Book of Life

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Depiction of the book of life

In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Book of Life (

High Holidays, particularly in the prayer Unetanneh Tokef
).

In the Hebrew Bible

In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Life records those people considered righteous before God.[3] To be blotted out of this book signifies death.[4] To be in this book ensures one of life on the day of judgment.[5] Even before birth, those who will be born are written in this book.[6]

A related concept appears in Ezekiel 9:4, where an angel marks the righteous on their foreheads for life, while the remaining inhabitants of Jerusalem are doomed.

In apocrypha

The

Paul (Phil 4:3), and "the assembly of the first-born" (Hebrews 12:23; compare I Clem. 45). Allusion is made also in Enoch 81:4, 89:61–77, 90:17–20, 98:6-15, 104:7; 2 Baruch 24:1; Ascension of Isaiah
9:20.

In the New Testament

The text of the Book of Revelation (one of the books of the New Testament, attributed to John of Patmos) refers to the Book of Life seven times (3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 20:15, 21:27, 22:19). As described, only those whose names are written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, and have not been blotted out by the Lamb, are saved at the Last Judgment; all others are doomed. "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15 - King James Version). "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Revelation 20:12 - King James Version).

The Book of Life is also mentioned in Paul's

letter to the Philippians
:

Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.[8]

The eschatological or annual roll-call

While the prevailing tendency among apocryphal writers of the

Judgment Day to the hereafter, the Pharisaic school taught that on the first day of each year (Rosh Hashanah), God sits in judgment over his creatures and has the Books of Life together with the books containing the records of the righteous and the wicked.[9]

The origin of the

blotted out of God's book (Ex. xxxii. 32 et seq.).[13] The life in which the righteous participate is to be understood in a temporal sense, as temporal life is apparently prayed for in the liturgical formula: "Inscribe us in the Book of Life."[9]

In Daniel xii. 1, however, those who are found written in the book and who escape the

everlasting life. Eternal life is certainly meant in Enoch xlvii. 3, civ. 1, cviii. 3, and frequently in the New Testament, especially in Revelation. The Targum (Isa. iv. 3; Ezek. xiii. 9) speaks of the "Book of Eternal Life." The Mishnah states that the deeds of every human being are recorded in a book (Abot, ii. 1; see iii. 16). The Sefer Ḥasidim (xxxiii) pointedly adds that God is in no need of a book of records; "the Torah speaks the language of man."[9]

Fundraising

A book of life motif is frequently found in Jewish houses of worship. It is both a decorative feature and fundraiser. Some synagogues have raised money by inscribing congregation member's names in a "book of life" as a tribute to their financial generosity.[citation needed]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Bible Gateway passage: Malachi 3:16 - King James Version". Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  2. ^ "Book of Life". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  3. ^ "Book of Life". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  4. ^ Exodus 32:33; Psalms 69:28
  5. ^ Isaiah 4:3
  6. ^ Psalms 139:16
  7. ^ xxx. 20-22.
  8. ^ Philippians 4:3
  9. ^ a b c  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainSinger, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Book of Life". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  10. ^ See Creation Tab. iv. 121, and the Zu legend, ii. 7, quoted in Harper's "Babylonische Legenden," in Beitr. z. Assyriologie by Delitzsch and Haupt, 1892, ii. 2, p. 412.
  11. ^ Compare Micah vii. 19 and the art. Tashlik.
  12. ^ Ps. lxix.29.
  13. ^ Ezek. xiii. 9; Jer. xxii. 30; and Ex. xxxii. 30-34, accordingly assigned by Holzinger to a late stratum; see his commentary.

References

  • Charles, Book of Enoch, pp. 131–133
  • Gustaf Dalman, Worte Jesu, p. 171.
  • JAL, "The Book of Life."