Number of the Beast
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[edit] Definition
The Number of the Beast is the ominous number 666 mentioned in an enigmatic piece of prophecy in the Bible’s Book of Revelation:
- And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. … And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 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. (Rv 13:11-18)
It is possible that the author of Revelation wished to avoid naming the “Beast” for reasons of personal safety, and instead left a number-puzzle, which he assumed his readers would easily decipher. But for centuries, scholars, theologians and crackpots have worked this puzzle without any real consensus emerging on the identity of the man whose number is 666.
[edit] 666 or 616?
There is some debate over whether 616 was intended, rather than 666. This controversy began as early as the second century[1]. The earliest decipherable texts in existence today seem to suggest 616, but 666 is used in almost all modern versions of the Bible.
[edit] Gematria
The reference to “the number of a man” is almost certainly a case of gematria, a type of numerology, in which the letters of a name are given numerical values, and the total is calculated.
In Hebrew, numbers were represented by the symbols of the alphabet, which essentially gave every name or word a numeric value. The first nine letters of the alphabet stood for the numbers 1-9, the next set of nine stood for 10-90, and so on. Revelation was written in Greek, where a similar scheme could be applied. Later, similar techniques were used with the Latin alphabet. Using these codes, various entities were identified with 666. For example:
- Hebrew: נרון קסר (Nero Caesar)
- Greek: ελλαχ (Allah)
- Latin: Martin Luthera
Martin Luther probably never used the Latin form of his surname, nor is “Allah” generally represented in Greek, but these technical details do little to stifle the ingenuity of those searching for 666 in the names of their favorite demons or political enemies. Throughout history, the number of the Beast has been associated with various emperors, religious figures, world leaders, social movements and technological trends.
[edit] Roman Numerals
Another technique of 666-enthusiasts is to use the system of Roman numerals, summing the values of the symbols wherever they occur in names or contrived phrases. The most popular of these is “Vicarivs Filii Dei” (Vicar of the son of God), supposedly inscribed on the crown of the Pope. Adding the roman numerals that occur in this term produces a result of 666.
The existence of the “Vicarivs Filii Dei” inscription is almost certainly a myth, but it is still widely believed, especially among followers of Seventh-Day Adventism. It has been pointed out that the name of Ellen Gould White, a founder of Seventh-Day Adventism, also adds to 666 (when W is counted as “VV” and U as “V”.)
[edit] Other uses
The use of specially-tailored numerical codes ensures that just about any name can be identified with 666 with a little patience and numerical creativity. Some notable examples:
- Using A=101, B=102, etc…, the letters of “Hitler” add to 666.
- Using the ASCII code, the letters in “William Henry Gates” sum to 663; Add 3 for the “III” after his name, for a total of 666.
- Using the code A = 6, B = 12, …, “Computer” adds to 666.
- The three names “Ronald Wilson Reagan” have six letters each: 6-6-6
[edit] Bar Codes
A modern belief among some Christian fundamentalists is that the “Mark of the Beast” is encoded in all UPC barcodes, an idea which seems to be in accordance with the prophecy that “no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark”.
In addition to the bars representing numerals on a barcode, there are three sets of “guard bars”, which tell the scanner where the codes begin and end. These guard bars are found on all UPC barcodes, and consist of two thin lines. They resemble the bars used to encode the number ‘6’; thus the three sets form 6-6-6, the mark of the beast.
However, bar codes do not encode ‘6’ with two thin lines alone. In a bar code, all numerals are encoded with a series of light and dark bands. The large gap seen next to the narrow lines is part of the representation of ‘6’. This gap is not present in the guard bars. Moreover, on the left half of the barcode, the light and dark bands are inverted. This gives the ‘6’ the appearance of a thin line and a very thick line, which is completely unlike the guard bars.
Another argument against this theory is that the bible text does not refer to separate digits in the decimal numbering system. That is, the Number of the Beast is not “six-six-six”, it is “six hundred sixty six”. Bar codes do not encode the number 666 in any way.
[edit] Symbolic meaning
Some scholars suggest that “666” does not stand for a particular individual, but is merely symbolic of evil in some less precise way. Throughout the Bible, 7 represents perfection, thus 6 would represent imperfection, and thus 666, a gross imperfection.
Others note that 666 in Roman Numerals is DCLXVI, which are all the roman numeral symbols except M, arranged in decreasing order. The number may simply represent the Roman empire.
[edit] Trivia
Interestingly, the number 666 is mentioned earlier in the Hebrew scripture in a completely different context (2Ch 9:13). There seems to be no connection between the two mentions, however, the author of Revelation may have been aware of the previous usage.
US Highway 666 was renamed US Highway 491 in 2003.[2]. The governor of New Mexico was the main proponent of the renaming, citing economic reasons, however superstition played a role in the success of the initiative.
