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Chronology and 607 BCE · Claim record

The reasoning given was that the men who originated the theory — John Taylor, Piazzi Smyth and Robert Menzies — were 'giving expression to their own wisdom' and that 'It is not claimed that any of these men were of the Lord’s anointed'. The 1891 chapter had said of Smyth's Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid that 'we are mainly indebted for the data made use of in this chapter', and had credited Menzies with the suggestion that the pyramid is Jehovah's witness.

Claim ID claim-chronology-pyramid-1928-reasoningConcerns 1 December 1928Organisation's explanation
Organisation's explanation · 1 December 1928 Verified

The reasoning given was that the men who originated the theory — John Taylor, Piazzi Smyth and Robert Menzies — were 'giving expression to their own wisdom' and that 'It is not claimed that any of these men were of the Lord’s anointed'. The 1891 chapter had said of Smyth's Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid that 'we are mainly indebted for the data made use of in this chapter', and had credited Menzies with the suggestion that the pyramid is Jehovah's witness. The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 1 December 1928Millennial Dawn / Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3 — Thy Kingdom Come, 1891Millennial Dawn / Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3 — Thy Kingdom Come, 1891

Show the evidence (3 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. 7 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“There are two potent reasons why these conclusions can not be correct and information of value to the Christian: (1) At that time the Lord had not come to his temple and the prophecy had not been fulfilled nor even in course of fulfilment. (2) It is not claimed that any of these men were of the Lord's anointed or devoted to the Lord. They were giving expression to their own wisdom.”

Paragraph 7, the paragraph immediately following, also on p. 356. The reasoning is directed at 'John Taylor, an Englishman', 'Piazzi Smyth' and 'a young Scotchman named Robert Menzies', the three men the article names as the originators of the theory. '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-divine-wisdom, src-pyr-md3-1891-smyth-menzies-credit

Notes. These are the same three men the 1891 chapter had relied on. On p. 314 that chapter says of Piazzi Smyth's Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid, 'we are mainly indebted for the data made use of in this chapter', and credits 'a young Scotchman, Robert Menzies' with the suggestion that the pyramid is Jehovah's witness.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-pyr-w-1928-1201-two-reasons

Primary JW publication Verified

Millennial Dawn / Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3 — Thy Kingdom Come, “Chapter X — The Testimony of God's Stone Witness and Prophet, the Great Pyramid in Egypt”

1891 · p.314 · C. T. Russell · Tower Publishing Co.

“To his scholarly and scientific work, “Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid,” we are mainly indebted for the data made use of in this chapter. Our illustrations are copies of a few of the seventeen plates with which that work is embellished. A few years after Prof. Smyth’s return came the suggestion that the Pyramid is Jehovah’s “Witness,” and that it is as important a witness to divine truth as to natural science. … The suggestion came from a young Scotchman, Robert Menzies, who, when studying the scientific teachings of the Great Pyramid, discovered that prophetic and chronological teachings co-exist in it.”

The chapter's own statement of where its material came from. 'Prof. Smyth' is Charles Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, named on the preceding page; John Taylor is named on p. 313 as the author of the first work of importance on the subject. The ellipsis covers one sentence: 'This was a new thought to Prof. Smyth, as well as to others.' The same page goes on to say that these men, 'not having discerned the scope and completeness of the plan of salvation revealed in the Scriptures, … have thus far failed to note the most wonderful and beautiful features of the Great Pyramid's testimony'.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Page 314 opened and read in this session; the printed number read from the page's own running head. The 1891 typesetting uses a 'ct' ligature that the scan's OCR renders as '6l' or '6t'; the words affected on this page have been expanded to their ordinary spellings and no other word has been altered.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'millennialdawn03inruss', the 1891 Tower Publishing Co. printing (University of Pittsburgh copy). Public domain. Page-level text was extracted from the item's djvu.xml, one block per leaf, and the printed page number was read from each page's own running head. Note for anyone re-checking this item: the item's page_numbers.json is one lower than the printed page throughout — it maps the leaf whose running head reads 336 to page 335 — so the running heads, not that file, are authoritative here.

Corroborated by. src-pyr-w-1928-1201-two-reasons

Notes. The 1928 articles rejected the theory partly on the ground that Taylor, Smyth and Menzies 'were giving expression to their own wisdom' and that 'It is not claimed that any of these men were of the Lord's anointed'. This page is where the 1891 chapter names the same three men as the source of its data and of its central idea. The back matter of the same 1891 volume advertises Smyth's book, and Joseph Seiss's A Miracle in Stone, for sale by the Tower Bible & Tract Society.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-pyr-md3-1891-smyth-menzies-credit

Primary JW publication Verified

Millennial Dawn / Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 3 — Thy Kingdom Come, “Chapter X — The Testimony of God's Stone Witness and Prophet, the Great Pyramid in Egypt”

1891 · p.316 · C. T. Russell · Tower Publishing Co.

“a divine wisdom which must have been worked out under the supervision of some inspired servant of God”

The chapter argues that the design shows knowledge the Egyptians could not have had, and reports the resulting conjecture that Melchizedek was the builder, while adding ‘Of this we can know little’.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Page 316 opened and read in this session; wording confirmed.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'millennialdawn03inruss', the 1891 Tower Publishing Co. printing (University of Pittsburgh copy). Public domain. Page-level text was extracted from the item's djvu.xml, one block per leaf, and the printed page number was read from each page's own running head. Note for anyone re-checking this item: the item's page_numbers.json is one lower than the printed page throughout — it maps the leaf whose running head reads 336 to page 335 — so the running heads, not that file, are authoritative here.

Corroborated by. src-pyr-w-1928-1201-two-reasons

Notes. The 1928 articles answered this directly, arguing that Egypt was no place for divine revelation.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-pyr-md3-1891-divine-wisdom

Claim page

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