Chance,

Thank you for that response.

I agree, my brain can't latch on to it, either.

I had forgotten to mention the golem, of which there were numerous variations in different European cities during the middle ages.

One source says:

"

In Jewish folklore, a golem is an artificial humanoid made of clay, soil, or dust brought to life by a series of rituals and magical formulas. According to legend, golems could only be created by a powerful rabbi, who either inscribed the word 'emeth (truth) on the golem's forehead or placed a piece of parchment bearing the word Schem (name) in the golem's mouth. 

"

Another source:

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Several rabbis, in their commentaries on Sefer Yezirah have produced different understandings of the directions on how to make a golem. Most versions include shaping the golem into a figure resembling a human being and using God’s name to bring him to life, since God is the ultimate creator of life.

According to one story, to make a golem come alive, one would shape it out of soil, and then walk or dance around it saying combination of letters from the alphabet and the secret name of God. To “kill” the golem, its creators would walk in the opposite direction saying and making the order of the words backwards.

Other sources say once the golem had been physically made one needed to write the letters aleph, mem, tav, which is emet and means “truth,” on the golem’s forehead and the golem would come alive. Erase the aleph and you are left with mem and tav, which is met, meaning “death.”

Another way to bring a golem to life was to write God’s name on parchment and stick it on the golem’s arm or in his mouth.

One would remove it to stop the golem.

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Could the false prophet end up doing this with the image of the beast?

Especially since some of the golem legends were related to its protection of persecuted Jews.

For example:

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In the 16th century the golem acquired the character of protector of the Jews in time of persecution but also had a frightening aspect.

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.