The Second Beast. This represents the spirit of paganism, and more particularly the priestly system which was organised to enforce Cæ sar-worship.
Revelation 13:11 f. The second beast is regarded as inferior to, and deriving its authority from, the first.
Revelation 13:12. to worship: an allusion to Emperor-worship. deathstroke: cf. Revelation 13:3; an allusion to Nero redivivus (Revelation 17:8 *).
Revelation 13:13. great signs: an allusion to the displays of magic by the priests for the purpose of deceiving the people.
Revelation 13:14. an image of the beast: a statue of the emperor which was used in Cæ sar-worship.
Revelation 13:15. to give breath unto it: an allusion to the pretended miracles wrought by the priests, like the later miracles of the Middle Ages, by which a stone image was made to move and act like a living being.
Revelation 13:16. a mark upon their right hands: like the stamp embossed on official documents bearing the name of the emperor and the year of his reign. [In later persecutions, at least, certificates were given to those who sacrificed or otherwise fulfilled the regulations of pagan worship. A. J. G.] As to whether the devotees of Emperor-worship were actually branded on the hand or the forehead we have no information beyond this passage, and possibly here the language may be apocalyptic (cf. the seal on the foreheads of the saints in Revelation 7:3). But it seems certain that there was some sign or mark which served to distinguish pagan worshippers from Christians.
Revelation 13:17. Christians, since they lacked this mark, are said to have been boycotted in the markets and were neither allowed to buy nor sell. the name of the beast: i.e. the name of the emperor.
Revelation 13:18. Here is wisdom: these words are a challenge to the readers of the Apocalypse. If any man regards himself as wise, let him try to read the riddle of the number of the beast. it is the number of a man: we are to look among the ranks of men, and not of angels or supernatural beings, for the answer to the riddle. Six hundred and sixty and six: the riddle is, Find the man, the letters of whose name, when regarded as numerals, sum up to the total 666. There have been many guesses, but very few of them have any claim upon our attention. We may dismiss all those theories which find the number of the beast in some later personage as Muhammad, Luther, or Napoleon. The beast lived in the age when the book was written. The best solution is that he was Nero. The words Neron Cæ sar or Nero Cæ sar when written in Hebrew characters make up the numbers 666 and 616 respectively, and as both readings, viz. 666 and 616, are found in vogue in early times, and the solution does for both, we may regard it as tolerably certain that this is the key which fits the lock. [There may be an implied contrast between 666 and 777, the triple repetition of the perfect number. In Orac. Sibyll. 1 : 328, the number 888 represents Christ (Swete) A. J. G.] [At a date earlier than this passage in the Sibylline Oracles, Marcus the Valentinian pointed out that the name Jesus made up 888 in Greek letters. Possibly the number 666 was an ancient symbol of the beast. The writer has observed that it also fits a man (not perfectly well, for Neron Cæ sar in Hebrew character would more naturally sum up to 676, but written defectively it gives 666); the ancient beast of apocalyptic tradition is thus incarnate in a man. Hence the ending of the passage, Let him count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, i.e. not simply the number of the beast, but at the same time the number of a man. The beast is incarnate in Nero. A. S. P.]