The Great Pyramid: Its Spiritual Symbolism (1924)
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HE GREAT
PYRAMID
Its Spiritual
Symbolism
BY MORTON EDGAR
THE GREAT PYRAMID ITS SPIRITUAL SYMBOLISM
NOTICE-Further copies of this work may be procured by applying to MORTON EDGAR, 224 West Regent Street, Glasgow, Scotland
27 Aytoun Road
THE GREAT PYRAMID ITS SPIRITUAL SYMBOLISM
IN WHICH IS SHOWN HOW THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZEH SYMBOLICALLY CORROBORATES THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE DIVINE PLAN OF THE AGES AS CONTAINED IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
BY MORTON EDGAR Author of "Great Pyramid Passages," etc.
COPYRIGHT (All rights of translation reserved)
GLASGOW:
BONE & HULLEY, DUNDAS STREET
1924 CONTENTS
SECTION PAGE
I The Origin, Purpose, and General Description of the Great Pyramid 9
The Builders of the Great Pyramid 11
The Great Pyramid is Pre-eminent 13
Location of the Great Pyramid 15
Squaring the circle 16
The Great Pyramid unit of measure 17
The relation of the Pyramid inch and cubit to the earth's axis of rotation 17
The measurement of the day and year in the Great Pyramid 18
The mean distance of the earth from the sun 19
The Precession of the Equinoxes 21
The Great Pyramid's Geographical Position 24
The Pyramid-to-Bethlehem connection 27
The Trial Passages 31
II The Divine Plan of the Ages 32
III The Chart of the Ages 41
IV The Great Pyramid in Type and Antitype 53
V The Passage and Chamber System of the Great Pyramid 65
VI The Symbolism of the Passages and Chambers 87
VII The Symbolism more Fully Considered 95
The King's and Queen's Chambers 95
The Coffer in the King's Chamber is a Symbolical Sarcophagus 103
The Descending Passage and the Subterranean Chamber 104
The First Ascending Passage 112
The Horizontal Passage to the Queen's Chamber 117
The Grand Gallery and the Ante-Chamber to the King's Chamber 121
THE GREAT PYRAMID ITS SPIRITUAL SYMBOLISM
SECTION I
THE ORIGIN, PURPOSE, AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID
FOR forty-one centuries the Great Pyramid has kept silent watch over the Delta of the Nile, at the southern apex of which it stands; and each succeeding generation has asked itself the question: For what purpose was it built, and who was the architect? Many have been the theories put forward in the past to answer this question, but all of them so inconclusive that, although the true answer has within recent years been brought to light by a few patient investigators, the lines of the Italian poet Petrocchi well expresses the attitude of men's minds in general toward this great monument:
Among the theories which have been advocated to account for the existence of the Great Pyramid, the one which is the most popular, but which is now recognised by careful students to be wrong, is the tombic theory. Concerning all the pyramids
of Egypt, and particularly the Great Pyramid, the Rev. Andrew Thomson, D.D.
wrote in his well-known work, In the Holy Landand of the whitesmith's blowpipe as it is used in our own days, we cannot admit that there is a shade of extravagance in those lines of the old bard-
"And who built those titanic structures, and what was the design of their builders? These are questions that have been repeated since the Father of history, more than two thousand years ago, looked upon those same time-defying piles, and thought them old. . . . The old and popular supposition which regards them as royal tombs or monuments continues by far the most probable, especially when it is considered that human remains have actually been found in some of the smaller pyramids. . . On this supposition, with the name of the monarch that erected them to his own glory buried in impenetrable oblivion, what a monument are they at once of human power, folly, and crime!
Yet these mountain structures which were almost contemporaneous in their erection with the beginning of human history, and may very possibly be standing at its close, suggest more than one conclusion. They prove at how early a period human rule assumed the form of gigantic despotisms. We learn from Herodotus that twenty thousand men, relieved every three months, were employed for twenty years in erecting the one Pyramid of Cheops* [the Great Pyramid of Gizeh]. The energies of a whole nation were bent for so long a period, and its resources drained, to gratify the mad ambition of one of the earliest of the Pharaohs.
"And they also place it beyond doubt that Egypt must have been one of the first peopled countries, as well as one of the earliest cradles of the arts. There must have been something more than mere brute strength—a considerable knowledge of some of the great mechanical laws, as well as of the rules of masonry—to be able to raise those huge blocks to their appointed place, and to rear those Pyramids. And when we find among Egypt's earliest tomb-paintings and imperishable frescoes, pictures of the shoemaker's knife, of the weaver's handshuttle,
' The fertile plains of Egypt flourished then, Productive cradle of the first of men.'
The Builders of the Great Pyramid
However true it may be that some, possibly all, of the smaller pyramids were built as tombs, we hope to give abundant proof that the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, at all events, was not intended as a tomb, but that, while constructed by man, it is like the Bible of Divine origin, erected for the purpose of teaching the important truth of God's infinite wisdom and foreknowledge. The first to propose and prove this view was John Taylor of London in a book published in 1859, and entitled The Great Pyramid: why was it built? and who built it? What convinced him was mainly the many important scientific truths which he found to be embodied in this wonderful structure, but he was assisted greatly in coming to this conclusion by reasoning on the basis of information derived from the writings of Herodotus and Manetho.
Herodotus recorded that the Egyptians detested the memory of the kings who caused their forefathers to build the Great and Second Pyramids, partly because of this, and partly because they made them close their temples, and that for this reason they were not willing to mention their names, but called the two pyramids after Philition, a shepherd who at that time fed his cattle about the place. Manetho, himself an Egyptian, wrote: "There came up from the East, in a strange manner, men of an ignoble race, who had the confidence to invade our country, and easily subdued it by their power without a battle. All this invading nation was styled Hyksos, that is, Shepherd Kings." He then related how afterwards they departed for Judea and built a city there, named Jerusalem. This was long before the Exodus under Moses.
John Taylor, remembering the idolatrous and immoral practices of the Egyptians, reasoned that these invaders whom they detested, were probably of purer worship and character; and he thought that the evidences pointed to their being members of God's chosen race in the direct line of, but preceding, Abraham, possibly under Shem himself or Melchizedec.
If so, this would easily account for the Egyptians' hatred of their rulers, because, not only were the Egyptians as a subject people forced to build the Pyramid and to close their own temples, but they must have seen the bulls, which they worshipped, sacrificed by these "men of an ignoble race." From that day every shepherd was "an abomination to the Egyptians"—Compare Gen. 46:32-34; Exod. 8:25,26; Gen. 43:32. Whether or not this surmise be correct, evidence will be given in the following pages that John Taylor was right when he declared that the Great Pyramid was of Divine origin.
Concerning the Shepherd Kings, the following extract from John Taylor's work is full of suggestive interest: "They came into the country as strangers; they were not of the same religion with the Mizraim [Egyptians], who preceded them in its occupation; they did not invade it as conquerors, though, as Manetho tells us, 'they easily subdued it by their power without a battle.' They must, therefore, have come either in such large numbers as to make opposition hopeless, or they must have been received as benefactors by the common people whom they employed; and it was only after their departure that their memory was calumniated by the stories told of their oppression. They were evidently animated by a strong desire to perform a certain task, and when they had accomplished it they left the country of their own accord, confiding to the care of the original inhabitants those wonderful works by which they had enriched and ennobled the land. They never returned to claim any interest in the fruits of their labours, but occupied some other country, in which they erected no such monuments as these. They were so far like conquerors, or tyrants as they were called, that they were, for the time being, the ruling power of the country. They employed the common people in realizing their magnificent conceptions, for which they must have given them the most minute directions; and this evident superiority of intellect may have caused the ignorant to envy and misrepresent them. But that they improved the condition of the people among whom they took up their abode during not less than 100 years, must
be admitted by all who know how greatly an inferior race is benefited by the invasion of a superior."
Before his death, John Taylor requested Professor C. Piazzi Smyth, at that time Astronomer Royal for Scotland, to go to Egypt and make a thorough scientific examination of the Great Pyramid. This Professor Smyth did during the winter 1864-5. In his Life and Work at the Great Pyramid, he has left on record minute measurements of every important part of the structure.
Later, in 1881, Professor (now Sir) W. M. Flinders Petrie also visited the Great Pyramid, and conducted extensive measuring-operations, the results of which he published in his volume The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh. His figures are, in the main, confirmatory of those of Professor Smyth.
Still later, in 1909, the writer of this booklet, in company with his brother the late Professor John Edgar, visited Egypt and worked long and closely in the Great Pyramid, measuring especially those parts of the monument which had been omitted by the previous measurers, or had not been so minutely examined as their importance seemed to require. The volumes of Great Pyramid Passages contain the account of this later investigation; and full explanations of the religious and scientific theories based upon the Pyramid's symbols, measures, and angles are also contained in these volumes.
The Great Pyramid is Pre-eminent
There are in all about thirty-eight pyramids in Egypt, all of them situated on the western side of the Nile on the border of the Libyan portion of the great Sahara Desert, and all of them square-based, with four triangular sloping sides meeting at the top in a point over the centre of the base. But of these, only about seven of the largest are of importance; the remainder are much smaller, and are of such inferior material and workmanship, that they collapsed long ago into rounded ruins, with the result that they are now no longer recognizable as pyramids.
Of all the pyramids the one which pre-eminently attracts the attention of tourists as well as of pyramid students, is that which by common consent has been named the Great Pyramid,
or simply The Pyramid. This is partly because of its superior size, but chiefly because of the extraordinary skill of workmanship which it displays.
Location of the Great Pyramid
It is one of a group of nine, known as the nine pyramids of Gizeh, erected on a rocky plateau about ten miles to the west of the modern city of Cairo. The Great Pyramid is the most northern of the group, and is situated near the cliff which forms the edge of the plateau. A short distance directly south-west from it is the Second Pyramid, which, though smaller, appears from some view-points, because its foundation is higher, as if it were larger than the Great Pyramid. Still further to the south-west is the Third Pyramid, which is much smaller than the other two. The remaining six are in two groups of three, one to the south of the Third Pyramid, and the other to the east of the Great Pyramid. These are comparatively very small and are in ruins. To the south-east of the Great Pyramid lies the Sphinx, carved out of the rock, and with its gaze directed towards the rising sun.
Owing to the difficulty of making exact measurements on account of the absence of almost all the casing stones, and especially because of the presence of huge mounds of rubbish round the base of the Great Pyramid, it has hitherto been impossible to state with absolute accuracy the magnitude of this mountain of stone. Professor C. Piazzi Smyth calculated the vertical height of the ancient apex above the mean socket floor as 485 feet; the vertical depth of the Subterranean Chamber below the mean socket floor as 100 feet; each base-side breadth between the corner sockets as 761 feet 8 inches; each base diagonal between the sockets as 1077 feet. Professor Flinders Petrie makes the various measurements slightly less.
Unless one is accustomed to think of great dimensions, these figures do not convey an adequate idea of the magnitude of the Great Pyramid. The best plan is to compare it with something
with which one is familiar.
The area of the square base is more than thirteen acres. The total distance on the level between the four corner sockets is only 160 yards less than two-thirds of a mile, although at present, owing to the large rubbish mounds at the bases of the four sides, one requires to walk for nearly a mile in order to make the circuit. The vertical height is approximately a hundred feet more than that of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and only 70 feet less than the monument at Washington, D.C., U.S.A. It is 180 feet higher than the statue on the summit of the dome of Washington capitol, which building covers an area of three and a half acres. The bulk of the building is more than ninety million cubic feet, that is to say, there is enough stone in the Great Pyramid to build a wall four feet in height and one foot in thickness, which would extend for more than 4400 miles, the distance across the Atlantic Ocean from Great Britain to Newfoundland and back.
As the purpose of this small work is to show forth the religious teaching of the Great Pyramid, only a brief mention will be made of a few of the more prominent scientific features embodied in the Great Pyramid. For a full description of these and many other features, the reader is referred to Vol. III of Great Pyramid Passages.
Squaring the circle
The scientific feature which was first discovered, was that the ancient vertical height of the Great Pyramid was to twice the breadth of its square base, as the diameter of a circle is to its circumference, that is, 5813 inches is to twice 9131 inches, as 1 is to 3.14159. This ratio of the diameter of a circle to its circumference receives from mathematicians the name of the Greek letter π (Pi), and was first accurately determined by Von Ceulen in the sixteenth century. (Von Ceulen caused his discovery to be engraved upon his tomb.) It follows that the ancient vertical height of the Great Pyramid is the radius of a circle, the circumference of which equals the total measurement of all four sides of the Pyramid's square base.
Professor C. Piazzi Smyth, commenting on this, claims it as a practical solution of the old problem of " squaring the circle,"
and adds, " the thing was thus practically done, truly and properly, at the Great Pyramid thousands of years before those Medieval days of our forefathers. . . . Not one out of all the thirty-seven other measured pyramids in Egypt has been proved to be endowed even approximately with this particular proportion of height to breadth of base." It is to John Taylor that the credit of this discovery is due.
The Great Pyramid unit of measure
As a result of painstaking investigation, Professor C. Piazzi Smyth ascertained that the unit of measure employed by the builders of the Great Pyramid, is a cubit, divided into five parts, and each of these into five smaller parts, named by Professor Smyth, Pyramid inches. Thus there are 25 Pyramid inches in a Pyramid cubit.
To convert a British-inch measure to its corresponding value in Pyramid inches, we must deduct one-thousandth part of the British-inch measure from itself. Therefore, a round 1,000 British inches equal 999 Pyramid inches. Then to convert a Pyramid-inch measure to its corresponding value in British inches, divide the Pyramid-inch measure by .999.
Sir Isaac Newton, in his Dissertation on Cubits, claimed that the sacred cubit of the Israelites approximately equalled 25 British inches, while the Egyptian cubit measured 20.68, and the Greek and Roman cubit 18.24, British inches.
The relation of the Pyramid inch and cubit to the earth's axis of rotation
The earth's axis of rotation, or distance through the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole, is, according to the most careful calculations of scientists, a little more than 7899.3 British Statute miles, or 500,500,500 inches by British measure. It follows, therefore, that the earth's axis of rotation measures an even five hundred million Pyramid inches, or twenty million Pyramid cubits, and the semi-axis of rotation, the distance from either Pole to the centre of the earth, measures two hundred and fifty million Pyramid inches, or ten million Pyramid cubits.
Accordingly, Professor Smyth argued that the unit of measure employed in the design of the Great Pyramid was deduced from the earth's semi-axis of rotation.
The French metre was deduced from the measurement of the earth's curved surface from the North Pole to the Equator. It was supposed to be the ten-millionth part of this measurement, though, owing to an error in the calculation, it is not really so. Both Sir John Herschel and Professor Smyth contended that the French method of basing their unit of measure on the curved line from Pole to Equator, is not so scientifically true as that employed by the builders of the Great Pyramid, which was based upon the straight line of half the earth's polar axis.
The Pyramid, also, by its own unique system of proportions, shows the lengths of the earth's maximum and minimum Equatorial diameters; and the longest unit of linear measure, namely, the Pyramid Mile, which is nearly the same length as the Standard Geographical mile in use to-day. These, and other facts of a similar nature, are dealt with in detail in Vol. III of Great Pyramid Passages.
Having seen that the Pyramid unit of measure, the cubit, was deduced from the earth's axis of rotation, it is not surprising to find it employed to symbolize a day, the period of the earth's revolution round its axis; nor to find the breadth of the Pyramid between the corner sockets employed to symbolize a solar year the exact period of the earth's revolution round the sun.
Both the day and the year are thus recorded in the Great Pyramid, for, on calculating the length of the four sides of the Pyramid's square base, Professor Smyth found that they each measured 365.242 Pyramid cubits, or as many cubits exactly as there are days in a solar year to the fraction. Thus, the four sides measure as many cubits as there are days in four years including the leap year.
Another method of representing the fact that the Great Pyramid records the exact length of the solar year is to consider its topstone as the sun; and then measure round the square base by lengths of four cubits (100 Pyramid inches). The total
length of the base thus ascertained is 365.242; it thus represents the annual revolution of the earth round the sun at the rate of four cubits per day.
And not only is the day-value of the Solar Tropical year monumentalized by the Great Pyramid, but the day-value of the moon's apparent complete circuit of earth also; for the duration of the Lunar or Synodic month is indicated with minute exactness.
The mean distance of the earth from the sun
William Petrie, the father of Professor Flinders Petrie, reflecting on the fact just stated, connected it with John Taylor's discovery that the vertical height of the Great Pyramid is the length of the radius of a circle, the circumference of which equals the total measurement of the square base. He came to the conclusion that as the topstone of the Pyramid, from this point of view, symbolizes the sun, its vertical height should indicate in some way the mean distance of the sun from the earth.
The problem was to find the scale. This he ascertained to be ten to the ninth power (or to use the mathematical sign, 1 09), as practically shown by the Great Pyramid itself; for, if a measurement be made from one of the corner sockets to the central vertical axis of the structure, and for every ten linear units horizontally inwards, nine linear units be measured vertically upwards, when the total horizontal and vertical measurements are completed, the original apex of the Great Pyramid will be reached to within about 2 inches, according to the precise measures. That is, the horizontal length from one of the corner sockets to the centre bears the same proportion to the vertical height of the Pyramid, as ten does to nine (6456·63 Pyramid inches : 5813·01 Pyramid inches :: 10:9, nearly).
Having found the scale, it was a simple calculation to find how many miles are represented in the vertical height of the Pyramid. Converting the 5813.01 Pyramid inches (the vertical height of the Pyramid) to British inches by dividing these Pyramid inches by 999, and multiplying this by 1 09 (i.e., 1,000,000,000), and turning the result into British miles, he brought out the quantity of 91,837,578 of these miles, or as near the mean distance of the sun from the earth as modern astronomers can determine.
Another appropriate method of expressing this scientific feature of the Pyramid is as follows: The rotation of the earth on its polar axis causes the duration of the day, and the rotation of the earth round the sun causes the duration of the year. Representing each day of the cycle of the year by an even 100 units, we find that by multiplying the diameter of the complete circle of the year so represented, by the actual Polar diameter of the earth, we get the mean diameter of the earth's yearly orbit round the sun divided by 2 (that is, the radius of the orbit, the mean distance separating the sun and earth), namely, 91,837,578 British statute miles. In this, as in nearly all the scientific features of the Pyramid, the duration of the Solar Tropical year is calculated upon, a little less than 365.2422 Solar days.
Commenting upon the exactitude with which the Great Pyramid indicates the measure of the sun-distance, and man's independent efforts to reach a definite conclusion thereon, Professor C. Piazzi Smyth says: "Nothing that all nations can do, whether by taking their astronomers away from other work, or enlisting naval and military officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers as temporary astronomers and photographers; furnishing them, too, with instruments of precision of every serviceable science, and sending them to every inhabitable and some uninhabitable parts of the earth, is thought too much to devote towards a hoped-for, slightly improved, knowledge of the near number of miles to be set down for our earth's mean distance from the sun. Yet even the best of modern nations are far from having arrived at even tolerable exactness. Nevertheless there of old, before the beginning of any human science, is the numerical expression for that cosmical sun-distance quantity to almost any refinement, nailed to the mast of the Great Pyramid from the earliest ages."
That the top-stone represents the sun is interesting, seeing (as will be proved later) that it symbolizes Christ, who is called by the prophet Malachi the Sun of Righteousness, who will arise with healing in his wings—Mal. 4:2. It will be pointed out further on that the King's Chamber represents Christ's heavenly inheritance which he has obtained in order to shed
forth the blessings of light and life. It is interesting, therefore, to learn that twice the length of the King's Chamber in Pyramid inches, taken in conjunction with the angle of the passages which leads up to it, also indicates the period of the earth's revolution round the sun; for if twice the length of the King's Chamber (412· 132× 2) be marked off on the floor of the ascending passages, and a right-angled triangle be formed by drawing a perpendicular and base-line from the upper and lower extremities respectively of this portion of the floor, the perpendicular will be found to measure exactly the number of days in the solar year, or 365· 242 in Pyramid inches.
Another of the methods by which the King's Chamber shows its connection with the solar year, is explained by Professor Smyth: "Take the length of the King's Chamber 412.132 (Pyramid inches) to express the diameter of a circle. Compute, by the best methods of modern science, the area of that circle; throw that area into a square shape, and find the length of a side of such square. The answer will be 365.242."
The Precession of the Equinoxes
Having noted these facts, and learning from them that the architect's knowledge of astronomical matters was abreast of that of modern science, the next astronomical problem to which Professor Smyth applied himself was the determination as to whether the Great Pyramid might also record by its construction the duration of the precession of the equinoxes, the longest regularly recurring period in the solar system known to astronomers.
The return of spring each year is ever received with joy; hence arose the desire to forecast its coming by astronomical data. Long ago it was found that it was always heralded by the equinox, when the sun crosses the celestial equator, and day and night are therefore equal all the world over. "Hence, to mark the equinoctial point among the fixed stars, and to note the place of some brilliant star, whose appearance in the early morning dawn would announce the sun's approach to the equator, was early accomplished with all possible accuracy. This star once selected, it was believed that it should remain for ever in
its place. . . But a time arrives at last when the bright star, which for more than five hundred years had, with its morning ray, announced the season of flowers, is lost. Each year the interval from the first appearance of the star in the early dawn, up to the equality of day and night, had grown less and less, and now the equinox came, but the star remained invisible, and did not emerge from the sun's beams until the equinox had passed.
"Long and deeply were these facts pondered and weighed. At length the truth dawned, and the discovery broke upon the unwilling mind that the sun's path among the fixed stars was actually changing, and that his point of crossing the equator was slowly moving backwards towards the west, and leaving the stars behind. The retrogade motion of the equinoctial points, caused the sun to reach those points earlier than it would have done had they remained fixed, and hence arose the precession of the equinoxes. Its rate of motion has been determined, and its vast period of nearly twenty-six thousand years has been fixed.
"Once revealed, the slow movement of the equinox makes it a fitting hour-hand on the dial of the heavens, with which to measure the revolutions of ages. As the sun's path has been divided into twelve constellations; each filling the twelfth part of the entire circuit of the heavens, for the equinox to pass the twelfth part of the dial, or from one constellation to the next, will require a period of more than two thousand years. Since the astronomer [Hipparchus] first noted the position of this hour-hand on the dial of the stars, but one of its mighty hours of two thousand years has rolled away. In case any record could be found, any chiselled block of granite, exhibiting the place of the equinox among the stars, at its date, no matter if ten thousand years had elapsed, we can reach back with certainty, and fix the epoch of the record. No such monument has ever been found."
These words were written in the year 1853 by Professor O. M. Mitchell in his Discoveries of Modern Astronomy. Only a dozen years later, Professor C. Piazzi Smyth demonstrated that such a monument did exist, namely, the Great Pyramid of Gizeh; and not only so, but that it recorded in its measurements the
exact duration of the precession of the equinoxes, a period of fully 25,694 years.*
This peculiar celestial cycle, the grand chronological dial, in fact, of the Great Pyramid,—so much is its architecture found to base upon it,—is further defined at that Pyramid, but at no other throughout all Egypt, by, amongst other intentional features, the lengths of the two diagonals of the base at the level of the top surface of the Platform on which the casingstones of the building rest, when their sum is reckoned up in inches, at the rate of a Pyramid inch to a year. For they amount to 25,694 fully.
Further still, this feature is memorialized again at that level of the Great Pyramid which is marked by the upper, virtual, floor-terminal of the Grand Gallery; for the circuit of the Pyramid at that level equals 25,694 Pyramid inches, or the same number of inches to the fraction as the sum of the two diagonals of the Platform base.
And if the whole vertical height of the Great Pyramid, 5813 inches, typifies the sun-distance, the partial vertical height from the level of the upper floor-end of the Grand Gallery upwards, 4089.38, indicates the radius of the precessional circle of the equinoxes, in years.
The Great Pyramid's Geographical Position
Professor C. Piazzi Smyth first drew attention to the fact that the Great Pyramid is exactly oriented, that is to say, its four sides are directed to the four cardinal points of the compass; and he pointed out further that when the vertical plane of the Pyramid's passages is produced northward, it passes along the central axis of the Delta region; while the north-east and the north-west diagonals of the building similarly produced, enclose the Delta "in a symmetrical and well-balanced manner."
In 1868, Mr. Mitchell, chief hydrographer to the United States Coast Survey, was struck with the regularity of the
general convex curvature of the northern coast of the Delta. Taking a good map and a pair of compasses, he tried various lengths and directions of radii till "he had got all the prominent coast points to be evenly swept by his arc; and then looking to see where his southern centre was, found it upon the Great Pyramid."
Commenting upon this, Professor Smyth writes: "Now Lower Egypt being as already described, of a sector, still more exactly than of a Delta, shape, it must have its centre, not like a circle in the middle of its surface, but at one extreme corner thereof. Whereupon Mr. Mitchell has acutely remarked that the building which stands at, or just raised above, such a sectorial centre, must be at one and the same time both at the border thereof, and yet at its quasi, or practically governing, middle. That is to say, just as was to be that grandly honoured prophetic monument, pure and undefiled in its religious bearing, though in the idolatrous Egyptian land, alluded to by Isaiah (ch. xix); for was it not fore-ordained by the Divine Word to be both 'an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof,'—an apparent mechanical impossibility, yet realized in the sectorial centre condition of the Great Pyramid."—See Note below.
Of several other geographical peculiarities possessed by the site of the Great Pyramid, mention may be made of the fact that there is more land surface in both its meridian and its latitude than in any other meridian and latitude; while its nether meridian, the longitude continuous with it on the other side of the globe, ranges its whole length through water except for a short distance near Behring's frozen straits. For this reason, Professor C. Piazzi Smyth claimed that the meridian of the Great Pyramid is by far the most suitable zero of longitude for all nations.
Note.—The Hebrew word translated " pillar" in Isa. 19:19 is Matsebhah, and signifies anything set up or erected to commemorate something remarkable.
The Pyramid to Bethlehem connection
Within recent years it has been revealed that the Great Pyramid in Egypt has direct connection with the ancient city of Bethlehem in Palestine. According to the Scriptural symbolism, Canaan represents heaven, while Egypt represents the world. Soon after the birth of Jesus, the world's Saviour, in Bethlehem, he was carried down into Egypt; and after the death of Herod he came up into the Holy Land again. The Scriptures expressly state that this was to fulfil the word of the Lord spoken by the prophet: "Out of Egypt have I called my son"—See Matt. 2nd chapter.
In this journey into Egypt and subsequent return to the land of His birth, we have a picture of the heavenly Father sending His beloved Son into this world of sin and sorrow to be "perfected through sufferings," and so become qualified to be installed as the Head-stone of God's great Spiritual Pyramid. For the exalted Jesus Christ is called the "Head corner-stone" of Jehovah's great plan for the salvation of mankind. The words of the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son," apply in their truest sense to our Lord's ascension from earth to heaven.
The Great Pyramid in Egypt, declared by Isaiah to be the "Sign" and "Witness" to Jehovah in the great Day now begun, is well known to be the material type of the Spiritual Pyramid of which Jesus Christ is the Corner-stone. The Descending, and Ascending, Passages in the interior of the Pyramid in Egypt, also, illustrate the descent of our Lord to this earth, and his ascent into spiritual glory after his resurrection from the dead.
It is, therefore, most instructive and interesting to find that the Great Pyramid in Egypt indicates its direct connection with Bethlehem, the birthplace of our Lord, by means of the angle of its passages, namely, 2 6° 1 8′ 9′′·7 . For if we use the parallel of latitude on which the Great Pyramid stands as the base-line of a right-angled triangle, and draw a straight line between the Great Pyramid and Bethlehem, the angle which is formed at the Pyramid by these two lines will be found to be 2 6° 1 8′ 9′′·7 (usually stated in round figures as 2 6° 1 8′ 1 0′′ ).
But not only is the "angle of descent" from the Holy Land into Egypt, as represented by the straight line between Bethlehem and the Great Pyramid, the same as the passage-angle in the symbolical Great Pyramid, but the actual distance between these two points, expressed in Pyramid, earth-commensurable, units of measure, agrees absolutely with the period of years between
the building of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, and the date of the birth of the Man Christ Jesus in Bethlehem. This time measurement is indicated by a proportion pre-eminently characteristic of the Great Pyramid. The precise number of years between the Pyramid's erection in 2140 B.c., and our Lord's birth in 2 B.c. (for these are the correct dates) is 2138.
The distance between the Great Pyramid and Bethlehem, as computed mathematically from the known latitudes and longitudes of the building and the city, is between 2 3 3 \frac {1}{2} and 2 3 2 \frac {1}{4} geographical miles. These two measures may be said to be, approximately, the maximum and minimum distances; for as Bethelem is a city, covering a much larger area than the Great Pyramid, it is obvious that there is, within limits, a number of straight-line distances between it and the Pyramid.*
According to Whitaker's Almanac, the "Standard Geographical Mile" is 6082.66 British feet. This is 2.66 feet more than the "British Admiralty Knot," which is 6080 feet. Both of these purport to be based upon the equatorial circumference of the earth; yet neither of these values agrees with the published figures of the British Ordnance Survey. But just as the Great Pyramid, by its scientific proportions, gives the true Polar diameter of the earth, so here also it indicates that 6 0 8 4 · 1 4 1+ British feet (or 2 9 1 7 · 4 6 7+ P y r. c u b i t s ) is the true length of the geographical mile. This value, directly based upon the dimensions of the Great Pyramid (namely, twice the perimeter of the building at the levelled rock base-line), and therefore named by us the "Pyramid Mile," is barely a foot and a half more than the usually accepted Standard Geographical Mile. Volume III of Great Pyramid Passages will explain this fully.
The direct line between the Great Pyramid and Bethlehem is to be regarded, in this particular feature (for there are others), as the diameter of a circle. This diameter is so proportioned that the circumference of the circle described upon it when divided by an even 1000, and expressed in Pyramid cubits, is as many cubits as there are solar tropical years between the dates of the Pyramid's erection, and Jesus' birth. The exact period of years between these two dates is 2138. This corresponds precisely with the 2 3 1 8 ×1 0 0 0 Pyramid cubits in the circumference of the circle, of which the straight-line distance
between the Great Pyramid and Bethlehem is the diameter. In this time-measurement an even 1000 cubits represents one year. This is in accord with the Pyramid's proportionate system; for the basic number of the Pyramid is 10; and multiples of 10, and divisions of 10, are embodied in many of the building's symbolic and scientific features.
The Trial Passages
Just as modern shipbuilders and others work to carefully prepared patterns, so, it appears, the builders of the Great Pyramid had a pattern cut in the rock to guide them when arranging the passage-system of their huge monument. This rock-cut pattern, which is situated about a hundred yards east of the Great Pyramid, has been named "Trial Passages."
With the single exception of the position of the Well-shaft, these passages are an exact model of the Great Pyramid's passage system, shortened in length, but of full size in width and height. The resemblance is striking, even to the beginning of the Horizontal Passage to the Queen's Chamber, the Ramps at the sides of the Grand Gallery, and the contraction at the lower end of the Ascending Passage to hold the Granite Plug (excepting that in the Trial Passages, this contraction occurs additionally in the height, as well as in the width of the Ascending Passage). Although the vertical shaft is in a different position in the Trial Passages, it is evidently intended as a model of the Well-shaft in the Great Pyramid, the bore of each being the same. The total lengths of the Descending and Ascending Passages are 66 feet and 50 feet respectively.
SECTION II
THE DIVINE PLAN OF THE AGES
As the object of this booklet is to show how clearly the Great Pyramid of Gizeh in the land of Egypt, that "Miracle in Stone," as Dr. Seiss has named it, sets forth the plan of salvation presented in God's Holy Word, it will be necessary, in order to a proper appreciation of the subject, that the reader should acquaint himself with at least the outlines of that plan; but the more complete his knowledge of the plan, the more his appreciation of the Great Pyramid will increase, and sooner or later he will find himself fully convinced that the Architect of this marvellous structure could have been none other than God himself, and that it is indeed the Lord's "Stone Witness" in the land of Egypt. Then the wonder which may have been evoked in him by its immense proportions, the marvellous skill displayed in its construction, its great antiquity and quality of endurance, and the many scientific features which it embodies, will give place to a new wonder inspired by reverence for the infinite wisdom of God, when he reflects how the Great Architect, by a few simple Passages and Chambers, could portray in it the whole of his plan of salvation, not merely the symbolical features of that plan and the various dispensations into which it is divided, but even also all the important time-features marked off in the outworking of it.
Many have ignorantly misjudged the wisdom of God, and thought that he has had no definite, pre-arranged plan, but that he has been relying on the puny efforts of a few well-intentioned men to accomplish the great task of bringing the world into harmony with him and his law of righteousness. The message of the Gospel has been carried hither and thither from individual to individual, and from nation to nation, with the result that now, at the end of this age, nearly nineteen centuries after the
death and resurrection of Christ, it has been preached for a witness to every nation.
In spite, however, of the strenuous efforts put forth, and the untold wealth spent in the propagation of the Gospel message, and even though at least some portions of the Scriptures have been printed in every language, it is recognized that the number of converts to Christianity has been small indeed compared to the vast majority who have died in heathen darkness. It has been estimated that there are "856,000,000 people in Pagan lands; a generation passes away in 33 years; divide this by 365, we get the death rate per day 71,066" (Extract from a Missionary Magazine). Every day more than 71,000 men, women and children are dying without having heard that only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, and the Apostle adds, "neither is there salvation in any other"—Acts 4:12. What does this mean? If the usual misconception were true, that God was altogether relying upon the missionary and other well-meaning efforts put forth by good men to save the heathen by bringing the name of Jesus to them before they die, it would mean that God, however benevolent his intentions may have been, has failed, and that Satan, who has blinded the minds of them that believe not, has been the victor. While God has gained his thousands, the great deceiver has now under his power his thousands of thousands!
Calvin, strong in his belief in the power of God, and perceiving in the Scriptures that Jesus himself said, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it," seized upon this as the explanation of the apparent weakness of God's plan. He revived the teaching of St. Augustine that God's pre-determinate purpose was to save only the few, and to condemn to an eternity of torment all the remainder of mankind. Surely a terrible blasphemy this of the character of God, the Holy One of Israel, whose name is Love! Not that Calvin intended to misrepresent God, for it must be remembered that the general teaching of his time was that all power, both present and future, was in the hands of the clergy. In his honest endeavour to get away from the one extreme, he followed the usual course of going to the other extreme.
But though we must discard Calvin's teaching, which, while c 33 vindicating the power of God, ignores his justice, wisdom and love, we cannot discard the saying of Jesus, that the way to life is narrow and few there be that find it.
How is it possible to reconcile this saying with the four attributes of God just enumerated? Very simply, when we disregard the creeds and go directly to the Bible. "God is his own interpreter, and He will make it plain." The key to the answer is found in God's promise to Abraham: In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed—Gen. 12:3; 22:18.
To understand this, let us follow briefly the course of God's dealings with men; and though at first it may have been difficult to comprehend wherein the Divine plan for man's salvation availed anything, or to understand how God's attribute of love is displayed in it, the careful and thoughtful student will presently perceive a beauty and harmony throughout the whole of the Divine purposes, which will appeal to both heart and head as nothing else can do. He will see that God is not working in any haphazard fashion, nor relying on the feeble power and resources of man. God declares in his own Word that all things are known unto him from the beginning, and that his Word, the revelation of his purposes, shall not return unto him void, but shall accomplish that which he pleases, and shall prosper in the thing whereto he sent it—Acts 15:18; Isa. 55:11.
The teaching of the Scriptures, properly understood, is more reasonable and more honouring to God than any theory founded on man's reasoning apart from Holy Writ. The Lord himself declares this truth through the prophet Isaiah: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
When God created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden, he imposed on him the restriction that he must not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The penalty of disobedience to the Divine will was death. Accordingly when Adam disobeyed God, the death-sentence was passed upon him. Through the law of heredity, which declares: "The fathers have eaten a sour grape [of sin], and the children's teeth are set on edge," all Adam's posterity have been "born in sin and shapen
in iniquity," and therefore share in that death-sentence. It was a dying life that the dying Adam gave to the race, for "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by [as a result of] sin; and so death passed upon all men"—Rom. 5:12.
God, however, did not leave Adam without a ray of hope. While pronouncing the curse upon the serpent, he intimated that the "seed of the woman" would "bruise the serpent's head,"—that some day and somehow a Saviour, a seed of the woman, would arise and destroy the tempter and annul the death sentence. But many centuries rolled by, and no apparent progress was made in the salvation of the human race. Abel, Enoch, and Noah, were commended because of their faith, but of the great majority it is recorded "every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually." So corrupt did they become, that the Lord was forced by his love and wisdom no less than by his justice to destroy them all—men, women and children—in the Deluge, and repeople the earth afresh through Noah, who was "perfect in his generation" and a "preacher of righteousness." So ended the First Dispensation, a period of 1656 years.
During the 659 years of the Patriarchal Age which followed, when God bestowed special blessings upon Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the same conditions of affairs prevailed. In spite of the terrible punishment which the Lord had inflicted upon their forefathers, the people once more relapsed into gross wickedness, so much so, that there were not even ten righteous men in Sodom. Lot, the only righteous inhabitant, was rescued before it and the other cities of the plain were destroyed by God. In this stage of the Second Dispensation, two thousand years after the promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpent's head, God made his oath-bound covenant with Abraham, that it would be in his seed that all the families of the earth would be blessed—Gen. 12:1-3; 22:16-18. The record shows that Abraham believed God, and that his faith was accounted to him for righteousness—Gen. 15:5, 6.
After a long period of waiting, Isaac, the seed of promise, was born; and God renewed the covenant with him. It must have seemed as if the promise was then about to be fulfilled; but Isaac died, and the blessing of all the families of the earth was still far from being accomplished.
When Isaac was old, the covenant was renewed with his son, Jacob, or Israel as he was afterwards named. Later, Israel with his household was brought in the providence of God into Egypt, where a few years afterwards he died. When on his death-bed, he called his sons together and foretold the destiny of each of the twelve tribes which would spring from them. As it was God's intention to cause these twelve tribes of Israel to grow rapidly into a nation, and then set them apart to carry out his purpose, their propagation proceeded miraculously, insomuch that the Egyptians became afraid and adopted drastic measures to diminish their numbers; but they could not succeed against the Lord—See Exod. 1:7-22.
At the appointed time, during the height of their oppression by the Egyptians, when their number had increased from 70 to 600,000 who were able to go to war, God delivered the Israelites from Egypt by his mighty hand and outstretched arm. But they were not yet prepared to be God's people. Because of the hardness of their hearts, they were not permitted to enter the land of promise for 40 years. Then, after six years spent in conquering the Canaanites, they divided the promised land among them by lot, and God set Judges over them for a period of 450 years.
During all this time, God did not make good his promise of blessing the other nations of the world through the seed of Abraham. Though many leaders, such as Moses and Joshua, arose and freed the Israelites from bondage, none of them proved to be the promised great deliverer. At length the nation desired a king, and God gave them Saul, and later, David, "a man after God's own heart," and then followed the glorious reign of King Solomon in whose time the great temple was set up.
Surely it seemed as if God would now bring to pass his promise to bless through Abraham's seed all the families of the earth! But not so. Evidently the time had not yet come. The Israelites were not in a fit state, mentally and morally, to rule and bless the world. They lapsed time and again into idolatry and all manner of iniquity, till finally, six centuries before the birth of Christ, God permitted Nebuchadnezzar,
King of Babylon, to destroy Jerusalem, carry the Israelites with Zedekiah, the last of their kings, captive to Babylon, and lay waste the holy land. Seventy years passed, and that wicked generation died. Then in the fulness of time, in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy (44:28; 45:1-4), Cyrus, king of Persia, overthrew Babylon, and issued a decree permitting those Israelites who had faith in God and his promises to return and build the temple—See Jer. 25:11, 12; 2 Chron. 36:11-23. From that time there was a reformation movement under the successive leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah.
Before this, God had promised through the prophet Daniel that "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem [this was the commission given in 455 B.C. by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, to Nehemiah] unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks," that is to say, 69 weeks of years =483 years. "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week," the 70th week. Thus God promised a period of 70 weeks (490 years) of continued favour to the Israelites, to end in 36 A.D.-See Dan. 9:24-27.
It was doubtless in consequence of the prophecy of Daniel, that when the Messiah did come all men were in expectation—Luke 3:15. But they looked for a mighty king, statesman and general, who would deliver them from their Roman bondage, and make them the foremost nation on earth,a method of blessing very different from that purposed by God. They were much disappointed with the meek and lowly Jesus. They could not understand him nor his message, and therefore they despised and rejected him. Yet he fulfilled in their sight the prophecies which had been written concerning him. As he himself said: "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good tidings preached to them"—Matt. 11:5.
One might have expected that their hearts would have been touched with these manifestations of the love and power of God through Christ, but both Jews and Gentiles had become so degraded that they reviled and finally crucified the Holy One. And when the disciples who had gladly forsaken all to follow Jesus, manifested the same loving disposition as their Master, and tried to convey to others the blessing which they themselves had received, they were, like their Master, misjudged, persecuted, and put to death.
Evidently the long years of falling had warped and twisted men's minds to so great an extent, they were unable to comprehend the loving ministrations of God's true children. Had the same effort been made during the time when Abraham interceded for Sodom (See Gen. 18:17-33), mankind's reclamation according to Jesus's own words (Matt. 11:23, 24), would have been comparatively easier. Truly, "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform."
But, thank God, the mystery is now being revealed, for the time is at hand when all Jesus' followers who have manifested the same loving disposition to bless, shall have the desire of their hearts realized; and Christ shall "see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?"—1 Cor. 6:2; Isa. 53:11. It is evident that God designed mankind to learn to the full the bitter lesson of the downward course of sin.
Owing to their rejection of the Messiah, the favour of God was removed from the Israelites and given to the Gentiles; and as a nation they were destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 A.D. They had boasted that as the natural seed of Abraham, the promise belonged to them; but they did not understand the full significance of this promise. Paul explains that though a man be under the Mosaic Law, this does not constitute him a child of Abraham, for "as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse" of death; but, just as Abraham believed God, and his faith was accounted to him for righteousness, so "they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham"—Gal. 3:10, 7. It was for this reason, that they might become true children of Abraham by faith, that Christ redeemed the believing Israelites from the curse of the law.
The promise is certain of accomplishment; the Law was merely added because of transgressions till the seed should come. Who, then, is the seed? The Apostle's inspired statement is that Christ is the seed—"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, 'And to seeds,' as of many; but as of one, 'And to thy seed,' which is Christ"—Gal. 3:16. Isaac, the child of promise, is now seen to be a type of the true seed. Just as Abraham sacrificed his son, his only son and
received him from the dead "in a figure" (Heb. 11:19), so Jehovah sacrificed his Son, his only Son, Jesus Christ, and received him from the dead, not in a figure, but in reality.
The Scriptural declaration is clear that Christ is the seed; but why do we not now see the accomplishment of the work which was to be fulfilled in and through the seed? All the families of the earth are still far from being blessed. Over 71,000 are dying every day without having even heard of Christ, and during the six thousand years since God gave his word in the Garden of Eden, and the four thousand years since he confirmed his solemn promise to Abraham by an oath," because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself " (Heb. 6:13; Gen. 22:16-18), thousands of millions of the human race have died without having received the promised blessing. Yet God is faithful. What can be the explanation?
The answer is given in the closing verses of the third chapter of Galatians. There the Apostle declares that as many as have been baptized (immersed—not into water, but) into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female in this anointed company (the word "Christ" means "anointed"), "for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise"—Gal. 3:29. The Apostle here reveals a further step in God's glorious plan. We now see that although there is only the one seed, that one is composed of many members, as we read in 1 Cor. 12:12: "As the [human] body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body [though] being many are [nevertheless] one body; so also is Christ."
Thus the purpose of the Gospel Age is not to bless all the families of the earth, but to select the seed of Abraham, the antitypical Isaac, the Christ. The opportunity of becoming members of the true seed of Abraham was accepted by only a remnant of the Jewish nation before the close of the year 36 A.D. the end of the 70 weeks of favour. At that date it was extended to the Gentiles, and the privilege has since been open to Jew and Gentile alike; but very few Jews have crossed the gulf of prejudice and unbelief which lies between the outcast people and this position of favour with God.
Like their Head, the members of the Body have been despised and rejected, for the world knoweth them not, even as it knew him not. But soon the full number will have made their calling and election sure, and will be glorified with the Lord Jesus. Then the world will recognize them as the seed of Abraham, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, and the blessing of all the families of the earth will begin, for the whole creation has been groaning in pain, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God—Rom. 8:19-22. Under the beneficent rule of the Christ, head and body, "sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Every individual in every nation will have full opportunity to regain the human perfection, the dominion over the world, and the communion with God, lost for them by Adam, and purchased for them by Jesus Christ, who came to seek and to save that which was lost, man's first estate—Isa. 35; Luke 19:10.
It should now be clear to the reader that God has a definite, pre-arranged plan, and that it is certain of accomplishment; and as he studies the various details of that plan as revealed in the Bible, and confirmed in the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, he will come to a fuller appreciation of the justice, wisdom and power of the Great Creator, who could devise and carry out such glorious purposes, and his heart will respond to the love which prompted them.
SECTION III
THE CHART OF THE AGES
OST of the important features of this plan are indicated in the accompanying chart, in which the figure of a pyramid is fittingly chosen as a symbol of perfection; while the thought of imperfection is represented by a pyramid with its headstone removed.*
The horizontal line at the top of the chart represents the stream of time from the creation of Adam onward; while the Dispensations and Ages are marked off by vertical lines supplemented by large and small segments of circles above. The other horizontal lines represent the various planes of relationship of man to God during these Dispensations and Ages.
The small pyramid at the beginning of the First Dispensation represents Adam as he was created on the plane of human perfection, and therefore at peace with God. He would have remained in this condition had he continued obedient to his Creator, but through disobedience he fell to the plane of human depravity or imperfection represented by the lowest horizontal line on the chart. On this plane all his posterity have been born, for by the law of heredity, they share the curse. They are indicated by the two large but imperfect pyramids shown on this lowermost line, one in the First Dispensation, representing the "world of the ungodly" before the Flood (2 Pet. 2:5), and the other in the Second Dispensation, representing "this present evil world"—Gal. 1:4.
of human depravity, represents the nation of Israel during the period of its favour with God, lifted measurably above the other nations through the yearly atonement for sins by the sacrifices of bulls and goats; but only typically, not really justified in God's sight, "for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins"—Lev. 16:34; Heb. 10:4. That is why the figure is not a perfect pyramid, and why it is placed below the plane of human perfection. The whole economy of Israel was instituted to serve as types and shadows of better things to come, and could not justify those who were under it, neither reckonedly nor actually, for "by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."—Heb. 10:1; Col. 2:16, 17; 1 Cor. 10:11; Gal. 2:16.
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