"They made the rosette of the holy diadem of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription, like the engraving of a signet 'Holiness to the Lord' (note: the NJB reads this as "Consecrated to Yhwh"). They tied to it a blue cord, to fasten it to the turban (some translate this as "mitre", whence the bishop's headdress) above, as the Lord had commanded Moses."
Exodus 40:30-31 NRSV
Could HWSSTKS be a corrupt transliteration of Samaritan characters for "Holiness to YHWH"?

Hey, its snowing here, and I have no plans for New Year's Eve.


_________________
Bro Brian Fegely PM
Montgomery Lodge #19
Keystone Royal Arch Chpater #3
Poor Richard's Council AMD #393
Philadelphia USA

Quote:

Could HWSSTKS be a corrupt transliteration of Samaritan characters for "Holiness to YHWH"?

Simply NO
You will find the Hebrew inscription on the doors to the entrance of the GL of England ,London. Holiness = kodesh

HWSSTKS= H iram T he W idows S on S ent T o K ing S olomon

"dbent" wrote, where I had asked if the legend on the Royal Arch "keystone" might be a bad transliteration of the "consecrated to YHWH"/"Holiness to the Lord" emblazoned on the mitre of the High Priest of the Jerusalem Temple:
"Simply NO
You will find the Hebrew inscription on the doors to the entrance of the GL of England ,London. Holiness = kodesh

HWSSTKS= H iram T he W idows S on S ent T o K ing S olomon"

I would ask if the legend repeated above doesn't sound stilted, as if words were attached to letters already present, that the letters mean something else, something demonstrating that the "keystone" about which we have so much folderoll, was actually the HP's headpiece. See descriptions we have of that headgear from Exodus and Josephus. Interesting also that we assume UGLE got it right when they aver VOWELS in Hebrew. That "keystone" sure looks like a mitre-front including a 'signet' or 'medallion' and some letters with no vowels. This theory would, of course, do the unthinkable and suggest that our vaunted craft legend might date from the time of HEROD'S TEMPLE rather than Solomon's. I have a historical TSTK who was murdered at the "Gates of the Temple" coming out of the Holy of Holies attired as a High Priest ca.62-69 CE. A garbled account of his death appears in the "Acts of the Apostles" where it is related as the juridical murder of Stephen ("the crowned one"), the first 'serving brother' or deacon. If we subtract "TSTK" from the RA legend, that leaves "HWSS" to unravel, which I suspect is the tetragrammaton, giving us "righteous" and "God". The legend is an anagram, not an acronym, and is integral to Craft lessons as the Antients asserted.
Perhaps we may{<break> bread together} com-pan-ion sometime,


_________________
Bro Brian Fegely PM
Montgomery Lodge #19
Keystone Royal Arch Chpater #3
Poor Richard's Council AMD #393
Philadelphia USA

Quote:

note: the NJB reads this as "Consecrated to Yhwh

First Kodesh in no way can mean 'consecrated' as it is written
HEKDESH would be the appropriate word , altho the inference is there.
Grammar is grammar.

Secondly you quote "TSTK" -- this is not STKS; you can'y play around to suit an end purpose - not logical.
Also these initials are for English words.

For info in Israel the Hebrew equivalent is as follows

S hlomo M elech I srael Solomon King [of ]Israel
H uram M elech T sur Huram King [of] Tsur
H iram B en A lmanah Hiram [the] Son [of the] Widow

ie SMIHMTHBA

In Latin you would get HRIHRTHVF

SORRY CANNOT GP ALONG WITH YOU ON THIS ; ITS A NON STARTER!

Love to meet;when are coming to visit the Holy land?

[quote="dbdent"]

Quote:

note: the NJB reads this as "Consecrated to Yhwh

First Kodesh in no way can mean 'consecrated' as it is written
HEKDESH would be the appropriate word , altho the inference is there.
Grammar is grammar.

Secondly you quote "TSTK" -- this is not STKS; you can'y play around to suit an end purpose - not logical.
Also these initials are for English words.
<snip>
I guess we might first need to agree on what was written on the high priest's mitre, then in what language (Josephus says SAMARITAN), then in how many letters.
I am testing a theory that the HTWSSKS was not understood by the Englishmen to whom it was transmitted, and THEY PUT THAT STILTED NON SEQUITUR there even though those words have NO REFERENCE to the narrative around Zerubabel. I think the legend on the "stone" is made of of English letters for a phrase once in Hebrew or Samaritan or Aramaic characters. How might an English-speaker spell "Tzaddok" without vowels? TSTK? How is it spelt in Hebrew? Also, an inquiry remixing the letters IS logical testing a theory that the legend is an ANAGRAM. Perhaps we need to read counter-clockwise instead of clockwise, or perhaps the English letters we have LOOKED like letters from another tongue. Perhaps we don't start at the top.
I think the 'keystone" is a high priest's mitre front.
Think of "Peter Gower".


_________________
Bro Brian Fegely PM
Montgomery Lodge #19
Keystone Royal Arch Chpater #3
Poor Richard's Council AMD #393
Philadelphia USA

Quote:

How might an English-speaker spell "Tzaddok" without vowels? TSTK? How is it spelt in Hebrew?

First the Hebrew צדוק

The first letter is accepted by many as a Z [ or better Tz]
The second letter is a D
The third letter is a vowel V pronounced 'o' as in 'on'
The fourth letter is a K

No correlation!!

It does not matter what Josephus said - The OT is quite clear what is written .
He could have been referring to the Samaritans themselves [ Shomrim] who did not accept any rabbinical deviation.
And if you accept Josephus let me remind you that there was no such place as Nazareth in his day with all the implications therewith.

Hebrew as we know it today was established in Josephus' time
Aramaic started to disappear at the time of Ezra.

************************************************


The Samaritan Hebrew alphabet, as it is called by scholars, is a slight development of the paleoHebrew, the ancient Hebrew script. The modern Hebrew that is called by scholars Jewish Hebrew script shows a slight development of the Aramaic script (easier). Samaritans and Jews used the two forms until the first century AD. Since then the Samaritan- Israelites are the only entity that uses this ancient Hebrew script for everyday use. This conclusion is confirmed by the recent findings of over two hundred pieces of inscriptions discovered during the excavations on the summit of Mt. Gerizim by Dr. Itzhaq Magen between the years 1983 to the year 2000. These conclusions were also accepted by the giants of the Semitic language studies - Prof. Cyrus Gordon, Prof. Frank Moore Cross, and Prof. Yoseph Naveh.

In the tablet shown on the right, is a group of square characters from different manuscripts mainly for writing Penteteuch. On the left is a group of cursive characters from different manuscripts, mainly for composing books of prayers and hymns whereas the titles and passages from the Penteteuch according to the festive event are written in square letters. On the left side of the tablet there are Persian, Aramaic, Jewish Hebrew scripts alongside the Paleo-Hebrew and on the right side of the tablet is the pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew letters.

During the past but especially now days every Samaritan boy and girl, after returning from their general school, go to the public center in their neighborhoods. There they learn the script and the reading of the ancient Samaritan Hebrew as well as their special dialect of the Aramaic taught by Samaritan teachers in order to maintain the tradition from generation to generation.


Samaritan alphabet
Origins
The Samaritan alphabet was derived from the Old Hebrew alphabet by the Samaritans. According to the Bible, the Samaritans came originally from Mesopotamia, then moved to Palestine at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC and adopted Jewish religion and culture. The Samaritans themselves claim descent from the northern tribes of Israel. Evidence from recent DNA tests supports this claim and shows they are related to the Israelites through the paternal line.

For further details, see: www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html

The Samaritan alphabet is still used by a few Samaritans in the city of Nablus and in the Samaritan quarter of Holon.

Notable features
This is a consonant alphabet. Vowels indicated with diacritics.
Written from right to left in horizontal lines.
Used to write
Samaritan, an extinct Semitic language which fell out of use as a mother tongue in the 12th century AD, though is still used to a limited extent as a liturgical language.

Samaritan alphabet


Note
The font used for the first version of the alphabet was created by Shawn Eyer (shawn@orindalodge.org). The letters are based on those found in the Masonic writings of A Albert Pike (1809-1891). The second version of the alphabet is the one currently in use.

Links
Free Samaritan font
http://members.tripod.com/~osher_2/script.htm
http://www.orindalodge.org/kadoshsamaritan.php

You will enoy the last one as it is masonic

However ojnce again you will immediately see that your premise holds no water
*************************************************

Proto-Hebrew/Early Aramaic alphabet

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/aramaic.htm



And finally all these 3 are read from right to left

dbdent wrote:

<snip>
And if you accept Josephus let me remind you that there was no such place as Nazareth in his day with all the implications therewith.

<bigger snio>
And finally all these 3 are read from right to left

I think that Josephus had very little interest in obscuirng the existence of Nazareth, and therefore it probably DIDN'T exist until the 2nd Century CE. While Josephus may have had some hagiographical interest in making his new masters, Imperial Rome, look good, I cannot see that the rest of his narrative is ipso facto spurious. I tend to accept most of his account with reservations depending upon future finds.
If your second point above governs the keystone legend, perhaps we should read the letters counter-clockwise. I still believe HTWSSTKS is an artificial creation, perhaps it should be viewed as a palimpsest.
fraternally


_________________
Bro Brian Fegely PM
Montgomery Lodge #19
Keystone Royal Arch Chpater #3
Poor Richard's Council AMD #393
Philadelphia USA

I feel you are using the term palimpsest incorrectly
Palimpsest refers to an overwritten document owing to a lack of writing medium

Brian

You quote Josephus as saying the language used on the mitre as being Samaritan. There is nothing sacred about the Samaritan alphabet/language.

Quote:

I guess we might first need to agree on what was written on the high priest's mitre, then in what language (Josephus says SAMARITAN), then in how many letters.

This is not true. Nowhere does Josephus say/ write this


Firstly he says regarding the ephod :
On these were engraven the names of the sons of Jacob, in our own country letters, and in our own tongue,

This obviously means Hebrew!!

Further quotes:
Earliest of all was Josephus, who described the covering on the head of the High Priest both in The Jewish War and in Antiquities of the Jews. His description in The Jewish War is briefer:[1] "On his head the high priest wore a linen mitre wreathed with blue and encircled by a crown of gold, which bore in relief the sacred letters - four vowels" (from the Penguin edition, trans. G. A. Williamson, p. 395). In Antiquities he described the headdress in far greater detail, adding to the headdress a gold finial resembling the petals of Hyoscyamus aureus. This is in addition to the gold frontlet mentioned in Scripture

And for the mitre, which was of a blue color, it seems to me to mean heaven; for how otherwise could the name of God be inscribed upon it?
..............Of this was a crown made, as far from the hinder part of the head to each of the temples; but this Ephielis, for so this calyx may be called, did not cover the forehead, but it was covered with a golden plate, (14) which had inscribed upon it the name of God in sacred characters. And such were the ornaments of the high priest.

Even the Karaite's say:
The Sis[7] on which was inscribed "Kodhesh LaYHWH" [Holy to YHWH], which was attached to the Misnepheth [mitre] by means of a twisted thread [pethil] of tekheleth, and so was the Hoshen [breastplate].


Fastened to it by two (according to the Rabbis, by three) ribbons of 'blue lace' was the symbol of royalty— 'golden plate' (or Ziz), on which, 'Holiness unto Jehovah' was graven. This plate was only two fingers wide, and reached from temple to temple

Please please I think you should concentrate your efforts elsewhere on this matter .
Unfortunately my friend there is not one shred of evidence to support your theory