Luke 16:22

Luke 16:22 . And it came to pass — In a little time; that the beggar died — Worn out with hunger, and pain, and want of all things; and was carried by angels (amazing change of the scene!) into Abraham’s bosom — So the Jews styled paradise; the place or state where the souls of good men remain from death to the resurrection. The expression alludes to the way of representing the felicities of heaven, by sharing a magnificent banquet with Abraham and the other patriarchs; (see Matthew 8:11 ; Luke 22:30 ;) and nothing could better describe the honour and happiness of Lazarus, who had lain in so wretched a condition before the rich man’s gate, than telling us that he was placed next to Abraham, and so, as the Jews expressed themselves, lay in his bosom, John 13:23 . The rich man also died — For death knocks with equal boldness at the sumptuous mansion of the rich, or even at the palace of the prince, and at the cottage of the peasant. This rich man’s purple and fine linen, and his faring sumptuously every day, could not keep death from him: nay, probably these things served to hasten its approach: for various diseases, and even those of a very dreadful and tormenting kind, are frequently the certain consequences of luxury and high living. And was buried — Doubtless with pomp enough, though we do not read of his lying in state: that stupid, senseless pageantry, that shocking insult on a poor putrifying carcass, was reserved for our enlightened age!

We read nothing of poor Lazarus’s funeral: and indeed, this is one advantage which the rich have over the poor, their wealth will provide for them a costly funeral! Their clay-cold corpse shall be enclosed in a coffin covered with velvet, many mourners shall be hired to put on a melancholy aspect, a cloak for a glad heart, and horses decked with nodding plumes, shall bear their wretched remains to the cold, senseless tomb! But alas! what is all this pomp to the soul, which, the moment it leaves the body, enters on an eternal scene of bliss or wo! Nay, and even before it leaves it, has views and feelings very different, according to the difference of the state it finds itself to be in, and the apprehensions of coming misery, or expectations of approaching happiness which it entertains. How great was the difference in these respects between the feelings of the rich man and those of Lazarus, when on the verge of eternity! the approach of death being very terrible to the former, while the latter descried the goal with inexpressible joy. And from the moment of their departure, how utterly were all things respecting them reversed!

Luke 16:22-23 . Ἀπενεχθῆναι αὐτόν ] not his soul merely (“non possunt ingredi Paradisum nisi justi, quorum animae eo feruntur per angelos,” Targum on Cantic. Luke 4:12 ), but the dead person who is not buried (as the rich man was, Luke 16:23 ), but instead thereof is carried away by the angels (“antequam egrederentur socii ex hac area, mortui sunt R. Jose et R. Chiskia et R. Jesa; et viderunt, quod angeli sancti eos deportarent in illud velum expansum,” Idra Rabba , 1137 f.), and that too into Abraham’s bosom, where he lives once more and is blessed ( Luke 16:24 f.). Ewald also, and Schegg, hold the correct view. The usual device, that the burial of the poor man was left without mention, as being worthy of no consideration, is an evasion, the more arbitrary in proportion as the narrative is a fictitious one, the doctrine of which indeed concerns only the condition of the souls in Hades, while its concrete poetic representation concerns the whole man ; hence Hofmann, Schriftbew . I. p. 359, mistaking very inconsiderately the poetic character of the description, calls our explanation folly. εἰς τὸν κόλπ . Ἀβρ .] בחיקו של אברהם , among the Rabbins also a frequent sensuous representation of special blessedness in Paradise,[209] where the departed referred to are in intimate fellowship with the patriarch who loves them (resting on his breast). Comp. Wetstein. See also 4Ma 13:16, where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob receive the dead into their bosom.

The κόλπ . Ἀβρ . is therefore not of the same import as Paradise, Luke 23:43 , but Abraham is in Paradise (comp. on John 8:56 ), and has there received Lazarus to his bosom . The representation of a repast (Grotius, Bengel, Michaelis, Kuinoel, and others) does not belong to this place, but refers to the Messianic kingdom ( Matthew 8:11 ). καὶ ἐτάφη ] so that therefore it was not with him as it was with Lazarus, who was carried by the angels, etc. It is usually supposed by way of addition to this: splendidly, in accordance with his position , and the like. This is purely arbitrary. Luke 16:23 . Hades corresponds to the Hebrew Sheol , which in the LXX. is translated by ᾅδης , and hence denotes the whole subterranean place of abode of departed souls until the resurrection, divided into Paradise ( Luke 23:43 ) for the pious, and Gehenna for the godless. Ruth R. Luke 1:1 : “Illi descendunt in Paradisum, hi vero descendunt in Gehennam.” That ᾅδης in itself does not mean the place of punishment alone—hell, although the context may bring with it the reference thereto, is very clearly evident in the New Testament from Acts 2:27 ; Acts 2:31 .[210] This is in opposition to West in the Stud. u. Krit . 1858, p. 265. From the Old Testament, compare especially Genesis 37:35 . The reward and punishment in Hades is a preliminary one until the full retribution after resurrection and judgment. The upper Paradise, which is in heaven, is not to be confounded with that lower one.

Luke 16:22 . The end comes to the two men.— ἀπενεχθῆναι : the poor man dies, and is carried by angels into the bosom of Abraham; the man , body and soul (so Meyer), but of course this is poetry . What really happened to the carcase is passed over in delicate reserve.— ἐτάφη : of course Dives was buried with all due pomp, his funeral worth mentioning. (“It is not said that the poor man was buried because of the meanness of poor men’s burial, but it is said expressly of the rich man, διὰ τὸ πολυτελὲς τῆς τῶν πλουσίων ταφῆς .” Euthy. Zig.)

Luke 16:22 . Ἀπενεχθῆναι ) He was carried away , from the place that was strange to him (in which he was an alien) to his true country.— αὐτὸν , that he ) i.e. his soul: inasmuch as Abraham also is designated in reference to the soul [not the body ], although his bosom , and the finger of Lazarus, as also the tongue of the rich man, are mentioned.— εἰς τὸν κόλπον , into the bosom ) as his own genuine son, the coheir and sharer of the same table with Abraham, who “sits down” to the banquet in the kingdom of the heavens [ Matthew 8:11 ]. An abbreviated mode of expression: For the bosom presupposes the banquet; the banquet presupposes the kingdom of the heavens. Lazarus attained to the kingdom of the heavens; nay more, to the banquet: nay even to the bosom of Abraham. Lazarus afterwards having become more intimately united to Abraham, is said to be ἐν τοῖς κόλποις αὐτοῦ , Luke 16:23 , in the plural.[176] The Jews used to call the good state of the dead the bosom of Abraham , and the garden of Eden , with which comp. Luk 32:43. See Lightfoot on this passage.— καὶ , also ) Often two men die at the one time, who during life were next neighbours.— ἐτάφη , was buried ) with great pomp. This formed the conclusion of those “good things,” which the rich man received: see Luke 16:25 . [176] An allusion to the folds of the garment on the bosom , or in the lap. —E. and T.

(22) Was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. —Of the three terms in common use among the Jews to express the future state of blessedness—(1) the Garden of Eden, or Paradise; (2) the Throne of Glory; (3) the bosom of Abraham—this was the most widely popular. It rested on the idea of a great feast, in which Abraham was the host. To lie in his bosom, as St. John in that of our Lord’s ( John 13:23 ), was to be there as the most favoured guest. And this was the position which was assigned to the beggar, obviously not merely as a compensation for the “evil things” he had endured on earth, but as the crown of the faith and patience with which he had borne them. The being “carried by angels” was literally in accord with the popular Jewish belief. Either good angels in general, or the special guardian angels of the righteous, took on them this office. The rich man also died, and was buried.—As no mention is made of the burial of the beggar, it is obvious that there is something specially distinctive in the word. It had been, we may imagine, a stately burial, with hired mourners and all the pageantry of woe. such as within a few weeks, or even days, was to be the portion of the historic Lazarus of Bethany.