relig/mark of the beast/616(chi, iota, stigma):
8.3: web,proj.relig/revelation`mark of the beast/666 not mentioned? 616 is:
18
This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight,
let him calculate the number of the beast,
for it is man's number. His number is 666.
18
Here is [room for] discernment
[a call for the wisdom of interpretation].
Let anyone who has intelligence (penetration and insight enough)
calculate the number of the beast,
for it is a human number [the number of a certain* man];
his number is 666.
*:
1601: the gist of "(certain):
. another way of saying "(a certain man),
is to refer to man in a way that will certainly
reference mankind in general;
ie, what behaviors are an invariant of peoples across all time .
The early Church father Irenaeus knew several occurrences of the 616-variant
but regarded them as a scribal error
and affirmed that the number 666 stood "in all the most approved and ancient copies"
and is attested by "those men who saw John face to face".
[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.vii.xxxi.html]
In May 2005, it was reported that scholars at Oxford University
using advanced imaging techniques had been able to read
previously illegible portions of the earliest known record of the Book of Revelation
(a 1,700 year old papyrus), from the Oxyrhynchus site,
Papyrus 115 or P115, dating one century after Irenaeus.
The fragment gives the Number of the Beast as 616 (chi, iota,
stigma),
rather than the majority text 666 (chi, xi,
stigma).
[
. Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
]
The other early witness Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C)
has it written in full:
hexakosiai deka hex (lit. six hundred sixteen).
[ Hoskier, Concerning the Text of the Apocalypse, vol. 2, p. 364. ]
Significantly, P115 aligns with Codex Alexandrinus (A)
and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C)
which are generally regarded as providing the best testimony to Revelation.
Thus, P115 has superior testimony to that of P47
which aligns with Codex Sinaiticus
and together form the second-best witness to the Book of Revelation.
This has led some scholars to conclude that
616 is the original number of the beast.
[
# Philip W Comfort and David P Barrett,
The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts,
(Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Incorporated, 2001)
# ^ CJO - Abstract - A new Oxyrhynchus Papyrus of Revelation: P115 (P. Oxy. 4499)
]
Dr. Paul Lewes in his book, A Key to Christian Origins (1932) wrote:
"The figure 616 is given in one of the two best manuscripts,
C (Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, Paris),
by the Latin version of Tyconius (DCXVI, ed. Souter
in the Journal of Theology, SE, April 1913),
and by an ancient Armenian version (ed. Conybaere, 1907).
Irenaeus knew about it [the 616 reading],
but did not adopt it (Haer. v.30,3),
Jerome adopted it (De Monogramm., ed. Dom G Morin in the Rev. Benedictine, 1903).
It is probably original.
The number 666 has been substituted for 616 either by
analogy with 888, the [Greek] number of Jesus (Deissmann),
or because it is a triangular number,
the sum of the first 36 numbers (1+2+3+4+5+6...+36 = 666)".[20]
[
. Retrieved on 2009-03-01.
The new fragment from the Book of Revelation,
written in ancient Greek and dating from the late third century,
is part of a hoard of previously unintelligible manuscripts
discovered in historic dumps outside Oxyrhynchus in Egypt.
Professor David Parker, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism
and Paleography at the University of Birmingham,
thinks that 616, although less memorable than 666,
is the original. He said: "This is an example of gematria,
where numbers are based on the numerical values of letters in people's names.
Early Christians would use numbers to hide the identity of people who they were attacking:
616 refers to the Emperor Caligula."
]
Dr. Ellen Aitken said:
"(Scholars have argued for a long time over this,
and it now seems that 616 was the original number of the beast.
It's probably about 100 years before any other version.)
[
]
It seems highly implausible that God would say that the woman in Revelation 17
is Babylon and connect it with the first beast of Revelation 13,
and then give us the number 616 or 606 instead of 666.
Since God modeled the woman after Babylon,
there would be absolutely no reason to use the numbers 606 or 616
and every reason to use the number 666.
The Babylonian mystery religion never used these numbers
and they had no significance to them in any way shape or form.
Thus, these numbers 616 or 606 can only be scribal errors
regardless of whether the document may appear to be earlier.
Some have also said that the numeric value of the name Caesar Nero
works out to 616 if one drops the letter ÒnÓ at the end of the name
to make it Caesar Neron,
(Hebrew names typically added the ÒnÓ to foreign names ending with an ÒoÓ)
because ÒnÓ has a value of 50, so 616 + 50 = 666.
The problem of course is that Nero does not fit the majority of the descriptions
of the beast. For instance, the beast was said to blaspheme the tabernacle of God,
which means it substituted and established its own service
for that which God had provided.
Nero never did that in the temple of God.
He also never changed God's times and laws,
took out three of the kingdoms from the fall of the Roman empire
or persecuted the saints for 1260 years,
and most other criteria is also not met.
Hence, Nero cannot be the beast
and he is not the person who receives that mysterious number 666.
While the Judeo-Christians and the Jews have spent
countless hours and untold billions of dollars
propagandizing our people with the false teachings of when Christ was born.
So have they been doing with who actually killed Him.
This study, in part, is taken from one of Pastor Sheldon Emry's sermons.
I believe that Pastor Emory
was one of the greatest Bible scholars of this century
and perhaps of all time.
The only one would even remotely reach him in scholarship
was Pastor Howard B. Rand.
Their study and teachings far exceed
anything the Judeo-Christian ministers have done over the years.
...
Most Christians will never study enough to come to realize
that the mark of the Beast is the Cross!
See #5516[*]: chi xi stigma, khee xee stig'-ma;
the 22d, 14h and an obsol. letter (4742 as a cross )
of the Greek alphabet (intermediate between the 5th and 6th),
used as numbers;
denoting respectively 600, 60, and 6;
666 as a numeral:
-- six hundred threescore and six..
*:
. according to Strong's Concordance, 666 is making reference to a cross.
Mark - Strong's: #4742 stigma (stig'-mah);
from a primary stizo (to "stick", i.e. prick);
a mark incised or punched (for recognition of ownership),
i.e. (figuratively) scar of service: KJV -- mark.
Thayer's Definition: #4742 stigma
-- a mark pricked in or branded upon the body.
To ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or the stamp
of their master or commander branded or pricked (cut)
into their bodies to indicate what master or general they belonged to,
and there were even some devotee's who stamped themselves in this way
with the token of their gods.
Cross - Strong's: #4716 stauros (stow-ros');
from the base of 2476; a stake or post (as set upright),
i.e. (specifically) a pole or cross (as an instrument of capital punishment);
figuratively, exposure to death, i.e. self-denial;
by implication, the atonement of Christ: KJV -- cross.
#2476 histemi (his'-tay-mee);
a prolonged form of a primary stao (stah'-o)
(of the same meaning, and used for it in certain tenses);
to stand (transitively or intransitively),
used in various applications (literally or figuratively):
KJV -- abide, appoint, bring, continue, covenant, establish, hold up,
lay, present, set (up), stanch, stand (by, forth, still, up). Compare 5087.
count...
Greek #5585: psephizo, psay-fid'-zo; from Greek 5586;
TO USE PEBBLES IN ENUMERATION, i.e. (gen.) to compute:-count.
Greek #5586: psephos, psay'-fos;
from the same as Greek 5584; A PEBBLE (AS WORN SMOOTH BY HANDLING),
i.e. by impl. of use as a counter or ballot) a verdict (of acquittal)
or ticket (of admission); a vote:-stone, voice.
This "count" means to enumerate stone worn smooth in service
over a long period of time.
Even those familiar with the Strong's Concordance
are likely to have trouble finding six hundred three score and six.
It is called "Stigma" from an obsolete Greek letter
that is not used in modern Greek.
stigma....
Greek #5516: chi xi STIGMA. khee xee stig'-ma;
the twenty- second, fourteenth and an obsol. letter
(Greek 4742 as a cross of the Greek alphabet
(intermediate between the fifth and sixth), used as numbers;
denoting respectively six hundred, sixty and six;
six hundred sidty-six as a numeral:-six hundred threescore and six.
Greek #4742: stigma, stig'-mah;
from a prim. stizo (to "stick," i.e. prick);
a mark incised or punched (for recognition of OWNERSHIP),
i.e. (fig.) scar of SERVICE:-mark.
Strong's Concordance: #5516 chi xi stigma (khee xee stig'-ma);
the 22d, 14th and an obsolete letter (NT:4742 as A CROSS)
of the Greek alphabet (intermediate between the 5th and 6th), used as numbers;
denoting respectively 600, 60 and 6; 666 as a numeral:
KJV - six hundred threescore and six.
(
Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance
with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994,
Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.
)
