Murder and evil: a sinister side of the sermon

To murder or to have been murdered? That is the question facing the decoder of the cryptic message at the beginning of the 999s.

οὐ μὴ ὃς οὐρανῶν φονεύσεις δ' ὀργιζόμενος; δ' ἀντιδίκῳ τῇ ὁδῷ, κριτῇ, ὑπηρέτῃ μὴ.

"Shall never whom of heavens shall thou murder but being furious; but to anti-judge by the Way, to a judge, to a servant not." The first two words ("οὐ μὴ") are a double negative in English but in Greek are an emphatic future negative. Read literally, a double negative is a positive, so the clause remains ambiguous.

The pronoun "whom" is described as "being furious," but three words separate these two (including the main verb in question). Without this secondary verb, it could have read either "whom thou shall murder" or "whom having been murdered" (without accents, both are written the same: "ὃς φονεύσεις"). For example, "Ἰησοῦς στραφεὶς" may be read either "Jesus having been turned" or "Jesus thou shall turn." In any case, an ominous tone is set from the start.

Beauty is symmetry. And the tax-collector is the supreme master: using just 33 words for three clauses, he skillfully arranges patterns of threes. Nine being a trinity of threes, and this message being to the 999s, the first clause is nine words. A quadruplet of two nouns and two negatives, perfectly straddles the opening clauses so that four consecutive words are each the ninth in the book. But there is more!

εἰ καὶ μὴ δέ δότω ὅτι; ὅτι δύνασαι ὁ λόγος.

"If also but not let him give that; that empowered thou the Word." This doubling completes the times this word ("that | ὅτι") is used in this message. Previously, it was noted that Barbara Thiering explains the use of two words that flag text relating to either of two political parties: the western Herodian party, or the eastern Hebrew party ("for | γὰρ"). (Jesus of the Apocalypse, pp 261, 184, 191)

The word "evil" is used once by Matthew and only appears in the sermon's 333s, 666s and 999s. The 333s reads: "To the day, the evil, not of a brother but by an eye; consider thou allow a splinter, the splinter of the eye of a brother." The 666s reads: "Evil, ye may be judged, ye shall be judged; it shall be measured a thing by the eye of the brother of thee, but by yours the eye, firstly, out of the eye: beam, then a splinter of thee." Finally, the 999s reads: "To the day, the evil ye may be judged in measure: yours! how? by a brother; out of also the beam in, out-throw thee out of an eye."

The superstition of an evil eye is the theme of each reading. The first is personal only and suggests everyone err on the side of mercy. The second is collective and judgment is absolute. Finally, the last is a collective conditional judgment. Three readings with degrees of severity: only the 666s are absolutely and collectively condemned.

We have been examining affinities between the 333s, 666s and 999s. Anomalies include the lack of a "God" (shared with 444s and 777s), an exclusive noun (evil) and three exclusive verbs: to pray, to be furious and to murder. What better way to lead us to the thieves of the final group than with decoded messages on a subject that has universal appeal: treasure.

ὅπου γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρὸς ὑμῶν, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἡ καρδία ὑμῶν ἔσται.

"For at where is the treasure of You, there also the heart of You shall become." (Luke 12:34) Nine words summarize the 999s message: "But a head, to the face of thee, one upon treasure: a heart | δέ κεφαλὴν, τὸ πρόσωπόν σου, ἓν ἐπὶ θησαυρός: καρδία." Typically, the 666s reads: "They thieve by heaven and thieves they thru-burrow not, for they thieve the treasure: a body | κλέπτουσιν οὐρανῷ καὶ κλέπται διορύσσουσιν οὐδὲ, κλέπτουσιν γάρ ὁ θησαυρός: σῶμά." And the 333s: "The father not to You treasures upon the earth, at where a moth not; but for of thee shall become the Light, one | ὁ πατήρ μὴ ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅπου σὴς οὐδὲ; γάρ δέ σου ἔσται τὸ φῶς, ἓν." ("You" is capitalized to distinguish the plural.)

The final preview of the seven groups shall be a look at the words associated with the ones at the centre of the controversy: the 666s.