Psalms 69:28

Let them be blotted out of the book of life,.... Which some understand of this animal life, or of the catalogue of living saints; of their being not written among the living in Jerusalem, or in the

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living.

Of the living; or, of life: either, 1. Of this life. Out of the number of living men; which anciently used to be written in catalogues, out of which the names of those who died were blotted. Or rather, 2. Of eternal life, as both Jewish and Christian interpreters commonly understand it; which agrees best, 1. To the use of this phrase in Scripture; for in this sense men are said to be written in the book, , or in God’ s book, , or in the book of life, 13:8 17:8 20:12 21:27. 2. To the last clause of the verse, which explains it of that book, wherein none but the righteous are written; whereas this life, and that attended with health and prosperity, is promiscuously given to and taken from good and bad men. 3. To the quality of the persons of whom this is said; which are the malicious enemies of God, and of his people, and the murderers of the Lord of glory, who shall be punished with eternal death. In this book men may be said to be written, either, 1. In reality, by God’ s election or predestination. Or, 2. In appearance, when a man is called by God to the profession and practice of the true religion, and into covenant with himself, and professeth to comply with it; and so is written in the writing of the house of Israel, which is said of all that are in the assembly of God’ s people, , and so seems to others, and it may be to himself, to be really written in the book of life. And when a man renounceth this profession and religion, he may be said to be blotted out of that book, because his apostacy makes it evident that he was not written in it, as he seemed to be. For this is a known and approved rule for the understanding of many texts of Scripture, that things are oft said to be done when they only seem to be done, and are not really done; as he is said to find his life, . , who falsely imagined that he did find it, when in truth he lost it; and to have, , who only seemed to have, as it is explained in the parallel place, ; and to live, , when he vainly conceited himself to be alive. And in like manner men may be said to be written in or blotted out of this book, when they seem to be so by the course of their lives and actions. But that this blotting out is not meant properly and positively, is clear from the last branch of this verse; which, after the manner of these books, expounds the former, wherein this doubtful phrase is explained by one which is evident and unquestionable, even by his not being written in it; for it is impossible that a man’ s name should be properly blotted out of that book in which it was never written.

Psalms 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.Ver. 28. Let them be blotted out, &c.] Wherein they were never indeed written among those living in Jerusalem, Isaiah 4:3, those firstborn whose names are written in heaven, Hebrews 12:23, but they accounted themselves of that number, and were so esteemed by others. This was a mistake, and the psalmist prayeth God to make it appear so, Ne videantur in albun tuorum relati quibus verae vitro donum destinasti.

(28) Book of the living—or life.—This image, which plays so great a part in Christian poetry (Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 21:27. Comp. Philippians 4:3; Luke 10:20), is derived from the civil lists or registers of the Jews. (Exodus 32:32; Jeremiah 22:30; Ezekiel 13:9.) At first erasure from this list only implied that a man was dead, or that a family was extinct (see references above); but as death was thought to deprive of all benefit of the covenant (see Note, Psalms 6:5), such erasure came to imply exclusion from all the rights and privileges of the Theocracy, and therefore from the glory of participating in the promised deliverance and restoration of the race, and so gradually, as eschatological ideas developed, from the resurrection to eternal life. Daniel 12:1 marks a stage in this development. In the psalmist’s mouth the words would correspond to the ideas current when he wrote. From the next clause, Let them not be written with the righteous, it might be argued that the idea had already appeared which limited the resurrection to the righteous—an idea current at the date of 2Ma 7:14, but probably familiar to some minds much sooner.

Verse 28. Let them be blotted out] They shall be blotted out from the land of the living. They shall be cut off from life, which they have forfeited by their cruelty and oppression. The psalmist is speaking of retributive justice; and in this sense all these passages are to be understood. And not be written with the righteous.] They shall have no title to that long life which God has promised to his followers.

28. the book of the living] Or, as R.V., the book of life. The figure is borrowed from the lists or registers of citizens (Jeremiah 22:30; Ezekiel 13:9). God has a book in which the names of those who are to be preserved alive are inscribed. The righteous have their names recorded in it (cp. Habakkuk 2:4). May the names of these malefactors be struck out, or never inserted there! May they be deprived of their privileges as Israelites! May they perish and be utterly forgotten! Cp. Exodus 32:32; Isaiah 4:3; Daniel 12:1. But—and this mitigates what would otherwise be the awful character of the imprecation—‘the book of life’ is not here to be understood in the full N.T. sense as ‘the book of eternal life’ (Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 20:12).

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living - That is, Let them cease to live; let them not be numbered among living people; let them be cut off.

28. Blotted out of the book of the living—Or, the book of life. The allusion is to the public genealogies, where the names of all the living were recorded.