A. What is an "Oblong Square"? What does it refer to and what have you heard to be its history?
B. You may wish to give a hint that present usage is much different from its original. A second hint may be needed as you may tell them that the term dates back to the time of King Solomon. Encourage free thought and have members "stretch" their thoughts and suggestions.
C. When Solomon ruled what was then believed to be the world, the land mass was indeed an "oblong square". The form ran just north and just south of the Mediterranean Sea and stretched out from Spain in the West to Asia Minor in the East. It is said to have been a large rectangle or oblong square. It truly was such, as at that time the oblong square described a figure with right angles in all four corners and having parallel sides of different lengths. The present square still has four right angles, but must have sides of equal length. This "world shape" was also represented by the shape of the floor of Solomon's Temple; an oblong square which, in a symbolic way, represented the shape of the known world at the time.
In summary, "oblong square" meant to our ancient Brethren what "oblong" means today. The term is used in ritual to describe the shape of the lodge.
D. Reference:
One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry MSA, Jan. 1988
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