3. Consider these key aspects of the parable and ask yourself whether the writings of Moses and the prophets support any one of them.
· Luke 16:22. The beggar, after he had died, was carried by the angels.
· Luke 16:22. The beggar was carried to Abraham’s bosom.
· Luke 16:23. The rich man died, was buried, and ‘he lift up his eyes in hell.’
· Luke 16:23. The rich man, now dead and buried, is ‘in torments.’
· Luke 16:23. The rich man, dead and buried, ‘sees Abraham afar off.’
· Luke 16:26. The rich man, dead and buried, is told by Abraham that there is a great gulf fixed between the two dead men, over which they may speak to each other but they may not cross.
NOTE: ‘We cannot set aside what Moses and the prophets have written; for Christ, in the very case under consideration, endorses them, and refers us to them for instruction. How, then, can we account for the fact that the rich man is represented as conscious, intelligent, and active, in hades [the grave], when Moses and the prophets have taught us that hades is a place of darkness and silence, without knowledge, wisdom, or device?’ Uriah Smith: Here and Hereafter, page 176.
4. How does this parable not accord with Moses and the prophets?
· Genesis 3:19. Unto dust shalt thou return. But the rich man is in hell fully alive and conscious.
· Job 14:12. The ungodly riseth not. Yet the rich man lifts up his eyes.
· Psalm 145:20. All the wicked will He destroy. Yet the rich man, although in torments, is not destroyed.
· Psalm 31:17. Let them be silent in the grave. The rich man cried and said.
· Ecclesiastes 12:5. His desires shall fail. The rich man pleads for water to cool his tongue.
· Psalm 6:5. In death there is no remembrance. Abraham, who is dead, says: Remember.
· Psalm 146:4. His thoughts perish. The rich man thinks of his five brothers.
· Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, 10. The dead know nothing. Their love, hatred now perished. But the rich man expresses concern for his brothers.
NOTE: ‘In the case of the rich man and Lazarus, what was [Christ’s] object in view? Answer: To rebuke the Pharisees for their covetousness (‘And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.’ Luke 16:14); to show to them, since they thought that riches in this life was a mark of divine favour, and would secure God’s blessing in the next, that if they gave themselves up to the sensual enjoyments of their riches, neglecting and oppressing the poor, they would, in the future, meet God’s wrath instead of His favour; and that the poor, whom they despised and oppressed, might attain to that very state of felicity set forth under the figure of Abraham’s bosom, of which they thought themselves so sure.’ Uriah Smith: Here and Hereafter, page 177.