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The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas
The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.
The book of life
An old picture of God keeping a register of the names of those who belong to him. Jewish writers developed it, and the New Testament uses it from Luke to Revelation.
A town keeps a roll of its citizens, and having your name on it settles whether you belong. The Old Testament speaks of a book in which God writes the names of his people, and of names being blotted out of it. Jewish writers after the Old Testament made much of this picture. To have your name in the book of life meant that you belonged to God and would share in the life he promised.
Keener calls the book of life an Old Testament image that ancient Judaism developed further. He points to Exodus 32:32-33, Daniel 12:1 and Malachi 3:16, to the Essene Damascus Document 20:19 and to Jubilees 36:10. Jewish tradition often emphasized the picture. On Luke 10:20 Keener notes that a heavenly book listing the names of the righteous turns up often in Jewish writings such as Jubilees and 1 Enoch. Old Testament precedent also includes Isaiah 4:3 and perhaps Psalms 56:8 and 139:16. The ESV Study Bible calls it God's record of those who belong to him, with roots in Exodus 32:33 and Psalm 69:28. It appears several times in Revelation, from 3:5 to 21:27. The CSB Study Bible notes that the New Testament mentions it rarely, and that it refers to those listed among the saved. Hebrews 12:23 speaks of the firstborn whose names are enrolled in heaven. That recalls the citizen registers of Greek cities as well as the book of life. Greek and Roman cities kept official rolls of citizens, adding new citizens and removing those expelled. In some cities an offender's name was struck off just before execution. So the promise in Revelation 3:5 never to blot out a name from the book of life also spoke in civic terms, and Sardis was known for its royal archives. Jubilees, the books of Enoch and the Testament of Abraham speak of heavenly tablets of deeds, with angels recording sins. Beale cites 3 Enoch, where Satan and the angel princes of Rome and Persia write Israel's sins on tablets for God.
An analogy: a city's register of citizens, where a name entered brings rights and a name struck out means exile. Once the roll is read, no one argues with the clerk.
Because the book recorded those who belonged to God, Paul's remark in Philippians 4:3 that his quarreling coworkers' names are in the book of life sets their quarrel inside a shared belonging. In Luke 10:20 Jesus tells his messengers to rejoice that their names are written in heaven, and Revelation 20:12 pictures the books opened at the judgment.
Not a roll kept by human clerks. A city register records the decisions of officials, and it records only names. The book in these sources is God's own record in heaven, and Jewish texts set beside it tablets of deeds kept by angels.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-12-18-29\/","n":"Hebrews 12:18-29, Sinai, Zion and the unshakable kingdom","s":"Believers have not come to the burning, quaking mountain of Sinai but to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, with myriads of angels, the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, God the judge, the spirits of the righteous, and Jesus, whose blood speaks better than Abel's. Since God will shake heaven and earth once more, they are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.","r":"Hebrews 12:18-29"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-3-1-6\/","n":"Revelation 3:1-6, Sardis, alive in name only","s":"To Sardis the one who holds the seven spirits and seven stars says the church has a reputation for being alive but is dead, and warns that he will come like a thief if it does not wake up. A few have not soiled their clothes; the one who conquers will walk with him in white and will not be blotted out of the book of life.","r":"Revelation 3:1-6"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-13-1-10\/","n":"Revelation 13:1-10, the beast from the sea","s":"A beast with ten horns and seven heads rises from the sea, built from Daniel's leopard, bear and lion, and the dragon gives it his power. One head seems to have had a fatal wound that healed, the whole earth follows it in awe, and it is allowed to blaspheme and to make war on God's people for forty-two months.","r":"Revelation 13:1-10"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-20-7-15\/","n":"Revelation 20:7-15, Gog and Magog and the great white throne","s":"Released at the end of the thousand years, Satan gathers Gog and Magog, the nations from the four corners of the earth, around the camp of God's people, but fire from heaven consumes them and the devil is thrown into the lake of fire. Before a great white throne the dead, given up by the sea, death and Hades, are judged from the books, and anyone not found in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire, the second death.","r":"Revelation 20:7-15"}
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Philippians 4:3 and on Luke 10:20
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Philippians 4:3
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Philippians 4:3
- CSB Study Bible, note on Philippians 4:3
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Hebrews 12:23
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Hebrews 12:23
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 3:5-6
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 3:5
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 20:12
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, on Revelation 12:10
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 20:12
