Research ~~- On Prophecy

The Beast Is Mankind, Not 'A Man'

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Now to spoil your fun when you go to see those bad movies about the book of Revelation...

Although many people throughout history, especially in recent times, have sought to attach a specific person to the number 666 in Apocalypse 13:18, these are at best unproven speculations. (e.g., Nero, Hitler, Stalin, Kissinger, Nixon, the Pope, Mussolini, Mao Tse Tung, etc).
One of the reasons for the rise of such speculative interpretations of 666 is that most translations of Apocalypse 13:18 read: "the number is that of a man and his number is 666."
The actual Greek is "arithmos gar anthropou estin."
Depending on the meaning of the noun "anthropou," it should be literally translated as

"for it is number of mankind" or "for it is a human number,"

not "it is the number of A man."

The word "anthropos" is the usual word in Greek to speak of "mankind" or a man in the general sense (e.g., Mark 1:17; 2:10; Apoc 4:7; 9:5), although in rare instances it is sometimes used for an individual man (Mark 14:71).
Of the 25 instances of "anthropos" in the Apocalypse, all are general references to mankind general.
The Greek word "aner" is the usual word for an individual man or individual men (e.g., Mark 6:20, 44).
The Apocalypse does not use "aner" except for Apoc 21:2.

Prior to the mentioning of "anthropos," however, John says in Apoc 13:17 that the number is "the number of the Beast," from the Greek "to arithmon tou theriou."
Here a Greek article appears before 'Beast' (Greek: tou theriou), whereas there is no article before 'man' or 'mankind' (Greek: anthropou) in Apoc 13:18.
Hence the designation of 'the Beast' is specific, whereas 'man' is generalized, that is, John is most likely referring to mankind, not a single man.

If John had intended to designate an individual man he would have used the nominative case noun (anthropos) or a nominative predicate rather than the genitive anthropou.
The use of the genitive indicates that John intended to use an adjective to modify the number, that is, he wanted to say the number refers to man or mankind, not a specific man.

John uses the same modifying genitive of 'anthropou' in Apocalypse 21:17 when he says 'the measure of man' (Greek: 'metron anthropou'), which is then followed by 'which is of an angel,' also without the article.
This means that the 'measure' is neither of an individual man nor individual angel, but a number that both men and angels use.

John also uses the Greek genitive 'anthropou' in Apocalypse 1:13 and 14:14 in the phrase 'Son of man,' which really means 'Son of mankind.'
Besides Apocalypse 13:18, these three are the only uses of the genitive 'anthropou' in the Apocalypse, and it is apparent that each usage is of 'mankind,' not an individual man.

Moreover, since John has already said that the number 666 is 'the number of The Beast' (Apocalypse 13:17) then it could not be the number of an individual man, since John nowhere states that the Beast is an individual man.
He has said, rather, that the Beast is a monster resembling a leopard, bear and lion with seven heads and ten horns (Apocalypse 13:1-4).

Interestingly enough, attempts made to assign 666 by use of Hebrew or Greek gematria to an individual man always met with great difficulty, since, without severe manipulation, no single evil candidate had his name add up to 666.
Nero was a close candidate, but his name had to have an 'n' attached to it to equal 666 (i.e., 'Neron Caesar').

The bottom line: The beast is mankind, including you, unless you have been truly reborn.