The question above is not what do we know about 666 from Revelation 13:18, but rather what do we know about 666 from other sources in the Bible. We should use the Definition Principle to as a guide to defining symbols in Revelation wherever possible. Revelation does not tell us how to understand the number 666, but there are several other places in the Bible where it does give us information about it, but it appears to be insufficient to help us understand it in Revelation 13:18. But we should learn whatever we can from the Bible itself before we turn to other sources. Let us begin to study this information.
Outside of Revelation 13, the number 666 occurs in the following verses in the Bible:
1 Kings 10:14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,
2 Chronicles 9:13 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;
Ezra 2:13 The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.
Ezra 2:13 refers to a certain group, consisting of 666 individuals who were the descendants of a man named Adonikam and were part of the group which returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with Ezra. To date, it appears that there is little that we can learn about the number 666 from this information. Adonikam and 666 descendents of his went back to Jerusalem (667 in Nehemiah 7:18 because it included Adonikam in Nehemiah's total, unlike the total in Ezra 2:13), but we are told nothing about what they did after they returned.
We are told in Ezra 8:13-20 that Ezra was unable to find Levite priests among those who were planning to return to Jerusalem. Levite priests were necessary in order to carry out the core functions of the sanctuary services, so he had to convince some of them to go back to Jerusalem with his group. Ezra asked some of the leading men in his group, one of which was one of the descendents of Adonikam, along with several other important men, to go and talk to some Levites. They convinced the Levites to return to Jerusalem with the others. Beyond that, we know virtually nothing about Adonikam or his children.
1 Kings 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:13 associates the number 666 with a king, so this relates to the idea of the number of the beast. Remember that Daniel 7:17 says that beasts are kings, which is the primary definition of a beast, so the number in these verses may say a little to us about itself.
So that we have the whole story, here are the relevant verses in both 1 Kings 10 and 2 Chronicles 9:
1 Kings 10:1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions.
1 Kings 10:2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great caravan, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she spoke with him of all that was in her heart.
1 Kings 10:10 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices a very great quantity, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.
1 Kings 10:11 And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great quantities of almug wood, and precious stones.
1 Kings 10:14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,
1 Kings 10:15 Besides that he received of the merchantmen, and of the traffic of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.
1 Kings 10:22 For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
1 Kings 10:23 So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
1 Kings 10:24 And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
1 Kings 10:25 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a set rate year by year.
2 Chronicles 9:1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to test Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she had come to Solomon, she spoke with him of all that was in her heart.
2 Chronicles 9:9 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones: neither were there any such spices as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.
2 Chronicles 9:10 And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones.
2 Chronicles 9:13 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;
2 Chronicles 9:14 Besides that which traders and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
2 Chronicles 9:21 For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: once every three years came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
2 Chronicles 9:22 And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
2 Chronicles 9:23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart.
2 Chronicles 9:24 And they brought every man his present, articles of silver, and articles of gold, and raiment, armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a set rate year by year.
From these verses, here are the things that the number 666 is associated with:
First, the number is the sum total of the amount of gold that Solomon received. The number was a total, not three separate digits representing something else. It was determined by weighing the gold he received and adding up the total weight of the gold. It was a significant amount of gold. Consider that a talent, according to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, weighs about 96 pounds avoirdupois (avoirdupois is a weight system in which there are 16 ounces in a pound, the troy system has 12 ounces to the pound). This would have a mass of about .454 kilograms. Therefore, 666 talents would have weighed about 63,936 pounds (29,001 kilograms). That is a significant amount of weight which would have been difficult, if not impossible, for them to have weighed as one mass without more modern technology. Therefore, they had to weight out small amounts of it at a time and then add up the weights to reach the total weight of the gold. In this way, by weighing and adding, they accumulated a total of 666 talents. This weighing was probably done a little at a time over the course of a year and the result of each weighing was recorded. At the end of the year, all they probably had to do was add up the total amount of weight of gold received by Solomon.
Second, it is associated with a king. This means it was associated with power, control and authority.
Third, this number is associated with the story of the queen of Sheba coming to visit Solomon. She made this trip because she had heard of his great fame due to his great wealth and wisdom. It is interesting that in Revelation 13:18, wisdom is mentioned as being necessary to understand the number 666, something that certainly alludes to Solomon. God had promised to give Solomon great wisdom and it is obvious from the Bible that God did keep his promise. God said he would add other things to the wisdom because of the wise choice Solomon made in asking for wisdom. Solomon apparently credited all this to God as he should have done.
To summarize, from the Bible verses about the number 666 and the visit of the queen of Sheba, we see that the number 666 is associated with the following things (this list is not all inclusive):
- a sum total that involves adding up numbers to arrive at 666
- a king
- a kingdom over other kings
- power
- control
- fame
- wealth, particularly in the form of gold
- wisdom
- gifts from foreign rulers
- a large territory to rule
- a very expensive and fancy throne made of ivory and covered in gold
- Solomon was a temple builder because he built the temple his father wanted to build for God. His wealth was used in helping to build the temple.
- apostasy - Solomon is known to have turned away from God for many years because he married foreign women who had a hand in leading him away from God when he became old, though it is believed that he did return to God before he died
- Compromise - because of his apostasy, Solomon compromised himself with the world
- The number 666 is associated with the money that Solomon had, which is suggestive of his worldliness and priorities in life
- Ultimately, all of these things, except the apostasy and compromises of Solomon, were gifts of God because it was he who made it all possible for Solomon
Of course, these things were associated with a political ruler, so how does this apply to the number 666 and the beast that is primarily religious in nature in Revelation 13?
It is not hard to see that these things all apply to the beast itself. Here are the applications:
- The number 666 is the number of the beast, just as Solomon was associated with this same number.
- Solomon's gold was weighed and the total amount calculated. In Revelation 13, we are told to calculate or count the Beast's number, which also comes to 666. Thus, a procedure in Revelation 13:18 is alluded to through the number that is likely similar to that which was done for Solomon's gold.
- The beast is primarily Papal and the popes claim to be kings. Solomon's kingdom was primarily political and he was a king. There is similarity in the powers claimed by the Papal kings to that of the actual powers possessed by Solomon.
- The popes claim to be kings over other kings and to rule the whole world. Solomon ruled over other kings.
- The popes have power, fame, wealth, authority and control just as Solomon had these things.
- The popes have excellent advisors so that they have used wisdom in their planning. Solomon generally used wisdom in ruling the people of his kingdom.
- The popes have often spent the money the church received rather unwisely (extravagant lifestyle and extremely expensive buildings), but even Solomon made that mistake before them. He taxed the people heavily, so much so that after his death, the people asked for relief from his son. His son, however, was not wise and indicated he would tax them even more heavily, which caused the kingdom to split.
- The popes have received many gifts from foreign rulers. Solomon also received many gifts from foreign rulers.
- The popes have rather fancy and expensive thrones. Solomon also had a very fancy and expensive throne.
- The popes certainly have apostatized from Bible truth. Solomon also apostatized from the path that God would have had him follow.
- The popes have compromised themselves with the world. For example, immediately after Constantine joined the Christian Church, they allowed the pagan religions and gods into the church, claiming that they could make them holy. Only God can make something holy. Solomon apparently felt he could do the same because he allowed his foreign wives to divert his attention away from the true God and he began to worship false gods. He became an idolater. He compromised with the world.
- Money certainly has been a central focus of the Papacy, suggestive of their worldliness and priorities in life. Solomon apparently had the same central focus in his life because the Bible says he became richer than all kings of his time.
- And, indirectly, the popes claim all of this is from God because they claim to be the only true Christian Church. Solomon did give God the credit for the things that he had.
At the present time, the author is unable to find enough information to deduce how the number 666 is explained by Solomon's gold. It appears that the answer for this must be found outside of the Bible as there seems to be no explanation of it in the Bible itself. Unfortunately, sources outside the Bible do not at present reveal this.