| Introduction...
Difficulties with the Traditional Interpretation of This Parable 1] “If this is a literal history, as is sometimes claimed, of the after-death experiences of two persons, then the good are carried about in Abraham's bosom; and the wicked are actually roasted in fire, and cry for water to cool their parched tongues. If these are figurative, then Abraham, Lazarus, Dives and the gulf and every part of the account are features of a picture, an allegory, as much as the fire and Abraham's bosom. If it be history, then the good are obliged to hear the appeals of the damned for that help which they cannot bestow! They are so near together as to be able to converse across the gulf, not wide but deep”. 2] "That this is only a parable and not a real history of what was actually done, is evident from the circumstances of it, namely, the rich man lifting up his eyes in Hell and seeing Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, his discourse with Abraham, his complaint of being tormented in flames, and his desire that Lazarus might be sent to cool his tongue, and if all this be confessedly parable, why should the rest be accounted history?" (The Bible Hell by J.W. Hanson, D.D.) 3] If this parable is describing actual conditions of the future then those in heaven will be able to hold conversations with those in Hell. People will be able to look across the impassable gulf and see their loved ones in indescribable torment. Such a harrowing situation in no way would grant peace to heaven's occupants! 4] Does a man because he is rich, well clothed and fed, represent all sinners in this world? Is it the poor man, covered in sores, representative of all the righteous? The scriptures say nothing about the rich man being a sinner not the poor man as being a saint. If all the rich, the well fed and well clothed in the world are fated to eternal damnation then it would behoove us (particularly those of us in the Western world who lack so little) to get rid of all we have and become like Lazarus else we will burn in Hell. The only reason Jesus gave for Lazarus resting in Abraham's bosom was that he had had a tough life. If this be the necessary qualifications for heaven, then maybe all Christians had better become beggars, diseased, hungry and give up the doctrines of health, healing and prosperity! The Rich man and Lazarus. J. Patching) 5] It occurs at the end of a chain of parables. The Savior had been illustrating several principles by familiar allegories, or parables. He had exhibited the unjustifiable murmurings of the Pharisees, in the stories of the Lost Sheep and of the Lost Piece of Silver, and the parable commencing the sixteenth chapter was directed to the Scribes and Pharisees, that class of Jews being represented by the Unjust Steward. They had been unfaithful and their Lord would shortly dismiss them. It is clearly absurd to say that he launched immediately from the figurative mode of instruction in which he had all along been indulging, into a literal exhibition of the eternal world, and without any notice of his changed mode of expression. "The Rich Man and Lazarus" The tale is not original to Jesus; he used a familiar story, adapted to make his point, which was already hundreds of years old and did not come from Jewish tradition: it can be read in the Gemara Babylonicum* (hence we know that the rich man's name was Dives, even though Jesus never mentioned it). What was the point that Jesus intended to make? We have to look at the surrounding text to piece that together. Immediately before telling this parable, Jesus makes the following remarks: *See Footnote The Law and the Prophets were until John; from then the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is pressing into it. But it is easier for the heaven and the earth to pass away than one tittle of the law to fail. Everyone putting away his wife, and marrying another, commits adultery. And everyone marrying her who has been put away from a husband commits adultery. (Luke 17:16-18)
and launches into the Lazarus parable without further preamble. Yet these comments, especially as a prelude to such a parable, seem like a string of non sequiturs if we take the parable to be addressing any question about an afterlife. Surely Jesus wasn't given to talking nonsense, flitting from one subject to another with each new sentence! No, his comments on this occasion are all connected, so we have to look again and see how they make sense. As this parable is so often the linchpin on which the doctrine of an afterlife hangs, it seems worth paying some attention to it. "There was a certain rich man; and he was accustomed to don a purple robe and fine linen, making merry in luxury day by day. And there was a certain poor one named Lazarus who had been laid at his porch, being plagued by sores, and longing to be filled from the crumbs that were falling from the table of the rich one. But coming, even the dogs licked his sores. And it happened, the poor one died and was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham. And the rich one also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hell, lifting up his eyes, he sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And calling he said, Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that you fully received your good things in your lifetime, and Lazarus likewise the bad things. But now he is comforted, and you are suffering. And besides all these things, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those desiring to pass from here to you are not able, nor can they pass from there to us. And he said, Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house; (for I have five brothers, so that he may witness to them, that they not also come to this place of torment). Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them. But he said, No, father Abraham, but if one should go from the dead to them, they will repent. And he said to him, If they will not hear Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if one from the dead should rise." (Luke 16:19-31)
All we know about the rich man is that he wore purple and fine linen, and lived in luxury. Jesus gave no hint of whether he was good or bad. In fact, to the people to whom he was telling the story, fine clothes and luxury were considered a sign of God's blessing and approval because this is the reward promised throughout the Old Testament to those who love God and keep his commandments. Poverty, disease and disgrace is threatened to those who do not. Similarly, there is no indication that the poor man, Lazarus, is virtuous and godly or completely otherwise. All we know of him is that he was a beggar who was covered with sores and lay at the gate of this rich man. In time, each of them died. First, I'd like to consider the description of the afterlife scene, to see whether it fits in with plain scripture - or even with common sense - as a literal account of what happens after death. "The poor one died and was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham." There is no other place in the Bible where anyone is carried into Abraham's bosom at death. Why should it be Abraham who opened his arms to receive them? It was not reconciliation to Abraham that Jesus came to bring about, but reconciliation to God. The story goes on, "And the rich one also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hell, lifting up his eyes." If this parable is intended to teach an afterlife of heaven and hell, why, in the entire Bible, is this person alone, of all the possible God-haters and criminals, picked out as an example of what happens after death to those worthy of punishment? In fact, given particularly that this is the only instance of such a description, it seems a very odd description altogether. But perhaps the oddest of all is the prayer of the rich man to Abraham. "calling he said, Father Abraham, have pity on me ..." Strangely, the rich man prays, not to God, but to Abraham and, what's more, Abraham doesn't correct him in this. Instead, he replies, "Child, remember that you fully received your good things in your lifetime, and Lazarus likewise the bad things. But now he is comforted, and you are suffering." There is no suggestion that the suffering is a punishment for sins, he simply tells him that in his lifetime he had received good things, and Lazarus evil things. And he adds, "a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those desiring to pass from here to you are not able, nor can they pass from there to us." Is Abraham suggesting that anyone might want to pass from the place of bliss to the place of torment? The rich man begs one more thing: "Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house; (for I have five brothers, so that he may witness to them, that they not also come to this place of torment)." Abraham's reply is instructive: "They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them." Hear them about what? The rich man wanted someone to show them how to escape the "place of torment" in which he was suffering. But Abraham's reply implies that Moses and the prophets had taught a way to avoid this terrible fate, and therefore that Moses and the prophets must have taught the doctrine of endless torment! But search all the writings of Moses and the prophets and you will not find any such doctrine. May I suggest what this parable does mean? Let me emphasize again, this is a story told to make a point, and it was told to Pharisees. Jesus pitched what he said to his audience. If he was talking to peasants, he used plain language and took his illustrations from rural and family life, with which they were familiar. But Jesus himself was well read and able to argue scripture and doctrine with the best of them, and on this occasion he was talking to people who would understand the symbolism of the tale as he told it. So we have to look at why Jesus would choose Pharisees to tell this story to. The parables and other comments in these chapters seem designed to answer the criticism against Jesus for accepting and associating with those considered sinners, while the Pharisees felt themselves in no need of instruction or forgiveness. Jesus speaks of a search for a lost sheep and a lost coin, and tells about a forgiving father (but a self-righteous and unforgiving brother). He mentions divorce and remarriage as an illustration of the Jews' unfaithfulness to God: it would have been wrong for them to abandon their form of worship before the law was done away with. But now Jesus says, "The Law and the Prophets were until John; from then the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is pressing into it." (Luke 16:16) and by so saying he announces the end of the law and the impropriety of continuing to follow it. And for this, and their rejection of the messiah, God was about to exclude them for a time, as Paul says (Romans 10:19): "But I say, Had Israel no knowledge? First Moses says, You will be moved to envy by that which is not a nation, and by a foolish people I will make you angry," while the Gentiles whom they regarded as dogs, were to enjoy the Good News. The Jewish priests were literally clothed in purple and fine linen and ate luxuriously every day. Also, they above all others had access to spiritual wealth. Gill says, "by the rich man are meant, the Jews in general; for that this man is represented, and to be considered as a Jew, is evident from Abraham being his father, and his calling him so, and Abraham again calling him his son." The Jewish religious professionals considered the Gentiles and their spiritual comforters poor, disgusting and no better than dogs ("the dogs licked his sores"). The Gentiles wanted to know God (he begged for the leftovers from the rich man's table). "The poor one died and was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham." Gentiles, when they heard the Good News, received it. They died to sin and were brought by the messengers ("angel" means "messenger") to the faith of Abraham (the father in faith of the uncircumcised). Jesus similarly speaks of the Gentiles coming to faith in Matthew 8:11,12: "Many shall come from the east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." "The rich one also died and was buried." This signified the end of the Law of Moses with its rituals ("the Law and the prophets are until John"). "Being in torments (See Footnote 1) in Hell, lifting up his eyes, he sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom." Jesus thus describes the chagrin of the Jewish religious professionals to see the Gentiles enjoying the Good News and the faith of Abraham while their own religious riches had been taken away from them (as indeed they were within a generation) and they, religiously and politically, were dead in the grave ("Hell", i.e. Hades). And because they had so hardheartedly rejected the Good News and their Messiah, God had temporarily blinded their mind, "a great chasm has been fixed" so that at that time they were unable to believe the Good News. The Jews also had the advantage of having Moses and the Prophets, who had written enough to make recognition of the Messiah possible when he arrived on the scene. But since they didn't turn to God's way when the Messiah turned up, they would be hardened against being convinced when he rose from the dead. And so we see that this parable was intended as a warning (unheeded by most) that the Gentiles would come into the faith of Abraham from which the spiritually rich Jews had alienated themselves. That is why Jesus prefaces the parable by talking about the Law and Prophets: the religious Jews relied on the Law and the Prophets, and thought they were being faithful to God, but Jesus is saying that they have been left behind because now the kingdom of God is being preached and everyone seems to want to get in apart from them! And there is nothing new in the analogy of adultery as representing unfaithfulness to the covenant between YHWH and the Jewish people.  |
Footnote 1. The word ‘Torments The word rendered "torment" here is a form of the Greek verb odunao, which literally means "grief," "pain," or "suffering." Predominantly, it conveys the sense of mental anguish, not physical pain. Forms of this word are found only four times in the Scriptures, all in the writings of Luke. It appears twice in this parable, in verses 24 and 25. In Luke 2:48, it is used to describe the anxious distress that Mary and Joseph felt after they discovered the 12-year old Jesus missing on the trip home from Jerusalem after the Passover feast. In Acts 20:38, it depicts the sorrow the elders of the Ephesian Church felt at Paul's farewell announcement that they would never see him again. (Lazarus and The Rich Man. Bryan T. Huie) Footnote 2 The fact that the rich man has five brothers is a vital clue to his true symbolic identity. Judah, the progenitor of the Jews, was the son of Jacob through Leah (Gen. 29:35). He had five full-blooded brothers: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, and Zebulun (Gen. 35:23). While the significance of this seemingly pointless detail has been neglected by scholars throughout the centuries, you can be certain that it did not escape the notice of the Pharisees and scribes to which Christ was speaking. They thoroughly knew their history and were extremely proud of their heritage. Yeshua wanted those self-righteous Pharisees to know exactly who He was referring to with this parable. This detail cements the identity of the rich man as the house of Judah, the Jews! (Lazarus and The Rich Man. Bryan T. Huie) Some Related Bible Verses Gal 3:6-9 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they that are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. Rom 11:17-21 But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree; glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee. Rom 11:1 I say then, Did God cast off his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
InPlainSite.org Footnote: While I know next to nothing about the Gemara Babylonicum, it is apparently a book written by the Hebrews during the Babylonian captivity, which contains several ‘pagan’ views that do not correspond to the teachings of Moses plus Babylonian beliefs concerning the afterlife of man that that did not derive from an inspired source. There is some debate as to whether or not the Gemara Babylonicum contains any version of the parable that Jesus told here.. since, as far as one knows, the rabbis did not write down the oral law before approximately 200 A.D... It is possible that this that this story was an oral tradition dating back to the period of the exile. Some also believe that the name Dives simply means wealthy man, added as the rich man's name at a much later date. However whether Jesus simply modified a story with which they were already familiar with, or whether the parable was all His own makes absolutely NO difference. What is important is what Jesus meant by the parable to which this article is dedicated. [PLACE IN TEXT] |
Index to Articles on 
