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Luke 16:24-31

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

24. And 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 tormented in this flame. 25. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that [would come] from thence. 27. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: 28. For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Luke 16:24-31 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Luke 16:24

Theological / Devotional

Father Abraham. Apparently, according to the parable, Abraham is presented as presiding over hades (see on v. 23). The rich man addresses Abraham as if he were God. The sufferer is a descendant of the patriarch, and appeals to him as a son to a father.

Send Lazarus. The rich man evidently assumes that Lazarus should be placed at his beck and call in hades, which, in a sense, would be a continuation of their relative positions on earth.

Dip. Gr. bapto (see on Matt. 3:6).

Tip of his finger. Those who seek to find in this parable a support for the false doctrine of immortal, disembodied souls, find here embarrassment instead. As if disembodied spirits have “fingers”! Lazarus’ body was in the grave, and therefore his fingers were also in the grave. It is incredible that one disembodied spirit should take a finger, which it is not supposed to have, dip it in water, and then touch the nonexistent tongue of another disembodied spirit. Obviously, Jesus is relating an imaginative story designed to make clear a certain particular truth concerning the relationship between this life and the next (see on v. 19), and does not intend His words to be taken literally. To the rich man, now figuratively suffering in hades, the least alleviation of his “torments” would be graciously accepted. The rich man now longs for a drop of clear, cool water as Lazarus formerly desired the scraps from his table (see on v. 21). If the rich man had “eyes” (v. 23) and a “tongue” (v. 24), and Lazarus had a “finger” (v. 24), it would necessitate the teaching that immediately at death good and bad men go to their rewards as real beings with bodily parts! However, that they do not immediately go to their rewards at death is obvious from the parable itself — their bodies were in the grave, where there is no such thing as fire (see on v. 22).

Tormented in this flame. For evidence that it is not at death, but rather when Jesus returns visibly to this earth (after the millennium) that the wicked suffer the fires of hell, see on v. 19. Concerning “everlasting fire” see on Matt. 5:22.

By SdaBc