ANOTHER LOOK: THE RICH MAN
AND LAZARUS
3-17-2019
The
story that Jesus rendered on the subject of the rich man and Lazarus is found
in Luke 16:19-31. This story is the
primary justification that Bible teachers use for the existence of a Hades type
of structure that consists of two compartments.
One is the resting place for the righteous dead and the other is the
final destination for the unrighteous sinners and lawbreakers. One side represents a restful place and the
other a place of torture. The story also
claims there is a vast chasm separating the two compartments.
Jesus in Hades
Some
exegetes claim, with no convincing scriptural proof, that when Jesus died, He
went to this Hades and preached to the unrighteous and took the righteous to
heaven. However, this is not true. Jesus did not preach to anyone and he did not
return to heaven until after He had risen from the dead and spoke to Mary Magdalene.
John 20:17 NET Jesus replied, "Do not
touch me, for I have not yet ascended to
my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father
and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
The
misunderstanding that Jesus preached to the unrighteous Hades inhabitants is
taken from 1 Peter 3:19. Most versions translate
kērússō as “preach” except for
the Concordant Literal Version which uses the word “herald”.
The Word Study Dictionary: defines kērússō as “to proclaim, announce
publicly”.
1
Peter 3:19-20 NET In it he went and preached to the spirits in
prison, (20) after they were disobedient long ago when God patiently waited in
the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark a few, that is
eight souls, were delivered through water.
Jesus did not preach a sermon to the unrighteous
but proclaimed to “the spirits now in prison” that He was King of the earth.
These spirits are the Watcher angels who were the first to attempt to usurp the
throne by unlawful means. They took the daughters of Adam as wives in order to
lay claim to authority over the earth. But God destroyed the earth by a flood
and imprisoned them in chains of darkness.
Peter was not talking about Jesus preaching to men
in Hades, but about a proclamation to the spirits or angels enchained in
Tartarus. Preaching to the unrighteous
would be a waste of time since all people, who are not the elect, chosen,
overcomers, will be preached to at the second resurrection.
The concept of Tartarus as written and understood by
Peter also differs from Greek mythology.
Yet the Bible borrows the Greek terminology in order to describe a place
that is different from Hades, the place where “spirits” and “angels” are
imprisoned.
Truth or Parable
The
critical question concerning this story would be: Is this a story based on truth or is it a
parable based on various understandings or misunderstandings held by the
current Judean people during the days of Jesus?
The knowledge of the Greek place called Hades was familiar to most since
the publication of the Septuagint. This
translation from Hebrew to Greek by 70 or 72 scholars began around 280 BC. The Hebrew word “Sheol” was translated to the
nearest Greek equivalent which is “Hades”.
Hebrew
teaching claimed that the soul went to Sheol and was considered a place of rest
or sleep. Psalm 13:3 “enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of
death.” Daniel 12:2 “and many of those who sleep in the dust of
the ground will awake.” Matthew 9:24
“Depart; for the girl has not died, but
is asleep.” 1 Corinthians 15:18 “Then those also who have fallen asleep in
Christ have perished.” There are
several other examples.
However,
the Greek religious term “Hades” consisted of various types of torture and pain. The Septuagint was written because many of
the Judeans only spoke Greek while Hebrew became a dying language. The Judeans simply adopted the Greek concepts
of Hades rather than their historic understanding of Sheol.
The Parables
The
majority of Jesus’ parables, if not all, are lessons concerning various aspects
of the Kingdom of God. The parable of
the rich man and Lazarus is just one of many parables of the kingdom that tell
essentially the same story but in different ways.
The
series of parables leading up to the rich man and Lazarus actually begins in
Luke 15: 3-7. These parables are telling the story of the “so-called lost”
nation of Northern Israel, although they were not lost and Jesus knew their
location. This series begins with the parable of the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. Although the parable is
specifically related to one individual, it is actually speaking of a deported
nation of ten Israeli tribes named Israel rather than Judah.
2 Kings 17: 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of
Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and
settled them in Halah and Habor [the same as Chebar], on the river of Gozan,
and in the cities of the Medes.
Ezekiel
and Jeremiah were contemporaries.
Jeremiah remained in Judah, however, Ezekiel was told to go as a
missionary to the house of Israel.
Ezekiel 3:15
NET I came
to the exiles at Tel Abib, who lived by the Kebar (Chebar
KJV; Chobar LXX)
River. I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven
days.
In
Ezekiel 34 the prophet prophesied against “the shepherds of Israel,” that is,
the priests and civil leaders, who had fleeced the sheep but did not care for
them responsibly. Part of the condemnation was that they had not “sought for
the lost”
Ezekiel
34:4-6 NET You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick,
bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with
force and harshness you have ruled over them. (5) They were scattered because
they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. (6) My sheep
wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered
over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.
Ezekiel
34:11-13 NET " 'For this is what the sovereign LORD says:
Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. (12) As a shepherd
seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my
flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on
a cloudy, dark day. (13) I will bring them out from among the peoples and
gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will
feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited
places of the land.
Lost
sheep were the responsibility of all shepherds. Shepherds were not to ignore
lost sheep. Applied to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, it has always
been the responsibility of the Shepherds to find God’s lost sheep. It is
written in the divine law. Yet most have been content to turn the other way.
Jesus
came as the great Shepherd (Heb. 13: 20), the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11), and
the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5: 4). He came to find His lost sheep, but in
finding them, He also has brought in other sheep which were not of that fold.
That is the subject of other parables such as the “hidden treasure” in Matthew 13:44 followed by the “pearl of great value” found in Matthew
13:45-45; the parable of “the net”;
and “new and old treasures”.
Matthew
13:44 NET "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure,
hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and
sold all that he had and bought that field.
The
parable of the lost coin is found in
Luke 15:8-10. It is said that this was
no ordinary coin, but was part of a wedding bracelet that was traditional in
those days. The prophets speak of Israel
as being God’s wife, especially in the context of His divorce from her in later
years (Jer. 3: 8-14; Hosea 2: 2). Again, it can be said that Christ came to
seek out the lost coin, representing the lost house of Israel.
The
prodigal son is the next parable
recorded in the latter part of Luke 15:11-32. The prodigal was the house of
Israel (called “My son” in Hosea 11: 1), while the older brother with the
begrudging attitude was Judah. The
younger brother left home to see the world which was fine with the older
brother who thought the remainder of the inheritance would be his.
The
citizens of Judah never bothered to seek out the nation of Israel. As long as the house of Israel is lost (in
the eyes of those who refuse to seek them out) the Jews or Judeans are more
than happy to lay claim to the inheritance of the birthright.
Considering
that the parables of: the lost sheep;
the lost coin; and the prodigal son are interpreted as the lost sheep of the
house of Israel then the next appearing story of the rich man and Lazarus
should also be construed as a parable of the same nature.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
The
rich man was dressed in purple and fine linen like the temple priests who ruled
the people. Thus, the rich man is identified with the rulers of the Judean
nation. The rich man also had five
brothers as did Judah from which the nation of Judah got its name. The rich man feasted every day. Perhaps this refers to the daily feasting on
the Word of God which apparently offered the rich man no benefit or advantage
at all.
The
poor beggar Lazarus, on the other hand, first represents the lost house of
Israel, which, at that time, was “laid [ballo,
to cast down] at his gate.” The Greek word, ballo, is usually translated
“cast” in the New Testament. For
example, in Matt. 3:10, a tree that does not bear good fruit is “cast” into the
fire. In Matthew 7:6, we are told not to “cast” our pearls before swine.
The
pearl/swine picture does not convey a man lovingly and carefully laying pearls
in front of pigs. Neither does it convey the concept of Lazarus being carefully
laid at the gate of the rich man. Rather, it portrays Lazarus as being cast
down.
Lazarus
represents the house of Israel that had been cast down and cast out of the land
from 745-721 B.C. This is recorded in 2 Kings 17: 20,
2 Kings 17: 20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of
Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He
had cast them out of His sight.
Thus,
Lazarus represents the House of Israel deported by the Assyrians. They had been absent from the land and from
the Word of God for several centuries prior to the time of Jesus Christ. If the rich man’s banquets represent the Word
of God then the house of Israel only had a few crumbs, if any. Other than the brief visit from the prophet
Ezekiel they were largely cut off from the Word of God until Paul and other
missionaries brought the message of the risen Messiah to their attention in
various parts of Europe.
The
parable portrays both Lazarus and the rich man dying. Since these men represent Israel and Judah,
the parable reveals the ultimate fate of each nation after these nations were
destroyed (Israel by Assyria, Judah by
Babylon, Greece, and ultimately the Roman Empire) (the Persians allowed them to return to Judea).
The
house of Israel, like Lazarus, would be reestablished to Abraham’s bosom (the promise of God, the New Covenant).
The majority portion of the house of Judah, which rejected Jesus, would go into
a time of “torment,” which they themselves presently affirm continuously. The
rich man wanted someone to go to his living brethren and warn them. However, we
read in Luke 16: 31 But he said to him, If they do not listen to
Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from
the dead, and the majority were not persuaded.
John
5:46-47 NET If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because
he wrote about me. (47) But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how will
you believe my words?"
The
parable of the rich man and Lazarus should not be taken as a literal account of
some person taken to a fiery Hades after their death. The rich man is a metaphorical prophecy
foretelling the condition of “torment” that the Jews would experience in the
1,900 years of exile after the destruction of Jerusalem. Also, the parable does not teach that rich
people will be sent to a fiery hell.
