What the Bible says about Lazarus
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
20 But at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus whose body was covered with sores,
21 who longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. In addition, the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “Now the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And in Hades, as he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far off with Lazarus at his side.
24 So he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in this fire.’
25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.
26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’
27 So the rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, father—send Lazarus to my father’s house
28 (for I have five brothers) to warn them so that they don’t come into this place of torment.’
29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they must respond to them.’
30 Then the rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 He replied to him, ‘If they do not respond to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
16:19–31 The rich man and Lazarus. The parable implies that the rich man did scarcely anything to alleviate the beggar’s utter misery and degradation. Street dogs were unclean animals and therefore especially unpleasant. We are to infer that Lazarus (‘he whom God helps’) was a pious person.
The beggar found a place of honour beside Abraham, the father of the Jewish race and the friend of God. The rich man found himself in Hades (the niv’s hell is misleading) in torment and agony. He called upon Abraham as ‘father’ for mercy, but, although Abraham addressed him as ‘son’, he offered him no hope.
So far the story follows traditional lines, but now there is a fresh element. Could the rich man’s brothers, who were probably also rich and careless, be warned before they reached Hades? The reply given was that the teaching they possessed in the OT should be enough. Not even somebody returning from the dead could influence those who had shut their ears to God’s voice in Scripture. Failure to practise the love and the mercy commanded in the OT leads to loss in the next life.
The story is a parable, and therefore does not necessarily give literal information about conditions in the next life. ‘Hades’ was the abode of the dead in popular Jewish belief, and it is not clear whether Jesus was referring to the time before or after the final judgment. Yet the clear implication is that the fate of the rich man was finally fixed. Although the language is manifestly symbolic when it talks of the poor man being beside Abraham, it speaks of real destinies for people.
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