Naming the Beast

The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction.  And those who dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.  Revelation 17:8 NASB

Name – As we examine the idea that the sacrificial death of the Messiah occurs before the foundation of the world (see Revelation 13:8), we are confronted with the question about the proper referent for the phrase “before [from] the foundation of the world.”  Exegetes who would transfer the phrase from its location at the end of the verse in 13:8 so that it modifies “names” instead of “Lamb” sometimes use the similar wording in Revelation 17:8 as justification.  In 17:8, the phrase “before the foundation of the world” seems to be attached to “whose name is not written,” so they argue that is the proper placement in 13:8 as well.  But this deserves a closer look.

Any linguistic justification for shifting the prepositional phrase in 13:8 must be based on the position of the phrase in this verse, 17:8.  But this justification cuts both ways.  If I am allowed to move the prepositional phrase in 13:8 to match what I find in 17:8, am I not also allowed to move the phrase in 17:8 to another part of the verse?  Why can’t I move the phrase to modify “dwellers on earth” rather than “name not written in the book”?  Then 17:8 would read, “and the dwellers on earth from the foundation of the world whose name has not been written in the book of life . . .”  If the prepositional phrase location is fluid in 13:8, why isn’t it also fluid in 17:8?  Rewriting 17:8 in this way seems no more or less linguistically possible than the emendation proposed by various translations of 13:8.

There is also some paradigmatic justification for modifying Revelation 17:8.  The verse concerns the visibility of the beast.  It employs the phrase “was, and is not, and is to come,” commonly understood by end-times theologians as an allusion to resurrection.  Whatever the actual meaning of this expression, it is clear that the circumstances surrounding the beast are observable to the dwellers on earth.  That is why they “marvel to see” the beast.  This is not a hidden event.  But now we face another issue.  The ESV, NIV and RSV make another emendation that changes more of the meaning.  Rather than translating the verb and the noun as singular, these translations provide a plural rendition.  Now it appears as if there are specific, individual names in this book.  But the Greek uses singular constructs, describing only a “name not written.”  These translations import the idea that God keeps a record of every individual.  But this concept does not dominate Hebrew thinking.  Hebrew thinking is communal.  It views those who are God’s children as a whole.  Thus, “all Israel will be saved” is not about every individual of Jewish origin.  It is about the totality of those who follow YHWH designated by “Israel.”  Perhaps “name not written in the book” has the same communal application, i.e., all those as a whole who are not His children, not specific individuals.  Furthermore, the phrase “from the foundation of the world” could be applied to the beast.  Its name is not written in the book.  In fact, given the fluidity of Greek positioning, the singular noun and verb here are more likely to modify the singular therion (beast) than the plural emendation.  But there are more issues than this.  The Greek pronoun hos (whose – as in “whose name”) is plural.  This would lead us to believe that “whose” refers to “earth dwellers,” but “name” is still singular regardless of the plural hos.  Perhaps we are faced with the Hebraic idea of a name as a community, not as individuals.

Even if we resolve this problem, we are still faced with the problem of the identity of the beast.  End-times advocates make attempts to identify the beast as something or someone.  But behind this interpretation is a presupposition about the structure of time.  The Greek idea of time is linear.  Events happen once and are never repeated just as points on a line are sequential.  If John’s vision employs a Greek view of time, then the arrival of the beast occurs at a specific point in the timeline of human history.  The beast has a unique “name” identifying its existence on the time line.  But the Hebrew view of time is not linear.  It is a cycloidal curve, the path traced out by a point on the circumference of a circle as it travels along a surface.  Think about a tire rolling down a hill with a red dot at one point on the circumference.  Then follow the path of the dot.  Therefore, from an Hebraic perspective, the presence of the beast is concomitant with the creation of Mankind.  As long as there have been dwellers on earth, the beast has been with us.  That the beast is manifest in some fuller way at some further point does not entail that there was no beast prior to this manifestation.  It simply entails that we now observe the evidence of the existence of the beast in a new way.  In fact, we might argue that the phrase “was and is not and is to come” is a deliberate allusion to the same continual but hidden presence of Yeshua, who was (before the foundation of the earth), was not (observed to die) and is to come (will return), perhaps to indicate that the pattern of the beast mimics the pattern of the Christ.  If we read the text this way, then modifying “dwellers of earth” with “from the foundation of the world” simply indicates that since the creation of Man the character of the beast has been present.  The serpent was in the Garden before we got there.

What have we learned?  We learn that the text of the English Bible sometimes makes alterations based on presuppositions, both theological and linguistic.  This is not atypical, but it is something we need to be aware of.  We also learn that John’s Greek text isn’t as clear as we might like.  What John had in mind remains a mystery.  This should help us avoid the mistake of pronouncements about the “end times.”  Until we can talk to John, some things will be left uncertain.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we learn that God is in control.  How He maintains His control over human history is a great mystery.  But we do not need to fear that the world isn’t under His direction.  We might not be able to say exactly what John meant, but we know that John advocated ruthless trust, and that is good enough until we see face-to-face.

Topical Index:  name, beast, from the foundation, Revelation 17:8, Revelation 13:8