Before Jerusalem Fell - EntreWave

196 13 E~0RE JERUSAI.EM ~E1.1,
hers.’ 1 Tertullian sees in Gideon’s choice of 300 men a cryptic reference
to the letter “T,” which signifies the sign of the cross. 12
Of ancient cryptograms we should note that there are “countless
examples from classical and Hellenistic and indeed Rabbinic literature.’”3
Caird points out several specific examples of gematria in
rabbinic writings, 14 while Eduard Reuss writes: “The mechanism of
the problem [i.e., the problem in Revelation 13: 18] is based upon one
of the cabalistic artifices in use in Jewish hermeneutics, which consisted
in calculating the numerical value of the letters composing a
word. This method, called ge/zmatria, or geometrical, that is, mathematical,
[was] used by the Jews in the exegesis of the Old Testamerit.
”15 The point is clear: cryptograms were common among the
ancients, even among Christians. Hence, the gematria in Revelation
is not something created de novo by John; rather, the idea involved a
familiar concept to the ancients.
The Textual Variant
Another introductory matter undoubtedly of significance in determining
the identity of this “666” is the matter of the textual variant
in the Greek of Revelation 13:18. Although both the strongest manuscript
evidence and intrinsic probability are supportive of the reading
“666,” 16 there is some slight manuscript and historical evidence for
the number “616.”
Instead of .AprjKovrcz, which is strongly supported by p~7 N A P 046
11. Agamd Herestes 2:24:1 ff., written ca. 185,
12. Cann, adu. Marc, 3:4. Cited in Frederic W. Farrar, The Ear~ Day.r of Chrz.rtzanip
(New York: Cassells, 1884), p. 469 n. 1.
13. Riihle, “apmps