Revelation 13:17

The mystic use of numbers (the rabbinical Ghematria, γεωμετρία [geōmetria] ) was familiar to the Jews in Babylon, and passed from them to the Greeks in Asia. It occurs in the Cabbala, in the Sibylline Books (I. 324-331), in the Epistle of Barnabas, and was very common also among the Gnostic sects . . . It arose from the employment of the letters of the Hebrew and Greek alphabets for the designation of numbers. The Hebrew Aleph counts 1, Beth 2, etc., Yodh 10; but Kaph (the eleventh letter) counts 20, Resh (the twentieth letter) 200, etc. The Greek letters, with the addition of an acute accent (as ά, βˊ), have the same numerical value in their order down to Sigma, which counts 200; except that σ῀ (st, [stigma]) is used for 6, and φˊ (an antiquated letter Koppa between π and ρ) for 90. The Hebrew alphabet ends with Tav = 400, the Greek with Omega = 800. To express thousands an accent is put beneath the letter, as α, [a,] = 1,000; β, [b,] = 2,000; ι, [i,] = 10,000.¹

Doubtless, the invention of computers and the introduction of a “cashless society” would aid in the enforcement of an economic boycott against Christians. However, the mark is the “name of the beast or the number of his name” (Rev. Rev. 13:17+) not the name or number that identifies each individual citizen.²

Notes

¹ Philip Schaff and David Schley Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997, 1916), 1.12.101.

² Hal Harless, “666: The Beast and His Mark in Revelation 13,” in The Conservative Theological Journal, vol. 7 no. 22 (Fort Worth, TX: Tyndale Theological Seminary, December 2003), 360-361.