3.20 The Rich Man and Lazarus

XX. THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.

Luke 16:19 - Luke 16:31. The main object of this parable is to show the fate of those who do not spend their wealth as is taught and enjoined in the parable of the Unjust Steward, but, on the contrary, expend it on a life of luxury and splendour without any thought of the needs and suffer ings of the poor. The parable is virtually an answer to the old problem so often propounded, how are the prosperity of the wicked and the THE PARABLES OF JESUS 199 sufferings of the righteous to be reconciled with the Divine government of the world? The problem for the first time is here definitely and authoritatively solved. The present life is too short to allow of its containing within its own sphere the full and complete realization of what Divine Providence intends in the case of each individual: for this we must await another in which forces will come into play, which seem to be inactive now, and in which the scheme of Providence will receive its adequate expression. The parable has been regarded by critics as the most pronounced of the so-called Ebionitic sections, in which riches as such are condemned, and poverty as such is praised and commended. We are not told, indeed, that the rich man had any vices in particular beyond his hardness of heart towards the poor, which was bred of his own immunity from those miseries which they had to endure; and not a word is said of the virtues of Lazarus; but this is plainly an insufficient foundation on which to base the view in question. Elsewhere in a context devoid of any Ebionitic colouring (Matt. xxv. 41-45) Jesus distinctly teaches that the neglect 200 THE PARABLES OF JESUS of works of charity towards the poor and afflicted is cause enough for condemnation, and even though the virtues of Lazarus receive no formal mention, the narrative implies them. The parable instructs by means of an example, whether the history relates to real events or not is immaterial for the purpose which Jesus had in view. It naturally falls into two parts which have respectively this life and the life beyond the grave for their theatres of action.

Some regard the first part as a history of real events, while they take the second as merely figurative; but the parable in itself gives no ground for a division in this sense. That one of the characters, Lazarus, should be named is indeed remarkable, since it is the only instance in the parables where any of the personages is mentioned by name. Some of those who hold that we have here a history of events which actually occurred assign, as reason for the absence of any mention of the rich man’s name, the unwillingness of Jesus to injure the reputation of the surviving members of his family by exposing the damnation of one of their kinsmen; but surely the mention of the beggar’s name, coupled with THE PARABLES OF JESUS 201 the statement that he lay at the gate of a certain rich man, would have sufficiently revealed the identity of the latter that is, in case Jesus spoke of contemporary events.

We have no difficulty in accepting the opinion that the beggar received a name merely for convenience sake in view of the exigencies of verse 24. Since the third century in some Latin texts the rich man is named Finaeus=

Phineas. Phineas (Numbers 25:7) was the son of Eleazar (=Lazarus), and possibly this connection suggested the name. The history shows that riches are not only a hindrance to the attainment of everlasting blessedness, but that they have a tendency so to harden the heart that all sympathy with the poor vanishes, and no advice or exhortationproduces any effect, while the poor man, though here despised, may be confident of being received into the bosom of Abraham.

There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and who led a life of luxury and splendour. He wore outer garments of wool coloured with the famous purple dye extracted from the shell-fish murex; and his inner garments were of the 202 THE PARABLES OF JESUS material called byssus fine linen, or perhaps cotton. In this way he secured the twofold object, display and comfort. There was also a poor beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at the rich man’s gate, full of sores and desiring to be filled with what fell from his table. Whether this desire was actually gratified or not we do not know; the words in the Vulgate, “ and no man did give him,” seem to be an addition after the analogy of 15:16; but the context favours the negative view. The name Lazarus is the same as Eleazar, and signifies “ God has helped “ or “God help.” To heighten his misery, the street dogs, the scavengers of Eastern towns, used to come and lick his sores, while he saw himself powerless to ward off the unwelcome attentions of these unclean animals. Death, however, reversed the conditions of the two men. The beggar died, and was carried away by angels into Abraham’s bosom. Abraham was the father of the faithful, and the term “ Abraham’s bosom “ was equivalent to Para dise (xxiii. 43). The rich man also died and was buried, and we next find him in Hades. The Greek word Hades has the same meaning THE PARABLES OF JESUS 203 as the Hebrew Sheol, the place of the dead in general, without necessarily including any idea of happiness or unhappiness. Here, however, the context shows that hell (Ge henna), the place of torments, is intended.

Both Abraham’s bosom and hell were regarded as subterranean and situated side by side, so that their respective occupants could see each other and converse together as here repre sented. Jesus wished before all things to be understood, and since, in the popular belief, as afterwards in the opinion of some of the Fathers, a certain material or corporeal form attached to souls separated from their natural earthly bodies, His language here presented no difficulty to His hearers. The rich man, now in torments, lifts up his eyes, and sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. That he should have lifted up his eyes has been held to prove that the place where the souls of the just abode was on a higher plane than hell; but it is far more probable that we have here an instance of the well-known Hebrew mode of speaking (Job 2:12; Luke 6:20; John 6:5). The sight of Abraham and Lazarus excites in him some hope, and 204 THE PARABLES OF JESUS his torments wring from him that piteous cry, “ Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I suffer pain in this flame.” These words suggest a pathetic contrast between the cooling springs and streams of water in Paradise and the tormenting flames in hell. The answer of Abraham, though friendly, leaves no ground for hope: “Child, remember that thou receivedst thy good things in thy lifetime, and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but he now is comforted here, while thou sufferest pain.

And, besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who would pass from hence to you may not be able, nor those from thence cross over to us.” His prayer is rejected; Abraham shows at once its unfairness and the impossibility of granting it. It would seem that a certain measure of good and evil is meted out to individuals. The rich man had received his share of good things during his earthly life, and now the time is come for him to receive his portion of evil. With Lazarus these conditions have appeared in the inverse order. THE PARABLES OF JESUS 205 In the temporal life good things and evil things receive their limitation from time; but, in the life beyond the grave, as no temporal restriction exists there any longer, so also the limitations which spring from it must of necessity cease. In addition, the chasm or gulf fixed between their respective abodes effectually stops all such intercourse between them as the granting of the prayer would involve. The dialogue implies that the old relations of father and son remain unbroken, and it is worthy of notice that Abraham will not add to the anguish of his unfortunate descendant by ascribing his present misery to his past misdeeds: instead, he attributes the altered fortunes of the rich man and Lazarus respectively to causes beyond their own control. Still, we cannot infer from this that in the mind of Abraham both men were on the same spiritual and moral level; on the contrary, in his replies to the further entreaties of the rich man, the guilt of the latter is taken for granted, though here, too, the words of the patriarch show infinite delicacy and tact. The poor suppliant, disappointed in his expectation of some relief, were it ever so 206 THE PARABLES OF JESUS trifling, from his own misery, now bethinks himself of his brethren who are still alive, and who await a fate similar to his own. He once more speaks to Abraham: “ I pray thee then, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also should come to this place of torture.” His personal sufferings are not conceived of as rendering him void of natural affection towards those who are bound to him byties of blood; rather, his own experience of the torments of hell gives him a keener sense of the danger which his brethren are running, and of which they themselves have no appre hension. It would be different if the spectre of Lazarus presented itself before them,unfolded to their terrified souls the harrowing tale of their brother’s miserable state, and threatened them with the same doom unless they repented. This extraordinary course does not commend itself to Abraham, who calmly answers: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” They have within their reach a sufficient means of escape from sharing their brother’s lot: they have THE PARABLES OF JESUS 207

Moses and the prophets, whose writings reveal to them the will of God, and threatentransgressors of His Law with the consequences of His anger. The answer does not reassure the poor condemned man. He remembers how he had the same means of escape from wrath which his brethren now have, and how little it availed him. He is convinced that their condemnation to the same misery as his own is inevitable, and this conviction urges him to press his suit in spite of the refusal which he has already received. He therefore says: “ Nay, Father Abraham, but if one from the dead come to them, they will repent.” The patriarch now puts an end to the colloquy with the stern words: “ If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they allow themselves to be persuaded, even though one should arise from the dead.” The narrative presses home the injunction appended to the parable of the Unjust Steward. Had the rich man during life made Lazarus his friend, by helping him in his poverty, the beggar, who is represented as dying before him, would have received him after death into the eternal tabernacles. He neglected this 208 THE PARABLES OF JESUS means of ensuring his happiness in the life beyond the grave, and this neglect involved him in consequences from which, as the narrative teaches, he could find no means of escape. The thought of the changed estate of Lazarus in Paradise is a source of comfort for the poor and afflicted; and it also tends to preserve them from yielding to the temptation of envying their more fortunate fellow-mortals.

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