The massive deployment of COVID-19 vaccines has led to concerns of some people that can be described as rational: What are the side effects? How effective will the shot be? And then there are those who worry that the vaccine will brand people with the ‘mark of the beast’ as described in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation.
The character of the beast – a cryptic sign in Revelation indicating allegiance to Satan – was invoked by the Christian figures throughout the pandemic with reference to what they consider to be the evil of masks and vaccines. It ranges from the seemingly metaphorical comparison of vaccine passports by a Republican House representative to something like ‘Biden’s sign of the beast’ to the more literal interpretation that those who receive a vaccine will be branded as followers of Satan. .
It is tempting to reject such beliefs outright. After all, it is a fringe idea promoted by conspiracy theorists. But the idea has gained enough traction that some medical institutions have the need to address it. Hennepin Healthcare, based in Minneapolis, for example, says in an online fact sheet that ‘the COVID-19 vaccines do not contain … The Mark of the Beast’. ‘
As a scholar of early Christian literature, I would like to note that the sign of the beast in Revelation has been misunderstood throughout history as referring to various events and phenomena. The connection with the COVID-19 vaccine is but the latest example of such misunderstandings.
Moreover, I argue that the mark in Revelation can best be understood in the first-century context in which it was used, as a polemic against the Roman Empire.
Read Revelation with Eyes from the First Century
The Book of Revelation is a complicated text. The text was written by the end of the first century by a writer who calls himself John and is filled with symbolic images that have dulled readers for centuries.
Through visions of angels and demons, death and destruction, John tells a story of an ongoing cosmic battle between good and evil that will eventually end in good triumph. The author understands the beast and its mark as evil, and these are some of the best known and most misunderstood parts of his story.
In Revelation 13, John describes the beast with seven heads and ten horns, a leopard’s body, the feet of a bear and a lion’s mouth. The beast in this text is powerful, satanic and is an object of worship.
There is also a second animal that promotes the worship of the first. The most striking thing about the second animal is that it causes people to get a sign on their forehead or right hand with ‘the name of the animal or the number of the name’.
John concludes this chapter with a riddle: “Let each one understand the number of the beast with understanding, for it is the number of a person. The number is six hundred and sixty-six. ”(Rev 13:18).
The beast and the kingdom
Throughout history, this number has been used to demonize phenomena that readers cautiously or do not fully understand. It should therefore come as no surprise that some are trying to link the COVID-19 vaccine to the brand in a similar way.
However, this interpretation is problematic and for two reasons: First, the COVID-19 vaccines are modern phenomena with which the author of Revelation and his earliest readers are unfamiliar. Secondly, there is another explanation for the animal and its number that historically makes much more sense.
Many biblical scholars claim that the first beast is a symbolic representation of first-century Roman emperors. In this lecture, each chief would represent one emperor. Although there is some discussion in science as to which specific emperors the author of Revelation alludes to, there is fairly general agreement that Emperor Nero is one of them.
This conclusion is drawn not only from other references to Nero in Revelation, but also from his reputation in the first century because he persecuted Christians in Rome.
In 64 AD, when Nero was emperor, a great fire broke out in Rome and burned for almost a week. Roman historians Suetonius, Cassius Dio and Tacitus claim that Nero himself was responsible for the burning of the fire.
Nero’s number
There are a number of other points in Revelation where the author seems to refer to Nero. There is a possible reference to the great fire of Rome later in the text, for example in Revelation 17:16. John’s description of one of the animals’ heads being ‘wounded’ may likewise be a reference to Nero’s death, which Suetonius describes as a self-inflicted stab to the neck.
But the clearest reference to Nero in Revelation is the infamous ‘666’, the number of the beast that forms the sign of the beast.
Past, not future
Although there has been much speculation in the past about the importance of the number, there is a growing number of scholars who believe that it is a direct reference to Nero.
There is a well-known usage in the ancient world called ‘matria’, in which letters acquire numerical values. This allows authors to refer to individuals using “the number of their name”, rather than their real name. And biblical scholars have long noted that in Hebrew characters the numerical value of Nero’s formal title – Caesar Nero – is 666.
This, coupled with the other allusions to Nero in Revelation, leaves little doubt as to who the author is referring to with this issue.
However, there is one more piece of this mystery left, and that is exactly what the sign of the beast in Revelation is. Given the symbolic nature of the book as a whole, the reference on the forehead or on the hand is probably not something to be taken for granted.
More important is John’s assertion that no one could buy or sell anything without having the mark bearing the name of the beast. So, what does one need to buy and sell, with the name of the beast also? One possible answer to the question is money – and we have numerous examples in the archaeological record of Roman coins bearing the name Caesar Nero.
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One of the reasons why Revelation is often confusing to those who want to interpret the book today is that they are regularly trained to view it as a book about the future, when in fact it is primarily a book about the past. Clearly, John and his first-century readers are the answer to “What is the sign of the beast?” in their first-century context. Otherwise the text would not have made much sense to anyone when it was first written.
In other words: when John gives his ‘number of the beast’ riddle to readers in the first century, he expects it to be a riddle that they will be able to solve in the first century.
While some have questions about COVID-19 vaccines, the question of whether the vaccines are not linked to the brand of the animal may not be one of them.
This article was published from The Conversation, a non-profit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Eric M. Vanden Eykel, Ferrum College.
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Eric M. Vanden Eykel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has not disclosed any applicable commitments other than their academic appointment.