BIBLES NET. COM
Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page
|
[Previous] [Next] |
Matthew Henry |
L U K E.
CHAP. XVI.
The scope of Christ’s discourse in this chapter is to awaken and
quicken us all so to use this world as not to abuse it, so to manage
all our possessions and enjoyments here as that they may make for us,
and may not make against us in the other world; for they will do either
the one or the other, according as we use them now.
I. If we do good with them, and lay out what we have in works of piety
and charity, we shall reap the benefit of it in the world to come; and
this he shows in the parable of the unjust steward, who made so good a
hand of his lord’s goods that, when he was turned out of his
stewardship, he had a comfortable subsistence to betake himself to. The
parable itself we have
(ver. 1-8);
the explanation and application of it
(ver. 9-13);
and the contempt which the Pharisees put upon the doctrine Christ
preached to them, for which he sharply reproved them, adding some other
weighty sayings,
II. It, instead of doing good with our worldly enjoyments, we make them
the food and fuel of our lusts, of our luxury and sensuality, and deny
relief to the poor, we shall certainly perish eternally, and the things
of this world, which were thus abused, will but add to our misery and
torment. This he shows in the other parable of the rich man and
Lazarus, which has likewise a further intention, and that is, to awaken
us all to take the warning given us by the written word, and not to
expect immediate messages from the other world,
| The Unjust Steward. |
|
|
1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich
man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that
he had wasted his goods.
2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear
this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest
be no longer steward.
3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my
lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I
am ashamed.
4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the
stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
5 So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and
said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?
6 And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said unto
him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he
said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take
thy bill, and write fourscore.
8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had
done wisely: for the children of this world are in their
generation wiser than the children of light.
9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon
of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into
everlasting habitations.
10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also
in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in
much.
11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous
mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another
man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?
13 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.
14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these
things: and they derided him.
15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves
before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly
esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time
the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one
tittle of the law to fail.
18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another,
committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away
from her husband committeth adultery.
We mistake if we imagine that the design of Christ’s doctrine and holy
religion was either to amuse us with notions of divine mysteries or to
entertain us with notions of divine mercies. No, the divine revelation
of both these in the gospel is intended to engage and quicken us to the
practice of Christian duties, and, as much as any one thing, to the
duty of beneficence and doing good to those who stand in need of any
thing that either we have or can do for them. This our Saviour is here
pressing us to, by reminding us that we are but stewards of the
manifold grace of God; and since we have in divers instances been
unfaithful, and have forfeited the favour of our Lord, it is our wisdom
to think how we may, some other way, make what we have in the world
turn to a good account. Parables must not be forced beyond their
primary intention, and therefore we must not hence infer that any one
can befriend us if we lie under the displeasure of our Lord, but that,
in the general, we must so lay out what we have in works of piety and
charity as that we may meet it again with comfort on the other side
death and the grave. If we would act wisely, we must be diligent and
industrious to employ our riches in the acts of piety and charity, in
order to promote our future and eternal welfare, as worldly men are in
laying them out to the greatest temporal profit, in making to
themselves friends with them, and securing other secular interests. So
Dr. Clarke. Now let us consider,
I. The parable itself, in which all the children of men are represented
as stewards of what they have in this world, and we are but
stewards. Whatever we have, the property of it is God’s; we have only
the use of it, and that according to the direction of our great Lord,
and for his honour. Rabbi Kimchi, quoted by Dr. Lightfoot, says, “This
world is a house; heaven the roof; the stars the lights; the earth,
with its fruits, a table spread; the Master of the house is the holy
and blessed God; man is the steward, into whose hands the goods of this
house are delivered; if he behave himself well, he shall find favour in
the eyes of his Lord; if not, he shall be turned out of his
stewardship.” Now,
1. Here is the dishonesty of this steward. He wasted
his lord’s goods, embezzled them, misapplied them, or through
carelessness suffered them to be lost and damaged; and for this he was
accused to his lord,
v. 1.
We are all liable to the same charge. We have not made a due
improvement of what God has entrusted us with in this world, but have
perverted his purpose; and, that we may not be for this judged of
our Lord, it concerns us to judge ourselves.
2. His discharge out of his place. His lord called for
him, and said, “How is it that I hear this of thee? I
expected better things from thee.” He speaks as one sorry to find
himself disappointed in him, and under a necessity of dismissing him
from his service: it troubles him to hear it; but the steward cannot
deny it, and therefore there is no remedy, he must make up his
accounts; and be gone in a little time,
v. 2.
Now this is designed to teach us,
(1.) That we must all of us shortly be discharged from our
stewardship in this world; we must not always enjoy those things
which we now enjoy. Death will come, and dismiss us from our
stewardship, will deprive us of the abilities and opportunities
we now have of doing good, and others will come in our places and have
the same.
(2.) That our discharge from our stewardship at death is just,
and what we have deserved, for we have wasted our Lord’s goods, and
thereby forfeited our trust, so that we cannot complain of any wrong
done us.
(3.) That when our stewardship is taken from us we must give an
account of it to our Lord: After death the judgment. We are
fairly warned both of our discharge and our account, and ought to be
frequently thinking of them.
3. His after-wisdom. Now he began to consider, What shall I
do?
v. 3.
He would have done well to have considered this before he had so
foolishly thrown himself out of a good place by his unfaithfulness; but
it is better to consider late than never. Note, Since we have
all received notice that we must shortly be turned out of our
stewardship, we are concerned to consider what we shall do then. He
must live; which way shall he have a livelihood?
(1.) He knows that he has not such a degree of industry in him as to
get his living by work: “I cannot dig; I cannot earn by bread by
my labour.” But why can he not dig? It does not appear that he is
either old or lame; but the truth is, he is lazy. His
cannot is a will not; it is not a natural but a moral
disability that he labours under; if his master, when he turned him out
of the stewardship, had continued him in his service as a labourer, and
set a task-master over him, he would have made him dig. He cannot
dig, for he was never used to it. Now this intimates that we cannot
get a livelihood for our souls by any labour for this world, nor indeed
do any thing to purpose for our souls by any ability of our own.
(2.) He knows that he has not such a degree of humility as to
get his bread by begging: To beg I am ashamed. This was the
language of his pride, as the former of his slothfulness. Those whom
God, in his providence, has disabled to help themselves, should not be
ashamed to ask relief of others. This steward had more reason to
be ashamed of cheating his master than of begging his bread.
(3.) He therefore determines to make friends of his lord’s debtors, or
his tenants that were behind with their rent, and had given notes under
their hands for it: “I am resolved what to do,
v. 4.
My lord turns me out of his house. I have none of my own to go to. I am
acquainted with my lord’s tenants, have done them many a good turn, and
now I will do them one more, which will so oblige them that they will
bid me welcome to their houses, and the best entertainment they afford;
and so long as I live, at least till I can better dispose of myself, I
will quarter upon them, and go from one good house to another.” Now the
way he would take to make them his friends was by striking off a
considerable part of their debt to his lord, and giving it in his
accounts so much less than it was. Accordingly, he sent for one, who
owed his lord a hundred measures of oil (in that commodity he
paid his rent): Take thy bill, said he, here it is, and sit
down quickly, and write fifty
(v. 6);
so he reduced his debt to the one half. Observe, he was in haste to
have it done: “Sit down quickly, and do it, lest we be taken
treating, and suspected.” He took another, who owed his lord a
hundred measures of wheat, and from his bill he cut off a fifth
part, and bade him write fourscore
(v. 7);
probably he did the like by others, abating more or less according as
he expected kindness from them. See here what uncertain things our
worldly possessions are; they are most so to those who have most of
them, who devolve upon others all the care concerning them, and so put
it into their power to cheat them, because they will not trouble
themselves to see with their own eyes. See also what treachery is to be
found even among those in whom trust is reposed. How hard is it to find
one that confidence can be reposed in! Let God be true, but every
man a liar. Though this steward is turned out for dealing
dishonestly, yet still he does so. So rare is it for men to mend of a
fault, though they smart for it.
4. The approbation of this: The lord commended the unjust steward,
because he had done wisely,
v. 8.
It may be meant of his lord, the lord of that servant, who,
though he could not but be angry at his knavery, yet was pleased with
his ingenuity and policy for himself; but, taking it so, the latter
part of the verse must be the words of our Lord, and therefore I
think the whole is meant of him. Christ did, as it were, say, “Now
commend me to such a man as this, that knows how to do well for
himself, how to improve a present opportunity, and how to provide for a
future necessity.” He does not commend him because he had done
falsely to his master, but because he had done wisely for
himself. Yet perhaps herein he did well for his master too, and but
justly with the tenants. He knew what hard bargains he had
set them, so that they could not pay their rent, but,
having been screwed up by his rigour, were thrown behindhand,
and they and their families were likely to go to ruin; in consideration
of this, he now, at going off, did as he ought to do both in justice
and charity, not only easing them of part of their arrears, but abating
their rent for the future. How much owest thou? may mean, “What
rent dost thou sit upon? Come, I will set thee an easier bargain, and
yet no easier than what thou oughtest to have.” He had been all for
his lord, but now he begins to consider the tenants, that he might
have their favour when he had lost his lord’s. The
abating of their rent would be a lasting kindness, and more likely to
engage them than abating their arrears only. Now this forecast of his,
for a comfortable subsistence in this world, shames our improvidence
for another world: The children of this world, who choose and
have their portions in it, are wiser for their generation, act
more considerately, and better consult their worldly interest and
advantage, than the children of light, who enjoy the gospel, in
their generation, that is, in the concerns of their souls and
eternity. Note,
(1.) The wisdom of worldly people in the concerns of this world is to
be imitated by us in the concerns of our souls: it is their
principle to improve their opportunities, to do that first which is
most needful, in summer and harvest to lay up for winter, to take a
good bargain when it is offered them, to trust the faithful and
not the false. O that we were thus wise in our spiritual
affairs!
(2.) The children of light are commonly outdone by the children
of this world. Not that the children of this world are truly
wise; it is only in their generation. But in that they are
wiser than the children of light in theirs; for, though we are
told that we must shortly be turned out of our stewardship, yet
we do not provide as we were to be here always and as if there
were not another life after this, and are not so solicitous as
this steward was to provide for hereafter. Though as children
of the light, that light to which life and immortality are brought
by the gospel, we cannot but see another world before us, yet we
do not prepare for it, do not send our best effects and best affections
thither, as we should.
II. The application of this parable, and the inferences drawn from it
(v. 9):
“I say unto you, you my disciples” (for to them this parable is
directed,
v. 1),
“though you have but little in this world, consider how you may do good
with that little.” Observe,
1. What it is that our Lord Jesus here exhorts us to; to provide for
our comfortable reception to the happiness of another world, by making
good use of our possessions and enjoyments in this world: “Make to
yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, as the steward
with his lord’s goods made his lord’s tenants his friends.” It is the
wisdom of the men of this world so to manage their money as that they
may have the benefit of it hereafter, and not for the present only;
therefore they put it out to interest, buy land with it, put it into
this or the other fund. Now we should learn of them to make use of our
money so as that we may be the better for it hereafter in another
world, as they do in hopes to be the better for it hereafter in this
world; so cast it upon the waters as that we may find it
again after many days,
Eccl. xi. 1.
And in our case, though whatever we have are our Lord’s goods,
yet, as long as we dispose of them among our Lord’s tenants and
for their advantage, it is so far from being reckoned a wrong to our
Lord, that it is a duty to him as well as policy for ourselves. Note,
(1.) The things of this world are the mammon of unrighteousness,
or the false mammon, not only because often got by fraud and
unrighteousness, but because those who trust to it for satisfaction and
happiness will certainly be deceived; for riches are perishing things,
and will disappoint those that raise their expectations from them.
(2.) Though this mammon of unrighteousness is not to be
trusted to for a happiness, yet it may and must be made use
of in subserviency to our pursuit of that which is our happiness.
Though we cannot find true satisfaction in it, yet we may make to
ourselves friends with it, not by way of purchase or merit,
but recommendation; so we may make God and Christ our friends,
the good angels and saints our friends, and the poor our friends; and
it is a desirable thing to be befriended in the account and
state to come.
(3.) At death we must all fail, hotan
eklipete—when ye suffer an eclipse. Death eclipses us.
A tradesman is said to fail when he becomes a bankrupt.
We must all thus fail shortly; death shuts up the shop, seals up the
hand. Our comforts and enjoyments on earth will all fail us;
flesh and heart fail.
(4.) It ought to be our great concern to make it sure to ourselves,
that when we fail at death we may be received into
everlasting habitations in heaven. The habitations in heaven
are everlasting, not made with hands, but eternal,
2 Cor. v. 1.
Christ is gone before, to prepare a place for those that are his, and
is there ready to receive them; the bosom of Abraham is ready to
receive them, and, when a guard of angels carries them thither,
a choir of angels is ready to receive them there. The poor
saints that are gone before to glory will receive those that in this
world distributed to their necessities.
(5.) This is a good reason why we should use what we have in the world
for the honour of God and the good of our brethren, that thus we may
with them lay up in store a good bond, a good security, a good
foundation for the time to come, for an eternity to come. See
which explains this here.
2. With what arguments he presses this exhortation to abound in works
of piety and charity.
(1.) If we do not make a right use of the gifts of God’s
providence, how can we expect from him those present and future
comforts which are the gifts of his spiritual grace? Our Saviour
here compares these, and shows that though our faithful use of the
things of this world cannot be thought to merit any favour at the hand
of God, yet our unfaithfulness in the use of them may be justly
reckoned a forfeiture of that grace which is necessary to bring
us to glory, and that is it which our Saviour here shows,
[1.] The riches of this world are the less; grace and glory are
the greater. Now if we be unfaithful in the less, if we use the
things of this world to other purposes than those for which they were
given us, it may justly be feared that we should be so in the gifts of
God’s grace, that we should receive them also in vain, and therefore
they will be denied us: He that is faithful in that which is least
is faithful also in much. He that serves God, and does good, with
his money, will serve God, and do good, with the more noble and
valuable talents of wisdom and grace, and spiritual gifts, and the
earnests of heaven; but he that buries the one talent of this
world’s wealth will never improve the five talents of spiritual
riches. God withholds his grace from covetous worldly people more than
we are aware of.
[2.] The riches of this world are deceitful and
uncertain; they are the unrighteous mammon, which is
hastening from us apace, and, if we would make any advantage of it, we
must bestir ourselves quickly; if we do not, how can we expect to be
entrusted with spiritual riches, which are the only true riches?
v. 11.
Let us be convinced of this, that those are truly rich, and
very rich, who are rich in faith, and rich towards
God, rich in Christ, in the promises, and in the earnests of
heaven; and therefore let us lay up our treasure in them, expect our
portion from them, and mind them in the first place, the kingdom of
God and the righteousness thereof, and then, if other things be
added to us, use them in ordine ad spiritualia–with a spiritual
reference, so that by using them well we may take the faster hold
of the true riches, and may be qualified to receive yet more
grace from God; for God giveth to a man that is good in his
sight, that is, to a free-hearted charitable man, wisdom, and
knowledge, and joy
(Eccl. ii. 26);
that is, to a man that is faithful in the unrighteous mammon, he
gives the true riches.
[3.] The riches of this world are another man’s. They are
ta allotria, not our own; for they are foreign to
the soul and its nature and interest. They are not our own; for
they are God’s; his title to them is prior and superior to ours; the
property remains in him, we are but usufructuaries. They are another
man’s; we have them from others; we use them for others, and
what good has the owner from his goods that
increase, save the beholding of them with his eyes, while
still they are increased that eat them; and we must shortly
leave them to others, and we know not to whom? But spiritual and
eternal riches are our own (they enter into the soul that
becomes possessed of them) and inseparably; they are a
good part that will never be taken away from us. If we make Christ our
own, and the promises our own, and heaven our own, we have that which
we may truly call our own. But how can we expect God should
enrich us with these if we do not serve him with our worldly
possessions, of which we are but stewards?
(2.) We have no other way to prove ourselves the servants of God than
by giving up ourselves so entirely to his service as to make
mammon, that is, all our worldly gain, serviceable to us in his
service
(v. 13):
No servant can serve two masters, whose commands are so
inconsistent as those of God and mammon are. If a man will
love the world, and hold to that, it cannot be but he
will hate God and despise him. He will make all his
pretensions of religion truckle to his secular interests and designs,
and the things of God shall be made to help him in serving and seeking
the world. But, on the other hand, if a man will love God, and
adhere to him, he will comparatively hate the world
(whenever God and the world come in competition) and will
despise it, and make all his business and success in the world
some way or other conducive to his furtherance in the business of
religion; and the things of the world shall be made to help him in
serving God and working out his salvation. The matter is here laid
plainly before us: Ye cannot serve God and mammon. So divided
are their interests that their services can never be compounded.
If therefore we be determined to serve God, we must disclaim and
abjure the service of the world.
3. We are here told what entertainment this doctrine of Christ met with
among the Pharisees, and what rebuke he gave them.
(1.) They wickedly ridiculed him,
The Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things, and
could not contradict him, but they derided him. Let us consider
this,
[1.] As their sin, and the fruit of their covetousness,
which was their reigning sin, their own iniquity. Note, Many that make
a great profession of religion, have much knowledge, and abound in the
exercise of devotion, are yet ruined by the love of the world; nor does
any thing harden the heart more against the word of Christ. These
covetous Pharisees could not bear to have that touched, which
was their Delilah, their darling lust; for this they derided
him, exemykterizon auton—they snuffled up their noses
at him, or blew their noses on him. It is an expression of the
utmost scorn and disdain imaginable; the word of the Lord was to
them a reproach,
Jer. vi. 10.
They laughed at him for going so contrary to the opinion and way of the
world, for endeavouring to recover them from a sin which they were
resolved to hold fast. Note, It is common for those to make a
jest of the word of God who are resolved that they will not be
ruled by it; but they will find at last that it cannot be turned off
so.
[2.] As his suffering. Our Lord Jesus endured not only the
contradiction of sinners, but their contempt; they had
him in derision all the day. He that spoke as never man spoke was
bantered and ridiculed, that his faithful ministers, whose preaching is
unjustly derided, may not be disheartened at it. It is no
disgrace to a man to be laughed at, but to deserve to be laughed at.
Christ’s apostles were mocked, and no wonder; the disciple is
not greater than his Lord.
(2.) He justly reproved them; not for deriding him (he knew how
to despise the shame), but for deceiving themselves with
the shows and colours of piety, when they were strangers to the power
of it,
Here is,
[1.] Their specious outside; nay, it was a splendid one.
First, They justified themselves before men; they denied
whatever ill was laid to their charge, even by Christ himself. They
claimed to be looked upon as men of singular sanctity and devotion, and
justified themselves in that claim: “You are they that do that,
so as none ever did, that make it your business to court the opinion of
men, and, right or wrong, will justify yourselves before the world; you
are notorious for this.” Secondly, They were highly
esteemed among men. Men did not only acquit them from any
blame they were under, but applauded them, and had them in
veneration, not only as good men, but as the best of men.
Their sentiments were esteemed as oracles, their directions as laws,
and their practices as inviolable prescriptions.
[2.] Their odious inside, which was under the eye of God: “He
knows your heart, and it is in his sight an abomination;
for it is full of all manner of wickedness.” Note, First, It is
folly to justify ourselves before men, and to think this enough
to bear us out, and bring us off, in the judgment of the great day,
that men know no ill of us; for God, who knows our hearts, knows
that ill of us which no one else can know. This ought to check our
value for ourselves, and our confidence in ourselves, that God knows
our hearts, and how much deceit is there, for we have reason to
abase and distrust ourselves. Secondly, It is folly to judge of
persons and things by the opinion of men concerning them, and to go
down with the stream of vulgar estimate; for that which is highly
esteemed among men, who judge according to outward appearance, is
perhaps an abomination in the sight of God, who sees things as
they are, and whose judgment, we are sure, is according to truth. On
the contrary, there are those whom men despise and condemn who yet are
accepted and approved of God,
(3.) He turned from them to the publicans and sinners, as more likely
to be wrought upon by his gospel than those covetous conceited
Pharisees
(v. 16):
“The law and the prophets were indeed until John; the
Old-Testament dispensation, which was confined to you Jews,
continued till John Baptist appeared, and you seemed to have the
monopoly of righteousness and salvation; and you are puffed up with
this, and this gains you esteem among men, that you are students in the
law and the prophets; but since John Baptist appeared the kingdom of
God is preached, a New-Testament dispensation, which does not value
men at all for their being doctors of the law, but every man
presses into the gospel kingdom, Gentiles as well as Jews, and no
man thinks himself bound in good manners to let his betters go before
him into it, or to stay till the rulers and the Pharisees have
led him that way. It is not so much a political national constitution
as the Jewish economy was, when salvation was of the Jews; but
it is made a particular personal concern, and therefore every
man that is convinced he has a soul to save, and an eternity to
provide for, thrusts to get in, lest he should come short by trifling
and complimenting.” Some give this sense of it; they derided Christ or
speaking in contempt of riches, for, thought they, were there not many
promises of riches and other temporal good things in the law and the
prophets? And were not many of the best of God’s servants very
rich, as Abraham and David? “It is true,” saith Christ, “so it was, but
now that the kingdom of God is begun to be preached things take a new
turn; now blessed are the poor, and the mourners, and the persecuted.”
The Pharisees, to requite the people for their high opinion of them,
allowed them in a cheap, easy, formal religion. “But,” saith Christ,
“now that the gospel is preached the eyes of the people are
opened, and as they cannot now have a veneration for the Pharisees, as
they have had, so they cannot content themselves with such an
indifferency in religion as they have been trained up in, but they
press with a holy violence into the kingdom of God.” Note, Those
that would go to heaven must take pains, must strive against the
stream, must press against the crowd that are going the contrary
way.
(4.) Yet still he protests against any design to invalidate the law
(v. 17):
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass,
parelthein—to pass by, to pass away, though the
foundations of the earth and the pillars of heaven are so firmly
established, than for one tittle of the law to fail. The moral
law is confirmed and ratified, and not one tittle of that fails; the
duties enjoined by it are duties still; the sins forbidden by it are
sins still. Nay, the precepts of it are explained and enforced by the
gospel, and made to appear more spiritual. The ceremonial law is
perfected in the gospel colours; not one tittle of that
fails, for it is found printed off in the gospel, where, though
the force of it is as a law taken off, yet the figure of it as a type
shines very brightly, witness the epistle to the Hebrews. There were
some things which were connived at by the law, for the preventing of
greater mischiefs, the permission of which the gospel has indeed taken
away, but without any detriment or disparagement to the law, for it has
thereby reduced them to the primitive intention of the law, as in the
case of divorce
(v. 18),
which we had before,
Christ will not allow divorces, for his gospel is intended to strike at
the bitter root of men’s corrupt appetites and passions, to kill them,
and pluck them up; and therefore they must not be so far
indulged as that permission did indulge them, for the
more they are indulged the more impetuous and headstrong they grow.
| The Rich Man and Lazarus. |
|
|
19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple
and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid
at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the
rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 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;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and
seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 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.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime
receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but
now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great
gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you
cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from
thence.
27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou
wouldest send him to my father’s house:
28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them,
lest they also come into this place of torment.
29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets;
let them hear them.
30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them
from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from
the dead.
As the parable of the prodigal son set before us the grace of the
gospel, which is encouraging to us all, so this sets before us the
wrath to come, and is designed for our awakening; and very fast
asleep those are in sin that will not be awakened by it. The Pharisees
made a jest of Christ’s sermon against worldliness; now this parable
was intended to make those mockers serious. The tendency of the gospel
of Christ is both to reconcile us to poverty and affliction and to arm
us against temptations to worldliness and sensuality. Now this parable,
by drawing the curtain, and letting us see what will be the end of both
in the other world, goes very far in prosecuting those two great
intentions. This parable is not like Christ’s other parables, in which
spiritual things are represented by similitudes borrowed from worldly
things, as those of the sower and the seed (except that of the sheep
and goats), the prodigal son, and indeed all the rest but this. But
here the spiritual things themselves are represented in a
narrative or description of the different state of good and bad in this
world and the other. Yet we need not call it a history of a particular
occurrence, but it is matter of fact that is true every day,
that poor godly people, whom men neglect and trample upon, die away out
of their miseries, and go to heavenly bliss and joy, which is made the
more pleasant to them by their preceding sorrows; and that rich
epicures, who live in luxury, and are unmerciful to the poor, die, and
go into a state of insupportable torment, which is the more grievous
and terrible to them because of the sensual lives they lived: and that
there is no gaining any relief from their torments. Is this a parable?
What similitude is there in this? The discourse indeed between Abraham
and the rich man is only an illustration of the description, to make it
the more affecting, like that between God and Satan in the story of
Job. Our Saviour came to bring us acquainted with another world, and to
show us the reference which this world has to that; and
here is does it. In this description (for so I shall choose to call it)
we may observe,
I. The different condition of a wicked rich man, and a godly
poor man, in this world. We know that as some of late, so the Jews
of old, were ready to make prosperity one of the marks of a true
church, of a good man and a favourite of heaven, so that they could
hardly have any favourable thoughts of a poor man. This mistake
Christ, upon all occasions, set himself to correct, and here very
fully, where we have,
1. A wicked man, and one that will be for ever miserable, in the height
of prosperity
(v. 19):
There was a certain rich man. From the Latin we commonly call
him Dives–a rich man; but, as Bishop Tillotson observes, he has
no name given him, as the poor man has, because it had been invidious
to have named any particular rich man in such a description as this,
and apt to provoke and gain ill-will. But others observe that Christ
would not do the rich man so much honour as to name him, though when
perhaps he called his lands by his own name he thought it should long
survive that of the beggar at his gate, which yet is here preserved,
when that of the rich man is buried in oblivion. Now we are told
concerning this rich man,
(1.) That he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and that was
his adorning. He had fine linen for pleasure, and
clean, no doubt, every day; night-linen, and day-linen. He had
purple for state, for that was the wear of princes, which
has made some conjecture that Christ had an eye to Herod in it. He
never appeared abroad but in great magnificence.
(2.) He fared deliciously and sumptuously every day. His
table was furnished with all the varieties and dainties that nature and
art could supply; his side-table richly adorned with plate; his
servants, who waited at table, in rich liveries; and the guests at his
table, no doubt, such as he thought graced it. Well, and what
harm was there in all this? It is no sin to be rich, no sin to wear
purple and fine linen, nor to keep a plentiful table, if a man’s estate
will afford it. Not are we told that he got his estate by fraud,
oppression, or extortion, no, nor that he was drunk, or made others
drunk; but,
[1.] Christ would hereby show that a man may have a great deal of the
wealth, and pomp, and pleasure of this world, and yet lie and perish
for ever under God’s wrath and curse. We cannot infer from men’s living
great either that God loves them in giving them so much, or that
they love God for giving them so much; happiness consists not in
these things.
[2.] That plenty and pleasure are a very dangerous
and to many a fatal temptation to luxury, and sensuality, and
forgetfulness of God and another world. This man might have been happy
if he had not had great possessions and enjoyments.
[3.] That the indulgence of the body, and the ease and pleasure of
that, are the ruin of many a soul, and the interests of it. It is true,
eating good meat and wearing good clothes are lawful; but it is true
that they often become the food and fuel of pride and luxury, and so
turn into sin to us.
[4.] That feasting ourselves and our friends, and, at the same time,
forgetting the distresses of the poor and afflicted, are very provoking
to God and damning to the soul. The sin of this rich man was not so
much his dress or his diet, but his providing only for himself.
2. Here is a godly man, and one that will be for ever happy, in the
depth of adversity and distress
(v. 20):
There was a certain beggar, named Lazarus. A beggar of
that name, eminently devout, and in great distress, was probably well
known among good people at that time: a beggar, suppose such a one as
Eleazar, or Lazarus. Some think Eleazar a proper name for any poor man,
for it signifies the help of God, which they must fly to that
are destitute of other helps. This poor man was reduced to the
last extremity, as miserable, as to outward things, as you can lightly
suppose a man to be in this world.
(1.) His body was full of sores, like Job. To be sick and weak
in body is a great affliction; but sores are more painful to the
patient, and more loathsome to those about him.
(2.) He was forced to beg his bread, and to take up with such scraps as
he could get at rich people’s doors. He was so sore and lame that he
could not go himself, but was carried by some compassionate hand or
other, and laid at the rich man’s gate. Note, Those that are not
able to help the poor with their purses should help them with
their pains; those that cannot lend them a penny should
lend them a hand; those that have not themselves wherewithal to
give to them should either bring them, or go for them, to those that
have. Lazarus, in his distress, had nothing of his own to subsist on,
no relation to go to, nor did the parish take care of him. It is an
instance of the degeneracy of the Jewish church at this time that such
a godly man as Lazarus was should be suffered to perish for want of
necessary food. Now observe,
[1.] His expectations from the rich man’s table: He desired to be
fed with the crumbs,
v. 21.
He did not look for a mess from off his table, though he ought to have
had one, one of the best; but would be thankful for the crumbs from
under the table, the broken meat which was the rich man’s leavings;
nay, the leavings of his dogs. The poor use entreaties, and must
be content with such as they can get. Now this is taken notice of to
show, First, What was the distress, and what the disposition, of
the poor man. He was poor, but he was poor in spirit,
contentedly poor. He did not lie at the rich man’s gate complaining,
and bawling, and making a noise, but silently and modestly desiring to
be fed with the crumbs. This miserable man was a good man, and
in favour with God. Note, It is often the lot of some of the dearest of
God’s saints and servants to be greatly afflicted in this world, while
wicked people prosper, and have abundance; see
Here is a child of wrath and an heir of hell sitting in the house,
faring sumptuously; and a child of love and an heir of heaven lying at
the gate, perishing for hunger. And is men’s spiritual state to be
judged of then by their outward condition? Secondly, What was
the temper of the rich man towards him. We are not told that he abused
him, or forbade him his gate, or did him any harm, but it is intimated
that he slighted him; he had no concern for him, took no care about
him. Here was a real object of charity, and a very
moving one, which spoke for itself; it was presented to him at
his own gate. The poor man had a good character and good
conduct, and every thing that could recommend him. A little
thing would be a great kindness to him, and yet he took no
cognizance of his case, did not order him to be taken in and lodged in
the barn, or some of the out-buildings, but let him lie there. Note, It
is not enough not to oppress and trample upon the poor; we shall be
found unfaithful stewards of our Lord’s goods, in the great day, if we
do not succour and relieve them. The reason given for the most fearful
doom is, I was hungry, and you gave me no meat. I wonder how
those rich people who have read the gospel of Christ, and way that they
believe it, can be so unconcerned as they often are in the necessities
and miseries of the poor and afflicted.
[2.] The usage he had from the dogs; The dogs came and licked his
sores. The rich man kept a kennel of hounds, it may be, or other
dogs, for his diversion, and to please his fancy, and these were fed to
the full, when poor Lazarus could not get enough to keep him alive.
Note, Those will have a great deal to answer for hereafter that feed
their dogs, but neglect the poor. And it is a great aggravation of the
uncharitableness of many rich people that they bestow that upon their
fancies and follies which would supply the necessity, and rejoice the
heart, of many a good Christian in distress. Those offend God, nay, and
they put a contempt upon human nature, that pamper their dogs and
horses, and let the families of their poor neighbours starve. Now those
dogs came and licked the sores of poor Lazarus, which may be
taken, First, As an aggravation of his misery. His sores were
bloody, which tempted the dogs to come, and lick them, as they
did the blood of Naboth and Ahab,
And we read of the tongue of the dogs dipped in the blood of
enemies,
Ps. lxviii. 23.
They attacked him while he was yet alive, as if he had been already
dead, and he had not strength himself to keep them off, nor would any
of the servants be so civil as to check them. The dogs were like their
master, and thought they fared sumptuously when they regaled themselves
with human gore. Or, it may be taken, Secondly, as some relief
to him in his misery; alla kai, the master was
hard-hearted towards him, but the dogs came and licked
his sores, which mollified and eased them. It is not said, They
sucked them, but licked them, which was good for them.
The dogs were more kind to him than their master was.
II. Here is the different condition of this godly poor
man, and this wicked rich man, at and after death.
Hitherto the wicked man seems to have the advantage, but Exitus acta
probat—Let us wait awhile, to see the end hereof.
1. They both died
(v. 22):
The beggar died; the rich man also died. Death is the
common lot of rich and poor, godly and ungodly; there they meet
together. One dieth in his full strength, and another in the
bitterness of his soul; but they shall lie down alike in the
dust,
Job xxi. 26.
Death favours not either the rich man for his riches or the poor man
for his poverty. Saints die, that they may bring their sorrows to an
end, and may enter upon their joys. Sinners die, that they may go to
give up their account. It concerns both rich and poor to prepare for
death, for it waits for them both. Mors sceptra ligonibus
æquat–Death blends the sceptre with the spade.
| ——æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas,
Regumque turres. With equal pace, impartial fate Knocks at the palace, as the cottage gate. |
2. The beggar died first. God often takes godly people out of
the world, when he leaves the wicked to flourish still. It was an
advantage to the beggar that such a speedy end was put to his miseries;
and, since he could find no other shelter or resting-place, he was
hid in the grave, where the weary are at rest.
3. The rich man died and was buried. Nothing is said of the
interment of the poor man. They dug a hole any where, and tumbled his
body in, without any solemnity; he was buried with the burial of an
ass: nay, it is well if they that let the dogs lick his sores did
not let them gnaw his bones. But the rich man had a pompous funeral,
lay in state, had a train of mourners to attend him to his grave, and a
stately monument set up over it; probably he had a funeral oration in
praise of him, and his generous way of living, and the good table he
kept, which those would commend that had been feasted at it. It is said
of the wicked man that he is brought to the grave with no small
ado, and laid in the tomb, and the clods of the valley,
were it possible, are made sweet to him,
Job xxi. 32, 33.
How foreign is the ceremony of a funeral to the happiness of the
man!
4. The beggar died and was carried by angels into Abraham’s
bosom. How much did the honour done to his soul, by this convoy of
it to its rest, exceed the honour done to the rich man, by the carrying
of his body with so much magnificence to its grave! Observe,
(1.) His soul existed in a state of separation from the body. It
did not die, or fall asleep, with the body; his candle
was not put out with him; but lives, and acted, and knew what it did,
and what was done to it.
(2.) His soul removed to another world, to the world of spirits;
it returned to God who gave it, to its native country; this is implied
in its being carried. The spirit of a man goes upward.
(3.) Angels took care of it; it was carried by angels. They are
ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation, not only while they
live, but when they die, and have a charge concerning them, to bear
them up in their hands, not only in their journeys to and fro on
earth, but in their great journey to their long home in heaven, to be
both their guide and their guard through regions unknown and unsafe.
The soul of man, if not chained to this earth and clogged by it as
unsanctified souls are, has in itself an elastic virtue, by which it
springs upward as soon as it gets clear of the body; but Christ
will not trust those that are his to that, and therefore will send
special messengers to fetch them to himself. One angel one would think
sufficient, but here are more, as many were sent for Elijah. Amasis
king of Egypt had his chariot drawn by kings; but what was that honour
to this? Saints ascend in the virtue of Christ’s ascension; but this
convoy of angels is added for state and decorum. Saints shall be
brought home, not only safely, but honourably. What were the bearers at
the rich man’s funeral, though, probably, those of the first rank,
compared with Lazarus’s bearers? The angels were not shy of touching
him, for his sores were on his body, not on his soul;
that was presented to God without spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing. “Now, blessed angels,” said a good man just expiring, “now
come and do your office.”
(4.) It was carried into Abraham’s bosom. The Jews expressed the
happiness of the righteous at death three ways:–they to go to the
garden of Eden: they go to be under the throne of glory; and
they go to the bosom of Abraham, and it is this which our
Saviour here makes use of. Abraham was the father of the
faithful; and whither should the souls of the faithful be gathered
but to him, who, as a tender father, lays them in his bosom,
especially at their first coming, to bid them welcome, and to refresh
them when newly come from the sorrows and fatigues of this world? He
was carried to his bosom, that is, to feast with him, for at
feasts the guests are said to lean on one another’s breasts; and the
saints in heaven sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.
Abraham was a great and rich man, yet in heaven he does not disdain to
lay poor Lazarus in his bosom. Rich saints and poor meet in heaven.
This poor Lazarus, who might not be admitted within the rich man’s
gate, is conducted into the dining-room, into the bed-chamber, of the
heavenly palace; and he is laid in the bosom of Abraham, whom
the rich glutton scorned to set with the dogs of his flock.
5. The next news you hear of the rich man, after the account of
his death and burial, is, that in hell he lifted up
his eyes, being in torment,
v. 23.
(1.) His state is very miserable. He is in hell, in
hades, in the state of separate souls, and there he is in the
utmost misery and anguish possible. As the souls of the
faithful, immediately after they are delivered from the burden of
the flesh, are in joy and felicity, so wicked and unsanctified
souls, immediately after they are fetched from the pleasures of the
flesh by death, are in misery and torment endless, useless, and
remediless, and which will be much increased and completed at the
resurrection. This rich man had entirely devoted himself to the
pleasures of the world of sense, was wholly taken up with
them, and took up with them for his portion, and therefore was
wholly unfit for the pleasures of the world of spirits; to such
a carnal mind as his they would indeed be no pleasure, nor could he
have any relish of them, and therefore he is of course excluded from
them. Yet this is not all; he was hard-hearted to God’s poor, and
therefore he is not only cut off from mercy, but he has judgment
without mercy, and falls under a punishment of sense as well
as a punishment of loss.
(2.) The misery of his state is aggravated by his knowledge of the
happiness of Lazarus: He lifts up his eyes, and sees Abraham
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. It is the soul that is
in torment, and they are the eyes of the mind that are lifted
up. He now began to consider what was become of Lazarus. He does not
find him where he himself is, nay, he plainly sees him, and with as
much assurance as if he had seen him with his bodily eyes, afar off in
the bosom of Abraham. This same aggravation of the miseries of the
damned we had before
(ch. xiii. 28):
Ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in
the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.
[1.] He saw Abraham afar off. To see Abraham we should think a
pleasing sight; but to see him afar off was a tormenting sight. Near
himself he saw devils and damned companions, frightful sights, and
painful ones; afar off he saw Abraham. Note, Every sight in hell is
aggravating.
[2.] He saw Lazarus in him bosom. That same Lazarus whom he had
looked upon with so much scorn and contempt, as not worthy his notice,
he now sees preferred, and to be envied. The sight of him brought to
his mind his own cruel and barbarous conduct towards him; and the sight
of him in that happiness made his own misery the more grievous.
III. Here is an account of what passed between the rich man and Abraham
in the separate state–a state of separation one from another, and of
both from this world. Though it is probable that there will not be, nor
are, any such dialogues or discourses between glorified saints and
damned sinners, yet it is very proper, and what is usually done in
descriptions, especially such as are designed to be pathetic and
moving, by such dialogues to represent what will be the mind and
sentiments both of the one and of the other. And since we find damned
sinners tormented in the presence of the Lamb
(Rev. xiv. 10),
and the faithful servants of God looking upon them that have
transgressed the covenant, there where their worm dies not,
and their fire is not quenched
such a discourse as this is not incongruous to be supposed. Now in this
discourse we have,
1. The request which the rich man made to Abraham for some mitigation
of his present misery,
Seeing Abraham afar off, he cried to him, cried aloud, as one in
earnest, and as one in pain and misery, mixing shrieks with his
petitions, to enforce them by moving compassion. He that used to
command aloud now begs aloud, louder than ever Lazarus
did at his gate. The songs of his riot and revels are all turned into
lamentations. Observe here,
(1.) The title he gives to Abraham: Father Abraham. Note, There
are many in hell that can call Abraham father, that were
Abraham’s seed after the flesh, nay, and many that were, in name and
profession, the children of the covenant made with Abraham. Perhaps
this rich man, in his carnal mirth, had ridiculed Abraham and the story
of Abraham, as the scoffers of the latter days do; but now he gives him
a title of respect, Father Abraham. Note, The day is coming when
wicked men will be glad to scrape acquaintance with the righteous, and
to claim kindred to them, though now they slight them. Abraham in this
description represents Christ, for to him all judgment is committed,
and it is his mind that Abraham here speaks. Those that now slight
Christ will shortly make their court to him, Lord, Lord.
(2.) The representation he makes to him of his present deplorable
condition: I am tormented in this flame. It is the torment of
his soul that he complains of, and therefore such a fire as will
operate upon souls; and such a fire the wrath of God is,
fastening upon a guilty conscience; such a fire horror of mind is, and
the reproaches of a self-accusing self-condemning heart. Nothing is
more painful and terrible to the body than to be tormented with fire;
by this therefore the miseries and agonies of damned souls are
represented.
(3.) His request to Abraham, in consideration of this misery: Have
mercy on me. Note, The day is coming when those that make light of
divine mercy will beg hard for it. O for mercy, mercy, when the
day of mercy is over, and offers of mercy are no more made. He that had
no mercy on Lazarus, yet expects Lazarus should have mercy on him;
“for,” thinks he, “Lazarus is better natured than ever I was.” The
particular favour he begs is, Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip
of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.
[1.] Here he complains of the torment of his tongue
particularly, as if he were more tormented there than in any other
part, the punishment answering the sin. The tongue is one of the
organs of speech, and by the torment of that he is put in mind of all
the wicked words that he had spoken against God and man, his cursing,
and swearing, and blasphemy, all his hard speeches, and
filthy speeches; by his words he is condemned, and
therefore in his tongue he is tormented. The tongue is also one of the
organs of tasting, and therefore the torments of that will
remind him of his inordinate relish of the delights of sense, which he
had rolled under his tongue.
[2.] He desires a drop of water to cool his tongue. He does not
say, “Father Abraham, order me a release from this misery, help me out
of this pit,” for he utterly despaired of this; but he asks as
small a thing as could be asked, a drop of water to cool his
tongue for one moment.
[3.] He sometimes suspected that he had herein an ill design upon
Lazarus, and hoped, if he could get him within his reach, he should
keep him from returning to the bosom of Abraham. The heart that is
filled with rage against God is filled with rage against the people of
God. But we will think more charitably even of a damned sinner, and
suppose he intended here to show respect to Lazarus, as one to whom he
would now gladly be beholden. He names him, because he
knows him, and thinks Lazarus will not be unwilling to do him
this good office for old acquaintance’ sake. Grotius here quotes Plato
describing the torments of wicked souls, and among other things he
says, They are continually raving on those whom they have
murdered, or been any way injurious to, calling upon them
to forgive them the wrongs they did them. Note, There is a day
coming when those that now hate and despise the people of God would
gladly receive kindness from them.
2. The reply which Abraham gave to this request. In general, he did not
grant it. He would not allow him one drop of water, to cool his
tongue. Note, The damned in hell shall not have any the least abatement
or mitigation of their torment. If we now improve the day of our
opportunities, we may have a full and lasting satisfaction in the
streams of mercy; but, if we now slight the offer, it will be in vain
in hell to expect the least drop of mercy. See how justly this rich man
is paid in his own coin. He that denied a crumb is denied a drop. Now
it is said to us, Ask, and it shall be given you; but, if we let
slip this accepted time, we may ask, and it shall not be given us. But
this is not all; had Abraham only said, “You shall have nothing to
abate your torment,” it had been sad; but he says a great deal which
would add to his torment, and make the flame the hotter, for every
thing in hell will be tormenting.
(1.) He calls him son, a kind and civil title, but here it
serves only to aggravate the denial of his request, which shut up the
bowels of the compassion of a father from him. He had been a son, but a
rebellious one, and now an abandoned disinherited one. See the folly of
those who rely on that plea, We have Abraham to our father, when
we find one in hell, and likely to be there for ever, whom Abraham
calls son.
(2.) He puts him in mind of what had been both his own condition and
the condition of Lazarus, in their life-time: Son, remember;
this is a cutting word. The memories of damned souls will be their
tormentors, and conscience will then be awakened and stirred up to do
its office, which here they would not suffer it to do. Nothing will
bring more oil to the flames of hell than Son, remember. Now
sinners are called upon to remember, but they do not, they will
not, they find ways to avoid it. “Son, remember thy Creator, thy
Redeemer, remember thy latter end;” but they can turn a deaf ear to
these mementos, and forget that for which they have their
memories; justly therefore will their everlasting misery arise from a
Son, remember, to which they will not be able to turn a deaf
ear. What a dreadful peal will this ring in our ears, “Son,
remember the many warnings that were given thee not to come to this
place of torment, which thou wouldest not regard; remember the fair
offers made thee of eternal life and glory, which thou wouldest not
accept!” But that which he is here put in mind of is,
[1.] That thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things. He
does not tell him that he had abused them, but that he had
received them: “Remember what a bountiful benefactor God has
been to thee, how ready he was to do thee good; thou canst not
therefore say he owes thee any thing, no, not a drop of water.
What he gave thee thou receivedst, and that was all; thou never
gavest him a receipt for them, in a thankful acknowledgment of them,
much less didst thou ever make any grateful return for them or
improvement of them; thou hast been the grave of God’s blessings, in
which they were buried, not the field of them, in which they were sown.
Thou receivedst thy good things; thou receivedst them, and
usedst them, as if they had been thine own, and thou hadst not
been at all accountable for them. Or, rather, they were the things
which thou didst choose for thy good things, which were in thine
eye the best things, which thou didst content thyself with, and
portion thyself in. Thou hadst meat, and drink, and clothes of the
richest and finest, and these were the things thou didst place thy
happiness in; they were thy reward, thy consolation, the
penny thou didst agree for, and thou hast had it. Thou
wast for the good things of thy life-time, and hadst no thought
of better things in another life, and therefore hast no reason to
expect them. The day of thy good things is past and gone, and
now is the day of thy evil things, of recompence for all thy
evil deeds. Thou hast already had the last drop of the vials of
mercy that thou couldest expect to fall to thy share; and there
remains nothing but vials of wrath without mixture.”
[2.] “Remember too what evil things Lazarus received. Thou
enviest him his happiness here; but think what a large share of
miseries he had in his life-time. Thou hast as much good
as could be thought to fall to the lot of so bad a man, and he
as much evil as could be thought to fall to the lot of so
good a man. He received his evil things; he bore them
patiently, received them from the hand of God, as Job did
Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not
receive evil also?)–he received them as physic appointed
for the cure of his spiritual distempers, and the cure was effected.”
As wicked people have good things in this life only, and at
death they are for ever separated from all good, so godly people have
evil things only in this life, and at death they are for ever
put out of the reach of them. Now Abraham, by putting him in mind of
both these together, awakens his conscience to remind him how he had
behaved towards Lazarus, when he was reveling in his good things
and Lazarus groaning under his evil things; he cannot forget
that then he would not help Lazarus, and how then could he expect that
Lazarus should now help him? Had Lazarus in his life-time afterwards
grown rich, and he poor, Lazarus would have thought it his duty to
relieve him, and not to have upbraided him with his former unkindness;
but, in the future state of recompence and retribution, those that are
now dealt with, both by God and man, better than they deserve, must
expect to be rewarded every man according to his works.
(3.) He puts him in mind of Lazarus’s present bliss, and his own
misery: But now the tables are turned, and so they must abide
for ever; now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. He did
not need to be told that he was tormented; he felt it to his
cost. He knew likewise that one who lay in the bosom of Abraham could
not but be comforted there; yet Abraham puts him in mind of it, that he
might, by comparing one thing with another, observe the
righteousness of God, in recompensing tribulation to them who
trouble his people, and to those who are troubled rest,
2 Thess. i. 6, 7.
Observe,
[1.] Heaven is comfort, and hell is torment: heaven is
joy, hell is weeping, and wailing, and pain in
perfection.
[2.] The soul, as soon as it leaves the body, goes either to heaven or
hell, to comfort or torment, immediately, and does not sleep, or go
into purgatory.
[3.] Heaven will be heaven indeed to those that go thither through many
and great calamities in this world; of those that had grace, but had
little of the comfort of it here (perhaps their souls refused to be
comforted), yet, when they are fallen asleep in Christ, you may truly
say, “Now they are comforted: now all their tears are wiped
away, and all their fears are vanished.” In heaven there is
everlasting consolation. And, on the other hand, hell will be hell
indeed to those that go thither from the midst of the enjoyment of all
the delights and pleasures of sense. To them the torture is the
greater, as temporal calamities are described to be to the tender
and delicate woman, that would not set so much as the sole of her foot
to the ground, for tenderness and delicacy.
Deut. xxviii. 56.
(4.) He assures him that it was to no purpose to think of having any
relief by the ministry of Lazarus; for
(v. 26),
Besides all this, worse yet, between us and you there is a
great gulf fixed, an impassable one, a great chasm, that so
there can be no communication between glorified saints and damned
sinners.
[1.] The kindest saint in heaven cannot make a visit to the
congregation of the dead and damned, to comfort or relieve any there
who once were their friends. “They that would pass hence to you
cannot; they cannot leave beholding the face of their Father, nor
the work about his throne, to fetch water for you; that is no part of
their business.”
[2.] The most daring sinner in hell cannot force his way out of that
prison, cannot get over that great gulf. They cannot pass to us that
would come thence. It is not to be expected, for the door of mercy
is shut, the bridge is drawn; there is no coming out upon parole or
bail, no, not for one hour. In this world, blessed be God, there is no
gulf fixed between a state of nature and grace, but we may pass from
the one to thee other, from sin to God; but if we die in our sins, if
we throw ourselves into the pit of destruction, there is no coming out.
It is a pit in which there is no water, and out of which
there is no redemption. The decree and counsel of God have fixed
this gulf, which all the world cannot unfix. This abandons this
miserable creature to despair; it is now too late for any change of his
condition, or any the least relief: it might have been prevented in
time, but it cannot now be remedied to eternity. The state
of damned sinners is fixed by an irreversible and unalterable sentence.
A stone is rolled to the door of the pit, which cannot be rolled
back.
3. The further request he had to make to his father Abraham, not for
himself, his mouth is stopped, and he has not a word to say in answer
to Abraham’s denial of a drop of water. Damned sinners are made to know
that the sentence they are under is just, and they cannot alleviate
their own misery by making any objection against it. And, since he
cannot obtain a drop of water to cool his tongue, we may suppose
he gnawed his tongue for pain, as those are said to do on whom
one of the vials of God’s wrath is poured out,
Rev. xvi. 10.
The shrieks and outcries which we may suppose to be now uttered by him
were hideous; but, having an opportunity of speaking to Abraham, he
will improve it for his relations whom he has left behind, since he
cannot improve it for his own advantage. Now as to this,
(1.) He begs that Lazarus might be sent to his father’s house,
upon an errand thither: I pray thee therefore, father,
v. 27.
Again he calls upon Abraham, and in this request he is importunate:
“I pray thee. O deny me not this.” When he was on earth he might
have prayed and been heard, but now he prays in vain.
“Therefore, because thou hast denied me the former request,
surely thou wilt be so compassionate as not to deny this:” or,
“Therefore, because there is a great gulf fixed, seeing
there is no getting out hence when they are once here, O send to
prevent their coming hither:” or, “Though there is a great gulf
fixed between you and me, yet, since there is no such gulf fixed
between you and them, send them hither. Send him back to my father’s
house; he knows well enough where it is, has been there many a
time, having been denied the crumbs that fell from the table. He knows
I have five brethren there; if he appear to them, they will
know him, and will regard what he saith, for they knew him to be
an honest man. Let him testify to them; let him tell them what
condition I am in, and that I brought myself to it by my luxury and
sensuality, and my unmercifulness to the poor. Let him warn them not
to tread in my steps, nor to go on in the way wherein I led them, and
left them, lest they also come into this place of torment,”
Some observe that he speaks only of five brethren, whence they
infer that he had no children, else he would have mentioned
them, and then it was an aggravation of his uncharitableness that he
had no children to provide for. Now he would have them stopped in their
sinful course. He does not say, “Give me leave to go to them, that I
may testify to them;” for he knew that there was a gulf fixed,
and despaired of a permission so favourable to himself: his going would
frighten them out of their wits; but, “Send Lazarus, whose
address will be less terrible, and yet his testimony sufficient to
frighten them out of their sins.” Now he desired the preventing
of their ruin, partly in tenderness to them, for whom he could
not but retain a natural affection; he knew their temper, their
temptations, their ignorance, their infidelity, their inconsideration,
and wished to prevent the destruction they were running into: but it
was partly in tenderness to himself, for their coming to him, to
that place of torment, would but aggravate the misery to him,
who had helped to show them the way thither, as the sight of Lazarus
helped to aggravate his misery. When partners in sin come to be sharers
in woe, as tares bound in bundles for the fire, they will be a terror
to one another.
(2.) Abraham denies him this favour too. There is no request granted in
hell. Those who make the rich man’s praying to Abraham a justification
of their praying to saints departed, as they have far to seek for
proofs, when the practice of a damned sinner must be valued for an
example, so they have little encouragement to follow the example, when
all his prayers were made in vain. Abraham leaves them to the
testimony of Moses and the prophets, the ordinary means of conviction
and conversion; they have the written word, which they may read and
hear read. “Let them attend to that sure word of
prophecy, for God will not go out of the common method of his grace
for them.” Here is their privilege: They have Moses and the
prophets; and their duty: “Let them hear them, and mix faith
with them, and that will be sufficient to keep them from this place of
torment.” By this it appears that there is sufficient evidence in the
Old Testament, in Moses and the prophets, to convince those that
will hear them impartially that there is another life after this, and a
state of rewards and punishments for good and bad men; for that was the
thing which the rich man would have his brethren assured of, and for
that they are turned over to Moses and the prophets.
(3.) He urges his request yet further
(v. 30):
“Nay, father Abraham, give me leave to press this. It is true,
they have Moses and the prophets, and, if they would but give a due
regard to them, it would be sufficient; but they do not, they will not;
yet it may be hoped, if one went to them from the dead, they would
repent, that would be a more sensible conviction to them. They are
used to Moses and the prophets, and therefore regard them the less; but
this would be a new thing, and more startling; surely this would
bring them to repent, and to change their wicked habit and
course of life.” Note, Foolish men are apt to think any method of
conviction better than that which God has chosen and appointed.
|
[Previous] [Next] |
Matthew Henry |
|
Back to Bibles Net . Com – Online Christian Library Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary – Free Download |
Copyright 2008. Bibles Net. Com. All Rights Reserved.