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.