The way commentators interpret Revelation 13:18 often reveals their exegetical approach to the whole of the book of Revelation. This article is a brief survey of the interpretation of that chapter in the seventeenth and eighteenth century in England. Interpretations are often a reflection of the times; the mainstream of Protestant interpreters saw in the Beast a picture of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church.

What is the identity of the beast or anti-Christ of Revelation 13 and the way it influences our understanding of eschatology? Patterson provides an overview of theories formulated in American church history.

Beale investigates the background of the beast of Revelation 13:18 and Revelation 17:9 in the book of Daniel, particularly Daniel 12.