On more than one occasion Jesus pronounced woe on the Pharisees and said, “How shall ye escape the condemnation of Gehenna?”1 He told them that they would see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and they themselves would be cast out.2 Then the poor disciples of Christ would be exalted to a place in that kingdom: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”3 All this was plain language. But Jesus wished to tell the Pharisees that it was possible for them to escape that doom, by repentance, and by giving heed to Moses and the prophets. So he pictures the future as they supposed it. He takes one of their own traditions which was current at the time, and makes Dives represent the Pharisee class, and Lazarus the poor disciples. He does this so that he can put into the mouth of Abraham words which condemn the Pharisee for giving heed to the traditions of men and neglecting to heed Moses and the prophets. The whole point of Abraham’s rebuke was, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead.”4 The “story” was not invented by Jesus. It occurs in several forms in the Jewish Talmud where the persons depicted are represented as speaking to each other. The great gulf which none can pass over; the flame; the torment; all these are part and parcel of the Talmud story, which Jesus took and turned upon the sneering Pharisees.
This “story” cannot be literal fact. Paul says, if the dead are not raised, they have perished, even those who have believed in Christ.5 This “story” supposes that, quite apart from resurrection, the dead are fully alive and conscious! Paterson Smyth prefers to believe this “story” to be literally true, rather than the words of Paul. He says “The Jews of our Lord’s time believed in a waiting life of departed souls before the judgement. Owing to vagueness and contradictions in the rabbinical teaching it is impossible to state their notions about it with definiteness.” In the first place, it is not correct to suppose that all the Jews held that belief. It is certain that some did not hold it; there are contradictions in the rabbinical belief. But there are no contradictions in the Scriptures on the subject of what happens at death. They agree that when a man dies “his thoughts perish;”6 that there is “no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol whither thou goest.”7 If these and scores of other passages are true, then the tradition of “a waiting life of departed souls” in Hades is utterly false; and anyone—be he clergyman or layman—who holds that tradition, makes the Word of God of none effect in consequence.
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Author: Philip Wale
Keywords: Bar Maayan, Tax collector, Publican, Bar Majan, Reversal of fate after death, After death, Jewish folklore, Jewish folktale, Jewish folk tale, Dives and Lazarus, After life, Afterlife, Cast to hell, Cast down to hell, Chains of darkness, Damned go to hell, Death, Death state, Departing soul, Departing spirit, Destroyed in hell, Dieing, Dominion of the grave, Do the wicked go to hell, Eternal fire, Eternal judgment, Eternal judgement, Eternal punishment, Eternal torment, Eternal hell, Eternal pit, Everlasting fire, Everlasting judgment, Everlasting judgement, Everlasting hell, Everlasting hellfire, Everlasting hell fire, Everlasting pit, Everlasting punishment, Everlasting torment, Everlasting torture, Ever lasting fire, Ever lasting judgment, Ever lasting judgement, Ever lasting hell, Ever lasting hellfire, Ever lasting hell fire, Ever lasting pit, Ever lasting punishment, Ever lasting torment, Ever lasting torture, Eternal hellfire, Eternal hell fire, Eternal torture, Eternal soul, Fable hell, Fabled hell, Fiery hell, Fire not quenched, Fire unquenched, Gehenna, Gehena, Gehenna fire, Gehena fire, Go to hell, Going to heaven, Grave, Gravedom, Hell, Hele, Hellfire, Hell fire, Hell forever, Hell invention of the church, Hell real, Hades, Hinnom, Immortal spirit, Immortal soul, Immortality of the soul, Immortality of the spirit, Kill the soul, Lake of fire, Life in hell, Lost souls in hell, Never ending fire, Never ending hell, Placed in hell, Punished in hell, Punished for eternity, Punished in hell for eternity, Reserved in hell, Rich man Lazarus, Rich man Lazaras, Roasting in hell, Send to hell, Sent to hell, Sheol, Sleeping in hell, Soul's immortality, Soul in hell, Soul punished in hell, Soul sleep, Soulsleep, Spirit in hell, Tartarus, There is no hell, Torment in hell, Tormented in hell, Underworld, Under world, Undieing worm, Undying worm, Unquenchable, Unquenchable fire, Waiting in hell, Wicked punished in hell, What happens when I die, What happens when we die, When the roll is called up yonder, Where is hell, Where do the lost go when they die, Where do the wicked go when they die, Where do we go when we die, Wicked hell, Worm does not die, Worm won't die, Worm will not die, Worm dieth not, Worm do not die, Bar Mayan, Talmud, Talmud parable rich man, Talmud afterlife, Talmud after life, Egyptian parable, Egyptain afterlife, Egyptian after life, eternal reward, reward in heaven, heavenly reward
Bible reference(s): Luke 16:19-31
Source: “The Truth Versus Pharisaic Tradition,” The Testimony, Vol. 18, No. 212, August 1948, pp. 264-6.
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