In a prior post title “Mormon-Masonic Clang” I discussed how people sometime make connections between words that have simular or even rhyming sounds, when they really have no etymological relation ("Mormon," “Mahan,” “Mason,” “Mayhem,” “Man,” ”Ham,” OK, even “Sam I am.”).I specificly mentioned the old anti-Mormon chestnut “Master Mahan.” I discussed how it was clear that neither Joseph Smith or faithfull, early, Latter-Day Saint leaders thought they were entering into a pact with Satan when they joined Masonry.
Prof. Hugh Nibley gave us some direction on the etymology of the phrase “Master Mahan.” It has nothing actually to do with the English word “Master” but is an approximation of the sound of the word “Mustirra.” Which has to do with secrets. And the root of Mahan is clearly connected to the English understanding of “great.” Hence, the "great secret keeper."
“This is a very interesting etymology here. The word secret is sirra in Arabic; the eighth form of the verb, mustirra, means "to hold a secret, to keep a secret." It's the same as the Greek word sathra for secret. The Egyptian word is seshet; meseshet is "to hold a secret." Sether is the Hebrew word for keeping a secret (the master of the secret). So this word master may not be our word master at all, but master means "keeper of secret," and Mahan means "great." In any language maha means "great." In Arabic, English, Greek, Sanscrit, or anything maha means "great." Words like magnus, mighty, might, many, maharaja; anything that's big is ma. So this could mean Master Mahan, the "great secret keeper." ...This was the secret: converting life into property.” (Prof. Hugh Nibley, Ancient Documents and the Pearl of Great Price, Adam and Eve, Lecture 19)
Which fits exactly into the context in which it was used, and not into the contrived link to Masonry.
8 comments:
Who is Clanging Who?
31 And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, and he gloried in his wickedness.
Lamech, hearken unto my speech; for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
50 Wherefore Lamech, being angry, slew him, not like unto Cain, his brother Abel, for the sake of getting gain, but he slew him for the oath’s sake.
51 For, from the days of Cain, there was a secret combination, and their works were in the dark, and they knew every man his brother.
49 For Lamech having entered into a covenant with Satan, after the manner of Cain, wherein he became Master Mahan, master of that great secret which was administered unto Cain by Satan; and Irad, the son of Enoch, having known their secret, began to reveal it unto the sons of Adam;
29 And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die.
ANON said "who is clanging who" Look at what the Mason Do
Free and Accepted Masons, dedicated to God, and held forth to the holy order of St. John, do hereby and hereon most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear that I will always hail, ever conceal and never reveal any part or parts,,,"
whatever; binding myself under no less penalty than to have my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by the roots, and my body buried in the rough sands of the sea at low water-mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-hours; so help me God, and keep me steadfast in the due
Moses 5:29
and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die
Sounds Masonic Mormon Clang Clang
I thought the idea of Master Mahan had to do with exchanging life for property and that Cain was the first to do that, he exchanged ABel's life for his property/offering. I think of those who reveal what has been taught in the temple in exchange for financial gain but think this is not the secret of Master Mahan, but those who kill for the sake of an oath to gain property.
This is another example of Hugh Nibley's propensity to simply make crap up. Mahan means great? Bull! Master means secret? Double bull! Nibley was no scholar, he was a snake oil salesman. I challenge you to show otherwise by backing up Nibley's claims you quote in your blog post.
I want to call your attention to some scripture which should get all Latter Day Saints attention no matter what split you are!
You don't see much in the Bible where it talks specifically about men who's works are in secret, in the dark!
Genesis
51 For, from the days of Cain, there was a secret combination, and their works were in the dark, and they knew every man his brother.
OK! Now let's read Isaiah 29:15-16 KJV.
15Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
16Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
Verse 16 refferances the Great and Marvelous Work, ( Book of Mormon ) which men will seek to turn upside down. And it has happened.
I find it interesting the Lord tell us in the D&C there are people working in the dark, in secret within the Latter Day Saint Church also.
Which brings a question to mind? Why were Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith really murdered?
Were they truly murdered by a secret conspiracy of men like unto Cain and Lamech, who murdered to get gain?
After all, Brigham Young became Utahs first millionaire. But this could only be coincidental...
I find it a very interesting coincidence, that many of the men who are reported to have stormed the Carthage Jail, are claimed to have been Masons. I find it also interesting the Book of Mormon Speaks in detail about Masonic conspiracies and oaths as evil in some detail.
What I find even more interesting is the Book of Mormon was translated in 1830. It spoke about Masonic secret ceremonies long before Joseph Smith every looked into joining the Masons.
So that tells us what God thinks about Masons! Not good!
I mean after all, if Masonic members taught something good for all man kind to know, why not invite everyone to Lodge. Further more, if everthing is on the level in the Masonic Lodge, why not have windows in each lodge to us common folk can see and look in?
Secrets are not kosher!
Priest
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The word "master" as in master mason seems more fitting as the secret is the craft.
Mahan or wrecking Mayhem ??????
It consisted of the intentional and wanton removal of a body part that would handicap a person's ability to defend himself in combat. Under the strict common law definition, this required damage to an eye or a limb, while cutting off an ear or a nose was deemed not sufficiently disabling. Later the meaning of the crime expanded to encompass any mutilation, disfigurement, or crippling act done using any instrument.
AS in Master Mayhem
"binding myself under no less penalty than to have my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by the roots,"
"I will always hail, ever conceal and never reveal any part or parts,,,"
Master Mason Craft Master of the SECRET acts of darkness--
"I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain"
Master Mason Master Mayhem/Mahan
"For, from the days of Cain, there was a secret combination, and their works were in the dark"
2 Ne. 26: 22
22 And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.
One author sees a veiled reference to this ceremony in 2 Nephi 26:22:
And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.
The Cable Tow is a symbol of the First Degree and represents the candidates bond to his guide. In some esoteric circles it represents the umbilical cord.
- Source: MasonicDictionary.com
There has been an equal division of opinion as to the meaning and use of the Cable Tow in Freemasonry. (It never appeared in any dictionary until the Standard was issued, where it is given as a Masonic term, and even so is erroneously described.) Albert Pike saw in it nothing but a physical device for managing the candidate. Dr. Mackey seems to have agreed with Pike. Lawrence saw in it a symbol of the Mystic Tie. Rowbottom made it to mean Masonic duty, which is the moral tie. Others give it a quite geometrical meaning and there are others still, as one would guess, who find in it a thousand occult meanings.
www.masonicdictionary.com/cabletow.html
Well lets let the Mormon scriptures give us the context of the Flaxen Cord or Cable Tow
29 And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die.
2 Ne. 26: 22 and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.
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