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The Revelation of 666 from Moses and Ezra
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(12-08-2017, 05:55 AM)Thirdwoe Wrote: "while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation by the [value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six…" Irenaeus: Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 28.

i.e. Gematria.

Time with tell who the numbers point to...whether in the past, today, or in the future.

It seems odd there's no precedent for this method of interpretation among biblical texts or even secondary Jewish texts until centuries (?) after Revelation was written apparently. Irenaeus, believed to be a Gentile, seems to be one of the earliest if not the earliest to bring up gematria in relation to biblical interpretation -- I wonder if some of the Gnostic practices he was exposing rubbed off on him a little? To his credit he did warn against using gematria and even he knew the text pertaining to the antichrist could not have been fulfilled in hindsight -- after-all the biblical text was given so we would not be deceived if we have the ears to hear it. In any case, as much as I admire Irenaeus he was and is not equal in authority to holy writ as I'm sure he would have been the first to admit.

The good news is we have the same formula John used in Revelation 13.17 repeated from Numbers 1.2 setting the precedent, and we see for a fact, not conjecture, that it had nothing to do with the practices of heathen nations, but refers to a common practice conducted by Moses and other leaders of Israel in the Tanakh of numbering the sons of Israel. God however will bring a curse on if the numbering is not authorized:

Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. (1Ch 21.1 NAU)
God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel. (1Ch 21.7 NAU)

We also see curses on apostate Israel or Judah (Jerusalem) around the time the antichrist numbers and seals his people with his name (cf John 5.43) in his marriage covenant too. In fact God presents His people sealed with His own Name in His covenant to protect them from the impending curses and desolation from abominations in the lines adjacent to Revelation 13.16-8 providing a neat Hebraic antithetic parallelism to help us understand what's happening spiritually.

Of course this symmetry is destroyed and its "revelation" concealed if we adopt the unbiblical, gnostic, man-made tradition -- essentially Babylonian Mystery/Secret religious practice of gematria -- the exact opposite of the wisdom of revelation to the congregations and squarely in the lap of the hoodwinked harlot herself.


PS - I came across this paper today while sorting some files and think it helps here:

The use of notariqon and even gematria in rabbinic analysis of biblical texts was not invented by rabbis; these methods of text criticism, as noted above, were already used in Babylonian scribal schools long before rabbinic academies are attested. The use of numerical equivalents for names, which could be used instead of the name itself, is well known in Akkadian texts, and the use of notariqon often relied upon puns and word-plays between Akkadian and Sumerian. There is little doubt that these methods employed in Babylonian scribal schools were precursors of rabbinic exegesis, which developed into the typical types of exegesis known in Midrashim. What we do not know is the exact means whereby these ideas were transmitted from one school to another, or one curriculum to another, or exactly when these ideas proliferated to the extent that they influenced study methods within rabbinic academies.

Geller, Mark J - The Babylonian Background to Talmudic Science (European Association for Jewish Studies, Newsletter 6, 1999, pp 27-31)
"All that openeth the matrix is mine" -Exodus 34.19a
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RE: The Revelation of 666 from Moses and Ezra - by aux - 12-09-2017, 08:30 PM

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