Revelation 13:8
 

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Emperor Nero, The Beast

Number of the Beast
Found at Oxyrhynchus!
P.Oxy. LVI 4499

Papyrus Reveals New Clues to Ancient World - National Geographic News

"The latest volume includes details of fragments showing third- and fourth-century versions of the Book of Revelations. Intriguingly, the number assigned to "the Beast" of Revelations isn't the usual 666, but 616. "

Beast's Real Mark Devalued to 616 "Dr. Aitken said, however, that scholars now believe the number in question has very little to do the devil. It was actually a complicated numerical riddle in Greek, meant to represent someone's name, she said. "It's a number puzzle -- the majority opinion seems to be that it refers to [the Roman emperor] Nero."

666 and Nero - "The preterist takes a relatively uncommon form of Nero's name, Nero Cæsar or Cæsar Nero, and adds an "n", resulting in Neron Cæsar. Next the Latin is transliterated into Aramaic, resulting in nrwn qsr, which when using the numeric equivalent of the letters, then adds up to 666 as follows:

An example of this spelling has apparently been recently discovered in one of the Dead Sea scrolls. (If you use the same process, but without the added "n" the result is 616. Interestingly, some early manuscripts of the Bible have 616 rather than 666, but even scholars such as Irenæus attribute the 616 to only a copyist error.)

666, 616 and NERO
"The textual variant is Latin, and the Latinized version of Nero’s name is different than the Hebrew, which goes to 666, but the Latinized name goes to 616. The variant probably existed to keep consistent the meaning of Nero as the Beast. "

APOCALYPSE COMMENTARIES
Revelation 13:18
Number of the Beast - 666/616

HEBREW = N  (50)  R  (200)  W  (6)  N  (50)  Q  (100)  S  (60)  R  (200)  = 666
LATIN = N  (50)  R  (200)  W  (6)  Q  (100)  S  (60)  R  (200)  = 616

Nero, The Beast | Reuss on the Number of the Beast | The Number and Names of the Apocalyptic Beasts: with an Explanation and Application (1848)   | The Greek and Hebrew Alphabets with Numeric Equivalent | Antichrist was Nero to Early Church | The Antichrist | "Book of Revelation", 1911 Encyclopedia | 666 | Revelation Resources | The Mark of the Beast And Roman Taxation | Gematria Methods

Papyrus Oxy. LVI 4499
"The newest volume of Oxyrhynchus Papyri contains a fragmentary papyrus of Revelation which is the earliest known witness to some sections (late third / early fourth century). A detailed discussion of its place in the MS tradition is given in the printed volume. One feature of particular interest is the number that this papyrus assigns to the Beast: 616, rather than the usual 666."
Number of the Beast

D. R. Hillers (1963)
"It may now be pointed out that in an Aramaic document from Murabba’at . . . , dated to the "second year of the emperor Nero," the name is spelled rsq as required by the theory (i.e., that 666 signifies Nero). The last two consonants of rsq are damaged, but enough is preserved to show that no vowel-letter was written between the q and s.  The evidence can be seen by consulting the French work edited by P, Benoit, J. T. Milik, and R. DeVaux, Discoveries in the Judean Desert of Jordan II (Oxford, 1961), p. 18, plate 29. (Revelation 13:18 and A Scroll from Murabba’at.)

Pate and Haines (1995)
"Unfortunately, Christians have a long track record of identifying prominent individuals as the antichrist: several popes, Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, John F. Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Mikhail Gorbachev and Juan Carlos.  The same can be said of the enigmatic number 666, which has been equated with everything from credit cards to computers to the hand stamp at Disney World.  The modern church needs to do away with such inappropriate speculation, which is informed by an anachronistic reading of current events back into the Bible."  (C. Marvin Pate and Calvin B. Haines, Jr., Doomsday Delusions: What's wrong with Predictions About the End of the World, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995, p. 152-153)
 

Eusebius (A.D. 325)
"(Irenaeus) states these things in the third book of his above-mentioned work. In the fifth book he speaks as follows concerning the Apocalypse of John, and the number of the name of Antichrist:

"As these things are so, and this number is found in all the approved and ancient copies, and those who saw John face to face confirm it, and reason teaches us that the number of the name of the beast, according to the mode of calculation among the Greeks, appears in its letters. ..."

6 And farther on he says concerning the same:

"We are not bold enough to speak confidently of the name of Antichrist. For if it were necessary that his name should be declared clearly at the present time, it would have been announced by him who saw the revelation. For it was seen, not long ago, but almost in our generation, toward the end of the reign of Domitian."

¹³⁰ Rev. xiii. 18. Already in Irenaeus' time there was a variation in the copies of the Apocalypse. This is interesting as showing the existence of old copies of the Apocalypse even in his time, and also as showing how early works became corrupted in the course of transmission. We learn from his words, too, that textual criticism had already begun." (Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History Book 5)

Apostle John (1st Century)
"Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrists have come." (1 John 2:18a)

"Even now many antichrists have come.  This is how we know it is the last hour." (I John 2:18)

"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." (Revelation 13:18)
 

Hank Hanegraaff (2004)
"John is saying to his readers that with wisdom and understanding they could discern the number of the Beast and the number of his name.  If, in fact, the Beast was not around at that time, he would be have been giving them false information.. The beast is singularly Nero." (Voice of Reason 11/21)

Dr. Stafford North (1991)
"You may be a little surprised when you read what the Bible says about the subject of "the anti-christ."  Only four verses  in the entire Bible use this term and here they are in full:  I John 2:18; I John 2:22; I John 4:3; & II John 7.  You have now read every verse in the Bible that mentions the word "anti-christ." (Armageddon Again?, Oklahoma City, OK: Author, 1991, p. 78-79)

Eugen Wilhelm Reuss
‘It would form a very singular history were we to recount all that has been said by theologians with reference to the number 666 in the Revelation. This is not, however, the place to do so, and it is generally mere waste of time to refute palpable errors and absurd hallucinations. Our texts are so clear to those who have eyes to see and comprehend, that the simple statement of their true meaning ought at once to dissipate the clouds gathered round them by dogmatic prejudices, interested imaginations, and political pre-constructions.

‘The number of the beast, 666, is the number of a man, ariqmoz, anqrwpou, says the prophet. It is the number of a name, he says again, and that name is written on the forehead of those who are the loyal subjects and worshippers of the beast. But the beast itself is a personal being---Antichrist, and does not stand for some abstract idea. From this it follows that the number 666 does not represent a period of ecclesiastical history, as is maintained in the interpretation of orthodox Protestant theologians and of pietistic chiliasts of the school of Bengel. Nor does it stand for a common name, and to characterise a power, an empire, as, for example, Roman Paganism, as Irenaeus sought to show with his Aateinoz, which has been adopted by all subsequent interpreters who have failed to invent anything more inadmissible still, and which Protestants have eagerly made use of in the interest of their anti-papal polemics. The terms "Latium," "Latini," had no existence in the first century but in the poetry and local geography of the Campagna of Rome, and, as the name of a language, was utterly unknown in any form within apostolic sphere (Luke xxiii. 38; John xix. 20).

‘The number 666 must, then, contain a proper name, the name of the political and historical personage who was to play the part of Antichrist in all the great revolutions awaiting the Judaeo-Christian world. After reading Daniel and the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians we know what is the subject. Our author finally proceeds to tell us of whom he speaks.

‘Here, then, is the difficulty (if difficulty it be) which has most often misled even those who have approached the problem with a spirit free from prejudice and illusion. The beast of the thirteenth chapter is not an individual, but the Roman Empire, regarded as a power. The writer himself tells us (chap. xvii.) that the seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills on which his capital is built; and again, seven kings who have reigned, or still reign, there. This is quite true, but he tells us quite as plainly that this beast is at the same time one of the seven heads, a combination apparently inconceivable and more than paradoxical, but at the same time very natural, and even necessary. The idea of a power, especially of a hostile influence, always tends to assume a concrete form, to personify itself in the popular mind. The ideal monster becomes an individual; the principle assumes a distinct human shape, and under this personal form ideas become popularised, till individuals come in their turn to be the permanent representatives of ideas and influences which outlive themselves. To most men a proper name conveys more than a definition, and is more apt to excite warm and living feeling. The pagan power, idolatry, blasphemy, persecution, all that stirs the lawful antipathies of the church, all that inspires it with horror, and wrings from it the cry of woe, would naturally be individualised and concentrated in the person of him who, a few years before the destruction of Jerusalem, had filled up the measure of his crimes. The beast is, then, at once the Empire and the Emperor, and the name of the latter is on the lips of the thoughtful reader before we utter it. Let us, however, cast upon it all the light of historic science.

‘An attentive reading of chap. xi. will have already brought us to the conviction that this book was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. The temple and its inner court, with the great altar, are the measured---destined, that is to say, to be preserved (Zech. ii.), while the rest of the city is given up to the Pagans and devoted to sacrilege. These passages could not have been framed in view of the state of things which existed after the year 70. But the indications given in chap. xvii. are still more decisive. We shall maintain that Rome is here spoken of till it can be shown that in the age of the apostles there existed another city built upon seven hills, urbem septicollem, in which the blood of the witnesses of Christ had been shed in torrents (vers. 6, 9). This city, or this empire, has seven kings. The revelations of Daniel, of Enoch, and of Esdras follow the same chronological plan, all counting successions of kings to put the reader upon the track of the dates. Of those seven kings five are already dead (ver. 10), the sixth is reigning at this very time. The sixth emperor of Rome was Galba, an old man, seventy-three years of age at his accession. The final catastrophe, which was to destroy the city and the empire, was to take place in three years and a half, as has already been noted. For this one simple reason the series of emperors will include only one after the then reigning monarch, and he will reign but a little while. The writer does not know him, but he knows the relative duration of his reign, because he knows that Rome will, in three years and a half, perish finally, never to rise again.

‘There shall come an eighth emperor, he is one of the seven, and is at the same time the beast that was, but at the moment, is not. This must refer, then, to one of the previous emperors, who is to come again a second time, but as Antichrist, that is, invested with all the power of the devil, and for the special end of fighting against the Lord. As it is said that, at the time the vision is written, he is not, but has already been, he must be one of the first five emperors. He has been already wounded to death (chap. xiii. 3), so that there is something miraculous in his reappearance. It cannot, then, be Augustus, Tiberius, or Claudius, who none of them came to a violent end, and who are further place out of the question by the fact that none of these stood in hostile relations to the church. This reason will also exclude Caligula. There remains only Nero; but everything concurs to point him out as the personage thus mysteriously designated. So long as Galba reigned, and even long after that, the people did not believe Nero to be dead; they supposed him hidden somewhere, and ready to return and avenge himself on his enemies. The Messianic ideas of the Jews, which had become vaguely diffused through the West (as we learn from Tacitus and Suetonius), blending with these popular notions, suggested to the credulous the idea that Nero would come again from the East, to regain his throne by the aid of the Parthians. Many false Neros appeared. These popular fancies spread also among Christians. Visions were of common occurrence, and the Fathers of the church perpetuate the same tradition through several centuries later.

‘Lastly, that nothing may be wanting to the full evidence, our book names Nero, so to speak, in every character. The name Nero is contained in the number 666. The mechanism of the problem is based upon one of the cabalistic artifices in use in Jewish hermeneutics, which consisted in calculating the numerical value of the letters composing a word. this method, called ghematria, or geometrical, that is, mathematical, and used by the Jews in the exegesis of the Old Testament, has given much trouble to our learned men, and has led them into a maze of errors. All ancient and modern alphabets have been placed under contribution, and all imaginable combinations of figures and letters have been tried in turn. It has been made to yield almost all the historical names of the past eighteen centuries,---Titus Vespasian and Simon Gioras, Julian the Apostate and Genseric, Mohomet and Luther, Benedict IX. and Louis XV., Napoleon I. and the Duke de Reichstadt,---and it would not be difficult for any of us, on the same principles, to read in it one another’s names. In truth, the enigma was not so hard, though it has only been solved by exegesis in our own days. It was so little insoluble that several contemporary scholars found the clue simultaneously, and without knowing anything of one another’s labours. The ghematria is a Hebrews ar. The number has to be deciphered by the Hebrew Alphabet: rsq nwrn reads "Nero Caesar":---

n 50 + r 200 + w 6 + n 50 + q 100 + s 60 + r 200 = 666

‘The most curious point is that there exists a very ancient reading which gives 616. This might be the work of a Latin reader of the Revelation who had found the solution, but who pronounced Nero like the Romans, while the writer of the Revelation pronounced it like the Greeks and Orientals. The removal of the final n gives fifty less.’

"Ideas of the Apocalypse are so widely different that a summary notice of the exegetical literature, mingling all together, would be inexpedient." (Eduard Wilhelm Reuss, History of the Sacred Scriptures of the New Testament (Edinburgh: T and T Clark, 1884), 155)

 

David Chilton (1987 - Early)
"The unexpected element in the computation was that it had to be worked out in Hebrew, a language that at least some members of the churches would know. His readers would have guessed by now that he was speaking of Nero, and those who understood Hebrew probably grasped it instantly. The numerical values of the Hebrew letters in Neron Kesar (Nero Caesar) are:

As I mentioned earlier, the point is not that Nero’s name is the primary identification of 666. The point is, instead, what the number meant to the churches. St. John’s Biblically informed readers will have already recognized many clear indications of the Beast’s identity as Rome (indeed, they already knew this from reading the Book of Daniel). Now Nero has arrived on the scene as the first great persecutor of the Church, the embodi-ment of the "666-ness" of the Empire, and – Lo and behold! – his very name spells out 666. It is significant that "all the earliest Christian writers on the Apocalypse, from Irenaeus down to Victorious of Pettau and Commodian in the fourth, and Andreas in the fifth, and St. Beatus in the eighth century, connect Nero, or some Roman emperor, with the Apocalyptic Beast.

There should be no reasonable doubt about this identification. St. John was writing to first-century Christians, warning them of things that were "shortly" to take place. They were engaged in the most crucial battle of history, against the Dragon and the evil Empire which he possessed. The purpose of the Revelation was to comfort the Church with the assurance that God was in control, so that even the awesome might of the Dragon and the Beast would not stand before the armies of Jesus Christ. Christ was wounded in His heel on Friday, the sixth day, the Day of the Beast – yet that is the day He crushed the Dragon’s head. At his most powerful, St. John says, the Beast is just a six, or a series of sixes; never a seven. His plans of world dominion will never be fulfilled, and the Church will overcome through her Lord Jesus, the 888, who conquered on the Eighth Day.".

It is charged by some that Neron Kesar is merely a convenient "misspelling" of Nero’s name in Hebrew. This objection overlooks the fact that before the modern introduction of dictionaries the world was simply not as concerned as we are about uniformity in the spelling of names. Alternate spellings were common (e.g. "Joram" and "Jehoram" in the Old Testament), especially in the transliteration of words into a foreign tongue. But the allegation of misspelling is wholly wrong anyway. The form Neron Kesar (1) is the linguistically "correct" Hebrew form, (2) is the form found in the Talmud and other rabbinical writings, and (3) was used by Hebrews in the first century, as archaeological evidence has shown. As F. W. Farrar observed, "the Jewish Christian would have tried the name as he thought of the name-that is in Hebrew letters. And the moment he did this the secret stood revealed. No Jew ever thought of Nero except as ‘Neron Kesar,’ and this gives at once . . . 666" (The Early Days of Christianity, Chicago and New York: Belford, Clarke& Co., 1882, p. 540). Of some related interest is the fact that if Nero’s name is written without the final n (i.e., the way it would occur to a Gentile to spell it in Hebrew), it yields the number 616 — which is exactly the variant reading in a few New Testament manuscripts. The most reasonable explanation for this variant is that it arose from the confusion over the final n." (Days of Vengeance)
 

Dr. F.W. Farrar (1885)
"Beyond all shadow of doubt or uncertainty, the Wild Beast from the sea is meant as a symbol of the emperor Nero. Here, at any rate, St. John has neglected no single means by which he could make his meaning clear without deadly peril to himself and the Christian Church. He describes this Wild Beast by no less than sixteen distinctive marks, and then all but tells us in so many words the name of the person whom it is intended to symbolize."   (Early Days of' Christianity, 5.28.5)

"the Jewish Christian would have tried the name as he thought of the name-that is in Hebrew letters. And the moment he did this the secret stood revealed. No Jew ever thought of Nero except as ‘Neron Kesar,’ and this gives at once . . . 666" (The Early Days of Christianity, Chicago and New York: Belford, Clarke& Co., 1882, p. 540).

Foy Wallace (1966)
"There have been almost a legion of names in many different languages that have been deciphered in the efforts to find solution for Code 666, ranging from the merest conjecture to a frantic religious fanaticism that borders on lunacy."

"This visional mark was an emblem of submission to emperor-worship.  It was the stigmatic badge of the beast stamped in their right hand, or in their forehead, signifying a binding oath of loyalty.  All who conformed to the imperial orders received the mark of the beast, personified in the Roman emperor -- the Neronic antiChrist."  (The Book of Revelation, Fort Worth, TX: Wallace, 1966, pp. 298-300)

THEOLOGIANS IDENTIFYING NERO WITH 666
(under construction)

Beast's Real Mark Devalued to 616 "Dr. Aitken said, however, that scholars now believe the number in question has very little to do the devil. It was actually a complicated numerical riddle in Greek, meant to represent someone's name, she said. "It's a number puzzle -- the majority opinion seems to be that it refers to [the Roman emperor] Nero."

James Stuart Russell, Parousia, p, 557.
Shirley Jackson Case, The Revelation of John: A History of Interpretation (Chicago, 1919), p. 319.
George Edmundson, The Church in Rome in the First Century (London, 1913), pp. 165-166.
B. W. Henderson, Five Roman Emperors (Cambridge: University Press, 1927), p. 45.
Arthur S. Peake, The Revelation of John (London: Joseph Johnson, 1919), p. 326.
Martin Kiddie, The Revelation of St. John (New York: Harper, 1940), p. 261.
Charles C. Torrey, The Apocalypse of John (New Haven: Yale, 1958), p. 60.
John Bright, The Kingdom of God (Nashville Abingdon, 1963), p. 240.
Austin Farrar, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (Oxford: Clarendon, 1964), pp. 158f
T. G. Driver, The Judean Scrolls (Oxford: Blackwell, 1965), p. 374.
Hillers, "Revelation 13:18," p. 65. See J. P. M. Sweet, Revelation. (Philadelphia, 1979) p. 218, note u.
Bruce M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1968), p. 752.
John A. T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), p. 235.

  Date: 16 May 2005
Time: 12:22:06

Comments:

"Strongs in the Lord," From Xlibris corphas an interesting take on the Bible and the end of days.
 

Date: 14 May 2005
Time: 08:42:33

Comments:

The numbering system used to calculate Nero's name is flawed if the final form of the Hebrew "nun" is not used at the end of "Neron". "Final nun" is not valued at 50, but 700.

If a Roman emperor were to be considered it would have to be Octavian and not Nero. Nevertheless, John was not concerned with Rome as the nemesis to restoration of the Twelve Tribes.

Another vital point is reliance on Latin gematria. Latin was not commonly spoken in the Middle East, and particularly not spoken in the cities of Asia Minor where John's letter was sent. They spoke Greek in Sardis, not Latin and not Hebrew. They spoke Greek in Jerusalem. They spoke Greek all over the ancient world of John's day, not Hebrew or Latin. It is Greek gematria that is the key to understanding the number of the Beast as the number of mankind – vis-à-vis – the Jews and Israelite/gentiles who opposed the Messiah.

Date: 27 Jan 2006
Time: 23:08:14

Comments:

Hebrew Gematria Calculator (Flash 8.0 or Higher)
http://www.numberman.net/Hebrew_Gem_Calculator.html

Greek Gematria Calculator (Flash 8.0 or Higher)
http://www.numberman.net/Greek_Gem_Calculator.html

Date: 20 Dec 2005
Time: 09:34:32

Comments:

Will someone please comment on Steve Smith's theory about the "final nun". Do the Manuscripts spell it with a final Nun?

Also, how about the correct, in context trnaslation of the Greek word "charagma": "No one buys or sells without the MONEY of the beast on/in mind/hand."

Nero's picture being on the money at the time the "Revelation" was written and the Jews revolted and coined their own $$$.

And, Do you believe Christians plagerized, the Revelation by adding stuff about Jesus at the beginning and end? That the book was originally written in Hebrew/Aramaic and that the Church destroyed all the evidence; destroyed all the original copies of "Revelation" that did not mention Jesus. Or maybe some of these versions exist in the Vatican vaults?!

Date: 13 Apr 2006
Time: 23:46:26

Comments:

the number of the beast talks of many people who come before him to get things ready for him.~en taro carcive Kararkau Yog-"-.~  I will not list the last part for this is dangerous.
NotR

Date: 11 May 2006
Time: 15:11:34

Comments:

the NUMBER, of the beast...
The 2048 bit RSA challenge number can also be represented by a decimal number. The decimal version of this (beastly) number is usually held in an array of 0-616 bytes or integers - computer languages like 'C' and Java count from ZERO...
Not long to go now, perhaps at about 6:6:6 on 6/6/6 the answer could well be revealed...
LAME! WANE REWNIE? cor...
(Phonetic anagram of my beastlie name)

Date: 27 Jun 2006
Time: 13:47:20

Comments:

I think much have revelations has been fulfilled in the last century and thus that the messiah is already here, "Like a theif in the night."

Date: 05 Oct 2006
Time: 17:31:21

Comments:

As for the final nun - yes thats true, it's Hebrew language structure. Common rule and one of the first things taught to any Hebrew student is the final letter rule.

The Greek comment (dominant language) is also true and need be considered. Notice, the Old Testament had been trnaslated to Greek, why? New dominant language. Aramaic was around a bit, but Greek took over by the time of the writing of the New Testament, hence the New Testament was written in Greek.

Plus the idea of the mark in the foreheads and hands still isn't explained.

As for Apocolyptic Literature, it is very doubtful that Jews wrote it and Christians added Jesus into the begining. The Jewish concept of the Messiah is different than Christians, they don't see the Messiah as the "Atoning Lamb"- thats why the reject Jesus.

Nice research though.

Date: 03 Feb 2007
Time: 09:26:55

Comments:

none can buy or sell without the mark...? 7 years tribulation.... Christ will reveal at His return....none of these facts line up with the Nero theory...though Nero may very well have been a precursor.

Date: 05 Feb 2007
Time: 18:53:44

Comments:

rev.13:18 simply says count the NUMBER of the beast for it is the NUMBER of a man.resolve:count the NUMBER of the beast-exactly 6,count the NUMBER of the kinds of man-13:16 exactly 6.because it is about character rev 22:15 exactly 6.now comes up 666.just counting not adding.want more info?just email pr.goyo@yahoo.com.ph