This Calls For Wisdom- The Number of A Man

Revelation 13:18

This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

It is interesting to me that this number of the beast has sparked so much speculation over the years. Just recently I was considering my most recent readthrough of the Bible and I realized that this number, 666, is used exactly one other time in the Bible.

1 Kings 10:14

The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents

So if one were considering exclusively the Bible as the source of where the beast would emerge from, would stem from, with this number as a primary clue, the only possible verse one could connect the number to would be this one in 1 Kings. There is a parallel drawn between the number of the beast and the number of a man, and the only man included in this verse is Solomon. Not only that, but Solomon famously asks God for wisdom (1 Kings 3) and later writes in the voice of Wisdom (Proverbs 8), and Revelation indicates in the same verse referencing the number "This calls for wisdom."

While I am still not entirely clear what the full connection would be between Solomon and the best, as it still seems calculation is required despite the number being presented directly, it seems erroneous to search far and wide for a man extra-biblically with some connection to this same number, when this number points to a single other verse in the Bible, and the added reference to "wisdom" reinforces this connection.

For some reason in considering possibilities regarding this connection between a man and the beast, the second conversation between The Lord and Solomon comes to mind:

1 Kings 9:3-6

The Lord said to him:

“I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

“As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’"

While the outcome on record is that Solomon did fall away from God in time, I am now considering permutations of this timeline, based on potential outcomes of Solomon's walk. I do not believe that The Lord would have indicated an if/then statement to Solomon if the outcome of failure were preordained. From the perspective of omniscience and honesty combined- both knowing the future and telling the truth regarding a real choice presented- it would seem necessary for multiple timelines to coexist whenever God explicitly describes multiple outcomes. For this reason again I think it is valid to consider an alternate future where Solomon did not turn away from God, but continued to rule, and would be ruling even now.  I bring this up because an image of colliding timelines has been coalescing for me in these last several years, and so examining how this timeline which is familiar might collide with another that is dissimilar feels valid, and where The Lord specifically presents if/then statements to mankind feel like the most valid junctures to examine potential, real, timelines that would be colliding. 

We see in the 1 Kings reference that The Lord places His name on the temple, and in Revelation references are made to names placed on foreheads, temples and etc, both by Jesus and the beast. Jesus also draws a parallel between the body and a temple in John 2:19-21 

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

So we have reality crafting along many lines- structures and human bodies, Wisdom as both a concept and as female, if/then statements given from the perspective of omniscience but with only one outcome recorded here, sides chosen, names and numbers written and recorded. All of these draw parallels between The Lord's interaction with Solomon in Kings, Solomon's own writings, and Revelation. I do not claim to have the calculation for all of this, nor do I claim these as straightforward or even palatable lines to draw, but I do not believe that the period of birthing pains are ever straightforward for the one being born (again). This calls for wisdom indeed.