The Story of the Rich Man and Lazarus
What is Jesus communicating through this story?

Luke 16:14-31
"And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said unto them, You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses [forcefully] into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Whosoever puts away his wife, and marries another, commits adultery: and whosoever marries her that is put away from her husband commits adultery.

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 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. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and you are tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from here to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from there. Then he said, I pray you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house: For I have five brothers; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

Parable or a True Story?
Firstly, it should be considered whether this story is a parable, or a true historical account of what happened to two real people? It is important to notice Jesus spoke this story to the the Pharisees (Luke 16:15), who are described by Jesus as being covetous, hypocrites, full of thievery, self-indulgence, iniquity, and murder (Luke 16:14, Matthew 23:25-31).

Jesus had told the disciples earlier in Luke, "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand." (Luke 8:10). Matthew describes how Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables: "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:" (Matthew 13:34, see also Psalm 78:2). So, Jesus was in the habit of speaking in parables to people that were not his disciples.

If the story was a literal account of two people, could it be possible that some water from the finger tip of Lazarus would have really eased the rich man's fiery torment? Also, would all those who find peace in the hereafter be able to freely watch as some suffer fiery torment? Furthermore, would these two groups really be able to freely converse with each other, as was the case in this story?

In the story, Abraham seemed to indicate that the reason why the rich man was suffering in the afterlife was because during his life he had received good things, while Lazarus had received evil things: "you in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and you are tormented."
If this is to be taken literally wouldn't that mean that the way to attain a blessed existence in the afterlife is to endure poverty and suffering in this life? Such an idea is not found elsewhere in Scripture.

There are many different kinds of beliefs about a place called "Hell", some are more fictional than others. One view of hell is that it is a place where there is absolutely nothing good, a place completely void of things like love, kindness, virtue, and compassion. If the rich man was in this kind of a hell, then shouldn't he be void of all brotherly affection, and show no concern for the future wellbeing of his five brothers? The story actually describes the rich man benevolently pleading for his brothers to be warned about where they were headed.

Further support for this story being a parable is found in how Jesus begins the story with "There was a certain rich man". In Luke's Gospel there are six other parables that open with either "A certain man", or "There was a certain man":
"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho" (Luke 10:30)
"A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard" (Luke 13:6)
"A certain man made a great supper" (Luke 14:16)
"A certain man had two sons:" (Luke 15:11)
"There was a certain rich man" (Luke 16:19)
"There was a certain rich man, which had a steward" (Luke 16:1)
"A certain man planted a vineyard" (Luke 20:9)

So it is very easy to conclude, that just like the many other parables above, the story of Lazarus and the rich man is indeed also a parable.

Some claim it is not a parable because Lazarus is mentioned by name, and in no other parable is anybody mentioned by name. However Jesus giving the beggar the name Lazarus actually adds further depth to the non-literal interpretation of the parable as will be discussed later in this article.

Some desire to use this parable to teach about the afterlife, but the problem is that parables are not always bound to reflect reality, for example elsewhere in Scripture we read of a parable were trees talked about anointing a new king for themselves (Judges 9:7-15), from such a parable it would be a mistake to assume that Scripture teaches that trees talk, or that trees anoint other trees to reign as kings over themselves. In the same way, we need to be careful of what truths we draw from the Lazarus parable.

There is a generally accepted principle in the study of theology, that one should never build a doctrine based on a parable, since they were originally told to conceal a truth, and are often ambiguous in their meaning. Therefore it is not wise to use the Lazarus parable as a foundation to build a teaching that immediately after death some will go to a place of fiery torment, as happened to the rich man in this story. The fact is this parable is the only place in the Bible where such an idea may be found.

If it is to be taken literally, the parable implies there is some kind of judgment immediately after death which divides people either to a fiery place, or a pleasant place. But nowhere else in the Bible is such an idea of an immediate judgment after death found. Instead the Bible speaks of certain time when all people will be resurrected, after which everybody will be rewarded according to their works (Matthew 16:27, Revelation 22:12, Daniel 12:2, John 5:29). To be rewarded according to ones works in the afterlife does not automatically mean some will be damned to a fiery place for ever. The day of rewarding may also be likened to the end of a marathon race, competitors are rewarded according to how their race went, a few are rewarded with great honor and glory, some may be rewarded with a certificate of completion, and those that failed to complete the race or were disqualified will receive no reward for their efforts other than a judgment of being unworthy to receive a reward. "For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out." (Proverbs 24:20). Being without a reward is very different to being punished with eternal fiery torment.

Even if this parable was a true story of what happened to two real people after they died, the parable does not clearly say that the gulf between the rich man and Lazarus was eternal. At that point of time, when Jesus told the story, it may have been fixed. However Jesus had not yet defeated death on the cross. Later in the book of Revelations Jesus declares he has "the keys of hell and of death" (Revelations 1:18), Scripture also declares that hell itself will eventually be thrown in the lake of fire (Revelations 20:14).

What does the Parable teach?
Jesus told parables as a means of communicating important spiritual truths. Care needs to be taken in correctly interpretting these coded messages. Some parts of a parable may have no specific meaning, other than to illustrate the story and set the scene for the bigger picture. A parable may carry multiple important messages, and may speak at multiple different levels.

Some truths that may be picked up from this parable include:

1) Lessons in true Holiness: The outward appearance or prosperity of an individual has no relation to their inner well-being in the eyes of God. In other words to be blessed in this life with much is not a sign of being specially favoured and blessed by God. Just as suffering in this life is not a sign of being unfavoured by God. It is not the outward state of Lazarus that we should find repulsive, but instead it is the state of the rich man that should stir up feelings of repulsion.

Jesus had not long before this story rebuked the Pharisees for making themselves righteous before people (Luke 16:15), on the outside they portrayed themselves as holy and clean, but like whitewashed tombs, on they were unclean on the inside (Matthew 23:27). For the Pharisees holiness was about doing things the right way, eating and drinking right, washing themselves right, performing ceremonies the right way, etc. But for Jesus, holiness was a matter of having a pure heart, being merciful, and meek (Matthew 5:3-12), and outward uncleanness (being a diseased beggar) was not an obstacle to inner cleanness.

The Pharisees at one time told a man born blind: "You were altogether born in sins" (John 9:34), so the Pharisees condemned a man simply for being born blind! Jesus taught against such condemnation of others: "condemn not, and you shall not be condemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven:" (Luke 6:37). The Pharisees condemned the most weak and vulnerable members of society rather than showed them mercy. The characteristic of condemning others spews from heart manifested with pride, such people love to condemn others, for it can make them look and feel greater. Some are quick to condemn those born spiritually blind to a fiery eternal torment, when Scripture says even Jesus did not come to condemn sinners, but to save them. "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:17)

2. Lessons in Humility: The parable also reminds us of God's promise to humble the proud, and lift up the humble (Luke 14:11, Psalm 147:6, Isaiah 2:11). The Pharisees liked to sit in high places, they liked to be looked up to and greeted in the marketplace. While yet alive, the rich man of the parable would have looked down upon Lazarus laying on the ground, but after death, it was the rich man that was looking up to Lazarus.

In the message known as the "Beatitudes" Jesus taught saying "blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). The underlying Greek word for "poor" in this Scripture is the exact same Greek word translated "beggar" that described Lazarus in Luke 16. The word is transliterated "Ptochos". The original Greek word describes a person with absolutely nothing.

Jesus once praised a poor widow who donated all the money she had, which had only been a few coins (Luke 21:3). The same Greek word for "poor" is used to describe her. To be "poor in spirit" speaks of recognizing that you are completely dependent upon God's mercies and provision for spiritual wholeness and holiness. This was the exact opposite of how Jesus described the self-righteous Pharisee's:
"You are they which justify yourselves before men" (Luke 16:15).

The kingdom belonging to the poor in Spirit is a common theme in other parables. In the story of the prodigal son, it was after reaching a place of humble helplessness that he was reconciled with his father. In the parable that describes the prayers of the publican and the Pharisee, the publican admitted his helplessness, and need for mercy. However, the Pharisee in that parable boasted of all he had done, and how much better he was than other people like the publican (Luke 18:10-14). Jesus made clear which of these two ways of approaching God was more pleasing to Him.

In the beatitudes, Jesus speaks of a time when conditions would be reversed, a time when the hungry will be filled, those weeping will laugh, and so on. He also warns of the woes that await those that are rich and full now (Luke 6:20-26). The rich and full who Jesus condemns can be interpreted to be the religious shepherds of Israel who were greedily feeding themselves and not their flocks. Instead they were guilty of burdening the souls of people, and would not even lift a finger to give relief (Luke 11:46, Matthew 23:4). It is fitting that in the Lazarus parable it is now the rich man that begs for relief from the finger of Lazarus.

If we read the parable of Lazarus in light of the beatitudes, it brings much clarity to the story. Those that believed they were deserving to be in Abraham's bosom, were very badly deceived. They considered themselves God's special chosen people, who were of infinitely greater worth to God than anybody else. But instead of being favoured by God, the truth was God was utterly disgusted with them. Such delusions of self-grandeur are the symptoms of a heart infested with pride.

3. Lessons in Earthly Riches: The parable also serves as a reminder of how seriously God takes the failure to help the poor. The fact that Lazarus was hungry for crumbs, would mean the rich man was failing to fulfill his duty to help the poor in the land (Deuteronomy 15:11), In Proverbs we read "Whoever shuts his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard." (Proverbs 21:13). Jesus also said that "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." (Matthew 5:7).

Some Jews are said to have believed being a beggar was a result of God's curse because of personal wickedness or that of ones parents. The Psalmist speaking in condemnation of the wicked says "Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg" (Psalm 109:10). This kind of Scripture could have been used to justify not helping beggars. In the same way some Jews also wrongly taught that sickness was a result of sin.

It is the nature of pride to despise the weak, leading to the weak being dehumanized as less worthy of life. It is likely the Pharisees saw people like Lazarus the beggar as equal with dogs. If somebody views another person equal to a dog, then they will treat them like a dog.

A parable that parallels the theme of helping the afflicted is the story of the good Samaritan. A man had been robbed and beaten badly, while lying on the ground, he was ignored by some religious Jews that passed by, but then a generous hearted Samaritan helped him.
It was the Jewish leaders who were the ones who should have been examples of living God's way. Instead the story lifts up a Samaritan as the hero, whom the Jews despised. Jesus was making clear that it was those that were merciful that pleased God regardless of how others viewed them.

The Lazarus parable also reminds us of how earthly riches fit into the bigger scheme of things, Jesus had earlier taught "For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?" (Luke 9:25).

The Pharisees where blinded by a love of money, only a short time before Jesus told the Lazarus parable, they had derided Jesus after he had declared "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Luke 16:13).

The rich man of the parable can be seen as an example of those who are under the mastership of mammon. He enjoyed being lavished with the luxuries of fine food and clothing, while turning a blind eye to the needs of the poor. Some chapters earlier Jesus had taught saying: "Sell what you have and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which do not become old, an unfailing treasure in Heaven, where no thief comes nor moth corrupts." (Luke 12:33)

Earlier in the same chapter of Luke 16 Jesus told the parable of a shrewd steward who knew he was about to lose his job, and so he reduced some of the debts his masters customers owed, so that when he didn't have a job anymore, these customers might possibly help him out. The message of this parable can be understood to be that just as the wicked man who knew he will lose his job made sure he had a good earthly future, so too God's people should be laying up true and enduring treasure in heaven for the time when we leave this earth behind.

Symbolic interpretation
A non-literal interpretation of this parable is that the rich man represents the Jews (especially the Pharisees), and Lazarus outside the gate with the dogs represents those whom the religious leaders despised as unclean such as non-Jewish people, as well as Jews whom they considered outside the blessings of God because of contamination with sin or uncleanness, like tax collectors, prostitutes, and demoniacs. Interestingly, during the ministry of Jesus, many such commonly despised people turned to follow Jesus and hungered after the "words of eternal life" (John 6:68) which proceeded from Jesus. Like Lazarus these despised people had hungered in vain for crumbs of mercy from the table of the "rich" religious leaders.

The view that the story is about two people groups rather than two individuals is strengthened by several details in the story, some of these are presented in the below sections.

What does the fire and torment represent?
In the Old Testament prophets often used "fire" when describing earthly judgment that was a result of abandoning God (Jeremiah 21:12, Ezekiel 16:41, Ezekiel 30:14). The parable of Lazarus can be understood to be a similar prophetic warning to Israel, and in context of other prophetic messages the fire simply represents earthly judgment events.

If the rich man represents the Jewish nation, his fiery torment may be descriptive of the earthly suffering the Jews encountered when their kingdom "died" so to speak, and when they lost their privileged position of being God's chosen people. Despite receiving many warnings the Jewish people as a nation chose to follow their own path, and that path eventually led to horrific suffering inflicted upon them at the hands of the Romans. Israels capital city Jerusalem with its temple suffered fiery destruction in 70 AD. Many were killed and taken into captivity.

Jesus and His messengers had warned Israel about this coming earthly judgment many times:

-John the Baptist warned of a time of wrath that was coming saying "O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones." (Luke 3:7-8).

-When Jesus was told about some Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with sacrifices, Jesus told them it was not right to think of these individuals as greater sinners because they had suffered in such a way, and he went on to state "but unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3). These words can be understood as a clear warning that His hearers would also suffer an untimely death unless they repented, this is made very clear by the parable Jesus told shortly after speaking those words of a barren fig tree, "Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?" (Luke 13:7), the same theme is echoed in the gospel of Matthew "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. " (Matthew 3:10). In other Scriptures the fig tree is used to symbolize Israel (Hosea 9:10, Joel 1:6-7, Jeremiah 24:2). Three years is also the same duration of time that Jesus went about Israel doing miracles and preaching repentance. "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17).

-Jesus described how God in His great mercy and love yearned for the inhabitants of Jerusalem to find their way back to Him: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate." (Matthew 23:37-38)

-When Jesus was walking to Golgotha to be nailed to the cross, he said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" (Luke 23:28-31). The apostle John also received a prophetic revelation of a similar time to come (Revelation 6:16).

In their great anguish they would cry out to the mountains to fall on them, not to save them from death, but so that they might die quickly, rather than suffer things like torture, rape, starvation, seeing the massacre of loved ones, and other forms of horrific humiliation.

Jesus also said for some it would have been better for them to have died by drowning in the sea with a millstone tied around their neck (Luke 17:2). Though drowning may be a relatively quick and peaceful way to die. For a Jew to be drowned in the sea would have been a very dishonorable way to die. There was a desire in their culture to be buried in distinguished tombs with dignity and respect. In Jewish heritage drowning was connected with judgment, such as that which came upon the Egyptian armies of Moses day, and the wicked world in Noah's day. Execution by drowning was not a Jewish practice, Eastons Bible dictionary states "Drowning was a mode of capital punishment in use among the Syrians".

So when Jesus says being drowned would be a better way to die for those that were offending His children, he was giving serious forewarning of some very horrific events that would meet those following the path of destruction, and it would be far worse than being drowned in the sea. Being starved and tortured for a long period of time before being massacred and heaped into mass graves at the fiery garbage dump outside Jerusalem in the valley of Geheena would indeed be a much worse fate than drowning in the sea.

-Jesus often warned the Jews about ending up in this real geographical place called "Geheena". In a speech to the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus said "You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?" (Matthew 23:33) [WEB].
Some Bible translations translate Gehenna here and elsewhere in the Bible as "Hell", but it is requires a large theological step to equate an actual physical location called "Gehenna" as speaking of a spiritual place of the dead, such a large step is not easily justified. Throughout the old testament Scriptures Hell was simply the place of the dead, where even holy men of God went (Genesis 37:35, Genesis 42:38, Genesis 44:29-31, Job 14:13, Psalm 49:15, Ecclesiastes 9:10, 1 Samuel 28:19).

-In Acts we also read how Peter described Jesus as fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, and he said of Jesus "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." (Acts 3:22-24).

-Jesus said of Jerusalem:  "For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation." (Luke 19:41-44). When these forewarned days of great torment and tribulation eventually did arrive, we can imagine how many of those suffering may have cried out to heaven for help, just like the rich man cried out to Lazarus. But no help arrived, for sadly they had not heeded the multiple warnings, and recognized their time of visitation.

The Secular Historical Record
In the war known as the "First Jewish War" (66–73 AD) the Jewish historian Josephus estimates that during the war and the siege of Jerusalem, 97,000 people were taken into captivity, and 1.1 million people died (History of the Jews, 6:9:3). It has been described as the greatest slaughter of ancient history. Josephus describes the war as being very raw and bloody. Children and women were killed without mercy, some people were tortured to death with fire and torture racks, some were fed alive to wild animals. Josephus tells that those that remained alive had the worser fate than those that had been killed. Many in their great suffering desired death, but death did not come. (The Wars of the Jews 7:8:7).

"As for all those of us who have waged war against the Romans in our own country, had we not sufficient reason to have sure hopes of victory? For we had arms, and walls, and fortresses so prepared as not to be easily taken, and courage not to be moved by any dangers in the cause of liberty, which encouraged us all to revolt from the Romans. But then these advantages sufficed us but for a short time, and only raised our hopes, while they really appeared to be the origin of our miseries; for all we had hath been taken from us, and all hath fallen under our enemies, as if these advantages were only to render their victory over us the more glorious, and were not disposed for the preservation of those by whom these preparations were made. And as for those that are already dead in the war, it is reasonable we should esteem them blessed, for they are dead in defending, and not in betraying their liberty; but as to the multitude of those that are now under the Romans, who would not pity their condition? and who would not make haste to die, before he would suffer the same miseries with them? Some of them have been put upon the rack, and tortured with fire and whippings, and so died. Some have been half devoured by wild beasts, and yet have been reserved alive to be devoured by them a second time, in order to afford laughter and sport to our enemies; and such of those as are alive still are to be looked on as the most miserable, who, being so desirous of death, could not come at it. And where is now that great city, the metropolis of the Jewish nation, which was fortified by so many walls round about, which had so many fortresses and large towers to defend it, which could hardly contain the instruments prepared for the war, and which had so many ten thousands of men to fight for it? Where is this city that was believed to have God himself inhabiting therein? It is now demolished to the very foundations, and hath nothing but that monument of it preserved, I mean the camp of those that hath destroyed it, which still dwells upon its ruins; some unfortunate old men also lie upon the ashes of the temple, and a few women are there preserved alive by the enemy, for our bitter shame and reproach. Now who is there that revolves these things in his mind, and yet is able to bear the sight of the sun, though he might live out of danger? Who is there so much his country's enemy, or so unmanly, and so desirous of living, as not to repent that he is still alive? And I cannot but wish that we had all died before we had seen that holy city demolished by the hands of our enemies, or the foundations of our holy temple dug up after so profane a manner. But since we had a generous hope that deluded us, as if we might perhaps have been able to avenge ourselves on our enemies on that account, though it be now become vanity, and hath left us alone in this distress, let us make haste to die bravely. Let us pity ourselves, our children, and our wives while it is in our own power to show pity to them; for we were born to die, (17) as well as those were whom we have begotten; nor is it in the power of the most happy of our race to avoid it. But for abuses, and slavery, and the sight of our wives led away after an ignominious manner, with their children, these are not such evils as are natural and necessary among men; although such as do not prefer death before those miseries, when it is in their power so to do, must undergo even them, on account of their own cowardice. We revolted from the Romans with great pretensions to courage; and when, at the very last, they invited us to preserve ourselves, we would not comply with them." Source: The Wars of the Jews 7:8:7 http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/war-7.htm

The Roman commander Titus setup camp by Jerusalem in 70 AD on the 14th day of the Jewish calendar month called "Nisan" (Josephus Book 5:13:7), not long after that Jerusalem was besieged. Jerusalem was finally defeated on the same year on 8th of the month of Elul (Josephus 6:8:5). There are 4 months between Nisan and Elul, so the time from Titus pitching camp and the final destruction is about 5 months in total.

It is interesting that in Revelations it speaks about a certain group of people suffering for 5 months: "And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them." (Revelations 9:5-6).

Who does Lazarus and the dogs represent?
At one time, when Jesus was talking to a Syrophoenician woman, he described Israel's special position by comparing them children ofa family who are of first priority when it comes to feeding time, and the outsiders the Gentiles were like dogs in the order of priority. "she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs." (Mark 7:26-27).

God had chosen to bless Israel with the great riches of His divine favour. They had been given Scriptures, prophets, promises, signs, miracles, and even the physical presence of His Son. These same blessings had not been given to the Gentiles, for they were outside the holy covenant relationship God had with Israel. The Gentiles were like Lazarus, outside the rich mans gate, spiritually sick and lame looking to the rich man (Israel) to find some relief from their lack. Israel had been called to be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:5-7, Isaiah 49:6), but they were failing miserably in that role.

With all their blessings, Israel should have been a shining light of God's truth, justice, and holiness to the world. Instead it could be said that they were in a worse spiritual state than even the abhorred Sodom had ever been. For Jesus said that if the same miracles had been done in Sodom as those that had been done in Capernaum, then Sodom would not have been destroyed (Matthew 11:23).

God in His righteousness has an absolute abhorrence for sin and all the damage and hurt it inflicts upon His beloved people, His plan at creation was to have a world free from sin. God is very patient and full of grace, he is deeply grieved when people get entangled in sin, He goes to great effort to help people return to Him, but if they continue to be stiff-necked and refuse to listen, He allows them to suffer the earthly outworkings of rejecting His way. These sad consequences can be said to be God's judgments. For God is supremely in command over everything, he makes the final judgment call upon everything that happens in the world (Psalm 58:11).

As a farmer needs to make a final judgment call regarding removing unproductive or disease infected plants from his farm. So it is when a person or a people group refuses to repent, there comes a point when God must make a final judgment call that the time to repent is over, after which calling for help from the consequences of their chosen path may be in vain. For example, through the witness of Noah's family and the wooden ark, God gave the wicked people of that time plenty of warning about the coming worldwide flood. There came a point when God had to make a final judgment call regarding the fate of the wicked multitudes. When the time came, God Himself closed the doors of the ark, and the waters of judgment began to flood the earth. We can only imagine the cries of anguish, and gnashing of teeth outside the ark as the waters rose. Perhaps some even called out to God, but nobody was saved except for Noah and his family. When considering such somber events, we need to remember that God has clearly said he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11).

The parable of Lazarus may very well be a warning to Israel of a similar horrifying earthly events towards which they were heading.

What does the Licking of the Dogs Represent?
Just like around the world today, there is evidence that dogs were used to protect and watch over property in ancient Israel (Isaiah 56:10). In the parable, it is possible the dogs that licked the sores of Lazarus were in fact the rich man's guard dogs. In a metaphorical sense God had placed the Jews under the protection and watching eyes of the Romans. There is a scriptural connection between the Romans and dogs in the prophetic Psalm of Christ's crucifixion: "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet." (Psalm 22:16)

It has been said that the saliva of dogs can have a healing effect on wounds, and this secret may have been known in ancient times. So the licking dogs may be a symbolic way of Jesus making the point that even that the Romans have more compassion for the poor than the religious Jews. In Scripture we read of Cornelius the devout Roman Centurion who "...gave much alms to the people..." (Acts 10:2). In the gospels we also read of a Centurion that loved Israel, and had great faith in the authority of Jesus to heal his servant.
Jesus admired him saying: "...I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel" (Luke 7:9).

In Roman history there is a famous account of a wealthy Roman man called Spurius Maelius (died 439 BC). During a great famine he purchased a large amount of wheat and then made it available to the suffering poor. Sadly he was killed as a result, for some had accused his generous actions to be a means of gaining the hearts of the people in preparation to make himself king. (Source page 65 "Outlines of Roman history" 1900,  http://archive.org/details/cu31924031230539)

The Name Lazarus
Some believe Lazarus in Jesus' parable was a real person because he is mentioned by name, and no other parable mentions a person by name. But that is a very weak argument, for in fact giving the beggar the name Lazarus actually gives the non-literal interpretation of the parable even greater depth on multiple levels:

1) In the last sentence of the parable Abraham says, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke 16:31). This may be considered prophetic, in the later part of Jesus earthly ministry, we read how he actually did raise a dead man called Lazarus, who had been dead for four days. We can imagine many people would have remembered the story Jesus had told about the rich man and Lazarus, and now among them was a man called Lazarus that had in fact come back from the dead! Lazarus of Bethany was a living testimony to many, that Jesus is the Christ, and He is the Lord over both life and death. However, instead of repenting the religious leaders actually wanted to kill Jesus and Lazarus also (John 12:9-11), there hearts remained unchanged, just as Abraham in the parable had said. On top of the miraculous sign witnessed in the resurrection of Lazarus, the death and resurrection of Jesus Himself was the ultimate sign, but not even this caused the hard hearted religious leaders to repent.

2) The name "Lazarus" is the Greek version of the Hebrew name "Eliezar", which means "God helps". While Abraham was on the earth, he had a servant from Damascus named Eliezer (Lazarus). While Abraham was still childless, he questioned how God's great promise would be be fulfilled, and he asked God if it would be fulfilled through his servant Eliezar. God answered that Abraham would have a heir from His own body (Genesis 15:4).

So originally it was those of Abraham's bloodline to whom the special blessings of God been covenanted. But Israel had failed, and now they would lose that special privilege, and the blessings would be opened up to Eliezer (Lazarus), who represents among other things the Gentile believers, who are not heirs of God's kingdom through blood, but through faith in Christ.

To be at Abraham's bosom, is symbolic of how at a feast the most favoured guest would recline on the bosom of the host, as is the account of one of the disciple's leaning on the bosom of Jesus at the last supper (John 13:23). So Lazarus was now the favoured one, and the rich man was not favoured. It is not the physical descendants of Abraham that find favour, but it is those that have faith, for they are the spiritual children of Abraham.

"Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." (Galatians 3:7)

"That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Galatians 3:14).

3) The name Lazarus (God's help) also reminds us of the cries for "God's help" which were in the habit of arising to heaven when Israel fell into trouble. But in the parable, the cry went unanswered, "Lazarus" did not come, in other words "God's help" did not come.

Scripture tells of many times when the Israelites faced troubles and cried out to God. For example "And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord." (Judges 6:6). God answered this particular cry by sending help through Gideon.

In many of the Psalms there are cries for God's help:
"Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper." (Psalm 30:10)
"Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to thy mercy" (Psalm 109:26)
See also Psalm 66:17-19.

But the Bible also says that God will not always answer when people cry out to Him:
"When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them." (Proverbs 1:27-32)

"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." (Isaiah 59:1-2)

"There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it." (Job 35:12-13)

"And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood." (Isaiah 1:15)

"When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence." (Jeremiah 14:12)

"For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." (1 Peter 3:12).

See also: Psalm 34:15-16, Proverbs 15:29, Micah 3:4, 2 Sam. 22:41-42, Psalm 18:40-41, Job 27:8-9, Deuteronomy 1:45.

Who is the Rich Man and Who are His Five Brothers?
The rich man called Abraham by the title "Father", the Pharisees did the same (John 8:39).
In the parable we read that the five brothers were said to have Moses and the prophets, who else but the Jews have the Moses and the prophets?

There are a several suggestions of who the rich man's five brother represent, here are four:

1) The six brothers may have represented six Jewish sects that opposed Christ, for in Jesus day, the Jewish religion was divided into various sects such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Samaritans, etc. In the historical records of Eusebius of Caesarea (AD 263 – 339), there is mentioned 7 Jewish groups that opposed Christ: "The following were those that were opposed to the tribe of Judah and the Christ: Essenes, Galileans, Hemerobaptists, Masbothæans, Samaritans, Sadducees, Pharisees." (Eusebius, H.E., 4:22:7) (Source: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.ix.xxii.html)
The Hemerobaptists belonged to the Essene sect, but also practiced ritualistic bathing in the morning before prayer in order to pronounce the name of God with a clean body. So the 7 Jewish groups mentioned can be categorized into 6 sects, which may have represented the rich man and his 5 brothers.

2) Another interpretation is that the rich man represents Jacob and Leah's oldest son Judah, who had five full blooded brothers (Genesis 35:23). Judah is the forefather of the Jews (Genesis 29:35).

3) A third interpretation is that the rich man and his five brothers represent the Israel of Jesus day, that was primarily made up of people from six of the original twelve tribes of Israel.

After the death of King Solomon, Israel was divided into the ten Northern tribes, and the southern kingdom that became known as Judah, for it was made of the large tribe of Judah, and the small tribe of Benjamin.

The ten northern tribes of Israel had backslidden and were scattered and carried into captivity by the Assyrians around 722 BC, Hosea prophesied against the Northern kingdom “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” (Hosea 4:6). Judah was not in such a faithless state, and was simply warned "Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend." (Hosea 4:15).

Sadly Jeremiah writes that Judea also followed they ways of Israel, whom God had divorced himself from "Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also." (Jeremiah 3:8).

Without God's blessing and protection, the southern kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians around 587 BC. However after the Persians defeated the Babylonians around 538 BC the people of Judah got another chance, and they were allowed to return to the land of Judea, where they once again rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. There may have been a period when they once again followed Gods ways, but by the time Jesus arrived they had once again become what Jesus described as a "faithless and perverse generation" (Matthew 17:17), and lost sheep (Matthew 15:24, Matthew 10:6).

Judah was originally a mix of primarily Judeans and Benjamites, but during the reign of Asa, king of Judah 912–871 BC, some members from the northern tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon moved to Judah (2 Chronicles 15:9). Members from the tribe of Levi were scattered throughout the land of Israel, including Judah (Nehemiah 11:36). So we can count that the land of Judah in Jesus day was primarily settled by descendants from these 6 tribes, that may be represented by the 6 brothers of Jesus parable.

4) The Bible also mentions 6 geographical areas where Jesus was rejected: Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37), His home town of Nazareth (Mark 6:1-6, Matthew 13:54-58, Luke 4:16-30), a village of the Samaritans (Luke 9:51-56), and the three Galilean villages of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum (Matthew 11:23, Luke 10:13-15). Jesus prophesied that Capernaum would be brought down to Hades. The Great Jewish Revolt began in 66 AD, Nazareth was destroyed in 67 AD by the Romans.

The Rich Man's Clothes
The rich man had a purple robe, this is symbolic of royalty (John 19:2). God had said to Jacob about his descendants "a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins" (Genesis 35:11). God had promised kings would come from the lineage of Judah, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." (Genesis 49:10).

The rich man was also dressed in fine linen. God had commanded the priesthood should be dressed in linen (Exodus 28:39). God had told Moses to tell Israel: "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exodus 19:6).

So the purple and linen clothes are good representations of God's chosen people, Israel who were called to be a royal priesthood. This special role is now given to the church, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10). Scripture makes it clear there is no longer any distinction between Jews and Gentiles when it comes to being God's people in Christ (Colossians 3:11, Galatians 3:28).

The elements describing the rich man make him an ideal metaphor of the Jews, it is easy to assume that this was also very clear to the Pharisees, and they would have understood that they were the object of this parable's harsh rebuke.

What do the water and the uncrossable gulf represent?
The Pharisees would probably never have come into physical contact with somebody like Lazarus. For he would have been considered unclean, and the Jews were forbidden to touch anything unclean (Leviticus 5:2). Pharisees didn't eat with Gentiles, or other Jews they considered unworthy due to personal failings.

It is a kind of poetic justice, that the rich man in Hades desired to suck drops of water from the finger of Lazarus, yet while on the earth he probably would have made every effort to avoid such a person. Such poetic justice is found elsewhere in Scripture, for example the proud Haman was executed on gallows he had prepared for the humble and holy Mordecai. In Acts we read how the great and fearsome king Herod Agrippa puffed up in pride was overcome by small worms (Acts 12:21-23). God uses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27).

So what does the water represent for which the rich man thirsted for so greatly? At another time Jesus told that He Himself offers life giving water:

"but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14)

"He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:38-39)

So water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. This water was not attainable while under the old system, it was only available under the new covenant in Jesus. Those choosing to cling to the old system would remain thirsty. Jesus said one drink of this water and a person would never thirst again. The rich man in the parable seemed to know even just a few drops from Lazarus finger would have brought him relief.

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63)

On deeper symbolic level the rich man can be understood to represent the old system, that is the old covenant which included the laws of Moses. Jesus was bringing in a new system, a new covenant, Lazarus can be seen to represent this completely new religious paradigm.

Jesus told other parables that speak of something new and something old, and how they could not mix. One time when Jesus was questioned why his disciples were not partaking in fasting, in his reply he includes two parables. In one of them He tells how new wine was not suitable for old wineskins, in the other he tells how it was not a good idea to patch an old garment with a piece cut from an new garment (Luke 5:36, Matthew 9:16-17, Mark 2:21-22). The logical conclusion is that it is best to forsake the old worn out garment and keep the new one, and not try to merge the two together for they are incompatible. These two parables speak of how the ways of the old religion should be forsaken for the new and better way which Jesus had come to show. The old garment of righteousness was flawed and lacking, and it should be forsaken for the new perfect garment of righteousness which is Christ, "But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14).

"In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." (Hebrews 8:13).

The new covenant fulfills a great promise of the Old Testament:
"And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezekiel 36:27)

The old way offered no power to make a person righteous, but under the new way, Jesus offers the spiritual water that brings life, and it is only available to those that receive Him, it is not available to those still seeking to live under the old system. So Lazarus being unable to give water to the rich man, can speak of the Life giving water (Holy Spirit) not being available through the old way, but only through the new.

The gulf between the old and new is uncrossable, the old cannot mix with the new. Those still under the old cannot receive the blessings of the new, neither can those in Christ be condemned by the old laws, for they are dead to the law. Paul speaks of those that try to be justified by the law, as ones who have fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4). When we try to mix grace with works in attaining righteousness, we end up with no grace, we need to rest alone in Christ's grace through faith, and only in Him can we enjoy the righteousness of God.

The gap between God's holiness and the sinfulness of man cannot be bridged by the old system and its laws, it can only be bridged through the indwelling of Christ in us.  "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4:9).

The Old Way/The Old Covenant	The New Way/The New Covenant	Scripture
Rich man	Lazarus	Luke 16
"the law was given by Moses"	"but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ"	John 1:17
"oldness of the letter"	"Newness of spirit"	Romans 7:6
"the letter kills"	"The Spirit gives life"	2 Corinthians 3:6
Unable to make righteous	Able to make righteous	Galatians 2:21
"For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar"	"but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all."	Galatians 4:24-26
"Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin."	"If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."	John 8:34-36
"...you could not be justified by the law of Moses"	"And by him all that believe are justified from all things"	Acts 13:39
God's temple was a physical place.	We are now God's Temple	1 Corinthians 3:16
Physical circumcision	Circumcision of the heart	Romans 2:29
God's law written in stone	God's law written in hearts	Hebrews 10:16
"Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away."	"A new covenant"	Hebrews 8:13

The Verses Preceding the Lazarus Parable
In the verses preceding the Lazarus parable Jesus speaks about the law, and then picks up on one particular law in the verse immediately preceding the parable:
"Whosoever puts away his wife, and marries another, commits adultery: and whosoever marries her that is put away from her husband commits adultery." (Luke 16:18)

Why would Jesus make such a statement immediately before telling the Lazarus parable?
It is possible Jesus was talking about the same thing Paul teaches about in Romans 7? Before Christ, God's people were bound to follow the law, like a women is bound to her husband. While he is alive she cannot marry another without being called an adulteress. But when the husband is dead she is free to marry another man. Paul describes Christians as being free to marry Christ spiritually because through Him we have become dead to the law, and we are no longer under the law.

"Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." (Romans 7:1-6)

Scripture makes it clear that the Old Covenant is utterly done away with in Christ, for those under the new covenant to marry the old covenant is to commit spiritual adultery.

An alternative reason for Jesus mentioning divorce and remarriage before the Lazarus parable is because the Pharasees had made the requirements for divorce very low. In Matthew we read of one Pharisee asking Jesus "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" (Matthew 19:3), these Pharasees probably belonged to the school of thought of rabbi Hillel, who allowed a man to divorce his wife for trivial things like "even if she has merely spoilt his food" (Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), tractate Gittin, 90a.)

So Jesus may have brought up the issue of divorce and remarriage as an example of just one point at which the Pharisees traditions and teachings were failing to align with the true laws God had given. In some areas the Pharisees had lowered the requirements of the law, as in the case of divorce. But in other areas they had heightened the requirements, for example to keep the sabbath holy, they said it was sinful to heal a sick person on the sabbath. At one time Jesus rebuked them for being very precise about some minor laws but had "omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith" (Matthew 23:23).

In Luke 16:17 Jesus talks of the impossibility of even one point of the law failing (Greek: fall), this can be understood as communicating the thought that to gain righteousness by the law, every single law must be upheld without failure, which Scripture says all have failed to do.

In Luke 16:16 Jesus talks of some trying to press into the kingdom of God, in the parallel Scripture in Matthew (Matthew 11:12) it talks of some taking the kingdom by force. It is dangerous to enter any kingdom by force, it must be entered in on the terms and conditions of the king. Just as a feast should be entered on the conditions set by master of the feast.

Who were these people that were trying to force there way into God's kingdom? It could be those that failed to accept the only way into the kingdom was via the King of Kings. The religious leaders wanted the kingdom without the King. Instead they were trying to enter in on their own terms, by their own works and legalistic methods, they had also rejected the King's messenger John the Baptist (Matthew 11:18).

Taking the kingdom by force could also be referring to the fact that some Jews had a desire to forcefully make Jesus the king of Israel (John 6:15), and there was a Jewish movement seeking to forcefully bring about God's kingdom on earth by forcefully resisting the Roman oppressors. In the earlier already mentioned Josephus quote we read how the Jews in their pride choose to forcefully resist the Romans to the very blood soaked end, rather than surrender and live: "We revolted from the Romans with great pretensions to courage; and when, at the very last, they invited us to preserve ourselves, we would not comply with them." (The Wars of the Jews 7:8:7).

Hades According to Non-biblical Jewish texts
The concepts of the afterlife described in the Lazarus parable are not found elsewhere in Scripture, but they do align with the views held by the Pharisees in Jesus day as is evidenced by the Jewish Historian Josephus' description of the Pharisees:
"They also believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again; on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people;"
(The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 1, Paragraph 3) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#182HCH0001

In an other work by Josephus known as "Discourse To The Greeks Concerning Hades" we find an even more detailed description of what some Jews believed about Hades, below is a few extracts:

"NOW as to Hades, wherein the souls of the of the good things they see, and rejoice in the righteous and unrighteous are detained, it is necessary to speak of it. Hades is a place in the world not regularly finished; a subterraneous region, wherein the light of this world does not shine; from which circumstance, that in this region the light does not shine, it cannot be but there must be in it perpetual darkness. This region is allotted as a place of custody for souls, ill which angels are appointed as guardians to them, who distribute to them temporary punishments, agreeable to every one's behavior and manners..."

"...but the just are guided to the right hand, and are led with hymns, sung by the angels appointed over that place, unto a region of light, in which the just have dwelt from the beginning of the world; not constrained by necessity, but ever enjoying the prospect of the good things they see, and rejoic in the expectation of those new enjoyments which will be peculiar to every one of them, and esteeming those things beyond what we have here; with whom there is no place of toil, no burning heat, no piercing cold, nor are any briers there; but the countenance of the and of the just, which they see, always smiles them, while they wait for that rest and eternal new life in heaven, which is to succeed this region. This place we call The Bosom of Abraham."

"But as to the unjust, they are dragged by force to the left hand by the angels allotted for punishment, no longer going with a good-will, but as prisoners driven by violence; to whom are sent the angels appointed over them to reproach them and threaten them with their terrible looks, and to thrust them still downwards. Now those angels that are set over these souls drag them into the neighborhood of hell itself; who, when they are hard by it, continually hear the noise of it, and do not stand clear of the hot vapor itself; but when they have a near view of this spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great prospect of fire, they are struck with a fearful expectation of a future judgment, and in effect punished thereby: and not only so, but where they see the place [or choir] of the fathers and of the just, even hereby are they punished; for a chaos deep and large is fixed between them; insomuch that a just man that hath compassion upon them cannot be admitted, nor can one that is unjust, if he were bold enough to attempt it, pass over it."

"...by giving justly to those that have done well an everlasting fruition; but allotting to the lovers of wicked works eternal punishment. To these belong the unquenchable fire, and that without end, and a certain fiery worm, never dying, and not destroying the body, but continuing its eruption out of the body with never-ceasing grief: neither will sleep give ease to these men, nor will the night afford them comfort; death will not free them from their punishment, nor will the interceding prayers of their kindred profit them...."

"...But the just shall remember only their righteous actions, whereby they have attained the heavenly kingdom, in which there is no sleep, no sorrow, no corruption, no care, no night, no day measured by time..."

Source: "An Extract Out Of Josephus's Discourse To The Greeks Concerning Hades" The Works of Flavius Josephus translated by William Whiston: http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/hades.htm

There is also an ancient Jewish religious text known as "The Book of Enoch", it is considered a mixture of writings dating from different time periods. The first section of the book known as "The Book of the Watchers" is believed to have been written between 400 and 200 years before Christ. Due partly to its questionable origins, the book of Enoch has not been accepted by Jews as Scripture, and is simply considered a non-biblical ancient text without biblical authority. Though it is not Biblical, the text gives gives an insight into what kind of beliefs existed in that time period, and from where the Jews in Jesus day may have got their detailed beliefs about the afterlife. Below is a quote from chapter 22 where Sheol or the Underworld is described.

"1 And thence I went to another place, and he mountain [and] of hard rock. 2 And there was in it four hollow places, deep and wide and very smooth. How smooth are the hollow places and deep and dark to look at. 3 Then Raphael answered, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: 'These hollow places have been created for this very purpose, that the spirits of the souls of the dead should 4 assemble therein, yea that all the souls of the children of men should assemble here. And these places have been made to receive them till the day of their judgement and till their appointed period [till the period appointed], till the great judgement (comes) upon them.' I saw (the spirit of) a dead man making suit, 5 and his voice went forth to heaven and made suit. And I asked Raphael the angel who was 6 with me, and I said unto him: 'This spirit which maketh suit, whose is it, whose voice goeth forth and maketh suit to heaven ?' 7 And he answered me saying: 'This is the spirit which went forth from Abel, whom his brother Cain slew, and he makes his suit against him till his seed is destroyed from the face of the earth, and his seed is annihilated from amongst the seed of men.' 8 The I asked regarding it, and regarding all the hollow places: 'Why is one separated from the other?' 9 And he answered me and said unto me: 'These three have been made that the spirits of the dead might be separated. And such a division has been make (for) the spirits of the righteous, in which there is the bright spring of 10 water. And such has been made for sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgement has not been executed on them in their 11 lifetime. Here their spirits shall be set apart in this great pain till the great day of judgement and punishment and torment of those who curse for ever and retribution for their spirits. There 12 He shall bind them for ever. And such a division has been made for the spirits of those who make their suit, who make disclosures concerning their destruction, when they were slain in the days 13 of the sinners. Such has been made for the spirits of men who were not righteous but sinners, who were complete in transgression, and of the transgressors they shall be companions: but their spirits shall not be slain in the day of judgement nor shall they be raised from thence."
"The Book of Enoch" Chapter 22:1-13 (Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English by H.R. Charles, published in Oxford by The Clarendon Press 1906)
http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/enoch/ENOCH_1.HTM

The book of Enoch may have been written while Israel was under foreign occupation. When cultures collide there is often a mixing of cultural identities, and mythologies. During different times of Israel's history their religious beliefs were at risk of contamination from heathen cultures, for example while they were in Egypt, and while they were under Babylonian rule.

In Jesus day Israel was under Roman rule, and the Greco-Roman-culture of that time was infused with Greek mythology, including stories of the afterlife. The underlying word for "hell" used in the Lazarus parable is translated from the Greek word "Hades", which in Greek Mythology is both a deity and a place. Within the mythological place called Hades there was also a section called "Tartarus", a kind of dungeon of torment. It is possible that these Greek fables and myths had influenced the Jewish teachings of the day.

In ancient times it was easy for people to believe that there was a place of fire in the lower parts of the earth, for at times they saw the fire spew out in volcanoes. And since bodies were buried in the earth, it would seem logical that the souls would also descend into the lower parts of the earth. It is likely such human reasoning is behind the concepts of an eternal place of fiery torment found in the heathen religions of Babylon, Egypt, etc. But surprisingly the Jewish Scriptures do not teach of such a place, it is only found in non-biblical Jewish texts. Fiery torment in the afterlife may have been one of the Jewish Fables that the Epistle to Titus warns its readers to reject (Titus 1:14).

Jesus could have simply borrowed elements of these common mythological stories to illustrate a story which had nothing to do with the afterlife. Just as Jesus told parables about farming, not to teach us something about farming, but to teach some deeper spiritual lessons.

So instead of teaching us about the afterlife, the rich man and Lazarus parable may very well have been given as a prophetic warning of God's soon to come judgment against the Jewish nation. They were traveling directly towards destruction, as a nation they would face great earthly suffering, and spiritually due to their fruitlessness they would be cut-off from God's vine, and the Gentiles would be grafted in. They would lose the privilege of being God's special people, and there was no hope given of it ever returning. And on the day of wrath, it was too late to anymore call upon God's help.

Such an extremely sad and serious fate required an especially shocking and alarming warning, and this parable of Jesus does justice to that end.

Would Jesus use Non-Biblical Jewish Fables about Hades to illustrate a Parable?
Just as the young David finished off the giant Goliath using the giants own sword, so too we can see Jesus as drawing on the false beliefs of the religious leaders as a means to deliver a satirical blow to their puffed up egos. Josephus made clear, the Pharisees wielded doctrines of hell as a means of persuading people. They probably used condemnation and fear of fiery torment to perpetually burden the people with their many man-made laws. So, it would be very fitting that Jesus would give the Pharisees a theological thumping using their own afterlife fables as a weapon against them.

In other words, we may see this parable as Jesus communicating to Pharisees something along the following lines: "You believe God punishes those who you consider unworthy of His mercy with fiery torment in the afterlife, you condemn people like sick beggars and those born blind as deserving of such a fate! How wrong you are! For the Bible says of God "With the merciful you will show yourself merciful" (2 Samuel 22:26, Psalm 18:25). In light of this truth it would be more fitting for you yourselves to fill the role of the tormented ones in your ridiculous fables of the afterlife, with which you instill fear, and exert control over people for your own personal benefit!"

In an other parable, we read of how a wealthy master entrusts talents (weights of gold) to some servants before traveling far away. Upon the masters return the servant who failed to do the desire of his master gives the excuse he didn't do what he was supposed to because he feared the master's harsh character. The master told him "Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant." (Luke 19:22). If the servant had truly believed his master to be harsh, he should have done the masters will all the more faithfully. In the same way, if the Pharisees believed in a wrathful and harsh God, then they should have all the more sought to live a God pleasing life of justice, mercy, and humility (Micah 6:8), instead their lives were the opposite of this.

The Pharisees were failing to reflect the truth of God in what they practiced, it is no surprise that they were failing to reflect the truth of God in what they taught about God. The God they worshiped was a harsh one, and not a very merciful one. They failed to grasp how merciful God really was, even though the Old testament makes it very clear that a core characteristic of God is mercy. For example:

"To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him." (Daniel 9:9).
"And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." (Joel 2:13)
"Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy." (Micah 7:18).

The Old Testament Scriptures state over 40 times that God's mercy endures for ever (1 Chronicles 16:34).

If Jesus used the Pharisees afterlife fables to communicate a truth to them, this does not equate to Jesus saying their fable was accurate. In the Old Testament we read of Elijah mocking the prophets of Baal. He used their own false beliefs as a prop to heap ridicule upon them. "And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." (1 Kings 18:27)

Jesus had a way of binding the Pharisees in their own beliefs and logic, he did this with them about their beliefs about healing people on the Sabbath. One Sabbath, before healing a man with a withered hand, Jesus asked the Pharisees who were watching "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?" (Mark 3:4). They didn't reply, so Jesus went ahead and healed the man right before their eyes. Rather than praise Jesus, they plotted His death.

Jesus said the scribes and Pharisees were blocking people from entering God's kingdom (Matthew 23:13), we can assume that the primary way they were doing this was by turning the people against Jesus using distortions of the truth. The same thing happens today when religious people proclaim distorted truths about Jesus, such as the idea that Jesus will send unbelievers into a place of conscious eternal fiery torment. Such distortions are not likely to attract people to the real Jesus, but block their way to the Truth.

Biblical Context
A few chapters before the Lazarus parable, Jesus had warned about the anguish that would come upon his Jewish audience, when one day they would see the blessing that was first given to them taken away and given to others. They would find themselves outside the kingdom of God, instead inside they would see people from the east, west, north and south.

"There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." (Luke 13:28-29). Matthew records a similar account (Matthew 8:11-12).

The Jews assumed they were somehow special before God because they were Abraham's descendants (Luke 3:8), and they despised the Gentile nations as unclean and enemies of God. They thought of themselves as those for whom the Lord prepares a table for in the presence of their enemies (Psalm 23:5).
But Jesus was warning that things would be turned up side down, the first would be last, and the last would be first, it was they who would find themselves being outside the kingdom, and those they despised would be within.

This is a repetitive theme in the Bible, the proud humbled, and the humble lifted up. A classic example is in the book of Esther, we read how the proud Haman thought of himself highly favoured by the King, but suffered great humiliation, and instead His humble enemy Mordecai was elevated into favour with the king.

Parallel Parables
Jesus often told different parables which were tied together by a common theme, so even though the story was different the message was the same. For example, there are the following three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (Prodigal son). In these parables a common message is of how God lovingly seeks lost people, and He rejoices greatly when they are found.

If we understand the Lazarus parable to be a prophetic warning to Israel of their impending judgment as a nation, then we can also find other suitable parallel parables that also carry a strong message to Israel to heed God's invitation to turn back to Him before it was too late.

1) The parable of the great banquet (Matthew 22:1-14). God invited Israel like a king inviting his friends to a wedding feast, but those that were invited rejected the invitation, and even killed the servants that the king had sent to invite them. When the king heard this he was angry "and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." This seems like an other clear prophetic warning of the ugly fate that awaited Jerusalem and other cities at the hands of the Romans.

In the parable it also tells how the honour of being a guest at the banquet was given to other people, those that that had not been initially chosen. During the banquet the king encounters one man whom he addresses as "friend", this man was not wearing wedding clothes, as a result he is thrown outside into the dark where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. This friend may represent those that had originally been the kings close friends, but had rejected the kings invitation when they still had the option to accept it, (like Jerusalem rejected God during their day of visitation). But when these days of destruction were upon them, these old friends may have realized the consequence of their stubbornness, and they too had desired to enter the wedding banquet, arrogantly thinking that they would still be honoured as guests at the kings banquet. But they had failed to enter under the kings conditions, so instead the honour of being guests had been taken from them and given to others, in Luke's parallel parable, the honour of being guests at the banquet was instead to "the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind." (Luke 14:21), these describe the same kind of people as are represented by Lazarus the beggar. That people that the Pharisees considered unclean and outside the old covenant blessings, that being sinners and Gentiles.

Just like the Lazarus parable, the banquet parable was clearly a rebuke targeted towards the Pharisees, for after Jesus had finished speaking, "Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk." (Mathew 22:15). The parallel parable in Luke was spoken by Jesus having come "into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees" (Luke 14:1).

The place where there was darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth represents the same great anguish that came upon the Jews when they were rejected as God's people and as result of their chosen path suffered great earthly tribulation.

"Gnashing of teeth" is translated from the Greek "Brugmos" which has the same root as the modern dentistry term "Bruxism", which means excessive teeth grinding or excessive clenching of the jaw. Clenching/grinding ones teeth is often the result of suffering stress and anxiety.

There is great anguish when the proud are humbled. For example when a person whose entire life and identity is tied to earthly wealth discovers they have become bankupt, it is as though their entire world collapses, the stress and anguish can lead to things like heart attacks, and suicides.

Like the the foolish man building his house on the sand, the Pharisees had the wrong foundations. They had built their spiritual lives on things like, family lineage, ritualism and outward observance of laws. They had rejected the only true foundation and cornerstone Christ. And so when the day of reckoning came, their proverbial house "...fell. And great was its fall." (Matthew 7:27).

Christians today can fall into the trap of putting their trust in the wrong things also, for example some may feel spiritually secure being born into a Christian society, to a Christian family, having a Christian name, etc. In the same way, the Pharisees believe God was pleased with them because they were the descendants of Abraham, yet they themselves failed to have the virtues Abraham possessed, which was a humble faith in God. Such foolish thinking is like a lazy and unfriendly vagrant telling a women he would make a good husband because he has hard-working parents who are very kind and wealthy.

2) The parable of the wicked vineyard tenants (Matthew 21:33-45, Luke 20:9-19, Mark 12:1-1) can also be considered a parallel to the Lazarus parable. In the parable, a landowner leaves his vineyard in the care of some tenants, that turned out to be so wicked, they even killed the owners son, who had been sent to receive the fruit of the harvest. Jesus asked those listening to the story, "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those husbandmen?" (Matthew 21:40). They replied to him saying: "He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons." (Matthew 21:41). To make the message of this parable absolutely crystal clear Jesus goes on to state:
"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." (Matthew 21:43).
So God was coming to take His kingdom from the spiritually unfruitful Israel, and would give it to others.

The Pharisees were also the target audience of this prophetic parable, "And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them." (Matthew 21:45).

3) The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant (Luke 12:35-48). In this parable a servant who turns out to be evil is made ruler over his masters household, in the story he says in his heart "'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers." (Luke 12:45-46). Once again we can understand the evil servant to be Israel, and they lost their special position, and it was given to others. Originally Israel had been entrusted with much, but the Gentiles had not been (Matthew 24:42-51, Mark 13:34-37, Luke 12:35-48).

4) The theme of nations being judged is also found in Jesus message of how the "nations" would be separated like a shepherd separates sheep from goats (Matthew 25:31-46). The accursed nations were condemned to the same judgment as the devil and his angels, that being eternal fire. It is important to note that this scripture is talking about nations been separated and judged, rather than individuals.

When Israel was judged and destroyed as a nation by the Romans, it could be said to have suffered this punishment of eternal fire.
In the same way Scripture says Sodom suffered "the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jude 1:7), yet it was an event that happened "...as in a moment" (Lamentations 4:6), so eternal fire does not necessarily have anything to do with the after-life but with earthly events in the here and now.

5) Even the popular parable of the prodigal son may be interpreted as speaking of people groups. The father being God, the younger son living among the pigs represents the class of people considered unclean by the Pharisees such as the Gentiles and wayward Jews, and the older brother is the religious Jews. The older brother ended up outside the great home-coming feast by his own choice, likewise the Jews failed to partake in the blessings of God's kingdom by their own choice.

What Can We Conclude?
In light of all the perspectives presented above, it is is easy to conclude that the rich man and Lazarus story is speaking symbolically of two different people groups, rather than two individual persons. The context in Scripture, also allows for it to be interpreted as a prophetic warning to Israel of what was going to happen to them as a nation, and the old covenant which God had made with them.

In summary, this parable can easily be interpreted without it teaching anything about an unending eternal fiery torment for a certain class of people, and therefore it is a very weak foundation to build such a doctrine. But nonetheless, it is an especially serious reminder to all people to heed God's call to seek Him while He can still be found (Psalm 32:6, Isaiah 55:6), and the message of Jesus to that generation, rings equally true for ours today: "Repent, and believe in the gospel. " (Mark 1:15).