I have a thing for numbers.
Not in the way of algebra or calculus. But in the way certain numbers show up in my life.
If you include zero, we have just ten choices at the core of things.
0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
And from those ten selections, all else is built.
My favorite number, as I’ve mentioned before, is 7.
I am the seventh born in our family. There are seven wonders of the world, seven days in a week, seven seas, seven continents, seven brides, seven colors in the rainbow, God rested on the seventh day, seven sacraments in the Catholic religion, seven deadly sins, Buddha took seven steps at birth, and on and on with seven. Seventh Heaven.
But I like other numbers too. My other favorites are 3 and 8.
On a second level, I think 0 and 1 are good.
Then I rank 4, 5, and 9 as just okay.
But. I really don’t like 6.
And whenever I see three sixes in a row. I get the bejeebers.
Many people believe 666 is the Devil’s number. I suppose I’ve seen enough scary Satan movies where the demon child had 666 on his forehead or right butt cheek.
So I have this funny superstition about it. Like, when I get a new license plate at the BMV, I always hope it doesn’t have a 6 in it. Or worse yet, 666. I think I’d ask for another.
I’m not sure I’d live at a house with the address 666 Fairview Way.
It isn’t just the movies, though. This started when I was just a wee child, learning about the Bible. After all, 666 is the infamous “number of the beast.” According to the writings in the good book, that number is allegedly Satan’s secret code for evil.
Yes, the Bible. The apocalyptic book of Revelation 13:18, reads, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man, and his number is 666.”
It sort of sounds like 666 is the devil’s identifier.
But those who study the Bible and have dug deeper into its historical context have said there is evidence that the author of Revelation was using numbers to send Christians a coded message.
I should point out quickly that the Book of Revelation was written sometime around 96 CE in Asia Minor. The author (most likely) was a Christian known as “John the Elder.” And he was lopping along one day when, out of nowhere, he got zonked with a big revelation of his own.
Check it: The author says, “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet” (Rev. 1.11), and the voice told him to write what he was about to see.
And then, old John wrote down everything he saw and heard in the Book of Revelation.
So. Back to the 666 thing.
“The beast” was a reference to an evil-looking creature that old John saw rising out of the earth in a vision (Revelation 13:11-18). This creature could perform miraculous things, would demand that everyone be “marked” with its name or number in order to buy and sell anything, and would also kill those who did not worship it.
Over the centuries, many people have wondered — and speculated — whether this beast could take the form of a person. Someone from the past. Like Hitler or Mussolini. Or perhaps someone yet to come? Like Trump? Or could it be no one in particular at all?
The Book of Revelation was written in Greek, and they didn’t have numbers as we know them today. They had a method of turning numbers back into letters. The practice is called isopsephy.
But the bottom line — by assigning 666 to the “number of the beast,” the author of Revelation is warning Christians to beware of Satan’s “cheap imitation of Christ,” according to some scholars.
No matter how they got there, I’m not taking any chances.
I’m sticking with my number seven, which is the number with the highest probability of coming up when you roll the dice.
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“The devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.”
― Charles Baudelaire, Paris Spleen
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For the record, I don’t worship the devil. I just hate religion.
— Tyler, The Creator
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Sure I believe in God and the Devil, but they don’t have to have pitchforks and a long white beard.
— Keanu Reeves
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The devil might make you do it. That’s why I’m with seven.
