what do the four principal standards symbolise in the royal arch and do writers agree on them

The four principal standards—bearing the devices of a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle—symbolize the four primary tribes of Israel, namely Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan, according to traditional Talmudic commentary 2.

Masonic writers do not agree on a single interpretation, offering distinct heraldic, mystical, and astrological readings of these figures.

Albert C. Mackey treats the standards through historical and ceremonial heraldry, connecting each figure directly to its biblical tribe and its placement among the banner-bearing officers of the veils 2.

Walter Leslie Wilmshurst gives the glyph an esoteric, evolutionary reading. He views the four figures as illustrating the soul's moral and spiritual development, ascending from a passional wild-beast condition (the lion), to disciplined service (the ox), to human rationality (the man), and ultimately to upward-soaring spirituality (the eagle) 1.

Jaime Paul Lamb reads the emblems through an astrological and elemental lens as the Tetramorph, linking the figures to the four fixed signs of the zodiac: Taurus the ox, Leo the lion, Scorpio as the eagle, and Aquarius the man 3. In this scheme, the figures represent the four classical elements—earth, fire, water, and air—and reflect the celestial alignment of the solstices and equinoxes during the Taurian Age around 4000 BCE, which corresponds chronologically to the Masonic epoch of Anno Lucis 3.

The identification of the four principal standards with the four leading tribes of Israel—Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan—comes from the writings of the Talmudists and Targumists rather than the biblical text itself 2. While the Book of Numbers mentions that the children of Israel pitched their tents by their own standards, it records neither the devices nor the colors displayed upon them 2. Talmudic commentators supplied these devices by deriving them from the deathbed prophecies of Jacob, attributing the lion to Judah, the ox to Ephraim, the man to Reuben, and the eagle to Dan 2.