Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 20:12

The books opened in God's court contain the deeds of men, whose fate is determined by the evidence of these “vouchers for the book of life” (Alford); the latter volume forms as it were a register of those predestinated to eternal life (cf. Gfrörer ii. 121 f., and below on Revelation 20:15). The figure of books containing a record of man's career was a realistic expression of Jewish belief in moral retribution, which prevailed especially in eschatological literature (e.g., Jubil. xxx.; Enoch. lxxxix. xc.; Daniel 7:10, etc.) after the exile. “And in these days I saw the Head of days, when he had seated himself upon the throne of his glory, and the books of the living were opened before him” (Enoch xlvii. 3; cf. Driver's Daniel, p. 86). It is obvious, from Revelation 20:15, that the resurrection is general (as Daniel 7:20; Daniel 4 Esd. 6:20, 7:32; Test. Jude 1:25; Test. Benj. 10; Apoc. Bar. 7, etc.; cf. Gfrörer, ii. 277 f.; and Charles's Eschatology, 340 f.), in opposition to the primitive and still prevalent belief which confined it to the righteous (E. Bi. 1390). Hence the books contain not the good deeds alone of the saints (the prevalent Jewish idea, cf. Charles on En. 51:1; Malachi 3:16; Jub. xxx.; Psalms 56:8, etc.), nor bad deeds alone (Isaiah 65:6; En. lxxxi. 4; cf. En. xl. 20; Apoc. Bar. xxiv. 1) but good and bad deeds alike (as Daniel 7:10; Asc. Isa. ix. 20 f.). This again tallies with the Iranian faith (Hübschmann, 229), according to which, at the command of Ormuzd, the righteous and the wicked alike were raised for their recompense. Here the tribunal is a throne, before which the king's subjects have to answer for their conduct; rebels are punished and the loyal get the reward of good service (cf. Revelation 22:12, etc.). γεγραμμ., by whom? Jewish speculation conjectured Raphael as the recording angel (En. xx. 3) or a band of angels (Slav. En. xix. 5); but the Jewish idea of the heavenly tables (πλάκες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ) is omitted in the Apoc., nor is there the slightest mention of those living at the era of judgment. Did John mean that none would survive (cf. Revelation 20:5)? Or were any survivors to be taken directly to heaven at the coming of Christ, as in Paul's primitive outlook (see on 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)?

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 20:12

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