What the Bible says about Lazarus
19 “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
20 A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores,
21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.
24 He cried and said, ‘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 am in anguish in this flame.’
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted and you are in anguish.
26 Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’
27 “He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house—
28 for I have five brothers—that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
30 “He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one 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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