Adonikam
The Bible speaks of yet another man with whom the number 666 is associated:Ezr 2:1 ¶And these are sons of the province who are going up-of the captives of the removal that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed to Babylon, and they turn back to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city-
2 who have come in with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah: The number of the men of the people of Israel:
13 Sons of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.Adonikam is a 666 man. What else does the Bible tell us about him? Unfortunately, it tells us very little. His name is mentioned only three times in the entire Bible, but what is told is very important to our inquiry. One of those other verses only repeats Ezr 2:13, but with a slight appearent discrepancy:
Ne 7:18 The children of Adonikam, six hundred threescore and seven.The discrepancy is that the number reported this time is 667, not 666. This is not really a discrepancy after all, as this second number is just counting Adonikam along with his descendants.
Adonikam was a noble under Artaxerxes sent from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. He is thus analogous to the craftsmen under Hiram in the time of Solomon. He is another Temple builder--another Mason!
The last verse that mentions Adonikam is:
Ezr 8:13 And of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these, Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them threescore males.This verse gives us the names of Adonikam's sons. Only Shemaiah is mentioned more than once in the Bible. His name means ``man of understanding.'' Contrast this with the wisdom of Solomon. Shemaiah obtained a minister for the Temple:
Ezr 8:15 And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.
16 Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding.
17 And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God.
18 And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;So Ezra found only non-Levite priests--false priests-in the land when he came at the end of the Babylonian Captivity. Jesus will likewise find only false priests when He comes at the end of the Great Tribulation. Shemaiah, the mason, the son of Adonikam, the 666 man, found a true priest. He found Jesus at the end of his captivity.
Rehoboam, on the other hand, the son of Solomon, another 666 man, promoted false priests and perverted the true religion:
1Ki 14:27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king's house.He also fought against the nation of Israel, a type of the Church:
2Ch 11:1 And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he gathered of the house of Judah and Benjamin an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against Israel, that he might bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam.
