On the Rich Man in Hell

Luke 16. It's a snapshot of hell, focused on the rich man. It shows a three-fold rejection of God's relationship to man: Abraham, representing the first covenant of salvation; Moses, representing the law; and the prophets, representing God's warnings of our ways. In other words, "I'll tell you how," then "here's how," then "do it." The rich man wanted none of it.

He has no name; "may his name be erased" is a common Jewish curse, in line with the Semitic philosophy about names and knowledge. Nobody in hell has a name, because nobody else cares to know it, not even others in hell.

The rich man's first complaint from hell: "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."

The rich man refuses to admit his own powerlessness.  He still considers himself the "master of his domain." He arrogates to himself the authority to boss around Abraham, the first Jew. Then, to make bad worse, he tries to use Abraham to boss around Lazarus, for his own selfish purposes. Bad, bad, bad!

In hell, the focus is entirely on self; others get only pride, arrogance, hatred, disdain.

Abraham's response, condensed: "You did not show mercy to Lazarus, and so cannot now receive any mercy from him." Abraham doesn't even bother to confer with Lazarus on the matter, choosing instead to protect Lazarus completely from the rich man's evil desires. 

The rich man's second complaint: "I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment."

Is he trying to save his brothers? No. There is no love in hell. He's trying to keep them from arriving and making his own torment worse. "Am I my brother's keeper?" Yes, and the rich man and his rich brothers did not keep one another in God's love. All that will be left is their own hatred for one another, made even worse by the familial relationship they share.

What's more, whereas Moses' law forbids divination by spirits of the dead (necromancy, spiritism, witchcraft), the rich man is trying to get Lazarus to facilitate an abomination (Deut. 18:9-12).

The final complaint exposes just how devoid of love he is. First, Abraham responds to the second complaint: "They [the brothers still living] have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." Moses (the law) and the prophets were sent by God, and Abraham invokes them as a rebuke to the rich man.

Then the rich man replies, "Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent."

In other words, "No, Abraham, God didn't do enough!" The law and the prophets drew the full picture of God's expectations of us. Ultimately, he's trying to blame God for his own foul end!

All Bible quotes are from the KJV. Again, my thanks to "the Batman" for spurring me to write this.

Posted on Jan 20, 2007 at 3:27:43 AM EST.