When was 606/607 first used by the WTBS to prove 1914?

by indoubt 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  indoubt

  Hello all,

  As we all know, 1914 has been a pivotal date for the JW (although its meaning has changed with the time).

  The oldest "calculation" to get to 1914 that I could find comes from Thy Kingdom Come (copyright 1891) (1910 edition -- Studies In The Scriptures, vol. 3) p.342 (thanks to quotes.watchtower.ca):

  So, then, if we measure backward down the "First Ascending Passage" to its junction with the "Entrance Passage," we shall have a fixed date to mark upon the downward passage. This measure is 1542 inches, and indicates the year B.C. 1542, as the date at that point. Then measuring down the "Entrance Passage" from that point, to find the distance to the entrance of the "Pit," representing the great trouble and destruction with which this age is to close, when evil will be overthrown from power, we find it to be 3457 inches, symbolizing 3457 years from the above date, B.C. 1542. This calculation shows AD. 1915 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble; for 1542 years B.C. plus 1915 years AD. equals 3457 years. Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1914 will be the beginning of the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation -- no, nor ever shall be afterward. And thus it will be noted that this "Witness" fully corroborates the' Bible testimony on this subject...

  What I am wondering is: when did they start interpreting 1914 using 606/607 and the 2520 years?

  Thanks!

  indoubt
• 

  blondie

  I think they "borrowed" this calculation from John Brown (1823).

  http://www.bibledecoded.com/understanding120.html

  and from WTS sources:

  Proclaimers book chap. 10 pp. 134-135 Growing in Accurate Knowledge of the Truth/End of the Gentile Times

  The matter of Bible chronology had long been of great interest to Bible students. Commentators had set out a variety of views on Jesus? prophecy about "the times of the Gentiles" and the prophet Daniel?s record of Nebuchadnezzar?s dream regarding the tree stump that was banded for "seven times."?Luke 21:24, KJ; Dan. 4:10-17.

  As early as 1823, John A. Brown, whose work was published in London, England, calculated the "seven times" of Daniel chapter 4 to be 2,520 years in length. But he did not clearly discern the date with which the prophetic time period began or when it would end. He did, however, connect these "seven times" with the Gentile Times of Luke 21:24. In 1844, E. B. Elliott, a British clergyman, drew attention to 1914 as a possible date for the end of the "seven times" of Daniel, but he also set out an alternate view that pointed to the time of the French Revolution. Robert Seeley, of London, in 1849, handled the matter in a similar manner. At least by 1870, a publication edited by Joseph Seiss and associates and printed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was setting out calculations that pointed to 1914 as a significant date, even though the reasoning it contained was based on chronology that C. T. Russell later rejected.

  Then, in the August, September, and October 1875 issues of Herald of the Morning, N. H. Barbour helped to harmonize details that had been pointed out by others. Using chronology compiled by Christopher Bowen, a clergyman in England, and published by E. B. Elliott, Barbour identified the start of the Gentile Times with King Zedekiah?s removal from kingship as foretold at Ezekiel 21:25, 26, and he pointed to 1914 as marking the end of the Gentile Times.

  Early in 1876, C. T. Russell received a copy of Herald of the Morning. He promptly wrote to Barbour and then spent time with him in Philadelphia during the summer, discussing, among other things, prophetic time periods. Shortly thereafter, in an article entitled "Gentile Times: When Do They End?", Russell also reasoned on the matter from the Scriptures and stated that the evidence showed that "the seven times will end in A.D. 1914." This article was printed in the October 1876 issue of the Bible Examiner. The book Three Worlds, and the Harvest of This World, produced in 1877 by N. H. Barbour in cooperation with C. T. Russell, pointed to the same conclusion. Thereafter, early issues of the Watch Tower, such as the ones dated December 1879 and July 1880, directed attention to 1914 C.E. as being a highly significant year from the standpoint of Bible prophecy. In 1889 the entire fourth chapter of Volume II of Millennial Dawn (later called Studies in the Scriptures) was devoted to discussion of "The Times of the Gentiles." But what would the end of the Gentile Times mean?
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  Gopher

  I don't have the exact quotes, but from what I remember, the WT Society pointed forward to the "end of the Gentile Times" as 1914 as far back as they have existed. Their first Watchtower magazine was published in 1879.

  They actually adapted the interpretation and the date of 1914 from the Adventists, from which CT Russell separated to form his own study group.

  (Waiting for corrections / additions to my vague information ... )
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  indoubt

  Thanks blondie! This is exactly what I was looking for.
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  AlanF

  The first mention of Watchtower-like calculations was in the September, 1875 edition of the tiny magazine Herald of the Morning by Nelson Barbour, who truly invented the entire Gentile-times/1914 chronology. Charles Taze Russell got his entire 1914 chronology from Barbour. They used 606 rather than 607 B.C. as the starting date for the 2520 years because they forgot that there's no "zero year" between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D. (this was 'corrected' in 1943 and 1944 in a couple of flat-out lies told in two Watchtower books). Russell hooked up with Barbour in early 1876, then published his own article on the Gentile times and 1914 in the October 1876 edition of George Storrs' Bible Examiner, and also convinced Barbour to stop publishing monthly editions of Herald of the Morning after the April 1876 issue and instead write a small book that they published in 1877 as Three Worlds and the Harvest of this World. Three Worlds was the most extensive exposition yet on this subject. By about 1900 Barbour had abandoned this nonsense but Russell stuck with it. Russell of course expounded on this nonsense in various issues of Zion's Watch Tower from 1880 onward, and in particular in editions of the book The Time Is At Hand beginning in 1889. This book was the 2nd in the Millennial Dawn series, which eventually became known as Studies in the Scriptures.

  AlanF
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  Gopher

  It's interesting that Barbour abandoned the 1914 idea while Russell persisted in it. Did that have anything to do with their split?

  Or was it, as we are told in the "Proclaimers" book, that Barbour rejected the need for a "corresponding ransom sacrifice"?
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  AlanF

  A clarification on John Brown:

  Brown calculated a 2520-year time period from 604 B.C. to 1917 A.D. He never equated this period with the "Gentile times". As far as he was concerned, the latter was a period of 1260 lunar (not solar) years beginning in 622 A.D. and ending in 1844 (see http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/59355/1.ashx for details).

  AlanF
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  AlanF

  The split between Barbour and Russell had nothing to do with chronology, since Barbour held on to it for more than another 20 years. According to Russell, he split with Barbour because he claimed that Barbour rejected the "ransom sacrifce" doctrine. This was nonsense, because Barbour merely rejected the particular narrow view that Russell held. Barbour certainly accepted the general notion of a "ransom sacrifice". Russell misrepresented Barbour in order to justify splitting with him so that he could be the sole man in control of his own religious journal, which he accomplished by stealing Barbour's list of subscribers and sending them his own Zion's Watch Tower beginning in July 1879.

  AlanF
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  XQsThaiPoes

  Anyone ever notice that 1914/1919 if not on the list of http://www.watchtower.org/library/jt/article_03.htm

  Luke 21:20-24 IS NOT ON THE LIST. MATHEW 24:7-8 IS!

  This implies the watchtower has dropped 1914/607 chornology as proof of "the appointed time of the nations".

  If they wanted they could move the gentile times end to when israel became a state, 9/11, or what ever date they feel with impunity. This also implies you don't have to believe in 191/607 either. This could be used as new light if they need to spur intrest again.

  World Wars

  Jesus foretold that 'nation would rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.' (Matthew 24:7) In 1914 the world became involved in a war that saw the mobilizing of nations and kingdoms in a way that was different from any war before it. In recognition of that fact, historians at the time called it the Great War. It was the first war of its kind in history, the first world war. Some 20,000,000 soldiers and civilians lost their lives, far more than in any previous war.

  World War I marked the beginning of the last days. Jesus said that this and other events would be "a beginning of pangs of distress." (Matthew 24:8) That proved true, as World War II was even more deadly, some 50,000,000 soldiers and civilians losing their lives. In this 20th century, well over 100,000,000 people have been killed in wars, more than four times as many as in the previous 400 years put together! What an enormous condemnation of human rule!

  http://www.watchtower.org/library/dg/article_09.htm

  (Matthew 24:7-8) 7

  "For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. 8 All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.

  THE YEAR 1914

  A crucial time was drawing close. In 1876 the Bible student Charles Taze Russell contributed the article "Gentile Times: When Do They End?" to the Bible Examiner, published in Brooklyn, New York, which said on page 27 of its October issue, "The seven times will end in A.D. 1914." The Gentile Times is the period referred to in another Bible translation as "the appointed times of the nations." (Luke 21:24) Not all that was expected to happen in 1914 did happen, but it did mark the end of the Gentile Times and was a year of special significance. Many historians and commentators agree that 1914 was a turning point in human history.

  http://www.watchtower.org/library/jt/article_02.htm

  (Luke 21:20-24) 20 "Furthermore, when YOU see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. 21 Then let those in Ju·de´a begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw, and let those in the country places not enter into her; 22 because these are days for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled. 23 Woe to the pregnant women and the ones suckling a baby in those days! For there will be great necessity upon the land and wrath on this people; 24 and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.
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  scholar

  indoubt

  The subject of the Gentile Times was first discussed by Russell in the October 1876 issue of the Bible Examiner and further discussion on 1914 first appeared in December 1879 issue of the Watchtower.

  scholar

  BA MA Studies in Religion