The rich man and Lazarus (also called the parable of Dives and Lazarus) is a parable of Jesus from the 16th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Speaking to his disciples and some Pharisees, Jesus tells of an unnamed rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. When both die, the rich man goes to Hades and implores Abraham to send Lazarus from his bosom to warn the rich man's family from sharing his fate. Abraham replies, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."
Along with the parables of the Ten Virgins, Prodigal Son, and Good Samaritan, the rich man and Lazarus was one of the most frequently illustrated parables in medieval art, perhaps because of its vivid account of an afterlife.
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Interpretations
There are different views on the historicity and origin of the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus.Multiple sources summarized at Jesus DatabaseSee R.M. Bredenhof, Failure and Prospect: Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19–31) in the Context of Luke-Acts (LNTS 603; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019), pp. 5-10.
The story is unique to Luke and is not thought to come from the hypothetical Q document.
As a literal historical event St. Jerome and others view the story not as a parable, but as an actual event which was related by Jesus to his followers.e.g. Webpage which argues that Lazarus and the rich man is literally true (whilst the language used by them could have been figurative).
Supporters of this view point to a key detail in the story: the use of a personal name (Lazarus). By contrast, in all of the other parables Jesus refers to a central character by a description, such as "a certain man", "a sower", and so forth.For a review of ancient and contemporary interpretations of the name 'Lazarus', see R.M. Bredenhof, "Looking for Lazarus: Assigning Meaning to the Poor Man in Luke 16.19–31", New Testament Studies 66 (2020), pp. 51-67.
As a parable created by Jesus Other Christians consider that this is a parable created by Jesus and told to his followers.e.g. The IVP Bible Background Commentary Tom WrightWright T. Luke for Everyone "doesn't add anything new to the general folk belief about fortunes being reversed in a future life. If it's a parable, that means once again that we should take it as picture language about something that was going on in Jesus' work" p. 201 and Joachim Jeremias both treat it as a "parable". Proponents of this view argue that the story of Lazarus and the rich man has much in common with other stories which are agreed-upon parables, both in language and content (e.g., the reversal of fortunes, the use of antithesis, and concern for the poor).
Luther: a parable of the conscience Martin Luther taught that the story was a parable about rich and poor in this life and the details of the afterlife not to be taken literally:
Lightfoot: a parable against the Pharisees
John Lightfoot (1602–1675) treated the parable as a parody of Pharisee belief concerning the Bosom of Abraham, as well as a metaphor for the future Jewish refusal to believe in Christ despite the resurrection, with Abraham saying the rich man's family would not believe even if the dead came back to life:
E. W. Bullinger in the Companion Bible cited Lightfoot's comment,Companion Bible p. 1489, citing "Lightfoot xii, 159–63" and expanded it to include the coincidence that the Pharisees also didn't believe after the resurrection of Lazarus of Bethany (John 12:10). Bullinger considered that Luke did not identify the passage as a "parable" because it contains a parody of the Pharisee view of the afterlife. That is, Jesus did not endorse the afterlife depicted in the parable as literally existing, but instead is using the Pharisee's own afterlife imagery in order to deliver a prophecy about their coming rejection of him. Bullinger states:
A parable against the Sadducees
The parable has also been interpreted as a satirical attack on the Sadducees. The Rich Man is identified as the Sadducees on similar lines as Cox, noting the Rich Man's wearing of purple and fine linen, priestly dress and identifying his five brothers as the five sons of Annas.Friedrich Gustav Lisco, (trans. Patrick Fairbairn) The parables of Jesus: explained and illustrated 1853 p343 "Many expositors have thought they discovered, in this story, a real history, and referred it to the family of Annas and his son-in-law, Caiaphas," Proponents also note that Abraham's statement that "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead." fits the Sadducees' rejection of the Prophetical books of the Bible as well as their disbelief in a resurrection of the dead.Johann Nepomuk Sepp, Thaten und Lehren Jesu: mit ihrer weltgeschichtlichen Beglaubigung 1864.Friedrich Gustav Lisco, (trans. Patrick Fairbairn) The parables of Jesus: explained and illustrated 1853 p. 343. This explanation was popularized in France in the 1860s–1890s by its inclusion in the notes of the pictorial Bible of Abbé Drioux."et c'est cet endurcissement que Jésus prédit quand il dit que du moment qu'ils n'écoutent ni Moïse ni les prophètes ils n'écouteront pas d'avantage quelqu'un qui viendrait de l'autre monde". Drioux Claude-Joseph La Bible populaire: hist. illustrée de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament. Hachette, Paris 1864 p. 497
Perry: a parable of a new covenant Anglican theologian Simon Perry has argued that the Lazarus of the parable (an abbreviated transcript of "Eleazer") refers to Eliezer of Damascus, Abraham's servant. In Genesis 15—a foundational covenant text familiar to any first century Jew—God says to Abraham "this man will not be your heir" (Gen 15:4). Perry argues that this is why Lazarus is outside the gates of Abraham's perceived descendant. By inviting Lazarus to Abraham's bosom, Jesus is redefining the nature of the covenant. It also explains why the rich man assumes Lazarus is Abraham's servant.
Friedrich Justus Knecht: a parable of the future life The Catholic German theologian Friedrich Justus Knecht (d. 1921),Friedrich Justus Knecht (In German) states that this parable gives "a glimpse of the future state, both for our consolation and as a warning." Because after this life there is "a life where everything is quite different from what it is on earth. Lazarus was poor, despised, racked with pain and hunger while he was on earth; but when he died, angels carried his soul to the abode of the just, where he received consolation." However the rich man who when on earth, "led what was apparently a magnificent life. He was esteemed and honoured, surrounded by flatterers, waited on by a host of servants, clad in costly clothes, and he feasted luxuriously every day. But all this magnificence lasted only a short time. He died and was lost for ever, and has been for centuries suffering unspeakable torments."
Knecht also reflects on why the rich man was condemned writing: "Because he was a sensual man, an epicurean, and religion was a matter of no consideration with him. His only thought was how to lead a pleasant life, and he neither troubled himself about the future, nor believed in a coming Redeemer. He led a life without prayer, without fear of hell or desire for heaven, a life without grace and without God."
Afterlife doctrine
The parable teaches in this particular case that both identity and memory remain after death for the soul of the one in a hell. Most Christians believe in the immortality of the soul and particular judgment and see the story as consistent with it, or even refer to it to establish these doctrines as St. Irenaeus, an Early Church father, did.
Some Christians believe in the mortality of the soul ("Christian mortalism" or "soul sleep") and general judgment ("Last Judgment") only. This view is held by some Anglicans such as E. W. Bullinger. Christian Mortalists instead argue that this is a parable using the framework of Jewish views of the Bosom of Abraham, and is metaphorical, and is not definitive teaching on the intermediate state for several reasons. For instance, they point out that Lazarus is never said to be righteous or the rich man to be wicked. Indeed, when Abraham confronts the rich man, he doesn't accuse him of any sin, but instead of merely being comfortable, while Lazarus was tormented, and that now their fortunes are reversed, which Christian mortalists would argue shows that the story is more about the reversal of fortunes motif than an explanation of the afterlife.Bryan T. Huie – Lazarus and the Rich Man – Tentmaker Ministries. Retrieved 14 July 2014. In hades is itself thrown into the "lake of fire" after being emptied of the dead.What Happens When I Die? – When rightly divided, the scriptures support annihilationism; the belief that the wicked will be "destroyed" in the Lake of Fire. – cupofwrath.com. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
Literary provenance and legacy
Jewish sources
Some scholars—e.g., G. B. Caird,G. B. Caird, The Gospel of St. Luke (Penguin Books), p. 191 Joachim Jeremias,Parables of Jesus, p. 182–87 Marshall,I. Howard Marshall, The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Luke, p. 634 Hugo Gressmann,Hugo Gressmann, Vom reichen Mann und armen Lazarus: eine literargeschichtliche Studie (1918)—suggest the basic storyline of The Rich Man and Lazarus was derived from Jewish stories that had developed from an Egyptian folk tale about Si-Osiris.Also see The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 8 (New York: Abingdon Press), p. 290Also note: '...a passage from Whiston's edition of Josephus, A Discourse to Greeks Concerning Hades,...bears an uncanny resemblance to Luke 16. Unfortunately, the resemblance is so uncanny because the passage is based on Luke 16. The author is not Josephus but the 4th Century Bishop Hippolytus. At some point, a copying error confused the names and the mistake was not discovered until recently.' Steven Cox, 'Not Giving Heed to Jewish Fables (2): Abraham in the Underworld ' in The Christadelphian Tidings of the Kingdom of God (July 2000) Richard Bauckham is less sure,'It is quite plausible that a version of the Egyptian and Jewish story was current in first-century Palestine and that Jesus would have known it. Thus...he could have borrowed the two motifs from it. On the other hand, he may well have known other stories which used one of both motifs. He could have known the motifs without consciously borrowing them from any one particular story.' Richard Bauckham, The fate of the dead: studies on the Jewish and Christian apocalypses (Netherlands: Brill, 1998), p. 101 adding: In any case, [Jesus] has used [motifs also found in the Egyptian and Jewish stories] to construct a new story, which as a whole is not the same as any other extant story. ...[Of course] comparison with the way they function in other stories can help to highlight their function in the parable. In this sense, the parallels and contrasts with the Egyptian and Jewish story of the rich and the poor man can be instructive... Steven Cox highlights other elements from Jewish myths that the parable could be mimicking.Steven Cox, The Rich Man, Lazarus, and Abraham (Hyderabad: Printland Publishers, 2000)Steven Cox, 'Not Giving Heed to Jewish Fables (2): Abraham in the Underworld ' in The Christadelphian Tidings of the Kingdom of God (July 2000)
Legacy in Early Christianity and Medieval tradition
Hippolytus of Rome (ca. AD 200) describes Hades with similar details: the bosom of Abraham for the souls of the righteous, fiery torment for the souls of wicked, and a chasm between them. He equates the fires of Hades with the lake of fire described in the Book of Revelation, but specifies that no one will actually be cast into the fire until the end times.