Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/anti-masonry

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Master Mahan

Title applied to Cain and his descendant Lamech in the Book of Moses

Title applied to Cain and his descendant Lamech in the Book of Moses

Master Mahan, in the religious texts of the Latter Day Saint movement, is a title assumed first by Cain and later by his descendant Lamech. The title indicates that Cain and Lamech were each the "master" of a "great secret" in which they covenanted with Satan to kill for personal gain. The term is found in Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible in Genesis 5 (currently published by the Community of Christ) and in the Pearl of Great Price (in Chapter 5 of the Book of Moses), a religious text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Critics, who approach the issue from a secular perspective and argue that Smith's translation of the Bible was influenced by his cultural environment, including strong local anti-Masonry, generally suggest that the term is related to "Master Mason", the highest degree of the Blue Lodge of freemasonry. Another suggestion is that the term is related to "Mahoun", a pejorative reference to Muhammad during the Middle Ages that eventually became associated with witchcraft by Smith's era. Apologists, however, generally argue that references to "Master Mahan" were restored by Smith from missing parts of the Bible and that the term thus has Middle Eastern roots. Consequently, the LDS Church's publications suggest that the term "Mahan" could have derived from "mind", "destroyer", or "great one", and Hugh Nibley known as the "Father of Mormon Scholarly Apologetics" has speculated that the term is related to Arabic and Sanskrit words meaning "keeper of a great secret".

Joseph Smith Translation of Bible

The reference to "Master Mahan" is found in a revision by Joseph Smith of Genesis 5 of the Bible, now published in the Inspired Version of the Bible (I.V.), Genesis 5, and in Chapter 5 the Pearl of Great Price (PGP), Book of Moses. The passage discussing the term begins after the ritual sacrifice by Cain and Abel, when God accepted Abel's sacrifice of a sheep but not Cain's sacrifice of crops. According to the passage, the angry Cain made a secret pact with Satan, who asked Cain:

After entering the secret pact with Satan, Cain said, "Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder to get gain." Then, the passage comments, "Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan; and he gloried in his wickedness." The arrangement was referred to as a "secret combination".

Later, the passage states that Cain's descendant Lamech had "slain a man to [his] wounding, and a young man to [his] hurt", and Lamech "entered into a covenant with Satan, after the manner of Cain, wherein he became Master Mahan, master of the great secret which was administered unto Cain by Satan." When a man named Irad, one of the sons of Enoch who knew about Lamech's secret pact, revealed the secret to others, the passage states that Lamech killed him to enforce the blood oath of secrecy.

Theories about etymology

A footnote to Moses 5:31 in the LDS Church edition of the Pearl of Great Price states, Mind,' 'destroyer,' and 'great one' are possible meanings of the roots evident in 'Mahan, but no further explanation is provided. In referring to the footnote, Matthew B. Brown, a Mormon apologist, has stated that he believes that "Mahan" means "destroyer" because "the Hebrew word maha means 'destroy,' and the addition of an n would make the word a noun. Hence, maha(n) = destroy(er)."

Some commentators have suggested that "Master Mahan" is derived or related to "Master Mason", the highest degree of the Blue Lodge of Freemasonry. Brown stated, "Anti-Mormon critics have long claimed that Master Mahan is a thinly veiled variation of Master Mason" and claims "They believe that the presence of this title in LDS scripture clearly demonstrates that Joseph Smith plagiarized Masonic material for his creative ventures."

D. Michael Quinn has suggested that Brown's interpretations "ignore textual and linguistic context" of the passage and, as an alternative, he favors the interpretation of the phrase's derivation from "Mahoun."

References

Sources

  • {{Citation
  • {{Citation | publication-place=Provo, Utah | access-date=2008-04-08 | archive-date=2003-08-17 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030817165637/http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?id=149&table=jbms | url-status=dead
  • {{cite encyclopedia |contribution-url = http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3711 |editor1-last = Ludlow |editor1-first = Daniel H |editor1-link = Daniel H. Ludlow
  • {{Citation |doi-access= free
  • {{Citation | author-link=D. Michael Quinn
  • {{Citation | author-link=Jerald and Sandra Tanner
  • {{Citation | author-link = William J. Whalen

References

  1. [[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism). Pearl of Great Price]], [[Book of Moses]] 5:29-31, 49; [[Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Inspired Version]], Genesis 5:14-16, 35.
  2. {{Harvnb. Arbaugh. 1932. Homer. 1994. Brown. 1997. Quinn. 1998. Whalen. 1964. Tanner. Tanner. 1969
  3. {{Harvnb. Brown. 1997. Quinn. 1998
  4. [[Book of Moses]] 5:31 footnote d; {{Harvnb. Brown. 1997
  5. [[Hugh Nibley]], ''Ancient Documents and the Pearl of Great Price'', p. 12. Nibley suggests that the word "Master" is not the English word "master" but derives from the [[Arabic]] word "Mustirr" ("keeper of secret") and "Mahan" is related to the [[Sanskrit]] word "maha" ("great").
  6. I.V. Genesis 5:6–7; PGP [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/5.20-21?lang=eng Moses 5:20–21].
  7. I.V. Genesis 5:15; PGP [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/5.29?lang=eng Moses 5:29].
  8. I.V. Genesis 5:16; PGP [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/5.30?lang=eng Moses 5:30].
  9. I.V. Genesis 5:37; PGP [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/5.51?lang=eng Moses 5:51].
  10. I.V. Genesis 5:35; PGP [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/5.49?lang=eng Moses 5:49].
  11. I.V. Genesis 5:36; PGP [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/5.49-50?lang=eng Moses 5:49–50].
  12. [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/5.31d?lang=eng Moses 5:31, footnote d].
  13. {{Harvnb. Brown. 1997
  14. {{Harvnb. Arbaugh. 1932
  15. {{Harvnb. Whalen. 1964
  16. {{Harvnb. Tanner. Tanner. 1969
  17. {{Harvnb. Homer. 1994
  18. {{Harvnb. Quinn. 1998
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

anti-masonry cain-and-abel mormonism-and-freemasonry latter-day-saint-terms pearl-of-great-price-(mormonism) deal-with-the-devil
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Master Mahan — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report