The Watchtower, “Questions From Readers”
“Many years ago, our publications stated that such faithful men and women as Deborah, Elihu, Jephthah, Job, Rahab, and Rebekah, as well as many others, were really types, or shadows, of either the anointed or the “great crowd.” … The clearest course is this: Where the Scriptures teach that an individual, an event, or an object is typical of something else, we accept it as such. Otherwise, we ought to be reluctant to assign an antitypical application to a certain person or account if there is no specific Scriptural basis for doing so.”
The answer explains why the publications had stopped assigning prophetic “antitypes”, conceding that “Humans cannot know which Bible accounts are shadows of things to come and which are not.”
Official source (opens in new tab)
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. Document opened on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; the wording was read in full and the page number taken from the library's own page markers.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-d-w-2015-0315-qfr-types