Five appears chiefly in forfeitures and hoh' offerings (Exod. xxii, 1 ; Lev. v, 16; xxii, 14 ; xxvii, 15 ; Numb. V, 7; xviii, 16). But in conventional phrase it com- monly means a group, several, after the analogy of the five fingers (Gen. xviii, 28 ; xliii, 24 ; xiv, 22 ; 1 Sam. xvii, 40; xxi, 4; 1 Cor. xiv, 19). Yet even here sym- bolic interpreters find a deep meaning (see e. g. Kurtz, ut sup. p. 3G0).
Four, although a mysterious number among the Pythagoreans (Reinhold, Gesch. d. Philos. i, 83), and although Biihr (p. 155 sq.) has sought to establish its peculiar significance, is not prominent in the Old Testa- ment. The four winds and the four points of the com- pass may perhaps be coimected with the supposition that the earth was four-sided, but this is not certain, and the famous " tetragrammaton," or word of four let- ters (Jehovah, nin^), cannot be connected with it. The form of the square does indeed appear frequently (Ezek. xliii, 16 sq. ; xlvi, 2; xlviii, 16 sq. ; Rev. xxi, 16), but we must suppose it to have been selected sim- plj' as the most regular form that could be conceived ; and the same explanation applies to the cubic shape of the holiest place in the Tabernacle and in the Temple. But Biihr (p. 176 sq.) explains the square as the symbol among the Israelites both of the world and the mani- festation of God ; and he is followed by Keil (on Kings, p. 80 sq.) and Kurtz (p. 342 sq., 357 sq.).
The number three first reaches its full significance in the faith of the Christian Church, although in antiquity it already often occurs as the sj'mbol of supreme divin- ity (Biihr, p. 146 sq. ; Lobeck, Aglaojiham, p. 387; comp. Servius, ad Virg. Eclog. viii, 75 ; Plat. Legg. iv, p. 716). It is not at all strange that it frequently occurs in ordinary life, as it expresses the simplest possible group : the middle and two sides ; the beginning, mid- dle, and end (so Dion. Hal. iii, p. 150); the vanguard, main body, and rear of an army, or the centre with two wings. This threefold division of an army was customary among the ancient Hebrews (Judg. vii, 16, 20; ix, 43; 1 Sam. xi, 11). This number is also cus- tomary in repeating calls and exclamations, for the sake of emphasis, without anj' religious significance (as Jer. vii, 4 ; xxii, 29). But its use in some instances is more remarkable (see Exod. xxiii, 14; Deut. xvi, 16 ; Numb, vi, 24 sq. ; Isa. vi, 3), and the explanation in the Apoc- alypse (i, 4) of the name Jehovah (tlin^) seems to show an allusion in it to the Trinity. The three hours of prayer observed by the later Jews may have had a kin- dred oriijin. The number three also occurs often in the
NUMBER OF THE BEAST 220
NUMBERS, BOOK OF
ancient genealogies, especially in the heads of kindred races (coni]i. Cain, Abel, Seth ; Shem, Ham, and Ja- pheth, etc. ; see Lengerke, Ken. p. 20, Introd.). But the triangle, which in other ancient nations was so impor- tant as a symbol, is not found in Hebrew antiquity. It is generally thought to be used as a round number, meaning several, like ter in the Latin poets (in 2 Cor. xii, 8 ; John ii, 19) ; but many commentators dissent from this view.
Twelve derives its significance in the Old Testament, not from the multiplication of three and four together (as Biihr and Kurtz suppose), nor from the twelve signs of the zodiac, but rather from the twelve heads of the tribes in Israel (Josh, iv, I sq. ; Exod. xxviii, 21; 1 Kings vii, 25 ; comp. Apoc. xxi, 12), which is a suffi- cient historical ground.
On the whole, then, it appears that among the Israel- ites, as in other ancient nations, certain numbers as- sumed very early a peculiar significance, especially in religious service ; but it is in vain to seek for a numeri- cal S3rmbolism, based on specidation, and worked out into a system. (For the use of round numbers and national numbers among the ancient Italians and others, see Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome, vol. ii; among the (lermans, (irimm, Deutsche Reclitsalterth. p. 207 sq.) — Winer, ii, 713. See Akithjietic.
Number of the Beast in Rev. xiii, 18. This is described as " the number of a man," i. e. humanly com- puted, or according to some usual standard or mode, and to signify 6GG {x^r , v. r. GIG, x'^)- The Beast is the world-power in its hostility to the kingdom of God. The number of the name is plainly the number made up by the numerical power of the letters com- posing the name added together. But here the pro- posed interpretations are multitudinous. That suggest- ed by Irenajus (C //. 1. v, c. 29, 30), followed by many Protestant interpreters — among the rest, but very scep- tically, by Alford — is one of the (but not the) oldest, viz., XarfivoQ^ Latin, i. e. beast, or kingdom — X 30, a \, t BOO, £ 5, I 10, V 50, o 70, ^ 200=6GG. Some have sug- gested cnroaTcirTiQ, with reference to Julian ; Bossuet, iJitcles Augustus; Hengstenberg, Adonikam, because it is said (Ezra ii, 13) the sons of Adonikam were GG6 (see Com. ad loc.) ; Benary, "iDJ? "|T13, or, dropping the final nun in Nero, to suit the various reading, giving therefore either GG6 or 616. This interpretation is fa- vored by Stuart. Bengel refers the CGG to the number of years the Beast was to exercise his dominion ; but that surely is not the number of his name (see Stuart's Com. on the Apoc. excurs. iv. ; and for the full literature on the subject, Rabett's AartivoQ; Clarke, on the same; and Thorn's Number of the Beast~). The first solution proposed above seems to be the best confirmed. On the subject of number generally, see Stuart's Com. on the Apoc, Introd. § 7, excurs. ii. — Kitto. See Revelation, Book of.