Number of the Beast

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The Number of the Beast is a concept from the Book of Revelation of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The Number is 666 in modern texts, although 616 and 665 appear instead in at least one ancient source.^[1] Scholars contend that the number is a code for the Roman Emperor Nero,^[2] a view that is supported by the Roman Catholic Church.^{[3] [4]}

Contents 1 Bible 2 666 in the Old Testament 3 Interpretations 3.1 666 as a name 3.2 666 as the mark of commerce 3.3 Other interpretations 4 Culture and psychology 5 See also 6 Notes

[edit] Bible

The Number of the Beast is described in the Book of Revelation 13:18. From the King James translation:^[5]

“

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

”

In the Greek manuscripts, the Number is rendered in Greek numerical form as “χξς”,^[6] or sometimes literally as “six hundred and sixty-six”, “ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ”.^[7][8] [hexakosioi hexékonta hex - lit. sixhundred sixty six]

The oldest known record of the verse, a fragment of an early manuscript of Revelation from the Oxyrhynchus site, gives a different number, 616, as “χιϛ”.^[1] The early Church father Irenaeus knew several occurrences of the 616-variant but regarded them as a scribal error, although he didn't know the meaning of the number.^[9] The Zürich Bible which is based on the oldest Bible manuscripts also mentions the number 616.

666 can also refer to a Roman Emperor such as Nero.^[10]

[edit] 666 in the Old Testament

The number 666 appears several times in the Old Testament, including in 1 Kings 10:14-22 as the number of talents of gold received by King Solomon in one year. "Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold" [1]

Scholars such as Dr. Aitken have speculated that the reference to this passage was a way of speaking in code about then contemporary figures about whom it would have been politically dangerous to criticize openly.

According to the Bible, Solomon fell into apostasy and built altars to Chemosh, Moloch, and Ashtoreth, pagan gods to whom human sacrifices were made. (See 1 Kings 11:4-8.) In his book "Secrets of the Freemasons", author Michael Bradley notes that the hexagram is known in Masonry as the Seal of Solomon: "...the hexagram is widely associated with the occult, and it is considered the most powerful of Satan's symbols, containing '666.' Occultists call it the 'trud' and use it in necromantic ceremonies to summon evil spirits."

[edit] Interpretations

[edit] 666 as a name

Literally

Six III, or Sixtus III Latin Pope 432 - 440 AD

Figuratively

One interpretation is that 666 encodes the letters of someone’s name or title, identifying the Antichrist.

To be convincing, interpretations invoke arguments other than mathematics to prove their point. For example, scholars who believe that the Book of Revelation refers to historical people and events argue that the number represents Nero.^[11] This hypothesis was first presented by Friedrich Engels. In Hebrew gematria, every letter has a corresponding number. Summing these numbers gives a numeric value to a word or name. In Hebrew, "Nero Caesar" is spelled “נרון קסר,” pronounced "Neron Kaiser." Adding the corresponding values yields 666, as shown:

Removing the terminal נ (written as ן) makes the name "Nero" rather than "Neron," and makes the numeric value 616, which may explain that variation. The hypothesis that 666 is a code for a Roman emperor seems to have historical support. The emperors were noted for their oppression of both Jews and early Christians. Both communities were known to use numerology and codes where living under Roman rule to avoid persecution. Accordingly, the German protestant theologian Ethelbert Stauffer conceived a Greek gematrical procedure to explain the number 666.^[12] Judging from the precise information that the Book of Revelation gives about the person behind the number 666^[13] Stauffer concluded that the "beast" can in general only refer to a Roman emperor and specifically only to Domitian, also because he had reigned during the proposed time of origin of the Apocalypse. In addition Domitian's "secret derisive nickname" had been "The Beast" with Romans, Greek, Christians and Jews.^[14] Stauffer computed the Number of the Beast using the short form of Domitian's five titles and names A KAI ΔOMET ΣEB ΓE, as derived from the abbreviations on coins and inscriptions.^[15]

Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) claimed that he was the Beast prophesised in the Book of Revelation and took the name “Το μεγα θηριον”, Greek for “The Great Beast”, which adds up to 666 by isopsephy, the Greek form of gematria.^[16][17]

The Reformed scholar, Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., states that the code identifies Nero.^[18]

In the Luther Bible, Martin Luther wrote in a footnote to Rev 13:15-18: "Spirit means / that it is active / and not a dead image / but that it has its rights and offices in its womb. These are sixhundred and sixty and six years. So long the earthly papacy remains."; "Geist vnd reden ist / das es schefftig ist / vnd nicht ein tod Bilde / sondern hat seine Rechte vnd Empter im schwange gehend. Das sind sechshundert vnd sechs vnd sechzig jar. So lange stehet das weltliche Bapstum." Luther has many comments and theories against the papacy in the footnotes to his translation of the Book of Revelation.

[edit] 666 as the mark of commerce

Futurist Christian eschatology typically holds that the Mark of the Beast is one way in which the Antichrist will exercise power over the Earth during the period of Tribulation, because of the prophetic statement in Revelation 13 that "the Beast" will attempt to require all people to receive the mark on their bodies in order to buy or sell. A possible translation of the meaning of the number 666 may be: the number 666 will be the number that all currency will be based upon. Exact interpretations of this vary widely. For example:

• Some Christians interpret the mark as a requirement for all commerce to mean that the mark might actually be an object with the function of a credit card.^[19]
• Steven D. Miller proposes that the mark of the beast may refer to a social security number or card.^[20]
• Terry Watkins supposes the mark to be a microchip in or barcode on the human body.^[21]

Some support this barcode theory through reference to the three elongated end and middle symbols found in some common barcode symbologies; they appear identical to the symbol used to represent the number six on the right hand segment of a barcode - 666 is the template from which barcodes are read. This resemblance is however, questionable, as the elongated bars do not contain enough elements to be coded numbers.^[22]

Also, many barcodes are 'written' in a binary system. Each number - and the guardbars - are represented by the black and white spaces. When carefully comparing the codes, the number "6" is written in the code 1010000, seven units. The left and right guardbar are written in three units: 101. Finally, the middle guardbar is written in 5 units, 01010. This recurring "101" has led many to believe that the guardbars, in fact, read 666, though this is not the meaning of the symbology.

Alternatively, some who take a historical view of the Book of Revelation identify the Mark of the Beast with the stamped image of the emperor's head on every coin of the Roman empire – the stamp on the hand or in the mind of all, without which no-one could buy or sell.^[23]

[edit] Other interpretations

• Seventh-day Adventists and some other Christian groups believe that the number 666 refers to the Papacy.
• Irenaeus suggested that the number indicates that the beast is the sum of all apostasy committed over the course of six thousand years.^[24]
• Robert Graves suggested that DCLXVI, 666 in Roman numerals, is an abbreviation for the Latin sentence “Domitianus Caesar Legatos Xti Violenter Interfecit”, or “The Emperor Domitian violently killed the envoys of Christ”.^[25]
• The Roman numeral writing of 666, "DCLXVI" is also composed with the first six Roman numerals, written in descending order (I, V, X, L, C, D).
• In Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), the number 666 may be considered mystical and holy and may represent the physical universe.^[26]
• The chemical element Carbon is the basis of all known life. One carbon atom normally consists of 6 protons, 6 neutrons and 6 electrons.
• Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the Beast for which 666 stands symbolizes many governments, harmonizing with the symbolic depiction of past governments (denoted as "kings") in the Book of Daniel as wild beasts. The Beast is said to have "a human number" in that the governments that the beast symbolizes are all of a human origin, they aren't made up of spirit or demon entities. The number 666 is also believed to be symbolic, standing for imperfection. The number seven is interpreted as being a "perfect" or "complete" number based on the fact that it is used frequently in the Bible to signify completeness, for example Psalm 12:6 and the Genesis creation week. Just as six is one short of seven, imperfection is short of perfection, and hence six is interpreted as symbolizing imperfection. Six is repeated three times for emphasis, producing the number 666. ^[27] (This is similar to Vines Expository Dictionary under "Sixty, Sixtyfold," which states: "The number is suggestive of the acme of the pride of fallen man, the fullest development of man under direct satanic control, and standing in contrast to 'seven' as the number of completeness and perfection.")
• In Robert Heinlein's novel "The Number of the Beast", the main characters reinterpret the number to be 6^6^6, or 10,314,424,798,490,535,546,171,949,056. This corresponds to the number of possible universes in the story.
• Use for political or propagandistic purposes includes the attribution of the number 666 to Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, on grounds that his given name, middle name (Wilson), and surname each have six letters, thus 6-6-6, or 666.
• Some interpreted to relate the nature of human being as Homo sapiens itself, not as any individual. When the Greek word for "human being", ανθρωπος, is translitterated into Hebrew gematric system, the resulting sum becomes 666. It is also assumed the '6' (smallest complete number) represents human being itself, and 6 tripled represent mind, body and soul; 7 is the number of God and 777 the Holy Trinity. 666 could also be titled as The Unholy Trinity representing The Devil, The Antichrist and The False Prophet.

[edit] Culture and psychology

Main article: Number of the Beast (occurrence)

The number 666 retains a peculiar significance in the culture and psychology of Western societies, where some perceive it as “the Devil’s number”, even in contexts usually remote from superstition. The fear of the number 666 is called hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

[edit] See also

• 666 (number)
• U.S. Highway 666
• A666 road
• 666 (disambiguation)

[edit] Notes