From the beginning of creation Humanity has been divided into two great evolutionary streams, namely, the mystic and the occult. Biblically, these are represented in the lines of Seth and Cain. Seth made his progress Godward through faith; Cain, through works. From Seth (Sheth), therefore, came the Church; from Cain came statecraft, science and art.
Of the sons of Noah, Shem typifies the line of Seth, or the heart; Ham, the line of Cain, or the intellect. Neither was immune to sin. The sons of both houses fell under temptation. Of the line of Ham, the son of Cush was Nimrod (confusion), builder of the Tower of Babel where intellect was exalted above spirit. Of the sons of Shem, Peleg stood for confusion and division. This division of humanity is reflected in every chapter of the Bible. Not until the Christ's Second Coming, as visioned in Revelation, is the division healed and unity achieved.
The esoteric doctrine of Israel — pre-eminently exemplified in the Zohar, or Book of the Balance — is therefore concerned with healing the disunity. In modern parlance this is called the Work of Initiation.
As the handbook of Initiation, the Bible portrays the struggle of aspiring souls to achieve this balance, and by means thereof to attain heaven and its glories.
The Book of Kings is the Book of occultism, emphasizing the way of attainment through works. Chronicles is the Book of mysticism, stressing the way of attainment by faith. Kings points to the followers of Jeroboam, the line of Cain (Fire); Chronicles, to the followers of Rehoboam, the line of Seth (Water). Jeroboam means struggle of people; Rehoboam, increase of people. Jeroboam and Rehoboam were both sons of Solomon. While they were brothers they were completely divided by differences and antagonisms — a divergence indicative of the barriers separating those who follow the path of knowledge from those who walk in the way of faith.
The events described in both Books are largely parallel, yet they create widely divergent reactions in the biblical characters involved, for they depict in broad outline varying reactions to the experiences of life on the part of the occultist, those on the head path, and the mystic, those on the heart path.
Kings, a book of occultism, relates how the life span of Hezekiah was lengthened; Chronicles makes no mention of this. Chronicles tells of the repentence of the wicked Manasseh; Kings contains no reference to it. Again, Kings gives an account of the conflict between Adonijah and Solomon for the throne of David, a struggle omitted from Chronicles. Nor does the latter record Solomon's fall into idolatry or the sin of David and Bath-Sheba, both mentioned in Kings.
In Hebrew, Chronicles is called Dibre Hayzamin, meaning the events of the times. Second Chronicles was the last historical Book before the Captivity; Ezra was the first after the Captivity. The concluding verses of the final chapter of Chronicles anticipate the opening verses of the first chapter of Ezra.
The seventy-year Captivity falls between the twenty-first and twenty-second verses of the thirty-sixth chapter of Chronicles. Thus, the prophetic record shows that prophecy bridged the gulf of history, so to the Seer's vision the history of Israel is unbroken from first to last.
Although the masses of humanity have struggled in darkness, the few have always found the Light. Thus, in Chronicles the Queen of Sheba, symbolic of humanity, seeks light at the feet of Solomon, the Wisdom King.
First and Second Chronicles are keyed to the number 10. Where the masses are concerned, this number leads to the destruction of Jerusalem — that is, loss of spiritual peace and power. But known to the few is a secret way of 10, the Highway of the King that leads to balance, harmony and completion when the ONE (1) overcomes the NO-THING (0) as Light dispels darkness by its shining.
First and Second Kings are keyed to the power of the number 6, the signature of which is a Crown of Light and the six-pointed Star of David. Six is masculine-feminine, It embraces the blended forces of Sun and Moon, and is represented in Revelation by the Sun-clothed woman who stands with her feet upon the Moon. The vibratory force that impresses the power of 6 upon any form of creation proclaims the fact that evolution in form has reached perfection, so henceforth the work of the spirit is paramount. God always sees that the work of the sixth day is good. Then the sixth day is followed by a day of "rest," a subjective interlude.
The growth and development of the cosmos, and man's relation thereto, are revealed in an esoteric study of numbers. For this reason a Masonic candidate is instructed to study both mathematics and the science of the stars.
In Jerusalem, city of the great blending, was taught the alchemical art of the Mystic Marriage, union of heart and head — the ideal for the many but the attainment of only the few. There Melchizedek, king-priest of Salem, taught the great alchemical mystery to Abraham, the first illumined Teacher of the Fifth Epoch. The way of its achievement was figured in the Tabernacle, and its consummation was in the Holy of Holies. But man failed of, this consummation.
The mystic King Solomon and the occult Master Workman Hiram Abiff attempted to instruct the people in the Great Work, only to have their efforts meet with failure. Following this failure to make the divine blending came the first destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem itself, and the seventy years of captivity in Babylon.
Christ Jesus, the Master Supreme, came to manifest and teach this Work which was consummated in Him. His body was the workshop. He Himself was the Great Work and the Workman, the Labor and the Laborer, the Truth and the Revealer of Truth. His secret attainment was and is the alchemical blending of Fire and Water, of heart and mind, of Seth and Cain. He is neither one nor the other, but both. He taught this secret to His Disciples; and on the Day of the Pentecost, when the two-tongued Spirit descended upon them, they became Sons of God with Him.
This is the true esoteric doctrine of both Judaism and Christianity, and it is the flowering of all that has been taught by the Wise Men of all ages and races. Nowhere in the world is the Christ a stranger. He is the Brother, and more than the Brother, of every man. While His secret is still unknown to the masses, esoteric students see it as a Light perceived far off, and travel toward it undismayed by the terrors of the way because they know that the Christ is the Light, the Way and the Wayshower.
— Corinne Heline
