Boaz and Jachin - the two pillars

[callmenerd]

So, I've recently been drawing a lot of Sephirot due to some writings I've been reading written by David Littlefield, an LDS man. He's written this book called "Mormon Mysticism" and has a blog with the same title. Anyways, he makes the correlation between the Qabbalistic Sephirot and the Boaz and Jachin Pillars. I found this fascinating and though I'll try, he can explain this much more elegantly. So check it out.

Hopefully I won't sound like an idiot, Ha.

By two pillars we see opposition. Male and Female, White and Black, Left and Right. This is the symbolism of the 6 outside spheres of the Sephirot. 3 on the left, 3 on the right. Connect them and you have two pillars. This leaves us with a solid path in the middle, which symbolized the correct path, the straight and narrow, or in other words, Christ's path.

All over in Apostate Esoteric Teachings you'll find these two pillars. Always, they stand as a gate. That which rests beyond the gate are the Mysteries, the real treasures of this life. Easily this connects with Eternal Life, the Sephirot's Keter, or Heavenly Father, the Crown.

Where were Boaz and Jachin? They were placed at the entrance of Solomon's Temple. That which was beyond brought one closer to God.

Where is the Tree of Life? It is beyond the cherubim that guard it from those trying to enter. Can one pass? If they follow Christ through the temple.

What I like about this view is how it portrays the paths of Satan. Divers are his ways. To the right or to the left, both are incorrect, and both are blocked. There is but one entrance, one righteous path and that is the path of Our Savior. It is our reliance upon Him that will balance us in the eyes of Our Father.

[Ron Beron]

So, I've recently been drawing a lot of Sephirot due to some writings I've been reading written by David Littlefield, an LDS man. He's written this book called "Mormon Mysticism" and has a blog with the same title. Anyways, he makes the correlation between the Qabbalistic Sephirot and the Boaz and Jachin Pillars. I found this fascinating and though I'll try, he can explain this much more elegantly. So check it out.

Hopefully I won't sound like an idiot, Ha.

By two pillars we see opposition. Male and Female, White and Black, Left and Right. This is the symbolism of the 6 outside spheres of the Sephirot. 3 on the left, 3 on the right. Connect them and you have two pillars. This leaves us with a solid path in the middle, which symbolized the correct path, the straight and narrow, or in other words, Christ's path.

All over in Apostate Esoteric Teachings you'll find these two pillars. Always, they stand as a gate. That which rests beyond the gate are the Mysteries, the real treasures of this life. Easily this connects with Eternal Life, the Sephirot's Keter, or Heavenly Father, the Crown.

Where were Boaz and Jachin? They were placed at the entrance of Solomon's Temple. That which was beyond brought one closer to God.

Where is the Tree of Life? It is beyond the cherubim that guard it from those trying to enter. Can one pass? If they follow Christ through the temple.

What I like about this view is how it portrays the paths of Satan. Divers are his ways. To the right or to the left, both are incorrect, and both are blocked. There is but one entrance, one righteous path and that is the path of Our Savior. It is our reliance upon Him that will balance us in the eyes of Our Father.

I am not sure on how they compare to Kabbalistic Judaism, but archaeologically they relate quite closely to a Syrian temple complex known as Ain Dara. They share almost the exact dimensions and subtleties. Within Solomons Temple while they might have related to the everpresent Tree of Life they might have also stood for an alignment of the sun which shown between the temple doors it framed.

Others have held that the pillars

were phalli, or cosmic pillars, or symbols of the two mountains

from between which the sun-god came forth."I Hollis' discussion

of the solar elements in the plan of Solomon's. temple suggests

some connection with Egyptian obelisks, early forms of

which were surmounted by a disc or sphere,13 like the bowls or

globes at the top of the Jerusalem pillars. We must expect

mixed influences in the plan of Solomon's temple, and it is

impossible to say anything more definite than that the twin

entrance pillars were a characteristic feature of temples of the

period, when the religions of many peoples were related to a

single underlying pattern; and that they had a cultic significance.

R. B. Y. Scott

Source: Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 58, No. 2 (Jun., 1939), pp. 143-149

[volgadon]

I would excersize great caution in applying the kabbalah to understand ancient symbolism. I'm not saying that the kabbalah is devoid of value in understanding, there are some older elements iin that radical, medieval reimaging of Judaism and its symbols.

[Ron Beron]

I would excersize great caution in applying the kabbalah to understand ancient symbolism. I'm not saying that the kabbalah is devoid of value in understanding, there are some older elements iin that radical, medieval reimaging of Judaism and its symbols.

I'm curious as to whether you think the Zohar was held as Jewish canon by those of medieval times or was it something of apocryphal writings?

[volgadon]

It became part of the canon, but for the first while after its appearance, apocryphal.

[volgadon]

Something that strikes me as being a significant departure between kabbalah and the earlier forms of mysticism is the emphasis on male and femal nature, such as this case with Boaz and Jachin. The very fact that the names are masculine should be a tip-off that the kabbalistic notion is a reinterpretation.

[callmenerd]

I would excersize great caution in applying the kabbalah to understand ancient symbolism. I'm not saying that the kabbalah is devoid of value in understanding, there are some older elements iin that radical, medieval reimaging of Judaism and its symbols.

I will heed your advice. I know very little about Kabbalah. Looking upon a sephirot and reading from an LDS interpretation sparked some thoughts and personally, shed some truth. Whether Boaz and Jachin were intended to symbolize opposition is beyond me. From what I understand the Pythagoreans believed the number 2 symbolized the opposer or "the other" (wikipedia) or "duality"(manly p. hall). Kinda just makes sense to interpret 2 pillars as such.

I am curious as to what your own interpretation of said symbolism might be?

Something that strikes me as being a significant departure between kabbalah and the earlier forms of mysticism is the emphasis on male and femal nature, such as this case with Boaz and Jachin. The very fact that the names are masculine should be a tip-off that the kabbalistic notion is a reinterpretation.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding... but couldn't the names be masculine because they're describing a masculine source, such as God? What earlier forms of mysticism? I didn't realize that word was coined to a historical beginning.

[DarkScythe]

this will be a interesting thread.

[volgadon]

I will heed your advice. I know very little about Kabbalah. Looking upon a sephirot and reading from an LDS interpretation sparked some thoughts and personally, shed some truth. Whether Boaz and Jachin were intended to symbolize opposition is beyond me. From what I understand the Pythagoreans believed the number 2 symbolized the opposer or "the other" (wikipedia) or "duality"(manly p. hall). Kinda just makes sense to interpret 2 pillars as such.

Pythagoreans significance for the number two seems to me an odd way of interpreting the symbolism of Solomon's temple.

I am curious as to what your own interpretation of said symbolism might be?

To be honset with you, I don't yet have what I consider a solid interpretation.

The names, though, I feel are significant. Jachin means causes to stand and Boaz is in it is might. So, reminders of God's power and virtue.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding... but couldn't the names be masculine because they're describing a masculine source, such as God? What earlier forms of mysticism? I didn't realize that word was coined to a historical beginning.

Kabbalah is a 12th century form of Jewish mysticism, drawing heavily from gnostic (possibly Mandean) sources. There are different forms of earlier Jewish mysticism, most notably what is called merkabah mysticism.

[Zakuska]

I would suggest that the two Pillars also show up as the Two Towers in the Tarot deck.

[USU78]

Jachin: Could it have something to do with resurrection, or am I presentating?

Help me, Obi-wan Volga-don, you're my only hope.

[volgadon]

USU "hologram message" 78,

I don't know about resurrection, as the word is to establish, but it could be what comes after resurrection. Rampant speculation of course, but interesting.

[USU78]

USU "hologram message" 78,

I don't know about resurrection, as the word is to establish, but it could be what comes after resurrection. Rampant speculation of course, but interesting.

Could it be akin conceptually to Egyptian Min?

If so, interesting things start coming into my mind in re BoA Facsimile 3.

[mfbukowski]

Could it be akin conceptually to Egyptian Min?

If so, interesting things start coming into my mind in re BoA Facsimile 3.

Maybe I am following you, maybe not.

The two pillars and a theme or resurrection are certainly interesting in relation to Facsimile 3, and I think I am following the min reference.

And of course Facsimile 2 #7 could be related to the gestures in 3?

And does this all have anything to do with Proverbs 3?

Am I getting close?

[USU78]

Maybe I am following you, maybe not.

The two pillars and a theme or resurrection are certainly interesting in relation to Facsimile 3, and I think I am following the min reference.

And of course Facsimile 2 #7 could be related to the gestures in 3?

And does this all have anything to do with Proverbs 3?

Am I getting close?

You've read my half-baked mind.

[USU78]

Genesis 17:19

Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

How is the covenant established?

Through Abraham's fertility.

Upon the fruit of his fertility.

Abraham = Min here.

Or something.

[mfbukowski]

Genesis 17:19

How is the covenant established?

Through Abraham's fertility.

Upon the fruit of his fertility.

Abraham = Min here.

Or something.

WHOA! Never thought about that one!

Poquito mas, Senor:

Exodus 4

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

A wedding ring is a circle.

And what does one use to draw a circle? I mean if we are getting out there, why not go all the way?

[USU78]

A wedding ring is a circle.

And what does one use to draw a circle? I mean if we are getting out there, why not go all the way?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honi_HaM%27agel

In case you hadn't come across this guy: Think of the connections with Elijah. Elijah had the power, from G-d, to bind or loose the heavens. In LDS thought, he had the power to bind the generations together. The ring and the Jachin obelisk represent, to my way of thinking, two sides of the same "coin," the male and female aspects of G-d's "establishment" power.

[volgadon]

Ahh, the circle Honi drew was apparently simply something people of his generation did to make a point.

[volgadon]

From Polybius, Histories, XXIX 27.

At the time when Antiochus approached Ptolemy and meant to occupy Pelusium, Caius p91Popilius Laenas, the Roman commander, on Antiochus greeting him from a distance and then holding out his hand, handed to the king, as he had it by him, the copy of the senatus-consultum, and told him to read it first, not thinking it proper, as it seems to me, to make the conventional sign of friendship before he knew if the intentions of him who was greeting him were friendly or hostile. 4 But when the king, after reading it, said he would like to communicate with his friends about this intelligence, Popilius acted in a manner which was thought to be offensive and exceedingly arrogant. 5 He was carrying a stick cut from a vine, and with this he drew a circle round Antiochus and told him he must remain inside this circle until he gave his decision about the contents of the letter. 6 The king was astonished at this authoritative proceeding, but, after a few moments' hesitation, said he would do all that the Romans demanded. Upon this Popilius and his suite all grasped him by the hand and greeted him warmly. 7 The letter ordered him to put an end at once to the war with Ptolemy. 8 So, as a fixed number of days were allowed to him, he led his army back to Syria, deeply hurt and complaining indeed, but yielding to circumstances for the present. 9 Popilius

[USU78]

Ahh, the circle Honi drew was apparently simply something people of his generation did to make a point.

I read some time ago [sorry, can't remember where] that the circle he drew in connection with his "rainmaking" activities was symbolic of the reconciliation between Israel and G-d, the circle being the symbol of the quasimarriage covenantal relationsip. Upon affecting the reconciliation, order is restored and the Land is healed.

Maybe it's both. Thanks for the Ptolemy/Antiochus reference. Fun reading about those times.

[volgadon]

Jewish commentators were reminded of Habbakuk 2:1, because of some similar words, and attributed a similar act and prayer to him, where he demanded to know how long the wicked would prosper.

There is also a tradition about Moses standing in a circle until God forgave Miriam.

All appear to have developed after Honi.

[mfbukowski]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honi_HaM%27agel

In case you hadn't come across this guy: Think of the connections with Elijah. Elijah had the power, from G-d, to bind or loose the heavens. In LDS thought, he had the power to bind the generations together. The ring and the Jachin obelisk represent, to my way of thinking, two sides of the same "coin," the male and female aspects of G-d's "establishment" power.

No I hadn't. Thanks- I think I need to study some Hebrew!

VERY interesting stuff. Of course this has obvious parallels with the ankh, and further east with the lingam and yoni, and circumcision itself.

And while we are discussing Min and establishment, and origination, look at your computer's "enter" key.

Some of this stuff is so deep it just doesn't go away.

Edit:

Ahh, the circle Honi drew was apparently simply something people of his generation did to make a point.

Not to mention making a "point".

[volgadon]

[kamenraider]

I've been drawing sefirot too. LOL!

I did this with photoshop sometime last year: