Is 616 “The Beast’s Mark”?

The number of the Beast as 616!

How many countries have beasts that represent their country? For example; Australia has the Kangaroo; America, the Bald Eagle, Russia, the Bear; and Iran has the Lion. According to most theologians the authors of the Bible used the same kind of symbolism;  especially in prophecy, wherein beasts are used to represent kingdoms. This is shown in the book of Daniel chapter 7: verse 17 and chapter 7: verse 23 wherein the text clearly identifies a “Beast” as a kingdom or a political power and does not mean something beastly with several heads, as some folks assume.

In the biblical text of Revelations, Chapter 13: Verse 16 says “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads”; this should be interpreted or means that the described mark will be received on the forehead, which represents the mind, or alternatively on the hand, which means or represents the actions an individual takes throughout life.

In addition, Revelation 19:20, says “He deceived them that had received the mark of the beast”; the point I’m making here is that some sort of deception must be used so as to convince the masses that this mark is the best way to go.

Often times it is suggested that this dreaded mark will be a physical implant such as a miniature biochip or perhaps a bar code stamped onto the appropriate location so as to allow our current computers to “scan” the symbol for confirmation.

The flaw in such traditional thinking is two fold: First. How could anyone with a brain be “tricked” or “deceived” into placing an unsightly bar code or an invasive biochip anywhere within or upon their body? Second. Nowhere in the biblical text have I found reference to anything that could pass for such advanced “scanning” technology.

Most theologians of the New King James Version of the Holy Bible consider the language in Chapter 13: Verse 18 of Revelation as a clear and concise description of the mark: “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666”. But is it possible that this is just plain wrong?

As if biblical interpenetrations were not already bad enough, you’ll want to add the following to the mix:

You’ll find in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible (which is an English translation of the Bible that was released in 1989 in the USA), that the translation there for Revelation 13:18  includes this additional note: “Other ancient authorities read six hundred and sixteen” (616).

Such thinking is based upon the fact that in an ancient Greek biblical text from the early 5^th century called the Codex (an early form of book) Ephraemi Rescriptus clearly makes this case, but here the numbers are spelled or written out in the Greek alphabet (Example: six-hundred-sixteen, in the stead of 616), as opposed to the Greek symbols for numbers.

Furthermore, in 2005, a fragment from a document now called “Papyrus 115” (a fragmented manuscript of the New Testament written in Greek on papyrus paper / P115), which was discovered in Egypt, gave the beast’s number as 616. This fragment which I have displayed a copy of at the top of the page, happens to be the oldest known manuscript (about 1,700 years old) of Revelation 13.

Both the Papyrus 115 and the Ephraemi Rescriptus has led some scholars to conclude that 616 is the original number for the beast. If this variant is in fact the original number of the Beast, it would be catastrophic to most Christian based theological literature. 

For those of you that recall my previous post about the Dead Sea Scrolls, may I remind you that although they were found in 1947, they were written some time between 150 BC and 70 AD, so that explains why they contain no texts called Revelation which we could use for purposes of comparison.  You see, Revelation was not released or published until some time after that.

Sources ...

http://www.666mark-of-the-beast.org/markofthebeast.html                                  http://turrisfortis.com/538.html                                              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_Beast                        http://tgsfree4allinfo.blogspot.com/2011/10/dead-sea-scrolls.html         http://www.biblecenter.de/bibel/studien/e-std310.php                            http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/book-revelation-not-one-dead-sea-scrolls