666

The Answer The Answer The Answer The Answer............. The Answer is that it is a play on the numerical values of Hebrew letters, together with the grades in the initiation process. It is simply intended to say: “Simon Magus’ monasteries are evil”. There is no relevance to us!

The “Beast” was Simon Magus, who in the Book of Revelation was the great enemy of Christians, for he was conducting a rival mission to theirs. He controlled monasteries that used the Qumran system of grades, naming them by Hebrew letters. Certain grades marked significant stages. These were called Taw, Resh and Samekh. At Taw, a man was at the very top and was equal to the highest priest. At Resh he entered the sanctuary and could act like a lesser priest. At Samekh, he became an initiate, beginning the studies that would lead him higher. Below is the list of grade letters and numbers.

Since Hebrew letters were also used for numbers, Taw could be read as 400. Resh
could be read as 200, and Samekh as 60. That totals 660. Further, when initial letters alone were used, they were accompanied by the letter Waw, as is illustrated in the Scrolls (CD 4:19). The numerical value of Waw is 6. Total, 666.

The writers of Revelation (one of the early parties in the Church) were very interested in numbers, following their Pythagorean studies, but were too attached to magic-sounding numbers. They knew that semi-educated people would read significance into them, and used 666 as a way of describing evil. Before the present information became available, scholars used to think that 666 in Revelation 13:18 meant the Roman emperor, but they could not account for the actual number. Now it is explained by the Qumran grade numbers, which account for many details of the pesher.

Here is the system of Hebrew letters, numbers, and grades from initiation upwards For the significance of all the grades

Taw ---400 --- High Priest Michael
Shin 300 Deputy Priest Gabriel
Resh 200 Sanctuary Priest Sariel
Qof 100 Levite Raphael Sadhe 90 PE 80 Ayin 70 Samekh 60 Initiate
Numerical value of all Hebrew letters. Aleph 1, Beth 2 , Gimel 3, Daleth 4, He 5, Waw 6, Zayin 7, Heth 8, Tet 9, Yod 10, Kaph 20, Lamedh 30, Mem 40, Nun 50, Samekh 60, Ayin 70, Pe 80, Sadhe 90, Qof 100, Resh 200, Shin 300, Taw 400.