Texts in Conversation
Jubilees warns that those who defile Israel are erased from the book of the living and marked for destruction. Revelation echoes a similar tradition, promising the one who conquers that his name will never be erased from the heavenly book of life.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 30:22
Pseudepigrapha
21 I have written this entire message for you and have ordered you to tell the Israelites not to sin or transgress the statutes or violate the covenant which was established for them so that they should perform it and be recorded as friends. 22 But if they transgress and behave in any impure ways, they will be recorded on the heavenly tablets as enemies. They will be erased from the book of the living and will be recorded in the book of those who will be destroyed and with those who will be uprooted from the earth. 23 On the day that Jacob’s sons killed the people of Shechem, a written notice was entered in heaven for them to the effect that they had carried out what was right, justice, and revenge against the sinners. It was recorded as a blessing.
Revelation 3:5
New Testament
4 But you have a few individuals in Sardis who have not stained their clothes, and they will walk with me dressed in white because they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers will be dressed like them in white clothing, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will declare his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
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Notes and References
“... The Books of Deeds and the Book of Life are distinguished in Revelation 20:12 (for the redactional character of 20:12c, see Comment there). The motif of having one’s name erased from, or blotted out of, the Book of Life is a metaphor for judgment (Exodus 32:32-33; Psalm 69:27-28; 1 Enoch 108:3; Jubilees 30:22), based on the notion of expulsion or disenfranchisement from the record of citizenship. Originally, however, to be blotted out of the Book of Life meant ‘to die’ (Exodus 32:32-33; Psalm 69:27-28; Isaiah 4:3). ... Jubilees 30:22 refers to two books, the Book of Life and the Book of those who will be destroyed. ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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