616 - The Number of the Beast

Now that it has being realised that the numbering of the beast relates to a secret assasination code the murderers used to identify their target, it appears that the actual number of the beast was 616 relating to Emperor Caligula.

If thats the case then who was target 666.

I suppose its possible to count 50 assasinations later in Rome and find the target, or does anyone know?

Originally posted by jehova620
Now that it has being realised that the numbering of the beast relates to a secret assasination code the murderers used to identify their target, it appears that the actual number of the beast was 616 relating to Emperor Caligula.

Do you have a source for this? And 616 assassinations of what level? In which nation? Poisoning and other such things was popular among the Romans and I'm sure Caligula was probably not the 600th or 700th person assassinated in Rome's long history.

And he did bring it on himself with his lunacy -- which included appointing a horse as a senator and making the Praetorian Guard use passwords like "I want to have sex with you".

It was the Praetorians who took him down. However, they didn't assassinate 600+ Roman emperors.

If thats the case then who was target 666.

I suppose its possible to count 50 assasinations later in Rome and find the target, or does anyone know?

Again, do you mean "just anybody" or "senators" or "rich people" or "emperors" or...?

Personally, I don't think the theory stands up very well.

Originally posted by jehova620
Now that it has being realised that the numbering of the beast relates to a secret assasination code the murderers used to identify their target

Huh?

Originally posted by jehova620
Now that it has being realised that the numbering of the beast relates to a secret assasination code the murderers used to identify their target, it appears that the actual number of the beast was 616 relating to Emperor Caligula.

I don't know where you're getting this assasination business, but yes, there are at least two beast numbers floating around in ancient documents. I would say you're right that 616 represented Caligula. 666 probably represented Nero.

I suspect the origins behind Revelation began when Caligula ordered a statue of himself erected in the Temple (the order was not carried out), which would have reminded the Jews about the desecration written in Daniel ~200 years earlier that had resulted in the Maccabee uprising.

The originator of the story might have expected an eminent erection of the statue and another Jewish revolt. When that didn't happen, the story may have been modified to fit the destruction of the Temple in 70CE, with 616 changed to 666.

Apparently there never was a number 666--it was a garbled mistake for the "actual" number 616, which probably referred to some Roman Emperor who persecuted Christians in the very early days of the Church. Beyond that there's not much you can say. The book of Revelation is so confusing (probably deliberately so) that no one can make any real sense out of it, although back when it was first written the early Christians might have understood the underlying "code" enough to glean some meaning out of it. But as far as Revelation being used as "prophecy" or wild "end times" speculations--uh-uh, don't believe it. So many lunatics have drawn so many loony conclusions from this one book of the Bible--often with tragic results--that I'm truly sorry Revelation was ever included in the canon of the Bible. It very nearly wasn't, you know.

Originally posted by abovereproach
The book of Revelation is so confusing (probably deliberately so) that no one can make any real sense out of it,

I'm not convinced that's true. It requires an understanding of the symbolism of the writer, but such symbolism is not unique to Revelation.

If you understand the symbols as a mixture of astronomical allegory with the current events of the time, Revelation starts to make much more sense.

To understand Revelation, you have to set asside the preconception that it is a true revelation of the future, and see it instead as the mystical writing that it is. Such mystical mixing of astronomy/astrology with current events is just as popular today as it was then.

heres what en.wikipedia.org... says about this

The beast is identified by the number 666 in the text (Rev 13:18). This is very likely an instance of gematria, an early form of Jewish mysticism. Its object is to conceal a name by substituting for it a cipher of equal numerical value to the letters composing it. When the name "Nero Caesar" is spelled with Hebrew letters as נרון קסר (NRON QSR—Hebrew vowels are usually not letters), each letter has a corresponding numerical value, N=50, R=200, O=6 N=50, Q=100, S=60, R=200, resulting in the sum of 666.
Some Greek manuscripts of Revelation have a different number. Here the number is not 666, but 616. If Nero is alternatively spelled as NRO instead of NRON, one gets 616; NRO minus N(=50).

Other people discount the gematrian theory and argue that "666" symbolically represents the trinity of evil (the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet), as "6" is one short from the perfect "7". It is also believed the number represents humankind's sinful nature.

so it doesnt really matter if it 666 or 616

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