1925
Watch Tower expectations for 1925
Well documented Prediction date passed End TimesBiblical NumerologyDate SettingJehovah's WitnessesFailed Predictions
Quick facts
- Predicted date
- 1925
- Who predicted it
- Joseph F. Rutherford, Watch Tower Society
- When announced
- 1920
- Reasoning
- A count of jubilee cycles from the entry into Canaan, with the chronology extended forward to 1925.
- What happened
- The year passed without the expected resurrection or the new order.
- Historical status
- Well documented. The prediction and its date appear in primary or reliable secondary sources.
- Outcome label
- Prediction date passed
- Editorial certainty
- Medium: reliable secondary sources
- Editorial review
- Pending. This entry has not yet been checked line by line against its sources. Treat details as provisional.
Prediction
What did Joseph F. Rutherford predict?
Watch Tower publications of the early 1920s, including the pamphlet Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1920), linked 1925 to the expected return of faithful figures of the Old Testament and the start of a new order.
Interpretation by the author
Why did they believe it?
The argument drew on the biblical jubilee cycle. Counting a series of jubilee periods from the time of Israel's entry into Canaan produced a sequence that pointed to 1925, which was read as marking a time for the resurrection of faithful figures such as Abraham and David.
Scripture as used by the author
Biblical basis cited
Leviticus 25 (the jubilee year) and Hebrews 11 (the list of faithful figures of the past).
Method
How the date was calculated
A count of jubilee cycles from the entry into Canaan, with the chronology extended forward to 1925.
Historical record
Historical context
The expectation was strong among rank-and-file members, according to historians of the movement. Watch Tower writing from the time varied in how firmly it stated the date.
Historical record
What happened when the date passed?
The year passed without the expected resurrection or the new order.
Historical record
What happened afterward
Watch Tower writings from 1925 onward said the date had been held with too much confidence by some, and attributed the disappointment to those expectations rather than to a firm prophecy. In 1930 the organization built a house in San Diego named Beth-Sarim, intended for the expected return of the ancient figures. The property was sold in 1948.
Scripture
Passages cited
-
Leviticus 25:8–12 (KJV)
The jubilee year.
Excerpts are from the King James Version (public domain). Listing a verse here does not mean this site agrees with how the author used it.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- Joseph F. Rutherford. Millions Now Living Will Never Die. International Bible Students Association. 1920. Primary source
- M. James Penton. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Toronto Press. 1985. Academic Source for the response after 1925 and for Beth-Sarim.
Found an error or a better source? Send a correction. See also the methodology.