Beth Sarim
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Beth Sarim, Hebrew for 'House of the Princes', was a ten-bedroom mansion built by the Watch Tower Society, the parent organization used by Jehovah's Witnesses, in anticipation of the resurrection of various Old Testament patriarchs or prophets such as Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah and Samuel. The home was also used as a winter home for Watch Tower president Joseph Franklin Rutherford.
Construction and Purpose
Originally, the Bible Students (as Jehovah's Witnesses were then known) expected the Old Testament "princes" to return in 1925.[1]Despite the failure of this prediction, Watch Tower president, Joseph Franklin Rutherford (also known as "Judge Rutherford") still continued to preach their imminent return. Beth Sarim was built with funds that were a direct contribution for that purpose; the property was purchased in 1926 and the house was built in 1929.[2] It was located in San Diego, California and had a surface area of about 100 acres and was planted with several date and palm trees. The building was a ten-bedroom Spanish mansion with an adjacent two-car garage.[3]
The purpose of acquiring this property and building the house is that there are those on earth today who fully believe in God and Christ Jesus and in His Kingdom, and who believe that the faithful men of old will soon be resurrected by the Lord, be back on earth, and take charge of the visible affairs of earth. The title to Beth Sarim is vested in the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in trust, to be used by the president of the Society and his assistants for the present, and thereafter to be forever at the disposal of the aforementioned princes on the earth ... It stands there as a testimony to Jehovah's name; and when the princes do return, and some of them occupy the property, such will be a confirmation of the faith and hope that induced the building of Beth Sarim. - Salvation, J.F. Rutherford (1939).
Occupation and Sale
Joseph Franklin Rutherford moved into Beth Sarim in early 1930 and served as caretaker of the property awaiting the resurrection of the "princes." Newspapers of the time reported on Rutherford's lavish lifestyle, which included a 16-cylinder Fisher Fleetwood Cadillac automobile and chauffeur.[7][8]
Beth Sarim served as the 'winter workshop' for Rutherford. The magazine Consolation explained:
"For twelve winters Judge Rutherford and his office force occupied Beth Sarim. It was not used as a place of ease or vacationing, but was used as a winter workshop; the books from Vindication, Book One down to and including Children were written there, as well as many Watchtower articles and booklets. The executive instructions for branches all over the earth also were transmitted from Beth-Sarim during the Judge's presence there. At Beth Sarim, Judge Rutherford completed the 1942 Yearbook material as his last work before his death. He dictated this material from his dying bed."[9]
Rutherford died at Beth Sarim on January 8, 1942 at the age of 72. After his death, Rutherford's burial was delayed for three and a half months due to legal proceedings arising from his desire to be buried at Beth Sarim. Consolation May 27, 1942 explained that:
Rutherford looked for the early triumph of 'the King of the East', Christ Jesus, now leading the host of heaven, and he desired to be buried at dawn facing the rising sun, in an isolated part of the ground which would be administered by the princes, who should return from their graves.[10]
Despite official denials by the Watchtower Society, some have speculated that Rutherford was secretly buried at Beth Sarim.[11]
The Watchtower Society sold Beth Sarim in 1948.[12][13]In 1954, Watch Tower spokesman Frederick William Franz expalined the reason for the sale of Beth Sarim at a trial in Scotland:
Q.- What has become of the mansion?
A.- It has been sold.
Q.- Why?
A.- Because it was there, and the prophets had not yet come back to occupy it, to make use of it, and the Society had no use for it at the time, it was in charge of a caretaker, and it was causing expense, and our understanding of the Scriptures opened up more, and more concerning the Princes, which will include those prophets, and so the property was sold as serving no present purpose.[14]
The house still stands today, under private ownership and has been designated Historical Landmark number 474 by the City of San Diego.[15]
References
- ^ Millions Now Living Will Never Die, pp. 89-90. The Way to Paradise, published 1924, pp. 215-254."New Date For Millennium: Russellites Now See It Coming on Earth in 1925". New York Times. June 2, 1919.. News Clippings from the "Millions Now Living Will Never Die" Campaign (1919-1925)
- ^ Pictures and a rationale for its construction was published by the Watch Tower Society in the July 25, 1931 Messenger. The deed for Beth Sarim can be read at [1]
- ^ Time magazine - March 31, 1930 Scan of original Time article November, 1940 The American, p. 54
- ^ Salvation, pp. 311-312. See also The New World], pp. 104-105: "those faithful men of old may be expected back from the dead any day now. The Scriptures give good reason to believe that it shall be shortly before Armageddon breaks. In this expectation the house at San Diego, California, which house has been much publicized with malicious intent by the religious enemy, was built, in 1930, and named "Beth-Sarim", meaning "House of the Princes". It is now held in trust for the occupancy of those princes on their return."
- ^ Beth Sarim -House of the Princes
- ^ Rutherford's Lavish Lifestyle
- ^ The San Diego Sun - March 15, 1930 and January 9, 1931.
- ^ News clippings relating to Judge Rutherford
- ^ May 27, 1942 Consolation, pp. 5-6
- ^ May 27, 1942 Consolation, p.6
- ^ San Diego Reader, June 28, 2008
- ^ Beth-Sarim, House of Princes
- ^ San Diego Sun, March 15, 1930 - Interview with J.F. Rutherford
- ^ Douglas Walsh vs. The Right Honorable James Latham Clyde, M. P. C. , p. 120
- ^ Google Maps Street View of Beth Sarim Historical Landmarks Designated by the San Diego Historical Resources Board
