Posted in Bible Study
Thu 10 February 2022 rich man and lazarus

Someone from Serbia was reading my blog, and sent me an email with some additional sources that I wasn't able to find when I originally did the study. I had read on some forums that Luke 16 had allusions to an Egyptian text, but I was never able to find …

Posted in Bible Study
Fri 20 April 2018 rich man and lazarus

Much of the Jewish knowledge was passed from generation to generation orally. After the temple was destroyed in AD 70, the Jews wrote down the Mishnah, to codify Jewish perspectives of the Old Testament. The Mishnah was studied extensively by the Jews in Jerusalem and in Babylon. Each community later …

Posted in Bible Study
Sun 18 March 2018 rich man and lazarus

Between the parable of the unjust steward, and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, there lies a brief passage of a few verses that seem unrelated to either of these parables.

And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he …

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Thu 08 February 2018 rich man and lazarus

Some scholars say that the parable of the Unjust Steward, told in Luke 16:1-13, is one of the most difficult passages in all of Scripture to interpret. In this parable, Jesus tells a scandalous story where a steward lowers the debts of his master's creditors for the selfish reason …

Posted in Bible Study
Wed 07 February 2018 rich man and lazarus

In Luke 15 and 16, Jesus tells a set of five parables. Too often, when we read the gospels, much of the significance of what Jesus taught is lost because we pull his words out of context. The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is the final parable in …

Posted in Bible Study
Tue 30 January 2018 rich man and lazarus

Jesus doesn't name the rich man, like he does Lazarus, but He does provide clues for us to discern his identity: rich man is clothed in purple and fine linen. Immediately before telling this story, Jesus is addressing the Pharisees. Since purple and fine linen are symbols of the priestly …

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Mon 22 January 2018 rich man and lazarus

If Luke 16:19-31 is a parable, then it is the only parable where Jesus gave one of the characters a name. Commenters often argue that the character of Lazarus was well known to Jesus' audience, and that they were more likely to receive this story as a literal telling …

Posted in Bible Study
Mon 15 January 2018 rich man and lazarus

In the Old Testament, a place called Sheol is described as the common receptacle of both the righteous and the wicked when they die¹:

• wicked: Numbers 16:30-33, Psalm 9:17
• righteous: Genesis 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31, 1 Kings 2:6, 9, Job 14:13; 17 …

Posted in Bible Study
Sun 14 January 2018 rich man and lazarus

You can find summaries of the mainstream Adventist interpretation in various places:

• The Adventist Biblical Research Institute
• J. N. Andrews Commentary
• "A Great Gulf Fixed" (chapter by E. G. White in Christ Object Lessons)
• Dennis Crews from Amazing Facts
• SDA Bible Commentary

Most of these commentaries follow this general outline …

Posted in Bible Study
Fri 12 January 2018 rich man and lazarus

Before we can tackle some of the nuances in this parable, let's first read through this passage with a caricature of the traditional reading. I'm elaborating slightly to bring out some subtle nuances that you may not have noticed in the original reading.

There was a certain rich man, which …