danielbandfan
Number of posts: 1651
Localisation: NOT frozen tundra
Registration date: 2011-03-26
 |  Subject: The number of the beast  Sun May 15, 2011 1:14 pm | |
| | Revelation 13:18 wrote: | | This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. |
I'm kinda confused by this verse. Does it make all 666's in the world evil? Why does it call for wisdom, and what's "calculating" mean?
Thanks! |
|
Staybrite
Number of posts: 8653
Age: 44
Localisation: Seattle
Registration date: 2007-02-08
| | Subject: Re: The number of the beast Sun May 15, 2011 5:50 pm | |
| From Bruce's NIV commentary | Quote: | Lit., 'the number of a man', i.e. the total numerical value of the letters in some persons name, when spelt in the Greek, or possibly the Hebrew, alphabet. This reckoning of the numerical value of words and names was a riddle-game among the Greeks and Romans (as is frequently quoted Greek graffito from Pompeii, "I love the girls who's number is 545"); among the Jews (who called it "gematria") and some early Christians it was treated as a matter of mystical significance as in the Sibylline Oracles (i. 328), where the appropriateness of 888 as the numerical value of the name of Jesus in Greek is pointed out. Ther is nothing mystical about the present passage; the seer's use of gematria could be a precaution against a charge of sedition if the name
of the individual were spelt out in full. |
The book of Revelation is full of allegory and possibly even poetic style verses that can be very difficult (if not impossible in some cases) to understand. Certainly an amazing (and frightening) book, but not one that is easily understood in it's entirety.
_________________
"I used to be indecisive.......... Now I'm not sure."
|
|
danielbandfan
Number of posts: 1651
Localisation: NOT frozen tundra
Registration date: 2011-03-26
| | Subject: Re: The number of the beast Sun May 15, 2011 5:53 pm | |
| That may perhaps mean that Lucifer or Satan = 666. |
|
