Verse-by-Verse Comments
19“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
(1) The rich man's attire conveys his status. Culpepper, in The New Interpreter's Bible, writes that his purple clothing "may mean that he was a high-ranking official or a member of the royal family. The Romans had set standards regarding who could wear purple and how much purple they could wear."
(2) The rich man eats "sumptuously every day." For something to be sumptuous means that it's luxurious, lavish, of the highest quality, overly-abundant.
20And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
(1) Gated homes had the same connotation in those days as they often do today. The wealthy man in Jesus' parable has the gates to provide privacy, security, and separation from the riff-raff have-nots of society.
(2) This is the only parable Jesus tells in which He gives names to characters. First named is the fictional poor man, Lazarus. This Lazarus isn't to be confused with the real-life man of the same name, who Jesus brought back to life in John 11. The name means God helps.
It's interesting that Jesus chooses to reserve this honor for a poor man, since much Jewish piety (and even some passages of the Old Testament) saw poverty as a sign of God's disapproval. A poor man then, was a nobody. Yet in Jesus' story, the poor man, overlooked by the rich man, has a name. The rich man doesn't.
21who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.
(1) The poor man would have been pleased with the crumbs from the rich man's feasting. This reminds me of the words of the Canaanite woman who approached Jesus, seeking healing for her daughter. Jesus delayed fulfilling her request, no doubt to make a point to His disciples. Matthew writes:
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” (Matthew 15:24-27)First century Judeans often referred to Gentiles--non-Jews--as "dogs." (Jesus actually used the diminuitive word that might more aptly be translated as "puppy," giving some hint that He's about to teach His disciples about the expansiveness of His kingdom.) When the woman in the Matthew text tells Jesus that even puppies take whatever their masters give them, Jesus is taken with her faith and grants her request.
At feasts in those days, Culpepper points out, diners used bread to wipe their hands of grease. Then, they threw the bread scraps under the table (see Mark 7:28). Often, the family dogs ate these scraps. In this week's Bible lesson, Lazarus is hopeful that the rich man will allow him to have the same table scraps. But the "depths of Lazarus's deprivation is described with one final detail: The dogs...lick his sores as they pass by."
The man whose name means God helps is defenseless against dogs who lick his wounds.
(2) Several commentators point out that the particular verb used to describe Lazarus' desire to eat is commonly used of animals rather than human beings.
22The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
(1) We enter a new phase of the narrative here. The rich man dies and is buried. But Lazarus is carried away by angels. In these sparse words, Jesus is underscoring the honor of Lazarus over against the wealthy man.
(2) A second character is designated with a name. It's Abraham, the great patriarch of Biblical faith.
More tomorrow, I hope.
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