One of the questions normally raised for those who enter our Craft is the veracity of the ritual in retelling histories taken from the Bible, basically the Ancient Testament. One Apprentice once alert me that tried to find the figure of Abiff in the book and would not find it. There is something true in this. The rituals as we use in our meetings were designed and conceived one century ago and document the vision and the reading of the Men who took the job to adapt old teachings for masonic instruction. So most of what is repeated in the rituals of the Second and Third Degree is fiction composed only for moral and ethic instruction; there are some analogies with characters from the Bible but the rituals aren't reproductions of the Holy Bible.
We Master Masons believe that by repeating these tales and analogies we pass to the youngsters the teachings of moral that we were instructed along our masonic career. That is the reason why there are so many visions on the Solomon Temple or the hidden meaning of the symbols of geometry we use as tools of apprenticeship. Masonic historians and scholars added precious descriptions to what we know and comprehend about the Ancient times were the Christian orders of soldiers and masons look to embedded in their work and mission the contemplation of the marvelous work of God.
By delimitating the logic of these tales and analogies we keep the level of instruction to what is required, and not sacralizing what is not intended to be so.
The rituals are interpretations and they are - mainly in AASR - open to adjustments and improvements that make the wording more reliable and understood for the men of our time. By doing so Masonic authorities contribute to the enrichment of the doctrine and ritualism.
