down, laid in a grave, and raised on the five points of fellowship. - [What Are the Masonic Oaths and Penalties?](https://apologetics.wiki/freemasonry/masonic-oaths-and-penalties) — The obligations of the Blue Lodge and Royal Arch, as the nineteenth-century exposures print them, carried penalties of a cut throat, a torn-open breast, a body severed in two, and a skull smote off. The United Grand Lodge of England removed the physical penalties from its obligations in 1986. - [What Happens in the Entered Apprentice Degree?](https://apologetics.wiki/freemasonry/entered-apprentice-degree) — The first Masonic degree, as Duncan’s 1866 monitor prints it: the candidate is hoodwinked with a cable-tow, received on the point of the compasses, kneels at the altar, swears an obligation with the penalty of a cut throat, and receives a lambskin apron. - [What Happens in the Fellow Craft Degree?](https://apologetics.wiki/freemasonry/fellow-craft-degree) — The second Masonic degree, as Duncan’s 1866 monitor prints it: an obligation with the penalty of a torn-open breast, the winding stairs to the Middle Chamber, and the letter G for Geometry and the Deity. - [Can a Christian Be a Freemason?](https://apologetics.wiki/freemasonry/can-a-christian-be-a-freemason) — Grand lodges say Freemasonry is not a religion and welcomes men of every faith. Most churches that have studied it say its rituals, prayers, and oaths make it a religious system that a Christian should not join. This page sets out both claims from their own texts.