John 19:13 “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.”
That obscure checkered pavement on the floor of the lodge room would baffle anyone outside the fraternity. The black and white squared off tiles surrounded by a border of black and white triangles to form a pavement. A mosaic pavement. This has been a symbol in Masonry and an ornament of the lodge room since Freemasonry's beginning.
Historians have it that Moses used a mosaic pavement for the flooring of his tabernacle; however, the Masonic tradition also corroborates that King Solomon’s Temple was decorated with a Masonic pavement consisting of black and white stones. Other historians also believe that the outer courts of King Solomon's Temple also had the famous mosaic pavement.
In Masonic history, the floor has traditionally been a Mosaic pavement, emulating King Solomon's Temple. The mosaic pavement is a symbol of Freemasonry. We see this symbolism outlined in the first lecture of the Entered Apprentice Degree. The Mosaic Pavement first appeared in Masonic Symbolism in the rituals from the 18th century, and it is classified as one of the Lodge ornaments along with the blazing star and the indented tassel, or tessellated border.
The Masonic Pavement is a symbol of the fraternal bond that unites Freemasons. In French Masonic ritual, the Masonic mosaic pavement teaches Freemasons that they are part of a society that surrounds the earth and that the cords that bond Freemasons together should be tighter. In most Masonic Lodges in the United States, the symbolism relates to the idea that life is a balance of good and evil, or the white and black tiles. Once we as Masons are able to understand that life has balance, we are able to be stronger and resilient in our lives in taking the evil and being grateful for the good.
The tessellated border is a symbol of the care of providence that surrounds us and keeps us protected while we live our lives uprightly as guided by the four cardinal values of justice temperance, prudence and fortitude. It is a symbol of the comforts and blessings that surround us and a teaching that we should rely on the Divine Providence of God, represented on most Mosaic pavements by the Blazing Star in the middle.
Bro. Matt Ross
Battle Creek No. 12
Grand Lodge of Michigan
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