Posts by Leolaia

198

Rutherford's smear campaign (a must read)

by Leolaia in

there has been some interest recently about the moyle case, and how it may have set a precident in what became the society's disfellowshipping policy.

in july 1939, the chief legal counsel of the watchtower bible & tract society, olin r. moyle, resigned from his position in a protest over conditions at bethel and rutherford's mistreatment of workers.

he did not want to continue living under those conditions and he felt he could effect positive change for his brothers by taking such a stand.

Leolaia

Moyle wrote to his friends to assure them that the statement in the Watchtower misrepresented the facts:

#19:Olin R. Moyle to Brother Milton Confehr, 2 Sept. 1939: "I suppose you have seen the notice in the Sept. 1st Tower. CONSOLATION will follow next with its onslaught, and then I suppose the Year Book report will give a final send off. Then maybe they will leave us alone. At first I was inclined to defend myself by sending copies of my letter to everyone that I could, but have now decided to write to just a few friends and deny the allegations of unfaithfulness and let it go at that. The Lord knows the facts so we do not need to be worried what others think of us. I surely do have a great itching to tell CJW what I think of him for his contemptible attack on Phoebe but I shall even let him plod his own lousy way without rebuke. The brethren here have been just grand to us. We've had offers of financial assistance and so far the Tower notice doesn't seem to have alienated them from us. I think the Society will have one heck of a job to bar us from service work in connection with this company. There is a freedom here which is not found in eastern companies. Their studies are a pleasure to attend. The Milwaukee Company has about 200 publishers, but the Sunday evening meeting is attended by about 400 with new ones coming continually. It's a real pleasure to sit in on such studies and also a joy to work with them in the field. I am still marking time as far as the practice of law is concerned. Our offices will not be ready until the latter part of the month....Phoebe is busy feeding us and to her great joy and happiness is shedding a few pounds....Well it looks as though the bullets and bombs will be flying all over Europe before long. Our furniture is still on the way from Brooklyn. We are hoping it will get here before Armageddon starts anyway. We heard that Bethel now has all day Saturdays off. Don't you think my epistle did some good after all".

#20:Olin R. Moyle to Charles J. Eickhoff, 5 Sept. 1939: " 'It ain't so.' The notice in the September 1st Watch Tower declaring that yours truly had been unfaithful etc isn't in conformity to the facts, so I have to write to some of my friends and tell them the Society isn't telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth concerning the matter....The facts are that ever since we have been at Bethel many things which occurred have grated on the nerves. The Judge's habit of lambasting the family at the dinner table was one of them. When it comes to calling a person down and up and around that party has them all beat. Many of the brethren have taken some terrific castigations for little or no cause except JFR's ill temper. Then there was the matter of discrimination in favor of himself and against his brethren, the exaltation of liquor, and approbation of smutty talk. So Phoebe and I finally decided we had enough. I sent the Judge a five page letter of resignation containing reasons therefore which protested against some of the above acts. I sent it over to him just before vacation so he would have time to read and cool off during the vacation weeks. Promptly after vacation he called the Board of Directors together, had the letter read to them and that august body by unanimous vote decreed that I should be invited to leave. So that noon the Moyle family was given half a day to pack up and get out....We got our stuff packed in one afternoon - Phoebe did wonders at the job - and got a van to haul it to Wisconsin, but the van has not yet arrived. It was only a partial load so has to wait until they get a full load. We got back here on the 14th of August and were given a royal welcome by the Milwaukee company. They have been kind as could be....I have a desk in Harvey Fink's office and we expect soon to move to large and commodious quarters where I will put the attorney's sign on the door and hope for business. So there is the story. The Judge is of the opinion that I am going out to raise cain against the Society and therefore apparently has deemed it wise to get the drop on my by smashing my reputation amongst the brethren first. I have given him plenty of proof that I am not embarking on such a campaign, but when that boy gets an idea in his bonnet its practically impossible to pry it loose".

Comment:

Moyle was really torn on what to do with the letter. On the one hand, he wanted to defend his good name and let everyone see what it was that he in fact wrote. But he also felt that might inflame things further, so he decided to hold back and have only several people read it. In his testimony in the civil trial, he said that "there were many requests to see that letter after the September 1st Tower came out. I quite generally turned down the requests. I did show the letter to a few personal friends". First zone servant Harvey Fink asked to read the letter in August. Fink stated in his trial testimony: "The first I saw of the letter was when Mr. Moyle returned. I did not know of any other person outside of my wife who had read the letter, and she read it at the same time I did. Mr. Moyle did not read that letter to my knowledge to anyone else". Then after the September 1st Watchtower was released, Moyle's sister Laura Rouse wanted to read it, and so she read it with her husband, and Moyle gave her a copy.

Moyle held out hope that eventually the Society would let the matter go, and he could continue quietly with his life. He described the warm reception he has received from the Milwaukee Company, and he felt the local JWs would not be swayed much by what the Society says. He enjoyed taking part in the local Witness work, and the JWs from the Milwaukee were helping him getting established with his new life.

198

Rutherford's smear campaign (a must read)

by Leolaia in

there has been some interest recently about the moyle case, and how it may have set a precident in what became the society's disfellowshipping policy.

in july 1939, the chief legal counsel of the watchtower bible & tract society, olin r. moyle, resigned from his position in a protest over conditions at bethel and rutherford's mistreatment of workers.

he did not want to continue living under those conditions and he felt he could effect positive change for his brothers by taking such a stand.

Leolaia

Then a few days later, the 1 September 1939 Watchtower appeared with a notice accusing Moyle of being "unfaithful to the Kingdom interests, and to those who serve the Kingdom":

Notice that the same page contains the masthead which states the Watchtower magazine "does not indulge in controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities".

20

What did Jesus really mean when he spoke on the mount of olives?

by apocalypse in

be objective.. http://issuu.com/a.s.o.h./docs/olivetdiscourse?mode=window&pagenumber=1.

Leolaia

What do you consider examples of "the interpretive traditions presupposed elsewhere in the NT"?

The Olivet discourse is to a great extent a midrash on Daniel. This apocalyptic source gives a specific end-time scenario, originally drawing on the historical situation of the persecution of Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, that is intelligible: there is war and a great persecution, the Temple is desolated when the Gentiles install the abomination of desolation on the altar, but this lasts only for a limited duration (3 1/2 years), then the desolator himself comes to a gory end, and his kingdom given to the people he had persecuted. The Hebrew apocalypse, which itself draws on the Aramaic vision in ch. 7, describes the end of the "fourth kingdom", originally applied to Greece (ch. 8) but by the first century AD was generally understood as applying to Rome (this is stated explicitly in 4 Ezra, that the prophet Daniel had a different understanding of the identity of the fourth kingdom). The blasphemous king who desolates the Temple meets his demise when court is held in heaven and "one like a son of man" judges the kingdoms, strips away their authority, and replaces dominion with the kingdom of the holy ones of the people (Daniel also mentions the resurrection of the dead to judgment occurring after the defeat of the blasphemous king). Jewish and early Christian apocalyptic sources interpreted this as pertaining to the demise of Rome. This is how Daniel is interpreted in the Man from the Sea and the Eagle visions in 4 Ezra. 1QM (the War Scroll) draws on Daniel in developing a scenario of the final war that destroys the Kittim (the Romans) and the forces of Belial forever. The book of Revelation draws on Daniel in constructing its own end-times scenario: the "little horn" in Daniel corresponds to the "Beast" who persecutes the chosen of God, making war on them, but then Christ joined with the holy ones kill the Beast, and then replace the Beast's dominion with their kingdom, the resurrection of the dead occurs, and Jerusalem is restored (as New Jerusalem). Ch. 17 of Revelation makes it absolutely clear that the Beast is the king of Rome (Babylon), and the theme of the Beast coming back to life after being killed draws on the popular Nero redivivus urban legend of the day. (I know some preterists argue that Babylon actually corresponds to Jerusalem here, but that again is not an adequate explanation of the text) The Olivet discourse develops the Danielic scenario in a similar way. Again, the fourth kingdom corresponds to Rome, and it wages war and persecutes the faithful. The statement about the great tribulation being the worst since the creation of the world is a reference to Daniel, identifying this crisis with the one mentioned by the prophet. In an explicit reference to Daniel, the discourse then mentions the Gentiles installing the abomination of desolation where it should not be. If we follow the plot of Daniel, this situation should then last only a temporary duration of time. Then the "Son of Man" figure would come, the persecution would come to an end, those in power who persecuted the faithful would be stripped of power and judged, and the kingdom of God would replace their dominion. And that is in fact what we find....what happens next is that the Son of Man comes with the angels, the peoples of the earth are gathered for judgement, both living and dead, and they are judged for their deeds, with the wicked being dispatched to Gehenna while the righteous receive eternal life and the kingdom. This draws too on the development of the Son of Man figure in the Book of Parables (in 1 Enoch) which develops the judgment scene in ch. 7 of Daniel as one that has universal scope, referring to the judgment of everyone on Judgment Day on account of their deeds. So if we are guided by the scenario from Daniel that the gospels interpret as pertaining to the crisis of AD 66-70, there should have been a universal judgment, a demise to the Roman empire, and the resurrection of the dead shortly after AD 70. Full preterism does not rest on an adequate exegetical understanding of the Olivet discourse as an interpretation of Daniel, or give full credit to the universal features of the eschatology (easing them into a sort of spiritualized or realized eschatology).

Some relevant parallels:

Daniel: "Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others....In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever" (2:40-44), "Thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat... The court was seated and the books were opened...And there was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven, he was given authority, glory and sovereign power....The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it...He [the little horn] will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time...But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever ( the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire) . Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him" (7:9-13, 23-27), "He [the little horn] set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down....He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power" (8:11, 25), "In the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering, and in the sanctuary he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him" (9:27), "His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the sancutary fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation...The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place...He will come to his end, and no one will help him....At that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever" (11:33-45, 12:1-3).
1 Enoch: "On that day my Chosen One will sit on the throne of glory and he will make a selection by their deeds" (45:3), "There I saw one who had a Head of Days, and his head was like white wool. And with him was another, whose face was like the appearance of a man .... And this Son of Man who you have seen, he will raise the kings and the mighty from their couches, and the strong from their thrones. He will loosen the reigns of the strong, and he will crush the teeth of the sinners. He will overturn the kings from their thrones and from their kingdoms" (46:1-5), "In those days I saw the Head of Days as he took his seat on the throne of his glory, and the books of the living were opened in his presence" (47:3), "In those days the earth will give back what has been entrusted to it, and Sheol will give back what it has received, and destruction will give back what it owes. And in those days my Chosen One will arise and choose the righteous and holy from among them for the day on which they will be saved has drawn near. And the Chosen One in those days will sit upon my throne" (51:1-5), "In those days the angels will assemble themselves and ... stir up the kings and a spirit of agitation will come upon them ... they will go up and trample the land of my chosen ones, and the land of my chosen ones will be before them like a threshing floor....They will make war on themselves and their right hand will be strong against themselves ... until the number of their corpses will not be enough due to their slaughter" (56:1-7), "There will stand up on that day all the kings and the mighty and the exalted and those who possess the land. And they will see and recognize that he sits on the throne of his glory, and righteousness is judged in his presence. And pain will come upon them as a woman in labor....pain will seize them when they see that Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory....And the righteous and the chosen will be saved on that day....and the righteous and chosen have put on the garment of glory and this will be your garment, the garment of life form the Lord of Spirits, and your garments will not war out, and your glory will not fade....In those days the kings who possess the land will implore the angels of his punishment, 'The Lord is faithful in all his deeds and his judgment and his justice and his judgments have no respect for persons ... Our souls are full of ill-gotten wealth but it does not prevent us from descending into the flame of the torment of Sheol'. And after that their faces will be filled with darkness and shame in the presence of that Son of Man, and from his presence they will be driven" (62:3-5, 13-15, 63:1-11), "And they had great joy and they were blessed and glorified and exalted, because the name of the Son of Man had been revealed to them, and he sat on the throne of his glory, and the whole judgment was given to the Son of Man, and he will make sinners vanish and perish from the face of the earth, and those who led astray the world will be bound in chains" (69:26-28).
Matthew: "I tell you that everyone will have to give account on Judgment Day for every empty word they have spoken...The men of Nineveh will stand up (i.e. in the resurrection) at the judgment with this generation and condemn it" (12:36, 41), "The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father " (13:41-43), "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom" (16:27-28), "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (19:28), "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains....Then [immediately after the distress of those days] will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other" (24:30-31), "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats....Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels'...Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (25:31-32, 41, 46).

All three have universal scope for the judgment that occurs with the coming of the Son of Man.

9

Wow, a Rabbi's reply to my question about Mechizedek and the planet Jupiter

by EndofMysteries in

my question to him:.

is it true that zedek is the hebrew word for the planet jupiter?

if so, my question is why is mechizedek generally translated as my king is righteousness or king of righteousness instead of my king is jupiter?.

Leolaia

Please understand that Isaiah 41:2 isn't about Jupiter at all....this is a later rabbinical interpretation that plays around with the text. The reference here is to Cyrus of Persia, Yahweh's anointed (44:28, 45:1), who comes from the East to free Israel and allow them to return to their land, cf. v. 25: "From the rising sun (i.e. from the east) he is called by his name, and he treads upon rulers as on mortar". The word "righteousness" occurs ten times in Deutero-Isaiah with this meaning (41:2, 11, 42:6, 21, 45:8, 13, 19, 51:1, 5, 7). It is creative midrashic interpretation that creates a reference to Jupiter here, just as the NT creates messianic and christological meaning in OT texts that have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus.

198

Rutherford's smear campaign (a must read)

by Leolaia in

there has been some interest recently about the moyle case, and how it may have set a precident in what became the society's disfellowshipping policy.

in july 1939, the chief legal counsel of the watchtower bible & tract society, olin r. moyle, resigned from his position in a protest over conditions at bethel and rutherford's mistreatment of workers.

he did not want to continue living under those conditions and he felt he could effect positive change for his brothers by taking such a stand.

Leolaia

Moyle assured his friends of the same.

#17Olin R. Moyle to Mr. H. L. Philbrick, 28 August 1939: "I haven't tried to have the Society's president removed from office. All I did was call to his personal attention some actions of his which were oppressive and unfair to his fellow servants. If those holding positions of responsibility in the Lord's organization were perfect men, and had a perfect line of communication with the Lord, there would of course be no necessity of such action. But they are not, and I think there is a responsibility on the part of the individual to protest to the President of the Society when he commits grievous wrongs, just as there is a responsibility on his part to call to the attention of those under him their misdeeds. Furthermore I believe my letter is bearing good fruit in spite of everything. The Judge has now given the Bethel brethren all day Saturdays off during the hot weather. Furthermore I would be willing to bet ten cents against a doughnut that there will be little or none table lambastings for the rest of this season at Bethel. For that I am glad. You will be interested to learn that Woodworth has now entered the arena and sent me a letter in which he 'publicly denounces' me and makes an exceedingly vicious, false underhanded attack on me by slurring and misrepresenting and falsifying matters concerning Sister Moyle.... I understand that it is to be published in CONSOLATION in the near future. It looks like an attempt to push us over into the opposition, but by the Lord's grace it will not succeed. We are busy and happy cooperating with the local company in the witness work and shall do our level best to keep our heart with diligence and keep sweet no matter what comes".

#18Harry L. Parkhurst to Olin R. Moyle, 31 Aug. 1939: "I am happy to know that you all intend to continue serving the Lord as much as your means and energy will allow. I have had a number of severe jolts during my Christian experiences. I thank the good Lord for every one of them. The Apostle Paul reminds us that these experiences will be a little grievous at the time we receive them but if we react properly, then they will yield the possible fruits of righteousness. We know the Lord has a visible organization on the earth. This organization is composed of imperfect creatures. However, it pleases the Lord to sue such to carry out His purposes on the earth. I, therefore, as a Christian, intend, by God's grace, to keep the issue clear in mind rather than the imperfections of my brethren".

198

Rutherford's smear campaign (a must read)

by Leolaia in

there has been some interest recently about the moyle case, and how it may have set a precident in what became the society's disfellowshipping policy.

in july 1939, the chief legal counsel of the watchtower bible & tract society, olin r. moyle, resigned from his position in a protest over conditions at bethel and rutherford's mistreatment of workers.

he did not want to continue living under those conditions and he felt he could effect positive change for his brothers by taking such a stand.

Leolaia

Moyle then wrote to Rutherford to assure him that he was not opposing the Society and was still a loyal JW.

Olin R. Moyle to J. F. Rutherford, 21 Aug. 1939: "The facts indicate that you and Woodworth have the idea that I have left the Society and intend to embark upon a campaign against it. This is most emphatically not the case. I am loyally supporting the Society in this area and expect to continue to do so regardless of the attitude of the Society toward us. Neither am I waging any personal warfare against you. I have never questioned or denied that the Lord is using you as his earthly director of Kingdom work. But your position does not give you immunity from protest against wrongful action. I protested to you personally and privately because of your abuse and discrimination against your fellow servants at Bethel. It was not a personal grievance, but was made solely in the interests of the family and the organization against your personal acts".

198

Rutherford's smear campaign (a must read)

by Leolaia in

there has been some interest recently about the moyle case, and how it may have set a precident in what became the society's disfellowshipping policy.

in july 1939, the chief legal counsel of the watchtower bible & tract society, olin r. moyle, resigned from his position in a protest over conditions at bethel and rutherford's mistreatment of workers.

he did not want to continue living under those conditions and he felt he could effect positive change for his brothers by taking such a stand.

Leolaia

Moyle then was welcomed by the Milwaukee Company of JWs and worked at starting his life over again.

#13
Olin R. Moyle to H. L. Philbrick, 15 Aug. 1939: "The serious part of this affair is that it demonstrates a philosophy held by the president of the Society and his associates to the effect that no person is permitted to criticize even personal actions of said president. Such criticism, even though true, is held to violate the Lord's theocratic arrangement. I don't think the Lord has endowed any imperfect mortal with such a high and exalted situation and the doctrine may lead to serious and dangerous results....The Judge said as far as he was able to prevent it I would not be permitted to represent any of the brethren in court. I have hopes however that the Lord will give me some service of that kind....I am not sending any copies of my letter to friends in general for the reason that such action would be misconstrued as an attempt to create division in the organization. Nevertheless I shall use it to defend myself against misrepresentation. Stories are already starting to circulate and I have no doubt there will be many going the rounds...Just at present I am getting ready to open an office in this town. Peter is looking for a job as a linotype operator, and Sister Moyle is arranging for our living quarters. Some of the friends here have given us a friendly welcome and I think we'll get along".

#14
Olin R. Moyle to Harry L. Parkhurst, 17 Aug. 1939: "When I talked with you at Nutley a little over a week ago I didn't realize that within twenty four hours I would be expelled from Bethel. I presume you have heard some of the gory details and that it may be that you have been informed that Moyle has gone with the opposition or the evil servant class. That story is being circulated and like some other things of this earth it is not the truth. Just before going on vacation I wrote a personal letter to Brother Rutherford protesting against some of the unfair actions at Bethel....All of the things stated were true, and the letter was not published to anyone else up to that time, yet nevertheless I was kicked out and given only half a day to collect my goods and be out. I'm not complaining about it. We intend to continue serving the Lord just as much as our means and energy will allow. I value the good opinion of you brethren in New Jersey and trust that you will secure all the facts before passing judgment against us. If you receive any reports concerning this letter and want to know what it actually stated, ask Sister Van Ness to see it. She has a copy".

#15
Olin R. Moyle to Grover C. Powell, 18 August 1939: "I have a suspicion that some reports will be going forth to the effect that we have gone over with the opposition and that we libeled the Judge and the Society. You may receive some such reports in due time. Don't pass judgment too fast. We are loyal to the Lord and the Society and expect to continue in the service here in Milwaukee as fully as time, means and energy will permit. I'm not broadcasting the letter around the country, but if I am misrepresented I shall use it in order to present the facts".

198

Rutherford's smear campaign (a must read)

by Leolaia in

there has been some interest recently about the moyle case, and how it may have set a precident in what became the society's disfellowshipping policy.

in july 1939, the chief legal counsel of the watchtower bible & tract society, olin r. moyle, resigned from his position in a protest over conditions at bethel and rutherford's mistreatment of workers.

he did not want to continue living under those conditions and he felt he could effect positive change for his brothers by taking such a stand.

Leolaia

So the rumor about the military schools was mentioned to Moyle as he was packing his belongings as he was leaving Bethel:

Olin R. Moyle:
Q. Some mention was made by Mr. [Grant] Suiter about about a conversation on military schools. Did you have any conversation with him and what was it? A. While loading the truck with our goods, I was checking the articles off as they were put in on the sidewalk and Mr. Suiter came up and said, 'I would like to ask you a question. Did you advise the children up in Massachusetts to attend a military school?' I said, 'No, who says that I did?' And he did not tell me. That was all he said.

And Grant Suiter in his testimony says he got the suggestion from, guess who, Rutherford:

Grant Suiter:
Q. When and where before this conversation on the sidewalk on August 8th did you hear anything about Mr. Moyle's attitude on sending children to military school? A. In Judge Rutherford's office just a few minutes before I went down to the sidewalk and spoke to Mr. Moyle....Q. And when did Mr. Rutherford say that he had heard something about it? A. He didn't tell me...He didn't tell me when he had heard, but he told me at that time the statement. Q. What time of the day was this when you had this conversation with Mr. Rutherford? A. It was late in the afternoon or in the early evening, as I recall....It was almost supper-time, as I recall.

9

Wow, a Rabbi's reply to my question about Mechizedek and the planet Jupiter

by EndofMysteries in

my question to him:.

is it true that zedek is the hebrew word for the planet jupiter?

if so, my question is why is mechizedek generally translated as my king is righteousness or king of righteousness instead of my king is jupiter?.

Leolaia

I should point out that Melchizedek does not really mean "My king is Jupiter", it means "My king is Zedeq". In later rabbinical times, tsedeq also was used to refer to Jupiter. I'm not sure how early this usage was, it's not known if this was also the case when the OT was written, it could have been. But the point I made in the other thread is that there is no evidence that the Canaanite god Zedeq, whose name is probably contained in the name Melchizedek, was identified with Jupiter. Now Zedeq was associated with Shamash the sun god as a hypostasis, whereas Jupiter was always associated with Marduk, the tuletary deity. Now it is possible, even probable, that there could still have been a connection. So for instance, at Baalbeq in Syria there was a temple to Jupiter Heliopolitanus which drew on the Shamash cult, though it is not clear if this cult had anything to do with the planet Jupiter. Also Mark Smith mentions how Marduk was syncretized or Shamash or otherwise solarized:

In Assyria, the solar disk, originally the symbol of the sun-god, Shamash, was used for the national god, Assur. 610 Similarly, “Babylonian theologians” (to use W. G. Lambert’s term) call their national god, Marduk, the “sun-god of the gods” in Enuma Elish 1:102 and 6:127. 611 A small god-list identifies various deities with specific functions of Marduk. 612 Shamash is the “Marduk of justice.” Another text states that “Shamash is Marduk of the law-suit.” 613

But this was a probably a later development of the first millennium BC, earlier Shamash was a clearly distinct deity. And there is no evidence that Zedeq was associated with the Jupiter per se, much less in the Bronze Age when Melchizedek supposedly lived.

As for the story of Jupiter aiding Abraham, this is appears in Ginsberg from a late midrash:

The battle fought with the mighty hosts of the kings, from which Abraham emerged victorious, happened on the fifteenth of Nisan, the night appointed for miraculous deeds. The arrows and stones hurled at him effected naught, but the dust of the ground, the chaff, and the stubble which he threw at the enemy were transformed into death-dealing javelins and swords. Abraham, as tall as seventy men set on end, and requiring as much food and drink as seventy men, marched forward with giant strides, each of his steps measuring four miles, until he overtook the kings, and annihilated their troops. Further he could not go, for he had reached Dan, where Jeroboam would once raise the golden calves, and on this ominous spot Abraham's strength diminished.
His victory was possible only because the celestial powers espoused his side. The planet Jupiter made the night bright for him, and an angel, Lailah by name, fought for him. In a true sense, it was a victory of God. All the nations acknowledged his more than human achievement, and they fashioned a throne for Abraham, and erected it on the field of battle. When they attempted to seat him upon it, amid exclamations of "Thou art our king! Thou art our prince! Thou art our god!" Abraham warded them off, and said, "The universe has its King, and it has its God!" He declined all honors, and returned his property unto each man. Only the little children he kept by himself. He reared them in the knowledge of God, and later they atoned for the disgrace of their parents.

Traditions in such late sources usually reflect biblical exegesis and haggadaic storytelling than genuinely early traditional material. This detail in particular is not found in early retellings of the story in the Jubilees, Genesis Apocryphon, Josephus, or Pseudo-Philo. The tradition seems to come from Genesis Rabbah 42.3. This makes an interesting parallel for how the stories of Jesus in the NT draw on OT traditions of Moses, or David, or other personages. The midrashic retelling of Abraham's battle against the kings draws on the story of the Exodus.... the battle occurred on the evening of Nisan 15 when the Exodus occurred (Pirqe d'Rabbi Eliezer 17), there was an angel called Night (Lailah) that attacked the enemy (Sanhedrin 96a), like the Destroyer that killed the Egyptians the night of the Exodus, and so the tradition that Jupiter made the night bright for Abraham and his men is reminiscent of the pillar of fire that lit the way of the Israelites during the Exodus, but yes there might also be a borrowing of the motif from Joshua of the sun and moon standing still. But knowing usual midrashic procedure, the text itself occasioned these details...."During the night" in Genesis 14:15 was interpreted as "the night(Lailah) was divided against them", i.e. the Night was itself on Abraham's side against the kings, and this was combined with Isaiah 41:2 ( Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness(tsedeq) to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow"), which also produced the references to chaff and dust.

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Rutherford's smear campaign (a must read)

by Leolaia in

there has been some interest recently about the moyle case, and how it may have set a precident in what became the society's disfellowshipping policy.

in july 1939, the chief legal counsel of the watchtower bible & tract society, olin r. moyle, resigned from his position in a protest over conditions at bethel and rutherford's mistreatment of workers.

he did not want to continue living under those conditions and he felt he could effect positive change for his brothers by taking such a stand.

Leolaia

On route to Wisconsin, Mr. Moyle wrote to friends describing what happened next.

#10

Olin R. Moyle to Mr. Confehrs, 9 Aug. 1939: "The lightning struck yesterday. JFR called a meeting of the W.T. Board of Directors. My letter was read and the Board recommended my immediate dismissal. Then the letter was read at the table at noon, and the family unanimously supported the action of the Board of Directors. Therefore we - the Moyle family-were ordered to pack up our goods and get out that afternoon. That was some task but we got them packed, and I am now waiting for the moving van to start them on the way to Wisconsin. Therefore - don't send any more letters to me at Brooklyn. I don't have an extra copy of the letter to JFR at hand just now but will send you one in due time".

#11Olin R. Moyle to John G. Miller, 10 Aug. 1939: "The lightning struck on return from vacation. Tuesday morning the judge called the Board of Directors together and asked me to be present at the meeting. My letter was read and the Board recommended that I be expelled from Bethel immediately. That noon the three of us, wife, Peter and myself were ordered to pack our goods and be out before night. It was some task but we got our goods together, got a van, and are headed westward. The judge consigned me to the evil servant class, called me a religionist. Heath claimed that I was actually a Jesuit, some someone is busily circulating the story that I recommended to parents in Massachusetts that it would be good to send their expelled children to a military school. This is the beginning, so before long I expect my reputation will be pretty well shot to pieces. I am removed from participation in all cases, and the judge says that as far as he is able to present it, I will never again represent any of the brethren in court. All of this comes for making a personal, private protest to JFR against some of his actions. I'm not complaining. It's not pleasant to be kicked about in that fashion, but I'll continue serving the Lord and fighting the enemy in every way He gives me opportunity".

#12Olin R. Moyle to Brother G. W. Chambers, 11 Aug. 1939: "Since vacation things have happened fast - so fast that we are now ex-Bethelites and on our way to Wisconsin. Tuesday morning the Judge called a joint meeting of the Boards of Directors of the two cooperations and asked me to be present with them. At the meeting my letter of July 21st in which I protested over some of his actions was read. The Boards took prompt action by recommending that I be immediately expelled from Bethel....The family under presidential pressure supported the action and a large number of them promptly snubbed us in good style....In addition Bill Heath claimed I was a 'Jesuit'. That's not a joke - an actual claim. And some other unknown person started circulating a story that I had advised parents in Massachusetts that it would be all right to send their expelled students to a military school. So it appears that before many weeks go by I'll have a pretty black reputation among the Lord's people. But we are not complaining. We are going back to Wisconsin and shall do all we can to give witness to the Kingdom and fight the modern Philistines.... We must get back, get settled, and get to earning some money so we can continue to eat. We are pulling our trailer and dodging the big cities including Pittsburgh. In all probability the story will in due time come to you and other friends that the letter I sent to JFR was a malicious, libelous document. I'm not giving it general circulation as I do not care to start a rumpus throughout the organization. It contained my reasons for deciding to return to private practice and I shall use it where necessary to defend my good name, and the good name of my wife and son. I value the friendship of you and Sister Chambers, so if any such stories come to you, I will be glad to send you a copy of the letter to you any time that you feel you would like to read it".