Adoniram

Adoniram appears in Masonic tradition primarily as the superintendent placed over the levy of thirty thousand workmen on Mount Lebanon during the building of King Solomon's Temple 12. Scriptural accounts identify him as the son of Abda, who held office over the tribute during the reigns of David, Solomon, and Rehoboam 12. Within traditional Craft legends, he is described as "the first of the Fellow Crafts" 1 and, in one story, the brother-in-law of Hiram Abif 1.

In eighteenth-century French ritualism, an alternative system known as Adoniramite Freemasonry emerged through writers such as Louis Travenol and Guillemain de Saint-Victor 1. These ritualists either conflated Hiram Abif with Adoniram by adding the title Adon ("lord") to Hiram's name, or discarded Hiram Abif entirely to place Adoniram as the sole Master Architect and the central figure of the Third Degree 1. This substitution gained traction in continental Europe following the publication of exposures such as the 1744 Catéchisme des Francs Maçons 1.

Orthodox Craft Masonry rejects this substitution, maintaining Hiram Abif as the Master Builder and keeping Adoniram in his historical role as the superintendent of the levy on Lebanon 121. While Adoniram features extensively in various high and side degrees outside the Craft 12, his place within the three Blue Lodge degrees remains distinct from that of Hiram Abif 1.