The Nugget:
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
My Comment:
I have been asked, “What are you going to write about when you finally reach Daily Bible Nugget 666?” It seemed to me that the obvious topic ought to involve Revelation 13:18.
The “number of his name” (Revelation 13:17), “the number of the beast,” “the number of a man” (Revelation 13:18) all have reference to the seemingly mysterious number, “666.”
This is not a reference to computer bar codes and other secular instances of this number.
The number 666 is derived by a process called gematria. Gematria is the process of reading a name or other word or sequence of words as numbers. This can be done because both Greek and Hebrew letters have numerical values. Both the Greeks and the Hebrews could use their alphabet as numbers.
The “number of a man” will therefore be found by taking the letters of his name in Greek and adding those letter values together to get a total which reads six hundred and sixty and six, or 666.
The Antichrist is a specific person. In the future, when he appears, there will be those who have the wisdom to “count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”
There is an interesting note on Revelation 13:18 in the ESV Archaeology Study Bible on pages 1904 and 1905 which gives the label isopsephy to the process I have labeled gematria. This study Bible also mentions that in past history the letters of the name Nero Caesar as spelled in Hebrew add up to 666.
I have placed a rather full and unique note at Revelation 13:17 in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as well as in The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury on the subject of the significance of numbers in the Bible, and particularly some initial findings in the study of the mathematical structure of Scripture.