Commentary on the Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:18)

This is an excerpt from the notes of a commentary I am currently working on concerning the entire Apocalypse of St. John.

"This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six." Rev. 13:18 (NRSV)

In biblical allegory the Beast represents corrupt earthly empires, systemic greed, and human arrogance that set itself up against God. The primary understanding concerning the allegorical method are as follows:

1. Total devotion of the actions and thoughts

In this book the mark is placed on either the hand or the forehead, the forehead represents your mind, intellect, beliefs, and philosophy. Receiving the mark on your forehead represents the person giving their mind, intellect, beliefs and philosophy over to the corrupt materialistic system. Every thought is based in this corrupt system. The right hand represents your labor and actions. Receiving the mark on the right hand represents your laboring for this immoral and unethical system.

2. A spiritual parody of Gods seal

In scripture, God also places a symbolic seal or mark on the foreheads of His faithful followers ( Rev. 7:3 and Ez. 9:4) This is very similar to Deuteronomy 6:8 in which God commands believers to bind His laws "as a sign on your hand" and "between your eyes".

The mark of the beast is a counterfeit to Gods seal and it symbolizes a soul that has chosen to internalize the values of the world rather than the values of Christ.

3. Complicity with exploitative systems

Because scripture states that nobody can buy or sell without the mark of the beast we look at this as economic and social conformity. The mark represents the ethical compromises a person makes just to achieve comfort, wealth, or status. It symbolizes participating in a corrupt status quo, such as an economic system driven wholly on exploitation where a person determines that financial survival or luxury is more important than moral integrity, such as feeding the poor or housing the homeless or ensuring everyone has access to clean water and food or even healthcare. 

4. Gematria and the "imperfect" human standard

In ancient biblical numerology the number 7 stands as divine perfection, completion, and the Sabbath rest. The number 6, however, falls short of perfection. Therefore 6 three times symbolizes a system or person completely trapped in a states of fallenness and imperfection. Striving for self-glorification and failing to reach spiritual maturity. It represents worshipping humanity and human technology instead of the creator.

***this is not the finalized form of the text, this is pulled from my notes on the commentary I am currently working on. The final form may be very different to what is posted above.

ⲓⲱ̅

ይህ አሁን እየሰራሁበት ካለው እና መላውን የቅዱስ ዮሐንስ ራዕይን ከሚያብራራው የትcommentary (የትንታኔ) ማስታወሻ የተወሰደ ነው።

«ጥበብ በዚህ አለ፤ አእምሮ ያለው የአውሬውን ቁጥር ይቁጠረው፤ ቁጥሩ የሰው ቁጥር ነውና፥ ቁጥሩም ስድስት መቶ ስድሳ ስድስት ነው።» ራዕይ 13:18

በመጽሐፍ ቅዱሳዊ ምሳሌያዊ አነጋገር (allegory)፥ አውሬው ሙስና የተሞላባቸውን ምድራዊ መንግስታትን፣ ስር የሰደደ ስግብግብነትን እና ራሱን በእግዚአብሔር ላይ ከፍ የሚያደርገውን የሰው ልጅ ትዕቢት ይወክላል። ይህንን ምሳሌያዊ ዘዴ ለመረዳት ዋና ዋናዎቹ ነጥቦች የሚከተሉት ናቸው፦

1. የተግባር እና የሃሳብ ሙሉ ታማኝነት (ምርኮኝነት)
   በዚህ መጽሐፍ ውስጥ ምልክቱ በልጁ እጅ ወይም ግንባር ላይ ይደረጋል፤ ግንባር አእምሮን፣ እውቀትን፣ እምነትን እና ፍልስፍናን ይወክላል። ምልክቱን በግንባር ላይ መቀበል ማለት አንድ ሰው አእምሮውን፣ እውቀቱን፣ እምነቱን እና ፍልስፍናውን ለዚህ በሙስና ለተበላሸው ቁሳዊ ስርዓት አሳልፎ መስጠቱን ያሳያል። እያንዳንዱ ሃሳብ በዚህ ብልሹ ስርዓት ላይ የተመሰረተ ይሆናል። ቀኝ እጅ ደግሞ ድካምንና ተግባርን ይወክላል። ምልክቱን በቀኝ እጅ ላይ መቀበል ለዚህ ስነ-ምግባር የጎደለውና ብልሹ ለሆነው ስርዓት መስራትንና መደከምን ያሳያል።
2. የእግዚአብሔር ማኅተም መንፈሳዊ መሳለቂያ (ማስመስያ)
   በቅዱሳት መጻሕፍት ውስጥ፥ እግዚአብሔር በታማኝ ተከታዮቹ ግንባር ላይ ምሳሌያዊ ማኅተም ወይም ምልክት ያደርጋል (ራዕይ 7:3 እና ሕዝቅኤል 9:4)። ይህ እግዚአብሔር አማኞች ሕጎቹን «በእጅህ ላይ ምልክት አድርገህ እሰራቸው» እና «በዓይኖችህም መካከል ይሁኑ» ብሎ ካዘዘበት ከዘዳግም 6:8 ጋር በጣም ተመሳሳይ ነው።
   የአውሬው ምልክት የእግዚአብሔር ማኅተም የሐሰት ቅጂ (ማስመስያ) ሲሆን፥ ይህም ከክርስቶስ እሴቶች ይልቅ የዚህን ዓለም እሴቶች በውስጡ ለመቅረጽ የመረጠውን ነፍስ ያመለክታል።
3. ከሌላው ወገን ብዝበዛ ጋር የሚተባበሩ ስርዓቶች ተባባሪ መሆን
   ቅዱሳት መጻሕፍት ያለ አውሬው ምልክት ማንም ሊገዛ ወይም ሊሸጥ እንደማይችል ስለሚገልጹ፥ ይህንን በኢኮኖሚያዊ እና ማኅበራዊ ህይወት ውስጥ ካለው ተገዢነት (ተስማሚነት) አንጻር እንመለከተዋለን። ምልክቱ አንድ ሰው ምቾትን፣ ሀብትን ወይም ማዕረግን ለማግኘት ብቻ የሚያደርገውን የስነ-ምግባር ስምምነት (ማሽቆልቆል) ያሳያል። ይህም ሙሉ በሙሉ በብዝበዛ ላይ የተመሰረተ የኢኮኖሚ ስርዓትን የመሰለ ብልሹ አሰራር ውስጥ መሳተፍን ያመለክታል፤ በዚህም አንድ ሰው የገንዘብ ህልውና ወይም የቅንጦት ኑሮ ከስነ-ምግባር ታማኝነት—ለምሳሌ ድሆችን ከመመገብ፣ ቤት ለሌላቸው መጠለያ ከመስጠት፣ ወይም ሁሉም ሰው ንጹህ ውሃ፣ ምግብ እና የጤና አገልግሎት ማግኘቱን ከማረጋገጥ—የበለጠ አስፈላጊ እንደሆነ ይወስናል።
4. የቁጥሮች ምሥጢር (Gematria) እና የሰው ልጅ «ያልተሟላ» መመዘኛ
   በጥንታዊ የመጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ኑሜሮሎጂ (numerology) ውስጥ ቁጥር 7 መለኮታዊ ፍጽምናን፣ መሟላትን እና የሰንበትን እረፍት ያመለክታል። ቁጥር 6 ግን ከፍጽምና ጎድሎ የሚቀር ነው። ስለዚህ 6 ሶስት ጊዜ መደጋገሙ ሙሉ በሙሉ በውድቀት እና ባልተሟላ ሁኔታ ውስጥ የተጠመደን ስርዓት ወይም ሰውን ያመለክታል። ይህም ለራስ ክብርን መሻትን እና መንፈሳዊ ብስለት ላይ አለመድረስን ያሳያል። ከፈጣሪ ይልቅ ሰውን እና የሰውን ቴክኖሎጂ ማምለክን ይወክላል።

***ይህ የጽሑፉ የመጨረሻ ቅርጽ አይደለም፤ በአሁኑ ጊዜ እየሰራሁበት ካለው የcommentary ማስታወሻዎቼ ላይ የተወሰደ ነው። የመጨረሻው ቅርጽ እዚህ ከተለጠፈው በጣም የተለየ ሊሆን ይችላል።

Transactional nature of capitalism leads to mistrust and delusion, a hypothesis

 There are countless shows and podcasts seeking to understand why people delve into delusion and or the general mistrust of anyone who has any expertise in virtually anything. I have not been able to look at the literature on the psychology of this and not being an expert myself, I am not guaranteed to understand any peer reviewed paper on the subject. I want to make that known that I am not an expert, just a lay person hypothesizing about something that I have long pondered. Why are there so many people mistrustful of, say, medical experts? Those same people will take advice from a random person with absolutely no expertise speaking on a subject they are not qualified to speak on over the internet, but mistrust the people who have spent their lifetime dedicated to said subject. Why are people generally distrustful of people? 

Capitalism reduces everything to a transaction. You only do something for someone because you get something from it, generally money or something of value. This means that in every interaction every person in the back of their mind, be it consciously or unconsciously, think "What does this person want?" or perhaps "What are they seeking to gain from this interaction?" Helping someone or doing something for someone is meant to be what it is, altruistic without the intention of receiving anything in return. But capitalism says "Don't do anything for free." Therefore as capitalism speeds towards fascism the transactional nature of every encounter ramps up. Every call could be a scammer, every incident could be a false flag, etc. In my hypothesis I believe that these minor encounters lead us to doubt the intentions of more major encounters with powerful corporations, which is not unwarranted necessarily, or encounters with experts who may have an ulterior motives. Why would any expert just give us information for free? It could not possibly be because they care about what they do and they care about informing the public, it has to be ill intentions because they must be seeking to benefit. 

Capitalism strips all human interaction of its merit and turns everything into a transaction and the transactional nature of capitalism only gets worse and the worse it gets, the more you are going to see cult like mentality around virtually any subject. A general mistrust of any and all experts in virtually any field. The odd veneration of their idols who are more like the general public telling them what they want to hear. I suspect, but do not know for sure, that this is the beginning of delusion and because of its implication of capitalism perhaps nobody has thought of it?