16: 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:
17: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
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.

Is there a history of “The Mark of the Beast?” I ask because this story at Wired.com discusses how the RFID chip is the latest candidate to plug into that line about the Mark of the Beast. It used to be, and for some still is, the Social Security Number. For others, Route 666 had been a candidate for satanic status, but it has been vanquished.

Now I don’t want to say that Americans are peculiar in being paranoid. Here is a German example concerning the US, Iraq, and 9/11. Some Arabs believe something similar about the US and 9/11. But it does seem like we’ve been the only country so concerned with “666” recently that we ban it from the road map.

Jim Williams - 3/6/2006

Don't assume that Oscar Chamberlain, the other commentors on the piece, or I take the numerology seriously. I was intrigued to hear of the textural variation and of the proposed explanation for the numbers.

Randll Reese Besch - 3/5/2006

This is so tiresome. This occultic delusion about numbers and their meaning by those who are essentially illiterate concerning the history of it. A-literacy at its worse.
Now "666" or "616" is the so-called number of the "Beast" which is also the "...number of man." However what is left out that you must have the "Mark of God," which isn't spoken about much but is right there in
Revelation but seldom spoken of.
Only those with the "Mark of God" which isn't specified in the accepted text could be"777" the "perfect number" maybe?
There is a reflection of human action in occult texts including branding and numbering for control.
I don't like it or want it on a human principle not religious.

Jim Williams - 3/4/2006

Your comments intrigued me, so I looked it up. Bruce Metzger, in his authoritative Textual Commentary on the New Testament notes that 616 is found in several manuscripts. "When Greek letters are used as numerals, the difference between 666 and 616 is merely a change from a "xi" to an "iota". Perhaps the change was intentional, seeing that the Greek form Neron Caesar written in Hebrew characters is equivalent to 666, whereas the Latin form Nero Caesar [written in Hebrew] is equivalent to 616."

Paul Noonan - 3/2/2006

I believe there are some variant texts of the Book of Revelation that give the number as 616. I've never heard of 636. One interpretation of 666 is Neron Caesar ("Neron" is apparantly an uncommon, but not unheard of, variant of "Nero".)

I beleive Route 666 is being renamed because the route signs are being stolen as souveniers, not because of religious reasons.

Anne Zook - 3/2/2006

I'm sure I remember reading, not that long ago, that they'd re-examined source texts and decided that '666' was a mistranslation? The number actually translates as 616 or 636.