130. More numbers of the beast and other Australians
From a website (catholic)
666: The Number of the Beast
(see Rev 13:18)
For more serious academic stuff, see BELOW, but first take a good look at:
A Fun Collection of Beastly Numbers
Warning: This page should not be viewed by anyone suffering from hexakósioi-hexékonta-hexa-phobia (fear of you-know-what!)
666 Biblical Number of the Beast
660 Approximate Number of the Beast
DCLXVI Roman Numeral of the Beast
665 Number of the Beast's Older Brother
667 Number of the Beast's Younger Sister
668 Number of the Beast's Neighbor
999 Number of the AUSTRALIAN Beast (That is 666 downunder)
333 Number of the Semi-Beast
66 Number of the Downsized Beast
6, uh..., I forget Number of the Blond Beast
666.0000 Number of the High Precision Beast
665.9997856 Number of the Beast on a Pentium
0.666 Number of the Millibeast
X / 666 Beast Common Denominator
0.00150150... Reciprocal of the Beast
-666 Opposite of the Beast
666i Imaginary Number of the Beast
6.66 x 102 Scientific Notation of the Beast
25.8069758... Square Root of the Beast
443556 Square of the Beast
1010011010 Binary Number of the Beast
1232 Octal of the Beast
29A Hexidecimal of the Beast
2.8235 Log of the Beast
6.5913 Ln of the Beast
1.738 x 10289 Anti-Log of the Beast
00666 Zip Code of the Beast
666@hell.org E-mail Address of the Beast
www.666.com Website of the Beast
1-666-666-6666 Phone & FAX Number of the Beast
1-866-666-6666 Toll Free Number of the Beast
(which could also be written 18-666-666-666!)
1-900-666-6666 Live Beasts, available now! One-on-one pacts!
Only $6.66 per minute! (Must be over 18!)
666-66-6666 Social Security Number of the Beast
Form 10666 Special IRS Tax Forms for the Beast
66.6% Tax Rate of the Beast
6.66% 6-Year CD Interest Rate at First Beast Bank of Hell
($666 minimum deposit, $666 early withdrawal fee)
$666/hr Billing Rate of the Beast's Lawyer
$665.95 Retail Price of the Beast
$710.36 Price of the Beast plus 6.66% Sales Tax
$769.95 Price of the Beast with accessories and replacement soul
$656.66 Wal-Mart Price of the Beast (next week $646.66!)
$55.50 Monthly Payments for Beast, in 12 easy installments
Phillips 666 Gasoline Used by the Beast (regular $6.66/gal)
Route 666 Highway of the Beast (where he gets his kicks!)
666 mph Speed Limit on the Beast's Highway
6-6-6 Fertilizer of the Beast
666 lb cap Weight Limit of the Beast
666 Minutes Weekly News Show about the Beast (airs daily from
Midnight to 11:06 a.m., on Cable Channel 666, of course)
666o F Oven Temperature for Cooking "Roast Beast"
666k Retirement Plan of the Beast
666 mg Recommended Minimum Daily Requirement of Beast
Lotus 6-6-6 Spreadsheet of the Beast
Word 6.66 Word Processor of the Beast
Windows 666 Bill Gates' Personal Beast Operating System
#666666 Font Color of the Beast (the gray in this table, no kidding!)
i66686 CPU of the Beast
666-I BMW of the Beast
IAM 666 License Plate Number of the Beast
Formula 666 All Purpose Cleaner of the Beast
WD-666 Spray Lubricant of the Beast
DSM-666 (rev) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Beast
66.6 MHz FM Radio Station of the Beast
666 KHz AM Radio Station of the Beast
66 for 6 A Beastly Score for an Innings (in cricket)
6 for 66 Bowling Figures of the Beast
6/6/6 Birthday of the Beast (but in which century?)
This collection was compiled and expanded from various sources,
including anonymous e-mails forwarded by various people,
and similar collections online at http://www.yamon.freeserve.co.uk/Beast.html
and http://www.dontflameme.com/jokes/2000jokes/january2000.html
P.S. How many rows are in the above table? Is that a coincidence?
P.P.S. There are no Zip Codes 00666, 06660, 66600, or 66666 in the USA,
but 60606 is in Chicago, IL, and several with 666XX are in Topeka, KS! Is anyone out there superstitious?
P.P.P.S. There is no 666 area code for telephone numbers in the USA,
but for international calling, the country code for Thailand is 66, and Saudi Arabia is 966. Hmmm!
More Beastly Numbers
(partly inspired by the events of June 6, 2006!)
6.66o F A Cold Day in Hell
Boeing 666 The Beast's Personal Airplane Model
Airforce 666 The Name of the Beast's Airplane (after he becomes President!)
C6H6O6 The Beast's Favorite Chemical (1,2,3-cyclopropanetricarboxylic acid)
666 Atomic Mass of Governmentium (it contains no protons or electrons, but has 1 neutron, 15 assistant neutrons, 35 deputy neutrons, 80 vice neutrons, 145 supervisory neutrons, 165 team leader neutrons and 225 consulting neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 666)
6.66% 30-Year Mortgage Rate on 06/06/06 (not a joke, but a curious coincidence!)
Mathematical Curiosities about 666
(for those with a mathematical mindset and/or a penchant for gambling!)
666 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... + 36 [the sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel!]
666 = 22 + 32 + 52 + 72 + 112 + 132 + 172 [the sum of the squares of the first 7 prime numbers!]
666 = 6 + 6 + 6 + 63 + 63 + 63 [the sum of its digits and the cubes of its digits]
666 = 16 - 26 + 36 [a simple sum and difference of the first three sixth powers]
666 = 2*3*3*37 [its factors], while 6+6+6 = 2+3+3+3+7 [the sum of the digits of its factors]
666 = the sum of the first 144 digits of PI, beginning after the decimal point [PI = 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716 9399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359...]
For more mathematical fun with 666, see The Number of the Beast, compiled by Mike Keith.
Other Fun and Humorous 666 Sites
(a.k.a. Are YOU the Beast?)
Find the Antichrist(s): A Quiz - from the PBS Frontline: Apocalypse! website
The Antichrist: Have You Seen This Man? - a long list of names of famous people thought to be the Antichrist
Evidence that Ronald Wilson Reagan was the Beast of Revelation - proof or coincidence???
William J. Clinton has the number of the Beast - an argument (seriously?) from the BeComing One Church (see also their "Beast Links")
Mark of the Beast Studies - partly funny, partly serious, partly debunking, partly scary!
Project 666 - lots of wild, pseudo-political stuff, in English and Spanish!
A cartoon related to 666 from
The Far Side® by Gary Larson:
The scene shows a devil scowling at a painter and
the number 999 painted over a doorway in Hell.
The painter looks at a piece of paper and says,
"Well, I'll be... I must've been holding
the dang work order like this!"
Unfortunately, Mr. Larson does not permit
any of his cartoons to be displayed online;
but you can find this one in
The Chickens Are Restless (p. 37)
or The Far Side Gallery 5 (p. 39).
Addendum: Internet Users Beware!
In the ancient Hebrew practice of gematria (assigning numerical values to letters),
the letter "waw" is equivalent to the number "six."
So WWW is also equivalent to 666 !!!
( or is it really? )
Thanks to John Stewart Muller, one of my former students, for pointing this out to me.
The More Serious and Academic Stuff
Who or What Is the Beast?
The answer to this nearly 2000-year-old question depends on how you choose to interpret the Book of Revelation (a.k.a. the Apocalypse), the last book of the New Testament.
Near the middle of this highly symbolic book are descriptions of several strange creatures:
First, "a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads"; it is described further after being defeated by Michael and his angels in a battle in heaven: "The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world--he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him" (Rev 12:3-18);
Second, "a beast rising out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names... [it] was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority..." (Rev 13:1-10);
Third, "another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast..." (Rev 13:11-18).
At the end of the paragraph about this third beast, the author challenges the reader with an intriguing puzzle: "This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six." (13:18).
In order to understand this text, one must know that ancient Hebrew (like Greek and other ancient languages) did not have a separate set of characters to indicate numbers, but simply used the letters of its alphabet to represent numbers. This fact provides the basis for the ancient practice of "gematria," in which numerical equivalents of words and names are calculated (still a popular game today!).
The basic idea is that every word has a number associated with it, obtained by adding up the numerical equivalent of each letter in the word.
This is mostly commonly done with names; thus every person has a number, the numerical value of his or her name.
There are several different ways of assigning numbers to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, but the system most commonly used is this:
alef = 1; bet = 2; gimel = 3; dalet = 4; hey = 5; waw = 6; zayin = 7; chet = 8; tet = 9; yod = 10; kaf = 20; lamed = 30; mem = 40; nun = 50; samek = 60; ayin = 70; pey = 80; tsadeh = 90; qof = 100; resh = 200; shin = 300; taw = 400.
For example, the name "David" has a value of 14 in Hebrew (since it is written dalet-waw-dalet, which is 4+6+4); see Matthew 1:17.
The same game can be played in any other language by assigning numerical equivalents to each letter of the alphabet: for example, a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, etc.
However, the results you want may determine which system you choose; for example, you can get HITLER = 666 if you choose a system in which a=100, b=101, c=102, etc.
For a more extensive introduction to Hebrew gematria, see The Art of Gematria: Hebrew Numerology.
So, Who Is the Person Whose Number Is 666?
Throughout history, attempts have been made to identify 666 with many famous people (usually one's enemies)!
Since the Reformation (and still today!), some Protestants have tried to connect 666 with the Pope, either with the "Roman Pontiff" in general or with a specific Pope in particular. (For example, see the article by Michael Scheifler, from a Seventh Day Adventist perspective; but see also a response to this article by Mario Derksin on the "Catholic Insight" webpages.) On the other hand, some Catholics used to see a link between the beast of the Book of Revelation and Martin Luther.
Some Democrats might try to associate Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush with the beast, while some Republicans might argue it was John F. Kennedy or Bill Clinton (see the websites listed in the "Fun and Humorous" section above).
Most biblical historians agree, however, that the Book of Revelation is simply referring to the Roman Emperor NERO, the most "beastly" ruler of the first Christian Century:
The Hebrew equivalent of "Emperor Nero" could be written NRWN QSR (nun-resh-waw-nun qof-samek-resh); thus, the first word is 50+200+6+50, the second word is 100+60+200, and the total is no surprise!
While most ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament have the number "six hundred sixty-six" in Rev 13:18, some manuscripts contain the alternate reading "six hundred sixteen" (616), including some recently published Oxyrhynchus Papyri. [This Oxyrhynchus Papyri website also has a discussion of Numerology, but opposes the application to Nero. Thanks to my friend and colleague Robert M. Royalty, Jr., Ph.D., for telling me about this new discovery and website!]
The "616" variant reading can easily be explained, and might even be the older or original reading of Rev 13:18, since the final letter "nun" is not needed in the Hebrew spelling of Nero. Thus, NRW QSR would be 50+200+6+100+60+200 = 616. If this was indeed the original reading, it is easy to see how the text of Rev 13:8 would have been changed to "666," due to its more highly symbolic value (since "6" represents lack or incompleteness, in contrast to the number "7" representing completion, the triple 666 represents evil more clearly than 616.)
For more extensive discussion of the first-century Roman Empire and the historical references behind the dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast in Rev 12-13, see any good biblical commentary on the Book of Revelation.
What about June 6, 2006?
Relax! Although this date could be abbreviated 6/6/6, it has absolutely nothing to do with the "Beast" of the Book of Revelation! Consider these few points:
First, this date should more properly be written 6/6/06 or 06/06/06 or even 06/06/2006, since 6/6/6 is ambiguous as to the decade or century.
Second, this date depends on the Gregorian calendar commonly used today, but is different on the calendars in use at the time the Book of Revelation was written (Julian, Roman, Hebrew), and also different on other calendars in use today (Islamic, Chinese, etc.)
Third, Revelation 13:18 clearly says that 666 is "the number of a person," not an indication of any date.
Fourth, combinations of three sixes can be found almost anywhere we want, if we look hard enough.
Fifth, we can lots of have fun with all this, but there's no need to be worried or superstitious about it!
Sixth, I had to put a sixth bullet in this list, but I don't really have much else to say about June 6! ;-)
Despite this last bullet, several people asked me to "predict" what would happen on June 6, 2006. Here's what I replied:
As a biblical scholar and Catholic priest, I think trying to predict the future is a misuse of the Bible. Biblical prophecy is not about crystal-ball gazing into the future. Rather, prophets of the Bible are those who speak on behalf of God, conveying God's messages to people, interpreting the past, present, and future through God's eyes, so to speak. Biblical prophets call people to repent and to remain faithful to God, not to worry about when the world will end or who is the "beast" of the Book of Revelation.
But just for fun, since people really pressed me to "predict" something, here is what I said would happen on June 6, 2006:
Most adults will go to work, but a few will call in sick, as on any other weekday;
many children will go to the beach or a park, enjoying their first days of summer vacation, while an unfortunate few still struggle through their last days of school;
websites like mine with information on 666 and related apocalyptic themes will have a spike in the number of visitors;
millions of automobile odometers will briefly show a 666 sequence at some time during the day, but very few drivers will notice;
only a few math aficionados will practice their factoring skills (666=2x3x3x37), while millions of shoppers will look for a 666 in a product bar code or on their sales receipts;
lamentably few people will vote in California's primary election, and similarly few will go to see the remake of the "Omen" movie on its unusual mid-week opening night;
more gamblers than usual will sit at a roulette table that evening, but few of them will know that the sum of the numbers on the spinning wheel equals 666;
more people will get married than on most other Tuesdays, but very few pregnant women will seriously worry whether their newborn child could be the anti-Christ.
Then, on June 7, most of us will wake up again and wonder what all the fuss was about!
Reflections after June 6, 2006:
I was somewhat amazed by all the media interest and popular hoopla surrounding June 6. The first person to contact me was Seth Borenstein, a reporter from the Associated Press, who prominently featured this webpage and some of my comments from a telephone interview in an article published June 4, 2006 (entitled "Humor, curiosity surround June 6, 2006"; alt title "A calendar date to end all others nears"). A search on Google News showed that this AP article was reprinted by over 250 news outlets in the U.S. and around the world (including Australia, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey).
As a result, in the following two days I was contacted by and/or gave live interviews on three television networks, six other newspapers, and fifteen radio stations (not just from the USA, but also Canada, Great Britain, and Argentina). Some of the radio interviews were on syndicated programs that ran in hundreds of cities in the U.S. Each interview was somewhat different from all the others: some reporters asked about the biblical/historical background of the number 666, others about the differences between 666 and 616; some radio hosts were interested in Emperor Nero and Ancient Rome, others in bar codes and implanted chips! Some of the interviews lasted about 30 seconds, others about 30 minutes, most were rather fun to do, especially those that combined the report with the party going on that day in the little town of Hell, Michigan!
In the past few years, my website has gotten between 1000 and 2000 visitors daily. However, as I had "predicted" above, it received well over 10,000 visitors on June 4, over 18,000 on June 5, and spiked at over 36,000 on June 6! Why are so many people interested in 666? Are that many people really scared about the future? It seems that some people need to have more faith in God to find peace in their lives! I'm just glad there are only 60 minutes in every hour; otherwise, some people might freak out twice a day, at 6:66 a.m. and 6:66 p.m.!
So, when all is said and done, the number 666 will continue to intrigue numerologists and fascinate gamblers, be profitable for Hollywood but avoided by most other businesses, provide fodder for the apocalyptic warnings of fundamentalist preachers and challenges for the teachings of mainline Christian pastors. But after June 6, 2006, has come and gone, biblical scholars will go back to studying 616, while the wedding industry looks forward to July 7, 2007!
Return to the Study Guides for Apocalyptic Literature
or to my explanation of What Biblical Prophecy Really Is (and Isn't)
or return to the HOME PAGE of Prof. Felix Just, S.J.
This page was established around 9/9/99, significantly expanded 01/01/01, revised again 02/02/02,
and (contrary to some people's "predictions") did not self-destruct on 06/06/06 !
666: The Number of the Beast
(see Rev 13:18)
For more serious academic stuff, see BELOW, but first take a good look at:
A Fun Collection of Beastly Numbers
Warning: This page should not be viewed by anyone suffering from hexakósioi-hexékonta-hexa-phobia (fear of you-know-what!)
666 Biblical Number of the Beast
660 Approximate Number of the Beast
DCLXVI Roman Numeral of the Beast
665 Number of the Beast's Older Brother
667 Number of the Beast's Younger Sister
668 Number of the Beast's Neighbor
999 Number of the AUSTRALIAN Beast (That is 666 downunder)
333 Number of the Semi-Beast
66 Number of the Downsized Beast
6, uh..., I forget Number of the Blond Beast
666.0000 Number of the High Precision Beast
665.9997856 Number of the Beast on a Pentium
0.666 Number of the Millibeast
X / 666 Beast Common Denominator
0.00150150... Reciprocal of the Beast
-666 Opposite of the Beast
666i Imaginary Number of the Beast
6.66 x 102 Scientific Notation of the Beast
25.8069758... Square Root of the Beast
443556 Square of the Beast
1010011010 Binary Number of the Beast
1232 Octal of the Beast
29A Hexidecimal of the Beast
2.8235 Log of the Beast
6.5913 Ln of the Beast
1.738 x 10289 Anti-Log of the Beast
00666 Zip Code of the Beast
666@hell.org E-mail Address of the Beast
www.666.com Website of the Beast
1-666-666-6666 Phone & FAX Number of the Beast
1-866-666-6666 Toll Free Number of the Beast
(which could also be written 18-666-666-666!)
1-900-666-6666 Live Beasts, available now! One-on-one pacts!
Only $6.66 per minute! (Must be over 18!)
666-66-6666 Social Security Number of the Beast
Form 10666 Special IRS Tax Forms for the Beast
66.6% Tax Rate of the Beast
6.66% 6-Year CD Interest Rate at First Beast Bank of Hell
($666 minimum deposit, $666 early withdrawal fee)
$666/hr Billing Rate of the Beast's Lawyer
$665.95 Retail Price of the Beast
$710.36 Price of the Beast plus 6.66% Sales Tax
$769.95 Price of the Beast with accessories and replacement soul
$656.66 Wal-Mart Price of the Beast (next week $646.66!)
$55.50 Monthly Payments for Beast, in 12 easy installments
Phillips 666 Gasoline Used by the Beast (regular $6.66/gal)
Route 666 Highway of the Beast (where he gets his kicks!)
666 mph Speed Limit on the Beast's Highway
6-6-6 Fertilizer of the Beast
666 lb cap Weight Limit of the Beast
666 Minutes Weekly News Show about the Beast (airs daily from
Midnight to 11:06 a.m., on Cable Channel 666, of course)
666o F Oven Temperature for Cooking "Roast Beast"
666k Retirement Plan of the Beast
666 mg Recommended Minimum Daily Requirement of Beast
Lotus 6-6-6 Spreadsheet of the Beast
Word 6.66 Word Processor of the Beast
Windows 666 Bill Gates' Personal Beast Operating System
#666666 Font Color of the Beast (the gray in this table, no kidding!)
i66686 CPU of the Beast
666-I BMW of the Beast
IAM 666 License Plate Number of the Beast
Formula 666 All Purpose Cleaner of the Beast
WD-666 Spray Lubricant of the Beast
DSM-666 (rev) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Beast
66.6 MHz FM Radio Station of the Beast
666 KHz AM Radio Station of the Beast
66 for 6 A Beastly Score for an Innings (in cricket)
6 for 66 Bowling Figures of the Beast
6/6/6 Birthday of the Beast (but in which century?)
This collection was compiled and expanded from various sources,
including anonymous e-mails forwarded by various people,
and similar collections online at http://www.yamon.freeserve.co.uk/Beast.html
and http://www.dontflameme.com/jokes/2000jokes/january2000.html
P.S. How many rows are in the above table? Is that a coincidence?
P.P.S. There are no Zip Codes 00666, 06660, 66600, or 66666 in the USA,
but 60606 is in Chicago, IL, and several with 666XX are in Topeka, KS! Is anyone out there superstitious?
P.P.P.S. There is no 666 area code for telephone numbers in the USA,
but for international calling, the country code for Thailand is 66, and Saudi Arabia is 966. Hmmm!
More Beastly Numbers
(partly inspired by the events of June 6, 2006!)
6.66o F A Cold Day in Hell
Boeing 666 The Beast's Personal Airplane Model
Airforce 666 The Name of the Beast's Airplane (after he becomes President!)
C6H6O6 The Beast's Favorite Chemical (1,2,3-cyclopropanetricarboxylic acid)
666 Atomic Mass of Governmentium (it contains no protons or electrons, but has 1 neutron, 15 assistant neutrons, 35 deputy neutrons, 80 vice neutrons, 145 supervisory neutrons, 165 team leader neutrons and 225 consulting neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 666)
6.66% 30-Year Mortgage Rate on 06/06/06 (not a joke, but a curious coincidence!)
Mathematical Curiosities about 666
(for those with a mathematical mindset and/or a penchant for gambling!)
666 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... + 36 [the sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel!]
666 = 22 + 32 + 52 + 72 + 112 + 132 + 172 [the sum of the squares of the first 7 prime numbers!]
666 = 6 + 6 + 6 + 63 + 63 + 63 [the sum of its digits and the cubes of its digits]
666 = 16 - 26 + 36 [a simple sum and difference of the first three sixth powers]
666 = 2*3*3*37 [its factors], while 6+6+6 = 2+3+3+3+7 [the sum of the digits of its factors]
666 = the sum of the first 144 digits of PI, beginning after the decimal point [PI = 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716 9399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359...]
For more mathematical fun with 666, see The Number of the Beast, compiled by Mike Keith.
Other Fun and Humorous 666 Sites
(a.k.a. Are YOU the Beast?)
Find the Antichrist(s): A Quiz - from the PBS Frontline: Apocalypse! website
The Antichrist: Have You Seen This Man? - a long list of names of famous people thought to be the Antichrist
Evidence that Ronald Wilson Reagan was the Beast of Revelation - proof or coincidence???
William J. Clinton has the number of the Beast - an argument (seriously?) from the BeComing One Church (see also their "Beast Links")
Mark of the Beast Studies - partly funny, partly serious, partly debunking, partly scary!
Project 666 - lots of wild, pseudo-political stuff, in English and Spanish!
A cartoon related to 666 from
The Far Side® by Gary Larson:
The scene shows a devil scowling at a painter and
the number 999 painted over a doorway in Hell.
The painter looks at a piece of paper and says,
"Well, I'll be... I must've been holding
the dang work order like this!"
Unfortunately, Mr. Larson does not permit
any of his cartoons to be displayed online;
but you can find this one in
The Chickens Are Restless (p. 37)
or The Far Side Gallery 5 (p. 39).
Addendum: Internet Users Beware!
In the ancient Hebrew practice of gematria (assigning numerical values to letters),
the letter "waw" is equivalent to the number "six."
So WWW is also equivalent to 666 !!!
( or is it really? )
Thanks to John Stewart Muller, one of my former students, for pointing this out to me.
The More Serious and Academic Stuff
Who or What Is the Beast?
The answer to this nearly 2000-year-old question depends on how you choose to interpret the Book of Revelation (a.k.a. the Apocalypse), the last book of the New Testament.
Near the middle of this highly symbolic book are descriptions of several strange creatures:
First, "a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads"; it is described further after being defeated by Michael and his angels in a battle in heaven: "The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world--he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him" (Rev 12:3-18);
Second, "a beast rising out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names... [it] was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority..." (Rev 13:1-10);
Third, "another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast..." (Rev 13:11-18).
At the end of the paragraph about this third beast, the author challenges the reader with an intriguing puzzle: "This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six." (13:18).
In order to understand this text, one must know that ancient Hebrew (like Greek and other ancient languages) did not have a separate set of characters to indicate numbers, but simply used the letters of its alphabet to represent numbers. This fact provides the basis for the ancient practice of "gematria," in which numerical equivalents of words and names are calculated (still a popular game today!).
The basic idea is that every word has a number associated with it, obtained by adding up the numerical equivalent of each letter in the word.
This is mostly commonly done with names; thus every person has a number, the numerical value of his or her name.
There are several different ways of assigning numbers to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, but the system most commonly used is this:
alef = 1; bet = 2; gimel = 3; dalet = 4; hey = 5; waw = 6; zayin = 7; chet = 8; tet = 9; yod = 10; kaf = 20; lamed = 30; mem = 40; nun = 50; samek = 60; ayin = 70; pey = 80; tsadeh = 90; qof = 100; resh = 200; shin = 300; taw = 400.
For example, the name "David" has a value of 14 in Hebrew (since it is written dalet-waw-dalet, which is 4+6+4); see Matthew 1:17.
The same game can be played in any other language by assigning numerical equivalents to each letter of the alphabet: for example, a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, etc.
However, the results you want may determine which system you choose; for example, you can get HITLER = 666 if you choose a system in which a=100, b=101, c=102, etc.
For a more extensive introduction to Hebrew gematria, see The Art of Gematria: Hebrew Numerology.
So, Who Is the Person Whose Number Is 666?
Throughout history, attempts have been made to identify 666 with many famous people (usually one's enemies)!
Since the Reformation (and still today!), some Protestants have tried to connect 666 with the Pope, either with the "Roman Pontiff" in general or with a specific Pope in particular. (For example, see the article by Michael Scheifler, from a Seventh Day Adventist perspective; but see also a response to this article by Mario Derksin on the "Catholic Insight" webpages.) On the other hand, some Catholics used to see a link between the beast of the Book of Revelation and Martin Luther.
Some Democrats might try to associate Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush with the beast, while some Republicans might argue it was John F. Kennedy or Bill Clinton (see the websites listed in the "Fun and Humorous" section above).
Most biblical historians agree, however, that the Book of Revelation is simply referring to the Roman Emperor NERO, the most "beastly" ruler of the first Christian Century:
The Hebrew equivalent of "Emperor Nero" could be written NRWN QSR (nun-resh-waw-nun qof-samek-resh); thus, the first word is 50+200+6+50, the second word is 100+60+200, and the total is no surprise!
While most ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament have the number "six hundred sixty-six" in Rev 13:18, some manuscripts contain the alternate reading "six hundred sixteen" (616), including some recently published Oxyrhynchus Papyri. [This Oxyrhynchus Papyri website also has a discussion of Numerology, but opposes the application to Nero. Thanks to my friend and colleague Robert M. Royalty, Jr., Ph.D., for telling me about this new discovery and website!]
The "616" variant reading can easily be explained, and might even be the older or original reading of Rev 13:18, since the final letter "nun" is not needed in the Hebrew spelling of Nero. Thus, NRW QSR would be 50+200+6+100+60+200 = 616. If this was indeed the original reading, it is easy to see how the text of Rev 13:8 would have been changed to "666," due to its more highly symbolic value (since "6" represents lack or incompleteness, in contrast to the number "7" representing completion, the triple 666 represents evil more clearly than 616.)
For more extensive discussion of the first-century Roman Empire and the historical references behind the dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast in Rev 12-13, see any good biblical commentary on the Book of Revelation.
What about June 6, 2006?
Relax! Although this date could be abbreviated 6/6/6, it has absolutely nothing to do with the "Beast" of the Book of Revelation! Consider these few points:
First, this date should more properly be written 6/6/06 or 06/06/06 or even 06/06/2006, since 6/6/6 is ambiguous as to the decade or century.
Second, this date depends on the Gregorian calendar commonly used today, but is different on the calendars in use at the time the Book of Revelation was written (Julian, Roman, Hebrew), and also different on other calendars in use today (Islamic, Chinese, etc.)
Third, Revelation 13:18 clearly says that 666 is "the number of a person," not an indication of any date.
Fourth, combinations of three sixes can be found almost anywhere we want, if we look hard enough.
Fifth, we can lots of have fun with all this, but there's no need to be worried or superstitious about it!
Sixth, I had to put a sixth bullet in this list, but I don't really have much else to say about June 6! ;-)
Despite this last bullet, several people asked me to "predict" what would happen on June 6, 2006. Here's what I replied:
As a biblical scholar and Catholic priest, I think trying to predict the future is a misuse of the Bible. Biblical prophecy is not about crystal-ball gazing into the future. Rather, prophets of the Bible are those who speak on behalf of God, conveying God's messages to people, interpreting the past, present, and future through God's eyes, so to speak. Biblical prophets call people to repent and to remain faithful to God, not to worry about when the world will end or who is the "beast" of the Book of Revelation.
But just for fun, since people really pressed me to "predict" something, here is what I said would happen on June 6, 2006:
Most adults will go to work, but a few will call in sick, as on any other weekday;
many children will go to the beach or a park, enjoying their first days of summer vacation, while an unfortunate few still struggle through their last days of school;
websites like mine with information on 666 and related apocalyptic themes will have a spike in the number of visitors;
millions of automobile odometers will briefly show a 666 sequence at some time during the day, but very few drivers will notice;
only a few math aficionados will practice their factoring skills (666=2x3x3x37), while millions of shoppers will look for a 666 in a product bar code or on their sales receipts;
lamentably few people will vote in California's primary election, and similarly few will go to see the remake of the "Omen" movie on its unusual mid-week opening night;
more gamblers than usual will sit at a roulette table that evening, but few of them will know that the sum of the numbers on the spinning wheel equals 666;
more people will get married than on most other Tuesdays, but very few pregnant women will seriously worry whether their newborn child could be the anti-Christ.
Then, on June 7, most of us will wake up again and wonder what all the fuss was about!
Reflections after June 6, 2006:
I was somewhat amazed by all the media interest and popular hoopla surrounding June 6. The first person to contact me was Seth Borenstein, a reporter from the Associated Press, who prominently featured this webpage and some of my comments from a telephone interview in an article published June 4, 2006 (entitled "Humor, curiosity surround June 6, 2006"; alt title "A calendar date to end all others nears"). A search on Google News showed that this AP article was reprinted by over 250 news outlets in the U.S. and around the world (including Australia, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey).
As a result, in the following two days I was contacted by and/or gave live interviews on three television networks, six other newspapers, and fifteen radio stations (not just from the USA, but also Canada, Great Britain, and Argentina). Some of the radio interviews were on syndicated programs that ran in hundreds of cities in the U.S. Each interview was somewhat different from all the others: some reporters asked about the biblical/historical background of the number 666, others about the differences between 666 and 616; some radio hosts were interested in Emperor Nero and Ancient Rome, others in bar codes and implanted chips! Some of the interviews lasted about 30 seconds, others about 30 minutes, most were rather fun to do, especially those that combined the report with the party going on that day in the little town of Hell, Michigan!
In the past few years, my website has gotten between 1000 and 2000 visitors daily. However, as I had "predicted" above, it received well over 10,000 visitors on June 4, over 18,000 on June 5, and spiked at over 36,000 on June 6! Why are so many people interested in 666? Are that many people really scared about the future? It seems that some people need to have more faith in God to find peace in their lives! I'm just glad there are only 60 minutes in every hour; otherwise, some people might freak out twice a day, at 6:66 a.m. and 6:66 p.m.!
So, when all is said and done, the number 666 will continue to intrigue numerologists and fascinate gamblers, be profitable for Hollywood but avoided by most other businesses, provide fodder for the apocalyptic warnings of fundamentalist preachers and challenges for the teachings of mainline Christian pastors. But after June 6, 2006, has come and gone, biblical scholars will go back to studying 616, while the wedding industry looks forward to July 7, 2007!
Return to the Study Guides for Apocalyptic Literature
or to my explanation of What Biblical Prophecy Really Is (and Isn't)
or return to the HOME PAGE of Prof. Felix Just, S.J.
This page was established around 9/9/99, significantly expanded 01/01/01, revised again 02/02/02,
and (contrary to some people's "predictions") did not self-destruct on 06/06/06 !
posted by Ross at 4:36 pm
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