Love Medicine
Detail of beadwork from an Ojibwe medicine pouch
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
666
We never talked about this in class so i did some research my self and found that 666 is the number of the beast and it comes from a concept in the book of revelations from the new testament. Some scholars think that this number could also be the number of the Roman emperor Nero, and he was known for being very tyrannical and he had numerous people executed.
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Just to explain how Nero's name relates to 666, in Hebrew, every character has a numeric value. John, who wrote the Book of Revelation, was exiled by Nero. Nero's name, when translated to Hebrew, has the alphanumeric value of 666. Some scholars think that John had a grudge against Nero, so he specifically made 666 the Mark of the Beast to get back at Nero.
Nero is also infamous for playing his lute while much of Rome was in flames (which some citizens believed Nero himself was the cause of).
Chris, I'm sorry I didn't go over this in your class. Here's some info that I found while doing research on 666:
In Hebrew, each letter (character) has a number value assigned, sort of like a alpha-numeric code in which A would equal 1 and Z would equal 26. Hebrew does not have characters for numbers, but instead uses the number assignments for characters. (This is sort of like Braille in which there are no numbers, but there is a little symbol that lets you know that you're not reading a word, but a series of numbers). Anyway, the numeric value of words had significance to the ancient Hebrews. Nero Caesar, who was the ruler of Rome after Jesus died (starting in 54 AD), and was responsible for torturing many early Christians, has the numeric value 666.
Here are some good links:
New Advent's Nero Caesar info and Hebrew Number info
There are other things that make 666 a numerologically important number. It is the sum of the first 36 numbers (1+2+3+...+36=666). Of course, 6*6=36, so you can see that there are some numerological coincidences that make 666 "cool."
I also find a lot of stuff that tries to find "the word" that sums to 666 in Hebrew. It seems like there are lots of possibilities, and many of them are anti-church. This explanation seems pretty reasonable though: "Lateinos - [Greek] In the Latin form, Latium Latinus, and Lateo, means "to lie hid". From the Chaldean word Lat, "to lie hid". In Latopols, today Esneh, a city in Egypt, the fish Latus was worshipped beside the Egyptian Minerva. Apollos mother-wife in Greek was called Leto, or in Doric, Lato, feminine of Lat. The Roman name signifies "the lamenter of Lat". In Borrows Gypsies in Spain, or Zincali, vol. ii. p.113, "This image grim, whose name was LAUT, Bold Mahmoud found when he took Sumnaut." Virgil makes Latinus the 3rd in descent from Saturn and contemporary with Eneas (Eneid, lib. vii. 11 pp. 45-49)." (ridingthebeast.com.
Basically, the bible says that the identity of the anti-Christ is hidden, thus "he lies hid", thus "Lateinos".
Another argument is that "Lateinos" means a person who speaks Latin, ie a Roman. Thus the Roman empire, which is the 4th Empire referred to in Daniel 7, is the origin of the anti-christ, and "Lateinos" (666) tells us that the anti-Christ will be a Latin speaker.
Thanks, this helped me a lot. I was always curious about the meaning behind the number 666 and why it was considered evil.
Does anyone know the significance of the number 8? It is the only number I do not have in my notes.
8 is the number of resurrection. I'll let someone else tell you why.
I did some research and found that the number 8 is a number of new beginnings. God created the earth in 7 days and the 8th day was a new beginning for Adam. This website further the number 8.
http://hovasblueprint.blogspot.com/2008/01/spiritual-significance-of-number-8.html
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