“We also have writings from the early church, like that of Irenaeus or the later text critical work like that of Origen in the 3rd century, who comment on such differences,” said Huff. “So much so that we often expect to find the variants we do even before we have surviving manuscript evidence for them.”
Huff has discussed and debated other discrepancies in the biblical text. These differences are inevitable throughout the scribes’ process of copying and preserving sacred texts.
“The fact that we are able to pin-point, discuss, and interact with these variants in the manuscript tradition—right down to letters and individual words—shows the reliability and confidence we have in the text we render and translate from today,” explained Huff.
Today’s #manuscriptmonday is all about 666 and the mark of the beast. Did you know that there are actually differences within the manuscripts of Revelation about what the number actually is? (a 🧵)… pic.twitter.com/oU8O728HET
— WesleyHuff (@WesleyLHuff) June 30, 2025
Was Nero Caesar the ‘Beast’ Mentioned in Revelation?
While many scholars consider much of Revelation to be a depiction of future events, or events in the end times, some have argued the case for Nero to be the “Beast.”
Nero ruled over Rome from A.D. 54-68. He was known for his cruel ways and for being a tyrant with great power over the people of Rome. “When the name ‘Nero Caesar’ is written in Hebrew and the numerical values of each letter are added, the sum is 666,” explained Huff.
But, what about the other number, 616? Huff gave his thoughts on whether the variant would exonerate the tyrant leader of also being the “Beast” mentioned in the end times.
“Interestingly enough, the variant of ‘616’ does not change this, as the same two words can be transliterated with the final ‘n’ in ‘neron’ into Hebrew totalling 616,” said Huff. “616 calculated in Greek could also add up to Gaius Caesar written in the style of Caligula.”
Huff referred to these connections to ancient numerology as “interesting” and “speculative.”
