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... (Luke 16:19-20)
The Egyptian parallel is from a Demotic text written sometime in the second half of the first century CE, but the tale itself is thought to be much older.30 It is the story of Selme Khamwas, the high priest of Ptah at Memphis and his son Si-Osiris. Si-Osiris was the reincarnated great magician, Horus-son-of-Paneshe, born miraculously to a childless couple. He was allowed to return from the dead to confront and defeat a powerful Ethiopian magician. Before he reached the age of twelve and vanquished the foreign magician, Setme and his son witnessed the burial of two men — one rich, one poor. Naturally, Setme expressed his wish to receive a rich burial; in response, his son took him on a tour of the seven halls of Amente, the Egyptian realm of the dead.31 The rich man was in the fifth hall, with the pivot of a door rotating in his eye socket In contrast, the poor man was elevated to a high rank near Osiris. Si-Osiris explained to his father that the good deeds of the poor man outnumbered his bad deeds, while the bad deeds of the rich man outnumbered his good deeds.
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Author: Matthew Ryan Hauge
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Bible reference(s): Luke 16:19, Luke 16:20, Luke 16:21, Luke 16:22, Luke 16:23, Luke 16:24, Luke 16:25, Luke 16:26, Luke 16:27, Luke 16:28, Luke 16:29, Luke 16:30, Luke 16:31
Source: The Biblical Tour of Hell (The Library of New Testament Studies) (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2013), pp. 9-10.
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