Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 16:23
And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
23. in hell ] Rather, in Hades. Hades, which is represented as containing both Paradise and Gehenna, and is merely the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol, ‘the grave,’ is the intermediate condition of the dead between death and the final judgment. The scene on earth is contrasted with the reversed conditions of the other world. The entire scenery and phraseology are Jewish, and are borrowed from those which were current among the Rabbis of Christ’s day. Beyond the awful truth that death brings no necessary forgiveness, and therefore that the retribution must continue beyond the grave, we are not warranted in pressing the details of the imagery which was used as part of the vivid picture. And since the scene is in Hades, we cannot draw from it any safe inferences as to the final condition of the lost. The state of Dives may be, as
Tertullian says, a praelibatio sententiae, but it is not as yet the absolute sentence.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In hell – The word here translated hell (Hades) means literally a dark, obscure place; the place where departed spirits go, but especially the place where wicked spirits go. See the Job 10:21-22 notes; Isa 14:9 note. The following circumstances are related of it in this parable:
- It is far off from the abodes of the righteous. Lazarus was seen afar off.
- It is a place of torment.
- There is a great gulf fixed between that and heaven, Luk 16:26.
- The suffering is great. It is represented by torment in a flame, Luk 16:24.
- There will be no escape from it, Luk 16:26.
The word hell here means, therefore, that dark, obscure, and miserable place, far from heaven, where the wicked shall be punished forever.
He lifted up his eyes – A phrase in common use among the Hebrews, meaning he looked, Gen 13:10; Gen 18:2; Gen 31:10; Deu 8:3; Luk 6:20.
Being in torment – The word torment means pain, anguish Mat 4:24; particularly the pain inflicted by the ancients in order to induce people to make confession of their crimes. These torments or tortures were the keenest that they could inflict, such as the rack, or scourging, or burning; and the use of the word here denotes that the sufferings of the wicked can be represented only by the extremest forms of human suffering.
And seeth Abraham … – This was an aggravation of his misery. One of the first things that occurred in hell was to look up, and see the poor man that lay at his gate completely happy. What a contrast! Just now he was rolling in wealth, and the poor man was at his gate. He had no expectation of these sufferings: now they have come upon him, and Lazarus is happy and forever fixed in the paradise of God. It is more, perhaps, than we are authorized to infer, that the wicked will see those who are in paradise. That they will know that they are there is certain; but we are not to suppose that they will be so near together as to be seen, or as to make conversation possible. These circumstances mean that there will be a separation, and that the wicked in hell will be conscious that the righteous, though on earth they were poor or despised, will be in heaven. Heaven and hell will be far from each other, and it will be no small part of the misery of the one that it is far and forever removed from the other.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
, And in hell. The world hath been filled with disputes about the true signification of the word , which is here translated hell. The most probably true notion of it is, that it signifies, the state of the dead, both of the dead body, and so it often signifieth the grave, and of the departed soul. A very learned man saith, that if he mistakes not, this is the only text in Scripture in which by it is to be understood the place of torments. The Hebrew word which is translated by this, far more often signifying the place of the blessed, whither the saints and patriarchs went when they died, than the place whither sinners went; but Luk 16:24 makes it appear, that here it signifies hell, properly so called, as it imports the place of the damned. We must understand our Saviour in this whole to speak to us figuratively, that by things which we understand we might comprehend spiritual things. Heaven and hell are at too great a distance for souls in each to discourse one with another: neither have souls any eyes to lift up. We are by this taught:
1. That as the souls of good men, when they leave their bodies, go into a state of eternal bliss, where are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and enjoy a felicity which we are not able to express, but is set out to us under the notion of Abrahams bosom, to let us know that it is a place of rest, and communion with saints, and the same felicity which Abraham the friend of God doth enjoy: so the souls of wicked men, when they leave their bodies, shall go into a place of torments, the greatness of which being such as we are not able to conceive, they are expressed to us under the notion of being tormented by fire.
2. That it will be a great part of the misery of damned souls, to understand those to be in a state of happiness whom they in this life have scorned, despised, and abused, and, it may be, have been instruments to hasten them to those blessed mansions.
3. That there will come a time when the proudest sinners will be glad of the help of the meanest saints, if they could obtain it. Father Abraham, ( saith the rich man), send Lazarus, that Lazarus whom when alive I suffered to lie at my gate full of sores, and would not relieve.
4. That the state of the damned will be void of the least degrees of comfort and satisfaction. The rich man desireth but a cooling of his tongue with so much water as could be brought upon the tip of Lazaruss finger.
5. That the tongue is a member, the abuse of which will in another life lie very heavy upon lost souls.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. in hellnot the finalplace of the lost (for which another word is used), but as we say”the unseen world.” But as the object here is certainly todepict the whole torment of the one and the perfect blissof the other, it comes in this case to much the same.
seeth Abrahamnot God,to whom therefore he cannot cry [BENGEL].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments,…. Which may design the place of torment, and the miserable state the Scribes and Pharisees, as all wicked men, enter immediately into upon death, Ps 9:17 who in their lifetime were blind, and are called blind guides, blind watchmen, blind leaders of the blind, and who were given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart; but in hell their eyes are opened, and they see their mistakes about the Messiah, and find themselves in torments, under dreadful gnawings, and remorse of conscience; and having a terrible sensation of divine wrath, their worm dies not, and their fire is not quenched: or this may regard the vengeance of God on the Jews, at the destruction of Jerusalem; when a fire was kindled against their land, and burned to the lowest hell; and consumed the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains; and the whole land became brimstone, salt, and burning; and they were rooted out of it in anger, wrath, and great indignation; see De 29:23 or rather, the dreadful calamities which came upon them in the times of Adrian at Bither; when their false Messiah Bar Cochab was taken and slain, and such multitudes of them were destroyed in the most miserable manner z, when that people, who before had their eyes darkened, and a spirit of slumber and stupidity fallen upon them, in those calamities began to be under some convictions:
and seeth Abraham afar off: the covenant of circumcision given to him, and to them his natural seed, now of no use to them; their descent from him, of which they boasted, and in which they trusted, now of no avail; and him in the kingdom of heaven, and themselves thrust out; see Lu 13:28.
And Lazarus in his bosom; they now found the Messiah was come, and was gone to heaven, whither they could not come, Joh 7:33. The Jews are convinced that the Messiah is born, though not revealed; and they sometimes confess, that he was born the same day Jerusalem was destroyed; and sometimes they say, he sits at the gates of Rome among the lepers, and at other times, that he is in the walks of paradise a. This is said in agreement with the notions of the Jews, that wicked men will see the righteous in happiness, and themselves in torment; by which the latter will be aggravated, to which the allusion is; for they say b,
“the gates of paradise are fixed over against the gates of hell, so that they can see the righteous in rest, and themselves in distress.”
z Vid. Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. col. 372. a Synagog. Jud. c. 50. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 1. Aben Ezra in Cant. vii. 5. T. Hieros Beracot, fol. 5. 1. b Tzeror Hammor, fol. 125. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In Hades ( H). See on Mt 16:18 for discussion of this word. Lazarus was in Hades also for both Paradise (Abraham’s bosom) and Gehenna are in the unseen world beyond the grave.
In torments ( ). The touchstone by which gold and other metals were tested, then the rack for torturing people. Old word, but in the N.T. only here, Luke 16:28; Matt 4:24.
Sees (). Dramatic present indicative. The Jews believed that Gehenna and Paradise were close together. This detail in the parable does not demand that we believe it. The picture calls for it.
From afar ( ). Pleonastic use of as means
from afar .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Hell. Rev., Hades. Where Lazarus also was, but in a different region. See on Mt 16:18.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And In hell he lift up his eyes,” (kai en to hade eparas tous ophthalmous autou) “And in the hades (place of torments, called hell) he lifted up his eyes,” the holding place (abode) of the souls of the responsible unbelievers after death. It is a place of conscious torments, Luk 13:28; Rev 14:10-11.
2) “Being in torments,” (huparchon en basanois) “Being or existing in torments,” in mental, emotional, and spiritual state and place (location) of torments, with every sense-faculty of body and spirit that he had while living, to see, hear, taste, feel and to think, His final damnation was yet future, Rev 20:11; Rev 20:15.
3) “And seeth Abraham afar off,” (hora Abraam apo makrothein) “He sees Abraham from afar,” observes him, is given a vision of him at rest, tormenting him the more.
4) “And Lazarus in his bosom.” (kai Lazaron en tois kolpois autou) “And Lazarus in his bosom,” resting and residing there, where he was prepared to be, at rest, Heb 4:9; Rev 14:13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
23. And, lifting up, his eyes in hell. Though Christ is relating a history, yet he describes spiritual things under figures, which he knew to be adapted to our senses. Souls have neither fingers nor eyes, and are not liable to thirst, nor do they hold such conversations among themselves as are here described to have taken place between Abraham and the rich man; but our Lord has here drawn a picture, which represents the condition of the life to come according to the measure of our capacity. The general truth conveyed is, that believing souls, when they have left their bodies, lead a joyful and blessed life out of this world, and that for the reprobate there are prepared dreadful torments, which can no more be conceived by our minds than the boundless glory of the heavens. As it is only in a small measure—only so far as we are enlightened by the Spirit of God—that we taste by hope the glory promised to us, which far exceeds all our senses, let it be reckoned enough that the inconceivable vengeance of God, which awaits the ungodly, is communicated to us in an obscure manner, so far as is necessary to strike terror into our minds.
On these subjects the words of Christ give us slender information, and in a manner which is fitted to restrain curiosity. The wicked are described as fearfully tormented by the misery which they feel; as desiring some relief, but cut off from hope, and thus experiencing a double torment; and as having their anguish increased by being compelled to remember their crimes, and to compare the present blessedness of believers with their own miserable and lost condition. In connection with this a conversation is related, as if persons who have no intercourse with each other were supposed to talk together. When the rich man says, Father Abraham, this expresses an additional torment, that he perceives, when it is too late, that he is cut off from the number of the children of Abraham
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(23) And in hell.The Greek word is Hades, not Gehenna; the unseen world of the dead, not the final prison of the souls of the lost. (See Note on Mat. 5:22.) It lies almost on the surface of the parable that it describes an earlier stage of the life after death than that in Mat. 25:31-46. There is no mention here of the Advent of the Judge. As far as the parable itself is concerned, there is nothing to exclude the thought that the torments might have in part the character of a discipline as well as of retribution.
In torments.The Greek word was applied originally to the test or touchstone of metals, then to the torture to which men had recourse as the one sure test of the veracity of witnesses, than to torments generally. The nature of the torments here is suggested by the flame of the next verse, but that word has to be taken with all its symbolic associations, and does not necessarily imply the material element of fire. (See Notes on Mar. 9:43-49.) What is meant is that there shall be for the soul of the evil-doer, when brought face to face with that holiness of God which is as a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29), an anguish as intolerable as the touch of earthly flame is to the nerves of the mortal body. The thought is expressed with great beauty in Dr. Newmans Dream of Gerontius:
And these two pains, so counter and so keen,
The longing for Him, when thou seest Him not;
The shame of self at thought of seeing Him,
Will be thy veriest, sharpest purgatory.
Seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.Here again we are in a region of symbolic imagery, under which we discern the truth that the souls of those who have yielded to selfish indulgence will discover after death that those whom they have scorned and neglected during their life are admitted, if worthy of admission, to the enjoyment of a rest and refreshment from which they themselves are, by their own act and deed, excluded.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. In hell In hades, or the great unseen. That is, the invisible place or region of disembodied spirits. While the body of man is in the grave, his soul is in hades. So taught the Jewish Church; and Jesus here confirms the teaching. But hades, it is said, consists of two regions, namely, Paradise, or Abraham’s bosom, the abode of the righteous; and Tartarus, the abode of the wicked. But though hades is thus the abode of the blessed spirits, still it is overshadowed by the power of death, and the happiness of the blessed is incomplete until the resurrection. And because it is thus under the power of death, and is the place of detention, even for the good, the word hades is sometimes, as here, used as the proper name of the compartment of the wicked only. But when the day of resurrection shall come, the righteous shall, after the judgment, ascend body and soul to heaven, and the wicked be cast into the lake of fire, gehenna, or the second death. And death and hades shall be merged into the same lake of fire. Rev 20:14.
These views of future retribution, more or less clearly, have been taught among all the nations of the earth; as if they were written by the finger of God upon the human heart. It is not, indeed, possible in the present parable to draw the line between the figurative and the literal. The conversation between the two parties embraces doubtless the truths it suggests in dialogue form. But the true conclusion is, that the Great Teacher here opens as true a picture of the world beyond death as our present inexperienced minds can receive, conceive, and truly understand. The commentator who by a natural unforced construction arrives at the most literal interpretation, attains probably the nearest to the essential if not to the physical truth.
Eyes But has the disembodied spirit eyes, tongue, finger, etc.? We answer, a spirit possesses sight; for even in life it is the soul that sees, and the eye is but its instrument. So also it is the soul that hears, feels, tastes, and smells, through its sensorial organs. And so our entire present sensitive system is in the human form, extending from within to the surface of the body. Our sensitive skin is a dress of and in the human form; our bone system is a skeleton in human form; and so our nerve system and blood system are so many outline sketches of the same figure. The sensible soul, extending its power and apparent presence, is limited by the skin to the same shape. How know we that it carries the same limitations and the same shape when emancipated from the outward world?
He lifted up his eyes No angel bearers carry him to hades; but, as if the transition were instant, as soon as he closes the eyes of the body upon earth, he opens those of the soul in hell.
Being in torments
And seeth Abraham The Jewish Church believed Abraham to be the master-spirit of the blessed Israelite dead. “In the future world,” says one of their writers, “Abraham will sit at the gate of hell; nor will he permit a circumcised man to descend thither.” Jesus teaches that no Abrahamic descent will save a man from woe.
Afar off The Jews believed that Paradise and Hades were so near as to be in sight.
And Lazarus in his bosom We are not to figure here one man as in another’s bosom; but both as reclining at table, in such a way as that the guest next to the host reclines his head on the bosom of the host.
In order to unfold the lesson of the parable, our Lord uses the conception of an actual banquet, with the actual Abraham at the head and Lazarus next. The lesson is, that the poorest being on earth may be exalted by the purest piety to the highest place in Paradise. He sits not only at the banquet, but after his first arrival he at least takes his turn in occupying the highest seat. Yet more truly we may say that Lazarus represents humble Christianity on its way to eternal glory; while Abraham represents the ancestral Church of past ages. The humble latter-day Church joins the eternal banquet and reclines in the bosom of the Church that has gone before.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Luk 16:23. In hell, &c. In the unseen world, as we have frequently observed is the meaning of the Greek word . Both the rich man and Lazarus were in hades, though in different regions of it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Ver. 23. Being in torments ] Having punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without succour, crying without compassion, mischief without measure, torments without end, and past imagination.
And Lazarus in his bosom ] Which more vexed him than his own torments, saith Chrysostom.
He lifted up his eyes ] So often lifted up (saith one) in a false devotion.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
23. . ] Hades, , is the abode of all disembodied spirits till the resurrection; not, the place of torment, much less hell , as understood commonly, in the E. V.
Lazarus was also in Hades , but separate from Dives; one on the blissful, the other on the baleful side. It is the gates of Hades, the imprisonment of death , which shall not prevail against the Church ( Mat 16:18 ); the Lord holds the key of Hades , ( Rev 1:18 ); Himself went into the same Hades, of which Paradise is a part.
not eternal condemnation; for the judgment has not yet taken place; men can only be judged in the body , for the deeds done in the body: but, the certainty and anticipation of it .
, not necessarily to a higher place , though that may be meant: see reff.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 16:23-26 . In the other world . : from the O.T. point of view Hades means simply the state of the dead. Thus both the dead men would be in Hades. But here Hades seems = hell, the place of torment, and of course Lazarus is not there, but in Paradise. : Paradise dimly visible, yet within speaking distance; this is not dogmatic teaching but popular description; so throughout. : plural here ( cf. Luk 16:22 ); so often in classics.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
hell. Greek. Hades = the grave. See App-131.
lift up = having lifted up. Compare similar imagery in Jdg 9:7-15. Isa 14:9-11.
being = being there. See note on “were”, Luk 16:14.
torments. Greek. basanos. Occurs only here, Luk 16:28, and Mat 4:24.
afar off = from (Greek. apo. App-104.) afar.
seeth . . . Lazarus. The Pharisees taught that in life two men may be “coupled together”, and one sees the other after death, and conversations take place. See Lightfoot, quoted above.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
23. . ] Hades, , is the abode of all disembodied spirits till the resurrection; not, the place of torment,-much less hell, as understood commonly, in the E. V.
Lazarus was also in Hades, but separate from Dives; one on the blissful, the other on the baleful side. It is the gates of Hades, the imprisonment of death, which shall not prevail against the Church (Mat 16:18);-the Lord holds the key of Hades, (Rev 1:18);-Himself went into the same Hades, of which Paradise is a part.
-not eternal condemnation;-for the judgment has not yet taken place; men can only be judged in the body, for the deeds done in the body:-but, the certainty and anticipation of it.
, not necessarily to a higher place, though that may be meant:-see reff.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 16:23. , hell) [inferno]. Neither Abraham nor Lazarus were , although the death and descent of Christ [to hell] had not yet taken place.
and Gehenna differ,
As a whole, and a part differ;
As a thing present, and a thing about to be, viz. after the day of Judgment;
As a receptacle of individuals, and a receptacle of all the bad without exception.
is much wider in its meaning, than Gehenna, Comp. Gen 37:35 [I will go down into the grave ( , to Hades) unto my son mourning], where certainly Jacob is not expressing despair as to[the salvation of] his soul or that of Joseph [but merely his desire to follow Joseph to the unseen world of Hades]. In the first distinction which we have given between the words, itself and Gehenna itself are had regard to; in the third, it is the dwellers in each that are regarded. Abraham was in the widest sense of the term, as is used in the passage above quoted from Gen. But in Luke and the bosom of Abraham are opposed to one another.-, having lifted up) A lamentable spectacle, presenting itself from the abyss.-[ , in torments) And this, at a long interval before the last day; nay even preceding the death of Christ.-V. g.]- , Abraham) but not God Himself. For which reason also he cannot cry unto God, Have mercy on me.-) The plural expressing the space from the breast to the knees.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
hell
(Greek – , “the unseen world,” is revealed as the place of departed human spirits between death and resurrection). The word occurs, Mat 11:23; Mat 16:18; Luk 10:15; Act 2:27; Act 2:31; Rev 1:18; Rev 6:8; Rev 20:13; Rev 20:14 and is the equivalent of the O.T. “sheol.” (See Scofield “Hab 2:5”). The Septuagint invariably renders sheol by hades.
Summary:
(1) Hades before the ascension of Christ. The passages in which the word occurs make it clear that hades was formerly in two divisions, the abodes respectively of the saved and of the lost. The former was called “paradise” and “Abraham’s bosom.” Both designations were Talmudic, but adopted by Christ in Luk 16:22; Luk 23:43. The blessed dead were with Abraham, they were conscious and were “comforted” Luk 16:25. The believing malefactor was to be, that day, with Christ in “paradise.” The lost were separated from the saved by a “great gulf fixed” Luk 16:26. The representative man of the lost who are now in hades is the rich man of Luk 16:19-31. He was alive, conscious, in the full exercise of his faculties, memory, etc., and in torment.
(2) Hades since the ascension of Christ. So far as the unsaved dead are concerned, no change of their place or condition is revealed in Scripture. At the judgment of the great white throne, hades will give them up, they will be judged, and will pass into the lake of fire Rev 20:13; Rev 20:14. But a change has taken place which affects paradise. Paul was “caught up to the third heaven.. .into paradise” 2Co 12:1-4. Paradise, therefore, is now in the immediate presence of God. It is believed that Eph 4:8-10 indicates the time of the change. “When he ascended up on high he led a multitude of captives.” It is immediately added that He had previously “descended first into the lower parts of the earth,” i.e. the paradise division of Hades. During the present church-age the saved who died are “absent from the body, at home with the Lord.” The wicked dead in hades, and the righteous dead “at home with the Lord,” alike await the resurrection; Job 19:25; 1Co 15:52. (See Scofield “Mat 5:22”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
in hell: Psa 9:17, Psa 16:10, Psa 49:15, Psa 86:13, Pro 5:5, Pro 7:27, Pro 9:18, Pro 15:24, Isa 14:9, Isa 14:15, Mat 5:22, Mat 5:29, Mat 18:9, Mat 23:33, 1Co 15:55, *marg. 2Pe 2:4, Rev 20:13, Rev 20:14
being: Luk 16:28, Luk 8:28, Mat 8:29, Rev 14:10, Rev 14:11, Rev 20:10
seeth: Luk 13:28, Luk 13:29, Mat 8:11, Mat 8:12
Reciprocal: Gen 3:7 – And the 1Sa 28:15 – therefore 1Ki 13:31 – lay my bones 2Ki 6:20 – opened Job 3:19 – The small Job 4:21 – excellency Job 11:20 – their hope Job 14:10 – where is he Job 14:22 – his soul Job 21:20 – see Psa 49:9 – That he Psa 49:19 – He Psa 73:17 – then Psa 112:10 – wicked Pro 10:2 – Treasures Pro 10:28 – but Pro 19:10 – Delight Ecc 2:1 – I will Ecc 3:21 – knoweth Ecc 5:13 – riches Isa 26:11 – they shall Isa 33:14 – everlasting Jer 3:2 – Lift Eze 32:21 – strong Joe 1:5 – for Zep 1:18 – their silver Mat 12:32 – it shall not Mat 13:42 – cast Luk 3:8 – We Luk 12:20 – God Luk 15:17 – when Luk 16:25 – remember Joh 1:18 – in the Act 2:27 – leave Rom 4:12 – to them 1Ti 6:7 – certain Rev 11:12 – and their
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
We have just read that the rich man was buried after his death. People are buried in the earth only, hence this man had something in his being besides his body that went elsewhere, and that could feel the sting of torments. For information about hell, see the note at Mat 5:30. Abraham’s bosom is explained in the preceding verse, and afar off will be considered at verse 26.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
[He seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus.] Instead of commentary, take another parable: “There are wicked men that are coupled together in this world. But one of them repents before death; the other doth not: so the one is found standing in the assembly of the just; the other in the assembly of the wicked. The one seeth the other, [this agrees with the passage now before us] and saith, ‘Woe! and alas! here is accepting of persons in this thing: he and I robbed together, committed murder together; and now he stands in the congregation of the just, and I in the congregation of the wicked.’ They answer him, ‘O thou most foolish amongst mortals that are in the world! Thou wert abominable, and cast forth for three days after thy death, and they did not lay thee in the grave: the worm was under thee, and the worm covered thee: which when this companion of thine came to understand, he became a penitent. It was in thy power also to have repented, but thou didst not.’ He saith unto them, ‘Let me go now and become a penitent,’ But they say, ‘O thou foolishest of men, dost thou not know that this world in which thou art is like the sabbath, and the world out of which thou camest is like the evening of the sabbath? If thou dost not provide something on the evening of the sabbath, what wilt thou eat on the sabbath day? Dost thou not know that the world out of which thou camest is like the land, and the world in which thou now art is like the sea? If a man make no provision on land for what he should eat at sea, what will he have to eat?’ He gnashed his teeth and gnawed his own flesh.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Luk 16:23. And in hell, Greek, Hades, i.e., in the state or place of departed spirits; which must not be confounded with Gehenna, the final state of eternal punishment, since in this case it includes Abrahams bosom.
He lifted up his eyes. Either he looked up to a higher place, or he now became fully conscious.
Being in torments. The rich man was in a place of punishment; for the whole parable turns on this point. Physical torment is not implied, save so far as it is necessary for the figurative representation. The rich mans body was buried.
Seeth Abraham afar off. According to the Jewish notion, Paradise and Gehenna are so situated that one is visible from the other. A literal sense is not to be pressed, any more than in the previous part of the verse. The recognition of Abraham points to the fact that descent from Abraham, even when acknowledged in that state after death (Luk 16:25), is in itself of no avail.
In his besom. Strictly figurative.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Luk 16:23. And in hell , in hades; that is, in the unseen, or invisible world. It must be observed, that both the rich man and Lazarus were in hades, though in different regions of it: he lifted up his eyes, being in torments Our Saviour adapts this circumstance of the parable, says Lightfoot, to the popular opinion of the Jews. The rabbins say, that the place of torment and paradise are so situated, that what is done in the one may be seen from the other. Because the opinions, as well as the language, of the Greeks, says Dr. Macknight, had by this time made their way into Judea, some imagine that our Lord had their fictions about the abodes of departed souls in his eye when he formed this parable: but the argument is not conclusive. At the same time it must be acknowledged, that his descriptions of those things are not drawn from the writings of the Old Testament; but have a remarkable affinity to the descriptions which the Grecian poets have given of them. They, as well as our Lord, represent the abodes of the blessed as lying contiguous to the regions of the damned, and separated only by a great impassable river, or deep gulf, in such a sort that the ghosts could talk with one another from its opposite banks. In the parable, souls, whose bodies were buried, know each other, and converse together, as if they had been imbodied. In like manner, the Pagans introduce departed souls talking together, and represent them as having pains and pleasures analogous to what we feel in this life. It seems, they thought the shades [spirits] of the dead had an exact resemblance to their bodies. The parable says, the souls of wicked men are tormented in flames; the Grecian mythologists tell us they lie in a river of fire, where they suffer the same torments they would have suffered while alive had their bodies been burned. It will not, however, at all follow from these resemblances, that the parable is formed on the Grecian mythology, or that our Lord approved of what the common people thought or spake concerning those matters, agreeably to the notions and language of the Greeks. In parabolical discourses provided the doctrines inculcated are strictly true, the terms in which they are inculcated may be such as are most familiar to the ears of mankind, and the images made use of such as they are best acquainted with. What we are here taught with certainty is, that as the souls of the faithful, immediately after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity; so, unholy and unsanctified souls, immediately after they are forced from the pleasures of the flesh by death, are in misery and torment, ceaseless, remediless, and endless torment, to be much increased and completed at the general resurrection. And seeth Abraham afar off And yet knew him at that distance; and shall not Abrahams children, when they are together in paradise, know each other? and Lazarus in his bosom Having a view of the seats of the blessed at a distance, the first object that he beheld was Lazarus, the beggar, (who had so often been laid naked, and hungry, and covered with sores, at his gate,) sitting next to Abraham, in the chief place of felicity. In consequence of which, doubtless, the stings of his conscience were greatly multiplied, and he was racked with envy and self-accusing reproaches.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The scene from beyond the tomb, Luk 16:23-31, offers a contrast exactly corresponding to the terrestrial scene. We do not attempt to distinguish in the representation what should be taken in a figurative sense and what strictly. The realities of the spiritual world can only be expressed by figures; but, as has been said, those figures are the figures of something. The colours are almost all borrowed from the palette of the Rabbins; but the thought which clothes itself in those figures that it may become palpable, is, as we shall see, the original and personal thought of Jesus.
Of the two interviews forming this scene, the first relates to the rich man’s lot (Luk 16:23-26), the second to that of his brethren (Luk 16:27-31).
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
16:23 And in hell {i} he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
(i) Heavenly and spiritual things are expressed and set forth using language fit for our senses.