Reinterpretation of the Jubilees
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The chapter Calculating “Jubilee Years” 1874 and 1925 informed us of two dates of the “Jubilee year.”
As you could see, already in 1925, the Watchtower Society began to reinterpret its previous teaching about the “Jubilee year.” According to a book published in that year Comfort for the Jews, Jubilee was no longer to reveal the resurrection of Abraham, the taking to heaven, the end of death for the just and other blessings, but a broad ‘preaching to the Jews.’
The third paragraph from the end of the book said: “The day of jubilee is come; the good news must be given to the people of Israel and then to all the peoples of the earth.—See Psalm 89:15.” Later the material of Comfort for the Jews was embodied in a large clothbound book entitled “Life,” and on July 15, 1929, this book was released to us, to circulate mainly among the Jews. (The Watchtower February 15, 1966 pp. 117-118).
Two passages from this book are cited above in the chapter Year 1925 – Dimming expectations.
We now quote the book, Life (1929) to see how the “Jubilee year” 1925 was commented in it:
As we examine the evidence we shall see that 1925 A.D. is another marked date in favor of the Jews. It was in 1925, in the spring of the year, that the great Jewish university was dedicated at Jerusalem. Other evidence relating to 1925 is here considered. (Life 1929 p. 158).
The fact that these jubilees were to be repeated every fiftieth year for seventy times proves that the jubilee was a type. Seventy times fifty equal 3500. If we add 3500 years to 2553 A.M., it brings us to the year 6053 A.M. Describing these dates according to our modern method of calculating time, it will be found that the Israelites entered the land of Palestine in the spring of the year 1575 B.C.; and if to that we add 3500 years, the period of time covered by the typical jubilees which were required to be kept by the law, it brings us to the end of the year 1925 A.D. In other words, 6053 A.M. and 1925 A.D. are one and the same date. What, then, should be expected at the end of 1925? This may be determined by reference to the law given to Israel through Moses. That law provided that in the year of jubilee "ye shall return every man unto his possession". Thus the law states that the jubilee is the time of restitution. Since restitution is the blessing clearly intended by the promise God gave to Abraham, and since every one of the prophets from Samuel to Malachi foretold the coming times of great restitution of all things, it follows that the beginning of the antitypical jubilee marks the beginning of the times of restitution. (Life 1929 pp. 168-169).
If the end of 1925 marks the end of the last fifty-year period, then it follows that we should expect the people to begin to receive some knowledge concerning God's great plan of restoration. The Jews are to have the favors first, and thereafter all others who obey the Lord. There could be no restoration without knowledge, even as it is impossible to give a man anything unless he knows about it. A gift is a contract, and knowledge is the first and essential element on the part of both giver and receiver. From 1925 forward there has been the greatest proclamation of truth concerning Jehovah's government ever made on earth. That government means the restitution of man. The proclamation goes grandly on, and when that work is done restitution of the people must begin. (Life 1929 p. 170).
We see from the above material (the book Life), that the new interpretation of the “Jubilee year” no longer mentions anything about “millions who will not die” and that it does change the meaning of the year 1925, although it retains it. From now on it is emphasized that: from 1925 forward there has been the greatest proclamation of truth concerning Jehovah's government ever made on earth (p. 170). Interestingly, the last sentence was not included in a book published in 1925: Comfort for the Jews. Same passage can be found in those both books though only “Life” redirects the emphasis.
In addition, the restitution of the whole mankind is also pushed in time:
In his own due time and good way God will give man the full opportunity for restitution blessings. (Life 1929 p. 21).
As early as in 1930 new enigmatic expectations for the Jubilee year were presented:
(...) the time for the Columbus (Ohio) convention was fixed for July, 1924. Exactly ten years, to the day, from the beginning of the World War the message "Civilization Doomed" was delivered in support of the "Indictment", which time marked the last typical jubilee; and, showing that the antitypical jubilee must begin in 1925, the message announced the doom of Satan's organization and that the time had come when the people should go free. The year 1925 marked the due time for the great jubilee, and the announcement was made in due course. (Light 1930, Vol. 1, p. 135).
The issue of the Jubilee year for the Jews was forgotten by the Watchtower Society in 1932, when it rejected also the Jews themselves.
Catholics and Protestants, Jews, Christian Scientists, Theosophists, and others, are all made one by their father the Devil. (The Watchtower August 1, 1932 p. 233).
At the time, we were mistakenly applying prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures to the fleshly, circumcised Jews. But in 1932 Jehovah opened our eyes to see that those prophecies applied to spiritual Israel. (The Watchtower May 1, 1987 p. 28).
In the second volume of Vindication, published by the Watch Tower Society in 1932, a flash of light revealed that the restoration prophecies recorded by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other prophets did not apply (as once thought) to the fleshly Jews, who were returning to Palestine in unbelief and with political motivations. Rather, these restoration prophecies, which had a minor fulfillment when the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity in 537 B.C.E., had their major fulfillment in spiritual Israel’s deliverance and restoration beginning in 1919 and in the resultant prosperity in the spiritual paradise enjoyed by Jehovah’s true servants today. (The Watchtower May 15, 1995 pp. 19-20).
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