Forgive me if this has been covered...

Was watching that Biblical Prophecy show on the History Channel last night. They're covering the book of revelations.

Anyhow, regarding the numbers 666...they introduced one theory that I have never heard of. Something to the effect that in Hebrew (or was it Greek?) the letters also correspond to numbers. Anyhow, when added up, 666 spells out Nero Caeser.

Have any of you hardcore types heard this theory before? If so, can you explain it in english to a simpleton?

What I find interesting (which is what they noted) is that if that's the case, the book was basically written about Nero which has already happened. They also said no one is sure who wrote Revelations.

-T

I'm quite familiar with the Nero association. It makes a lot of sense.

As far as Hebrew letters being numbers, it's just like the Roman numeral system. You know, where I is one, V is five, X is ten, etc. Unlike Hebrew, not every Roman letter was associated with a numeric value, so with Roman numerals you could only compare it to a name like Vic McDill and try to find the total value of those letters.

V=5 + I=1 + C=100 + M=1000 + C=100 + D=500 + I=1 + L=50 + L=50

Total: 1807 = Vic McDill

So in Hebrew (I'm told) Neron Kaiser (the Greek form of the name) adds up to 666.

Now that's intersting...

So what's the offical stance on the validity of this from the biblical scholars?

-T

I seem to remember that it was pretty well
accepted. It's always made sense to me.
I'm sure there's something about it in
the libary.

Here's another view

The book of Revelation is an overview of the condition of Israel. The temple system beginning with King Solomon and the monies he received being 666 talents of gold.

Solomon was filled with wisdom and committed abominations in the Holy Place.(Jerusalem) The first unclean beast is recognized within these things. The second beast that rises is the restoration of the first (the image) and furnished by the Herodians as they rebuilt the temple and fortresses of Judea. Herod's were guilty of slaughtering the children two years old and under, beheading and otherwise executing the people of Israel. Also in league with Caesar and Rome, Israel is then seen as the "whore" who sits upon this beast and even proclaims Herod as "a god" and not a man.

The "image" of the beast is that of the first and both named transgressors due to abominations. The "mark" is that identifing fruit(works) they were known by - lawlessness.

The "beast" is man after their kind and in their generations.

Offa? You be changin' yer login name?

Thomas,
This is once of the most unclear passages of the whole Revelation. Presumably it was known by the author what 666 stood for, yet it was quickly lost because Irenaeus writing in the second century had no idea. Presumably the letters of the name add up to 666. Some suggestions by ancient writers were:
euanthas, Lateinos, teitan, arnoume. (All of which work with the number 666, but it is hard to see how they relate to the problem at hand)
A more recent suggestion is Nero. This suggestion is based on the idea that the writer of Revelation believes that Nero will be reincarnated as the antichrist. The sum of the letters NERON (An alturnative spelling for Nero's name) in latin is 666 and the sum of NERO is 616 (Some ancient manuscripts have 616 not 666).
What seems to be most popular currently however is "Nero Caesar". But one of my commentries (Tyndale New Testament Commentries: The Revelation of St John) is not impressed:
It then goes on to point out that Iesous (Jesus) totals 888 - each digit being one more than perfect (7). And suggests that rather than representing a specific man it represents the whole of human civilisation continually falling short of perfection. (It also suggests slight changes to the translation to make this reading more plausible)

To learn more about this practice of finding significance in the numerical values of letters, look up the word "gematria" in a good search engine.

I've heard of this several times before. And it does make sense. I just don't remember where I heard it before.

Kosh

You thinking bout someone else.. Me just Crystal..

btw.. the two witnesses.. law & testimony

happiness