A diferencia de lo que afirma (con cierta razón) el hermano AmílcarBarca, a mí no me importa reproducir, para información del foro, lo que dice David Chilton en su excelente comentario del Apocalipsis. Eso sí, no pienso molestarme en traducirlo.
Helo aquí:
11 Just as the Beast from the sea was in the Image of the
Dragon, so we see another creature who is in the Image
of the Beast. St. John saw this one coming up from the
Land, arising from within Israel itself. In 16:13 and
19:20, we are told the identity of this Land Beast. He is
the False Prophet, representing what Jesus had foretold
would take place in Israel’s last days: “Many will come
in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead
many. . . . Many false prophets will arise, and will
mislead many” (Matt. 24:5, 11). The rise of the false
prophets paralleled that of the antichrists; but whereas
the antichrists had apostatized into Judaism from
within the Church, the false prophets were Jewish
religious leaders who sought to seduce Christians from
the outside. As Cornelis Vanderwaal has noted, “In
Scripture, false prophecy appears only within the
covenant context”;14 it is the imitation of true
prophecy, and operates in relation to the Covenant
people. Moses had warned that false prophets would
arise from among the Covenant people, performing
signs and wonders (Deut. 13:1-5).
It is important to remember that Judaism is not Old
Testament religion at all; rather, it is a rejection of the
Biblical faith altogether in favor of the Pharisaical,
Talmudic heresy. Like Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
the Unification Church, and other cults, it claims to be
based on the Bible; but its actual authority comes from
the traditions of men. Jesus was quite clear: Judaism
denies Christ precisely because it denies Moses (John
5:45-47). Orthodox Christianity alone is the true
continuation and fulfillment of Old Testament religion
(see Matt. 5:17-20; 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-13; Luke 16:29-
31; John 8:42-47).
The Jewish false prophets had the appearance of a
Lamb, as Jesus had warned: “Beware of the false
prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but
inwardly are ravening wolves” (Matt. 7:15). This is a
reference not only to the false prophet’s disguise as a
member of God’s flock, but to his specifically messianic
pretensions. In reality, he was a wolf, a Beast, who
spoke as a Dragon. How does the Dragon speak? He
uses deceptive, subtle, seductive speech to draw God’s
people away from the faith and into a trap (Gen. 3:1-6,
13; 2 Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9); furthermore, he is a liar, a
slanderer, and a blasphemer (John 8:44; Rev. 12:10).
The Book of Acts records numerous examples of
Draconian false witness by the Jews against Christians,
a major problem for the early Church (Acts 6:9-15;
13:10; 14:2-5; 17:5-8; 18:6, 12-13; 19:9; 21:27-36; 24:1-
9; 25:2-3, 7).
12 The Jewish leaders, symbolized by this Beast from
the Land, joined forces with the Beast of Rome in an
attempt to destroy the Church (Acts 4:24-28; 12:1-3;
13:8; 14:5; 17:5-8; 18:12-13; 21:11; 24:1-9; 25:2-3, 9,
24). Thus the Land Beast exercises all the authority of
the First Beast: “As the first beast is the agent of the
dragon, so the second beast is the agent of the first
beast. ‘All the authority’ makes the second beast the
complete agent of the first.”l5
Apostate Judaism became completely subservient to
the Roman State. This is emphasized by St. John’s
statement (repeated in v. 14) that the False Prophet
exercised the Beast’s authority in his presence. This is
in direct contrast to the function of the true prophet,
who stood “before [the face of] the Lord,” in God’s
presence, under His authority and blessing (1 Sam.
1:22; 2:18; 1 Kings 17:1; cf. Num. 6:24-26; Hos. 6:2;
Jonah 1:3, 10), just as the seven Trumpet-angels are
said to “stand before God” (8:2). The prophet was
privileged to enter God’s throneroom in the Glory-
Cloud as a member of the heavenly council, where the
divine policy was formulated (cf. Ex. 33:8-11; 1 Kings
22:19-23; Jer. 23 :18; Ezek. 1, 10; Amos 3 :7; this is also
indicated in the fact that prophets are called angels: 2
Chron. 36:15-16; Hag. 1:13; Mal. 3:1).16 “The true
prophet lives in the presence of God, taking his orders
from Him and doing His pleasure; the False Prophet
stands before the Beast, whose interpreter and servant
he is.”17 That such a thing could ever be said of the
religious leadership of Israel, the people of the Covenant,
shows how far they had fallen from the faith of
their fathers. They led Israel in worship of the Emperor,
making the Land and those who dwell in it to worship
the First Beast, whose fatal wound was healed
(a counterfeit Resurrection of a counterfeit Son).
Interestingly, it is the resurrection of the Beast that is
given (here and in verse 14) as the reason for worship
– just as Christian worship is ultimately founded on the
Resurrection of Christ as the proof of His Messianic
character and office (1 Cor. 15). The counterfeit
resurrection of Rome served as Israel’s false Testimony,
their “proof” that Christ was not the Messiah.
13-14 The False Prophet also performed great miracles
in the service of the Empire: Unlike the powerless false
prophets of Baal, he even makes fire come down out of
heaven to the earth; thus this false Elijah deceives
those who dwell on the Land. Jesus had warned that
“false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show
great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, the
very elect” (Matt. 24:24), and this was fulfilled
numerous times as the period of Israel’s “Last Days”
progressed to its climax. The Book of Acts records
several instances of miracle-working Jewish false
prophets who came into conflict with the Church (cf.
Acts 8:9-24) and worked under Roman officials (cf.
Acts 13:6-11); as Jesus had foretold (Matt. 7:22-23),
some of them even used His name in their incantations
(Acts 19:13-16).
In imitation of the Biblical prophets, who called down
God’s fiery wrath against apostates and lawbreakers
(Lev. 10:1-2; Num. 16:28-35; 1 Kings 18:36-40; 2 Kings
1:9-16; Amos 1:3-2:5; Rev. 11:5), the Jewish leaders
appeared to exercise God’s judgment against the
Church, excommunicating Christians from the
synagogues and persecuting them to the point of death.
Again St. John underscores the apostate condition of
these Jewish prophets, by observing that they perform
their wonders in the presence of men and in the
presence of the Beast rather than “before the Throne
and before the Lamb” (7:9; cf. 3:5; 4:10; 5:8; 7:11, 15;
8:2; 11:4, 16; 14:3, 10; 15:4).
The perversity of Israel’s leadership is such that they
encourage those who dwell on the Land – the Jewish
people – to make an Image to the Beast, as
Nebuchadnezzar had erected an image to himself (Dan.
3). Before we can make a full identification of this
Image it will be necessary to examine the religious
background and context in which it is set. The depth of
Israel’s apostasy must first of all be seen in their
rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true God and
Savior, in favor of Caesar. St. John reveals this in its
true light as idolatry (cf. 9:20). It is not necessary to
suppose that the Jews literally bowed down to a graven
image; the point is that they were worshiping and
serving an alien god.
Some would object that the Jews were never guilty of
“idolatry” after the Exile. In answer, we repeat again
Herbert Schlossberg’s excellent summary of the essence
of idolatry: “Idolatry in its larger meaning is properly
understood as any substitution of what is created for the
creator. People may worship nature, money, mankind,
power, history, or social and political systems instead of
the God who created them all. The New Testament
writers, in particular, recognized that the relationship
need not be explicitly one of cultic worship; a man can
place anyone or anything at the top of his pyramid of
values, and that is ultimately what he serves. The
ultimacy of that service profoundly affects the way he
lives.”18 Moreover, it is clear that the postexilic
prophets did consider the Jews of their own day to be
idolaters (cf. Zech. 13:1-3; Mal. 3:5-7).
The idolatrous character of apostate Israel is assumed
throughout the message of the New Testament. The
Apostle Paul specifically accuses the Jews of lawlessness
and apostasy in Romans 2. In verses 21-22, he says:
“You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach
yourself? You that preach that one should not steal, do
you steal? You who say that one should not commit
adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols,
do you rob temples?” Clearly, St. Paul is charging
apostate Israel with committing idolatry (or its
equivalent). It is crucial to note that all the accusations
in Romans 2 refer to Israel as a whole; obviously, if they
applied only to a select few his argument would have no
force. (Since he also accuses them of committing
adultery, it is at least possible that he has in mind
“religious” adultery against their true Husband, Jesus
Christ). In general, commentators have supposed the
charge of idolatry to mean either that the Jews were
guilty of robbing from heathen temples (e.g., St.
Chrysostom, Henry Alford, John Murray; cf. Acts
19:37, which indicates that the Jews may have been
considered liable to this offense), or that they were
committing “sacrilege” in a more general sense, by their
impiety, irreverence, and unbelief (e.g., John Calvin,
Charles Hedge; cf. 1 Samuel 15:23; Neh. 13:4-12; Mal.
1:6-14; 3:8-9; Col. 3:5). What is not generally noticed
is that the whole list of crimes in Romans 2:20-23 is
taken from Malachi 2-3, indicating that the charge of
“robbing temples” (and thus of idolatry) is related to
the Israelites’ failure to tithe, their refusal to honor
Him as God (cf. Matt. 15:7-9). God says through
Malachi:
From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from
My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I
will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, “How
shall we return?” Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing
Me! But you say, “How are we robbing Thee?” In tithes and
offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me,
the whole nation of you! (Mal. 3:7-9)
A good part of the Westminster Larger Catechism’s
definition of idolatry (virtually every word of which is
abundantly referenced to Scripture) is applicable to the
religious character of Israel during the Last Days: “The
sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all
devising, counseling, commanding, using, and any wise
approving, any religious worship not instituted by God
Himself; tolerating a false religion; . . . all superstitious
devices, corrupting the worship of God, adding to it, or
taking from it, whether invented and taken up of
ourselves, or received by tradition from others, though
under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good
intent, or any other pretense whatsoever; simony;
sacrilege; all neglect, contempt, hindering, and
opposing the worship and ordinances which God bath
appointed” (cf. Matt. 15:3-9; Acts 13:45; 1 Thess. 2:15-
16).19 The essential point for our purpose is simply that
St. Paul is accusing the Jewish people of some sort of
idolatry. It is certainly a broad enough term to cover
their rejection of Jesus Christ.
15-17 The extent of the False Prophet’s demonic
power is such that he is able to give breath (or spirit)
to the Image of the Beast, that the Image of the Beast
might even speak. While some have argued that this
refers to some trick of machinery or ventriloquism (and
thus a seeming refutation of Psalm 135:15-16: “The
idols of the nations . . . have mouths, but they do not
speak”), it is more likely that the passage as a whole is
intended to convey the idea of an apostate Jewish
attempt to recreate the world. In the beginning, when
God created the earth, He gave breath/Spirit to His
Image and placed him in His garden-temple (Gen. 2:7-
8); and the first thing we see the Image doing is
speaking, naming and defining the creation in terms of
God’s mandate (Gen. 2:19-20).
The Beast’s spirit-inspired Image itself is able to cause
as many as do not worship the Image of the Beast to
be killed. The Jewish synagogues enforced submission
to the Emperor. Indeed, their leaders’ charge against
Christ Himself was that He was a rival to the allembracing
authority of Caesar (John 19:12-15).
Similarly, they organized economic boycotts against
those who refused to submit to Caesar as Lord, the
leaders of the synagogues “forbidding all dealings with
the excommunicate,”20 and going so far as to put them
to death.
And he causes all, (note the six categories) the small
and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free
men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right
hand, or on their forehead, and he provides that no
one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one
who has the mark, either the name of the Beast or the
number of his name. The Book of Acts is studded with
incidents of organized Jewish persecution of the
Church (Acts 4:1-3, 15-18; 5:17-18, 27-33, 40; 6:8-15;
7:51-60; 9:23, 29; 13:45-50; 14:2-5; 17:5-8, 13; 18:17;
20:3; 22:22-23; 23:12, 20-21; 24:27; 26:21; 28:17-29; cf.
1 Thess. 2:14-16). All of this ultimately served the
interests of Caesar against Christ and the Church; and
the “mark of the Beast,” of course, is the Satanic parody
of the “seal of God” on the foreheads and hands of the
righteous (3:12; 7:2-4; 14:1), the mark of wholehearted
obedience to the Law in thought and deed (Deut. 6:6-
8), the mark of blessing and protection (Ezek. 9:4-6),
the sign that one is HOLY TO THE LORD (cf. Ex.
28:36). Israel has rejected Christ, and is “marked” with
the seal of Rome’s total lordship; she has given her
allegiance to Caesar, and is obedient to his rule and law.
Israel chose to be saved by the pagan state, and
persecuted those who sought salvation in Christ.
The New Testament gives abundant testimony of this
fact. The Jewish hierarchy was involved in a massive,
organized attempt to destroy the Church by both deceit
and persecution. In pursuit of this diabolical goal, they
united in a conspiracy with the Roman government
against Christianity. Some of them were able to
perform miracles in the service of Satan. All this is
exactly what is told us of the Beast from the Land. The
False Prophet of Revelation represents none other than
the leadership of apostate Israel, who rejected Christ
and worshiped the Beast.
There is an interesting reversal of imagery in the text.
The Book of Job has prepared us for St. John’s
prophecy, for it too tells us of a Land Beast (Behemoth,
Job 40:15-24) and a Sea Beast (Leviathan, Job 41:1-34).
In the Greek Old Testament which the early Church
used, the Hebrew word Behemoth is translated The–rion,
the same word St. John uses for Beast; and Leviathan is
translated Drako–n (Dragon). But St. John’s visions
expand on Job’s descriptions of these dinosaurs, and the
order of their appearance is reversed. Job first saw the
Behemoth (Job 40), then Leviathan (Job 41), and
finally God (Job 42). In Revelation, St. John shows us
the demonic reverse of this pattern: First we see Satan
as the Dragon, the Leviathan; then comes the Sea
Beast, who is in the Dragon’s image; finally, trailing
behind and serving them, comes the Land Beast, in the
image of the Sea Beast, bringing along yet another
Image of the Beast. By listing the Beasts in reverse
order, St. John underscores his point: Israel, which was
to have been a kingdom of priests to the nations of the
world, has surrendered her position of priority to
Leviathan and the Beast. Instead of placing a godly
imprint upon every culture and society, Israel has been
remade into the image of the pagan, antichristian
State, becoming its prophet. Abraham’s children have
become the seed of the Serpent.
During three years of ministry in Ephesus, the Apostle
Paul continually suffered persecution because of “the
plots of the Jews” (Act 20:19); in describing his
conflicts with them, he called them “wild beasts” (1
Cor. 15:32). The Jewish Beast was the early Church’s
most deceptive and dangerous enemy. St. Paul
strenuously warned the Church about Judaizers who
propagated “Jewish myths”: “They profess to know
God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being
detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good
deed” (Tit. 1:14, 16).
We are now in a position to attempt a more precise
identification of the Image of the Beast, which is a
continuation of the Satanic counterfeit, the demonic
reversal of God’s order. Just as the Son of God is the
Image of the Father (John 1 :18; Col. 1:15), so the
Church has been redemptively re-created as the Image
of the Son (Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). The
vision of the prophetic, priestly, and dominical Church
seen by St. John parallels that of the Lord Jesus Christ:
Like her Lord, she is robed in glorious light (cf. 1:13-16;
10:1; 12:1; 19:6-8; 21:9-22:5). Assisting the Son in His
work throughout Revelation are the Seven Stars/
Angels of the Presence (8:2), led by the Holy Spirit
(the Seven Spirits, connected with the angels in 3:1).
The divine order is thus:
Father
Son (Image of the Father)
Angels/Bishops
Church (image of the Son)
The Satanic parody of this is:
Dragon
Beast (Image of the Dragon)
False Prophet
Synagogue of Satan (Image of the Beast)
Throughout the Book of Revelation the Church speaks
liturgically, and the angels then act in history to bind
and loose by Trumpet and Chalice, bringing judgment
on the disobedient; similarly, the Synagogue “speaks,”
and the False Prophet brings its false judgments upon
those who defy its authority. The Church has been
resurrected, brought to life by the very Spirit/Breath of
God (11:11; cf. Gen. 2:7; John 20:22); the Synagogue
of Satan was animated by a spirit/breath as well
(13:15). And, just as the Angel of God marked the
foreheads of the righteous for protection (7:3), so the
Beast’s “angel” stamped the wicked with its own
branding mark of evil. The leaders of Israel worked to
enforce worship, not of the true God, as in the
Christian churches, but of the Synagogue itself – the
Image of the Beast.
18 It was by now clear to St. John’s readers that the Sea
Beast was the Roman Empire. St. John now provides
his readers with an identification of the Beast in a very
different form: Here is wisdom. Let him who has
understanding calculate the number of the Beast, for
the number is that of a man; and his number is 666.
As we shall see, 666 (literally, cxv )j21 is the numerical
value of the name Nero Caesar.22
While this is a convenient (and, so far as it goes,
perfectly correct) solution, it also poses several
problems. If the Beast is to be identified with the
Roman Empire as a whole, rather than with Nero
alone, does this not change the “number of the Beast”
when another Caesar is on the throne? Moreover, is
this not merely an example of “newspaper exegesis” –
using first-century newspapers?23 The answer is that
Nero’s name is not the primary reference of 666; rather,
the number of the Beast is based on several strands of
Biblical data which point ultimately to the Roman
Empire. The name Nero Caesar by no means exhausts
the significance of the riddle. The Bible itself gives us
enough information to allow us to identify Rome as the
Beast, the fulfillment of 666.
We begin with the simple number 6, which is
associated with both Beast and Man from the
beginning, since they were both created on the sixth
day of the week (Gen. 1:24-31). Six days out of seven
are given to man and beast for labor (Ex. 20:8-11); the
Hebrew slave was in bondage for six years before his
release in the seventh year (Ex. 21:2); six cities of
refuge were appointed for the accidental slaying of a
man (Num. 35:9-15). Six is thus the number of Man,
i.e. a human number. Lenski explains: “John writes the
number not in words but in Greek letters: c’= 600, x’=
60, v’= 6, thus 666. This is the number 6, plus its
multiple by 10, namely 60, again plus its multiple by 10
x 10 (intensified completeness), namely 600 – thus 666,
three times falling short of the divine 7. In other words,
not 777, but competing with 777, seeking to obliterate
777, but doing so abortively, its failure being as
complete as was its expansion by puffing itself up from
6 to 666.”24 Six is thus the number Man was born with,
the number of his creation; the repetition of the
number reveals Man in opposition to God, trying to
increase his number, attempting to transcend his
creaturehood. But, try as he might, he can be nothing
more than a six, or a series of sixes.
And this is exactly what we see in Scripture, as apostate
man attempts to deify himself. Goliath, the ancient
enemy of God’s people, is as tall as “six cubits and a
span” (l Sam. 17:4) –i.e., six, plus a hand grasping for
more; the head of his spear weighs 600 shekels of iron.
(Goliath is, on several counts, a Beast; as the seed of
the Dragon, he wears scale-armor, 1 Sam. 17:5; but the
Seed of the Woman destroys him by inflicting a headwound,
1 Sam. 17:49-51.) Another striking example of
this pattern takes place when King Nebuchadnezzar
erects an image of himself measuring 60 cubits high and
6 cubits across (Dan. 3:1).25 The impact of this is
magnified when we consider that the numerical value
of the Hebrew letters26 in Daniel 3:1 (which describes
Nebuchadnezzar’s image) add up to 4,683 – which is 7
times 666 (4,662), plus 21, the triangular of 6
(triangulation will be explained presently).
A brief digression here will serve to place this point in
its larger symbolic framework, for – in contrast to the
multiplied sixes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image – the names
of Daniel and his three friends who refused to worship
the idol add up to 888 in Hebrew.27 This is also the
number of Jesus in Greek.28 The Fall of man occurred
on the seventh day of creation (man’s first full day of
life); Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, spent the seventh
day in the grave, to pay for Adam’s sin. His
Resurrection took place on the eighth day, which
becomes the replacement Sabbath for the New
Creation.29 Austin Farrer comments: “Jesus rose on the
third day, being the eighth of that week: he is the
Resurrection and the Life. For eight signifying
resurrection, see 1 Peter 3:20-21, and 2 Peter 2:5. But
the third day on which Jesus rose is third from that
sixth day (Friday) on which Anti-christ had his
apparent triumph; so if Christ has a name valuing 888,
Antichrist should have a name valuing 666.”30
Farrer expands on this point: “Why should Antichrist
be so emphatically six? The whole arrangement of the
Apocalypse explains this. The divine work with which
it deals is a work of judgment: it is judgment which has
the sixfold pattern of the working-days, and always on
the sixth day there is the culmination of judgment.31
On the sixth day of the week, and at the sixth hour,
says St. John [John 19:13-22; Rev. 13:16-14:1], the
kingdoms of Christ and Antichrist looked one another
in the face in Pilate’s court, and the adherents of the
false prophet (Caiphas) firmly wrote on their foreheads
the mark of the Beast, when they said, ‘We have no
king but Caesar.’ Presently they saw the Lamb uplifted
with his true Name over his head, ‘King of the Jews’:
and for all they could do, they could not get it erased:
‘What I have written,’ said Pilate, ‘I have written.’
Christ’s Friday victory is the supreme manifestation
also of Antichrist .”32
There is an interesting mathematical property of the
number 666, which would not have escaped St. John’s
readers: 666 is the triangular of the square of 6. That is,
the square of 6 (6 x 6) is 36. The triangular of 36 is 666.
Triangulation is a method of computation that was
popular in the ancient world, and very familiar to
people in the first century, but it has been largely
forgotten in our day. It works like this:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
★
★ ★
★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
These diagrams, both of which have six units on each
side, show that 36 is the square of 6, while 21 is the
triangular of 6. If we extend the triangle one more line,
we would get the triangular of seven (28); another line
would give us the triangular of eight (36). Extending it
all the way up to 36 lines results in the number 666.33
The number of the Beast, therefore, is a full
“exposition” of the number of Man.
But there is more. If we were to strip off the outer edge
of fifteen stars in the triangle above, we would be left
with a “triangle within a triangle,” made up of six stars;
one could therefore say that the triangular 21 is the
“filling in,” or fulfillment, of 15 (the number of units in
the outer triangle, or periphery).
✩
✩ ✩
✩ ★ ✩
✩ ★ ★ ✩
✩ ★ ★ ★ ✩
✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩
✩
✩✩
✩★✩
✩★★✩
✩★✩★✩
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✩★✩★✩★✩
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✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩
✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩
✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★★★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩
✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩✩✩✩✩✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩
✩★✩★✩★✩★✩★★★★★★★★★✩★✩★✩★✩★✩
✩★✩★✩★✩★✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩★✩★✩★✩★✩
✩ ★ ✩ ★ ✩ ★ ✩ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ ★ ✩ ★ ✩ ★ ✩
✩★✩★✩★✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩★✩★✩★✩
✩ ★ ✩ ★ ✩ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ ★ ✩ ★ ✩
✩★✩★✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩★✩★✩
✩ ★ ✩ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ ★ ✩
✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩
Now, the triangular 666 contains 12 of these triangles,
one inside the other, with the outermost triangle made
up of 105 units; thus the triangular 666 is the
“fulfillment” of 105. This brings us to the interesting
part, for the factors of 105 are 30 x 31/2. Three and a half
years of twelve months in each year and thirty days in
each month equals the twelve hundred and sixty days, the
period of the Beast’s triumph.
Austin Farrer explains: “666, therefore, is a 12-fold
triangle with a periphery of 30 x 31/2 . . . . The
coincidence between this reckoning and the factors of
the 666 triangle is no mere accident. St. John’s
reckoning of the period is artificial, devised for the sake
of conformity with the factors of the 666 triangle.
There neither is nor was any calendar in which 31/2
years are 31/2 times twelve months of thirty days each.34
The purpose of the artificial reckoning is to exhibit the
Beast’s fatally limited reign as a function of his
number.”35
F. W. Farrar described how the first readers of the
Revelation would thus have regarded the mysterious
666 (cxv )j: “The very look of it was awful. The first
letter was the initial letter of the name of Christ. The
last letter wasthefirst double-letter (st) of the Cross
(stauros). Between the two the Serpent stood confessed
with its writhing sign and hissing sound. The whole
formed a triple repetition of 6, the essential number of
toil and imperfection; and this numerical symbol of the
Antichrist, 666, stood in terrible opposition to 888 –
the three perfect 8’s of the name of Jesus.”36
More than all this, the number 666 is explicitly
mentioned in the books of the Kings and the
Chronicles, from which, as we have seen, St. John takes
many of his symbolic numbers (see comments on 4:4).
These inspired historical writings tell us that Solomon
(a Biblical type of both Christ and the Beast) received
666 talents of gold in one year, at the height of his power
and glory (1 Kings 10:14; 2 Chron. 9:13). That number
marks both the high point of his reign and the
beginning of his downfall; from then on, everything
goes downhill into apostasy. One by one, Solomon
breaks the three laws of godly kingship recorded in
Deuteronomy 17:16-17: the law against multiplying
gold (1 Kings 10:14-25); the law against multiplying
horses (1 Kings 10:26-29); and the law against
multiplying wives (1 Kings 11:1-8).
For the Hebrews, 666 was a fearful sign of apostasy, the
mark of both a king and a kingdom in the Dragon’s
image. As we have already noted, the ancient languages
used each letter of the alphabet as a numeral as well;
thus, the “number” of anyone’s name could be
computed by simply adding up the numerical value of
its letters. Clearly, St. John expected that his
contemporary readers were capable of using this method
to discover the Beast’s name – thus indicating, again,
the contemporary message of Revelation; he did not
expect them to figure out the name of some 20thcentury
official in a foreign government.
At the same time, however, he tells them that it will
not be as easy as they might think: it will require
someone “who has understanding.” For St. John did not
give a number that could be worked out in Greek,
which is what a Roman official scanning Revelation for
subversive content would expect. 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:
n = 50 r = 200 w = 6 n = 50
q = 100 s = 60 r = 200
thus:
rs_ q e nwrone = 666
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
embodiment of the “666-ness” of the Empire, and – Lo
and behold! – his very name spells out 666.37
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.”38 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.
TABLE OF NUMERALS IN USE DURING THE BIBLICAL PERIOD
Nº Hebrew Greek
1 a a
2 b b
3 g g
4 d d
5 h e
6 w v
7 z z
8 j h
9 f q
10 y i
20 k k
30 l l
40 m m
Nº Hebrew Greek
50 n n
60 s x
70 [ o
80 p p
90 x f
100 q r
200 r s
300 c t
400 t u
500 qt ø
600 c
700 y
800 w
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No me molesto en reproducir las muchas notas a pie de página incluidas en el anterior texto de Chilton. Está hecho con copiar y pegar. El original tiene tipografías hebrea y griega, que pueden haberse corrompido en el proceso de copia.
Se trata de un comentario muchísimo más extenso que cualquier cosa que los adventistas hayan producido, e infinitamente más serio. Como puede verse, no hay mención de leyes dominicales ni payasadas por el estilo.
