As noted at Wikipedia.org, Charles Taze Russell wrote a chapter in one of his books about the views being taught
during the late 1800s by Christian writers such as John Taylor, Charles Piazzi Smyth and Joseph Seiss about the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. It was then conjectured that the ancient Hebrews, thought at that time to have been the Hyksos “shepherd kings” who for a long time ruled Egypt, had built the Great Pyramid under God’s
direction, and it was standing as a mute but powerful witness to God.
He backed up the belief by quoting Isaiah 19:19–20 and numerous other
scriptures speaking about if not the Great Pyramid, then rocks or stones. For example, Isaiah wrote: "In that day shall there be an altar to
the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and
for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt."
Russell also used the pyramid as a mnemonic or memory teaching tool, even
basing a chart on it. For example ascending and descending passages inside the4 pyramid represented humanity’s
fall, the Mosaic Law, Christ’s death, the saints exulting in heaven. Using the pattern of an inch for
each year, the Great Pyramid was said to yield dates such as 1874, 1914, and 1948.
Charles Taze Russell wrote
the following about the pyramid: Commenting upon the scientific testimony and the location of this majestic "Witness,"
Rev. Joseph Seiss, D.D. suggests:
"There is a yet grander thought embodied
in this wonderful structure. Of its five points there is one of special pre-eminence, in which all its sides and exterior
lines terminate. It is the summit corner, which lifts its solemn index finger to the sun at midday, and by its distance from
the base tells the mean distance to that sun from the earth. And if we go back to the date which the Pyramid gives itself
and look for what that finger pointed to at midnight, we find a far sublimer indication.
“Science has at last discovered
that the sun is not a dead center, with planets wheeling about it, and itself stationary. It is now ascertained that the sun
also is in motion, carrying with it its splendid retinue of comets, planets, its satellites and theirs, around some other
and vastly mightier center. Astronomers are not yet fully agreed as to what or where that center is.
“Some, however, believe
that they have found the direction of it to be the Pleiades, and particularly Alcyone, the central one of the renowned Pleiadic
stars. To the distinguished German astronomer, Prof. J. H. Maedler, belongs the honor of having made this discovery.
“Alcyone, then, as
far as science has been able to perceive, would seem to be 'the midnight throne' in which the whole system of gravitation
has its central seat, and from which the Almighty governs his universe. And here is the wonderful corresponding fact, that
at the date of the Great Pyramid's building, at midnight of the autumnal equinox, and hence the true beginning of the
year as still preserved in the traditions of many nations, the Pleiades were distributed over the meridian of this Pyramid, with Alcyone (α Tauri)
precisely on the line.
“Here, then, is a pointing of the highest and sublimest character that mere human science has ever been able so much
as to hint, and which would seem to breathe an unsuspected and mighty meaning into that speech of God to Job, when he demanded,
'Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?'" (Job 38:31)
It is known that Russell’s wife Maria was
an avid amateur astronomer. Thus his interesting effort at tying the Great Pyramid to Alcyon as the location
“from which the Almighty governs his universe,” may owe to her input.
However, scientists no longer believe the Pleiades
constellation of stars is the center of our galaxy called the Milky Way. Instead they say it is at or near
a star called Sagittarius A. Speculation is that the exact center of our galaxy may be a black hole that
sucks in matter, possibly expelling the material out into some other distant part of this or another universe. http://casswww.ucsd.edu/public/tutorial/MW.html
To this day Christian
critics vary greatly on what Charles Taze Russell wrote about the pyramid, etc. For example some in the
Bible Students movement believe all of his ideas may indeed be correct. Still other critics say that what
he wrote were all deliberate lies inspired of demons etc. As a kind of middle ground, still others say
he offered ideas sincerely and some of those may yet prove to be substantially correct. What he actually
wrote word-for-word is at: http://www.pastor-russell.com/volumes/V3/v03s10.php
