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Chronology and 607 BCE · Claim record

On 1 December 1928 The Watch Tower stated that 'There is therefore no justification for applying any of these texts to the pyramid of Gizeh' and that 'The pyramid of Gizeh is neither a sign nor a witness unto the Lord of hosts', reading the 'altar' and the 'pillar' of Isaiah 19:19, 20 as the anointed remnant instead.

Claim ID claim-chronology-pyramid-1928-no-justificationConcerns 1 December 1928Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 1 December 1928 Verified

On 1 December 1928 The Watch Tower stated that 'There is therefore no justification for applying any of these texts to the pyramid of Gizeh' and that 'The pyramid of Gizeh is neither a sign nor a witness unto the Lord of hosts', reading the 'altar' and the 'pillar' of Isaiah 19:19, 20 as the anointed remnant instead. The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 1 December 1928The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 1 December 1928

The organisation’s position or later explanation: Proclaimers (1993), p. 201, cites the Watchtower issues of 15 November and 1 December 1928 as the point at which ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses have abandoned the idea that an Egyptian pyramid has anything to do with true worship’.

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, “The Altar in Egypt (part 2)”

1 December 1928 · p.356 · par. 6 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“Since all these scriptures referring to the stone are used symbolically to represent Christ, we may know that no natural stone or pile of stone is referred to and that it would be entirely inappropriate to apply these scriptures to the great pyramid. There is therefore no justification for applying any of these texts to the pyramid of Gizeh.”

'The Altar in Egypt' (part 2), The Watch Tower, Vol. XLIX, 1 December 1928, No. 23. The article begins on p. 355 and reads Isaiah 19:19, 20 as applying to the anointed remnant rather than to any building. The words quoted here close paragraph 6, which begins on p. 355 and runs over on to p. 356; the article's own study questions group paragraphs 6 and 7 as the passage dealing with the pyramid.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Wording, issue, page and paragraph confirmed in this session by reading the article through from its opening page (p. 355) to its closing paragraph and study questions.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'w_E_19281201' (single-issue scan). Public domain. Page-level text was extracted from the item's djvu.xml, one block per leaf. The scan's OCR reads the leading '3' of every page number in this issue as an '8' (the page printed 356 is read as '856'), and the item's page_numbers.json simply repeats those OCR numerals, so neither can be used directly. The printed numbers here come from the leaf sequence: the article opens on the leaf whose own text ends '355', and each following leaf is one page later. Paragraph numbers are the article's own and are cross-checked against the 'Questions for Berean Study' printed at the end of the article on pp. 361-362, which group the paragraphs in the same way.

Corroborated by. src-pyr-w-1928-1201-forgive, src-pyr-w-2000-0101-bible-in-stone

Notes. The article states the conclusion twice: first that it would be 'entirely inappropriate' to apply the stone texts to the pyramid, then that there is 'no justification' for doing so.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-pyr-w-1928-1201-no-justification

Primary JW publication Verified

The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, “The Altar in Egypt (part 2)”

1 December 1928 · p.358 · par. 26-27 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“It is impossible to fit the literal pyramid of Gizeh to the prophet's description; but the position and condition of the remnant of God exactly fit the prophetic description … The pyramid of Gizeh is neither a sign nor a witness unto the Lord of hosts.”

The replacement reading: the 'altar' and the 'pillar' of Isaiah 19:19, 20 are the anointed remnant, offering sacrifice and bearing witness. Paragraphs 26 and 27, both on p. 358. In the original the first sentence continues '… which is therefore right'. 'The Altar in Egypt' (part 2), The Watch Tower, Vol. XLIX, 1 December 1928, No. 23.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Wording, issue, page and paragraph confirmed in this session by reading the article through from its opening page (p. 355) to its closing paragraph and study questions.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'w_E_19281201' (single-issue scan). Public domain. Page-level text was extracted from the item's djvu.xml, one block per leaf. The scan's OCR reads the leading '3' of every page number in this issue as an '8' (the page printed 356 is read as '856'), and the item's page_numbers.json simply repeats those OCR numerals, so neither can be used directly. The printed numbers here come from the leaf sequence: the article opens on the leaf whose own text ends '355', and each following leaf is one page later. Paragraph numbers are the article's own and are cross-checked against the 'Questions for Berean Study' printed at the end of the article on pp. 361-362, which group the paragraphs in the same way.

Corroborated by. src-pyr-md3-1891-pillar-gloss

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-pyr-w-1928-1201-sign-witness

Claim page

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