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who shall give you that which is | ly esteemed among men, is abcmi your own? nation in the sight of God.

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

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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 heave and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

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18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, com mitteth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery.

19 There was a certain rich man, h Matt.5.32. 1 Co.7.10,11. ƒ Matt.11.12,13. g Ps. 102.26. Is.40.8. 51.6.

ours for ever, and not be taken away many things, much sought and admired, like the riches of this world, as if they are hateful in his sight. The love of were not ours. The meaning of the wealth and show; ambition and pride; whole parable is, therefore, thus ex-gay and splendid vices, and all the pressed: If we do not use the things wickedness that men contrive to gild of this world as we ought-with ho- and to make appear like virtue-exter nesty, truth, wisdom, and integrity-nal acts, that appear well while the we cannot have evidence of piety, and heart is evil- -are abominable in the shall not be received into heaven. If sight of God, and should be in the sight we are true to that which is least, it is of men. Compare Luke xviii. 11-14; an evidence that we are the children of 1 Sam. xvi. 7. God, and he will commit to our trust that which is of infinite importance, even the eternal riches and glory of heaven.

13. See Matt. vi. 24:

16. See Matt. xi. 12-14. ¶ Every man. Many men, or multitudes. It is an expression that is very common, as when we say every body is engaged in a piece of business, meaning that it oc ri-cupies general attention.

14, 15. They derided him. They diculed, or laughed at him. They were avaricious, and they ridiculed the doctrine that they ought to be benevolent with their property. Justify yourselves. Attempt to appear just; or, you aim at external righteousness, or to appear righteous in the sight of men, and do not regard the heart. That which is highly esteemed. That is, mere external works, or actions performed merely to appear to be righteous. ¶ Is abomination. Is abominable, or hateful. The word used here is the one that in the Old Testament is commonly given to idols, and denotes God's abhorrence of such conduct. These words are to be applied chiefly to what Jesus was discoursing about. There are many things esteemed among men which are not abomination in the sight of God; as, e. g., truth, parental and fi affection, industry, &c. But

17. See Matt. v. 18.

18. See Matt. v. 32. These verses occur in Matthew in a different order, and it is not improbable that they were spoken by our Saviour at differen times. The design, here, seems to be to reprove the Pharisees for not observing the law of Moses, notwithstanding their great pretensions to external right eousness, and to show them that they had really departed from the law.

19. There was a certain rich man. Many have supposed that our Lord here refers to a real history, and gives an account of some man who had lived in this manner. But of this there is no evidence. The probability is, that this narrative is to be considered as a para ble, referring not to any particular case which had actually happened, but teach ing that such cases might happen. The design of the narrative is to be collected

which was clothed in purple and gar named Lazarus, which was laid fine linen, and fared sumptuously at his gate, full of sores, every day:

20 And there was a certain oeg

from the previous conversation. He had taught the danger of love of money (vs. 1, 2); the deceitful and treacherous nature of riches (vs. 9-11); that what was in high esteem on earth was hateful to God (ver. 15); that men who did not use their property aright could not be received into heaven (vs. 11, 12); that they ought to listen to Moses and the prophets (vs. 16, 17); and that it was the duty of men to show kindness to the poor. The design of the parable was, to impress all these truths more vividly on the mind, and to show the Pharisees that with all their boasted righteousness, and external correctness of character, they might be lost amidst all their wealth. Accordingly he speaks of no great fault in the rich man-no external, degrading vice -no open breach of the law; and leaves us to infer that the mere possession of wealth is dangerous to the soul; and that a man, surrounded with every temporal blessing, may perish for ever. It is remarkable that he gave no name to this rich man. If this was a parable, it shows us how unwilling he was to fix suspicion on any one. If it was not a parable, it shows also that Jesus would not drag out wicked men before the public, but would conceal as much as possible all that had any connexion with them. The good he would speak well of by name; the evil he would not injure by exposing them to public view. T Clothed in purple. A purple robe or garment. This color was expensive as well as splendid, and was chiefly worn by princes, nobles, and those who were very wealthy. Compare Matt. xxvii. 28. See Notes on Isa. i. 18. Fine linen. This linen was chiefly produced of the flax that grew on the banks of the Nile, in Egypt. Prov. vii. 16. Ezek. xxvii. 7. It was peculiarly soft and white, and was therefore much sought as an article of luxury, and was so expensive that it could be worn only by princes, by priests, or by those who were very rich. Gen. xli. 42. 1 Chron. IV. 27. Ex. xxviii. 5. Fared sumptuously. Feasted or lived in a splendid Every da,. Not merely

manner.

21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich

occasionally, but constantly. This was a mark of great wealth, and in the view of the world, evidence of great happi ness. It is worthy of remark that Jesus did not charge on him any crimes. He did not say that he had acquired this property by dishonesty, or even that he was unkind or uncharitable; but simply that he was a rich man, and that his riches did not secure him from death and perdition.

The

20, 21. Beggar. Poor man. original word does not mean beggar, but simply that he was poor. It should have been so translated to keep up the contrast with the rich man. ↑ Named Lazarus. The word Lazarus is Hebrew, and means a man destitute of help, a needy, poor man. It is a name given, therefore, to denote his needy condition. Laid at his gate. At the door of the rich man, in order that he might obtain aid. Full of sores. Covered with ulcers; afflicted not only with poverty, but with loathsome and offensive ulcers, such as often are the accompaniments of poverty and want. These circumstances are designed to show how different was his condition from that of the rich man. He was clothed in purple; the poor man was covered with sores: he fared sumptuously; the poor man was dependent even for the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. The dogs came. Such was his miserable condition that even the dogs, as if moved by pity, came and licked his sores in kindness to him. These circumstances of his misery are very touching, and his condition, contrasted with that of the rich man, very striking. It is not affirmed that the rich man was unkind to him or drove him away, o: refused to aid him. The narrative is designed simply to show that the possession of wealth, and all the blessings of this life, could not exempt from death and misery, and that the lowest condition among mortals may be connected with life and happiness beyond the grave. There was no provision made for the helpless poor in those days, and consequently they were often laid at the gates of the

man's table: increover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the

a Matt.8.11. b Pr.14.32.

rich and in places of public resort for charity. See Acts iii. 2. The gospel has been the means of all the public charity now made for the needy, as it has of providing hospitals for those who are sick and afflicted. No pagan nation ever had a hospital or an alms-house for the needy, the aged, or the afflicted. Many heathen nations, as the Hindoos and the Sandwich Islanders, destroyed their aged people; and all left their poor to the miseries of public begging, and their sick to the care of their friends or to private charity.

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nor, and funerals were, as they are now, often expensive, splendid, and ostentatious. This is said of the rich man to show that he had every earthly honor, and all that the world calls happy and desirable.

23. In hell. The word here trans lated hell (Hades) means literally a dark, obscure place; the place where departed spirits go, but especially the place where wicked spirits go. The following circumstances are related of it in this parable: 1st. It is fur off from the abodes of the righteous. Lazarus was seen afar off. 2d. It is a place of torment. 3d. "There is a great gulf fixed between that and heaven. Ver. 26. 4th. The suffering is great. It is represented by torment in a flame. Ver. 24. 5th. There will be no escape from it. Ver. 26. The word hell here means, therefore, that dark, obscure, and mise

22. Was carried by the angels. The Jews held the opinion that the spirits of the righteous were conveyed by angels to heaven at their death. Our Saviour speaks in accordance with this opinion; and as he expressly affirms the fact, it seems as proper that it should be taken literally, as when it is said the rich man died and was buried. Angels are mi-rable place, far from heaven, where the nistering spirits sent forth to minister to wicked shall be punished for ever. ¶ He those who are heirs of salvation (Heb: lifted up his eyes. A phrase in common i. 14), and there is no more improbabi- use among the Hebrews, meaning he lity in the supposition that they attend looked. Gen. xiii. 10; xviii. 2; xxxi. 10. departing spirits to heaven, than that Dan. viii. 3. Luke vi. 20. ¶ Being in they attend them while on earth. torment. The word torment means TAbraham's bosom. This is a phrase pain, anguish (Matt. iv. 24); particularly taken from the practice of reclining at the pain inflicted by the ancients in ormeals, where the head of one lay on the der to induce men to make confession bosom of another, and it denoted, there- of their crimes. These torments or torfore, intimacy and friendship. See tures were the keenest that they could Note, Matt. xxiii. 6. Also John xiii. inflict, such as the rack, or scourging, 23; xxi. 20. The Jews had no doubt or burning; and the use of the word that Abraham was in paradise. To say here denotes that the sufferings of the that Lazarus was in his bosom was, wicked can be represented only by the therefore, the same as to say that he extremest forms of human suffering was admitted to heaven and made happy T And seeth Abraham, &c. This was there. The Jews moreover boasted an aggravation of his misery. One of very much of being the friends of Abra- the first things that occurred in hell was ham and his descendants. Matt. iii. 9. to look up and see the poor man that To be his friend, was in their view the lay at his gate, completely happy. highest honor and happiness. Our Sa- What a contrast! Just now he was viour, therefore, showed them that this rolling in wealth, and the poor man was poor and afflicted man might be raised at his gate: he had no expectation of to the highest happiness, while the rich, these sufferings; now they have come who prided themselves on their being upon him, and Lazarus is happy, and descended from Abraham, might be for ever fixed in the paradise of God. cast away and lost forever. Was It is more, perhaps, than we are autho buried. This is not said of the poor rized to infer, that the wicked will see man. Burial was thought to be an ho- I those who are in paradise. That they VOL. II. 11

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eyes, being in torments, and seeth | send Lazarus, that he may dip the Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in tip of his finger in water, and cool his bosom : my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and

will know that they are there is certain; but we are not to suppose that they will be so near together as to be seen, or as to make conversation possible. These circumstances mean that there will be a separation, and that the wicked in hell will be conscious that the righteous, though on earth they were poor or despised, will be in heaven. Heaven and hell will be far from each other, and it will be no small part of the misery of the one that it is far and for ever removed from the other.

24. Father Abraham. The Jews considered it a signal honor that Abraham was their father; that is, that they were descendants from him. Though this man was now in misery, yet he seems not to have abandoned the idea of his relation to the father of the faithful. The Jews supposed that departed spirits might know and converse with each other. See Lightfoot on this place. Our Saviour speaks in conformity with that prevailing opinion; and as it was not easy to convey ideas about the spiritual world without some such representation, he therefore speaks in the language which was usual in his time. We are not, however, to suppose that this was literally true, but only that it was designed to represent more clearly the sufferings of the rich man in hell. Have mercy on me. Pity me. The rich man is not represented as calling on God. The mercy of God will be at an end when the soul is lost. Nor did he ask to be released from that place. Lost spirits know that their sufferings will have no end, and that it would be in vain to ask to escape the place of Lorment. Nor does he ask to be admitted where Lazarus was. He had no desire to be in a holy place, and he well knew that there was no restoration to those who once sink down to hell. ¶ Send Lazarus. This shows how low he was reduced, and how the circumstances of men change when they die. Just before, Lazarus was laid at his gate, full of sores. Now he is happy, in heaven. Just before, he

25 But Abraham said, Son, t b Is.66.24. Mar.9.44, &c.

a Zec.14.12.

had nothing to give, and the rich man could expect to derive no benefit from him; now he asks, as the highest favor, that he might come and render him re. lief. Soon the poorest men on earth,

they are the friends of God, will have mercies which the rich, if unprepared to die, can never obtain. The rich will no longer despise them; they would then be glad of their friendship, and would beg for the slightest favor at their hands. Dip the tip, &c. This was a small favor to ask, and it shows the greatness of his distress, when so small a thing would be considered a great relief. Cool my tongue. The effect of great heat on the body is to produce almost insupportable thirst. Those who travel in burning deserts thus suffer inexpressibly when they are deprived of water. So pain of any kind produces thirst, and particularly if connected with fever. The sufferings of the rich man are, therefore, represented as producing burning thirst, so much that even a drop of water would be refreshing to his tongue. We can scarce form an idea of more distress and misery, than where this is continued from one day to another without relief. We are not to suppose that he had been guilty of any particular wickedness with his tongue as the cause of this. It is simply an idea to represent the natural effect of great suffering, and especially suffering in the midst of great heat. I am tormented. I am in anguish, in insupportable distress. In this flame. The lost are often represented as suffering in flames, because fire is an image of the severest pain that we know. It is not certain, however, that the wicked will be doomed to suffer in material fire. See Note, Mark ix. 44.

25. Son. This is a representation designed to correspond with the word father. He was a descendant from Abraham-a Jew-and Abraham is represented as calling this thing to his remembrance. It would not lessen his sorrows to remember that he was a son of Abraham, and that he ought to

member that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and ikewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art Lormented.

26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass

a Job 21.13. Ps.73.12-19. c.6.24.

from hence to you cannot; neither ' can they pass to us that would come from thence.

27 Then he said, I pray the 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

b Eze.28.24.

have lived worthy of that relation to be no communication between the one nim. Remember. This is a cutting and the other-there can be no passing word in this place. One of the chief from one to the other. It is impossible torments of hell will be the remembrance to conceive that the righteous would of what was enjoyed, and of what was desire to leave their abodes in glory to done in this world. Nor will it be any go and dwell in the world of wo-nor mitigation of the suffering, to spend an can we suppose that they would wish eternity in which there will be nothing to go for any reason unless it were pos else to do day or night but to remember sible to furnish relief. That will be what was done, and what might have out of the question. Not even a drop been, if the life had been right. T Thy of water will be furnished as a relief to good things. That is, property, splen- the sufferer. Neither can they pass to Hor, honor. Evil things. Poverty, us,.&c. There can be no doubt that contempt, and affliction. But now, the wicked will desire to pass the gulf &c. How changed the scene! How that divides them from heaven. They different the condition! And how much would be glad to be in a state of happibetter was the portion of Lazarus after ness. But all such wishes will be vain. all than that of the rich man! It is How can men believe that there will be probable that Lazarus had the most real a restoration of all the wicked to hea happiness in the land of the living, for ven? The Saviour solemnly assures us riches without the love of God can that there can be no passage from that never confer happiness like the favor world of wo to the abodes of the blessed. of God, even in poverty. But the Yet in the face of this, many Universalcomforts of the rich man are now gone ists hold that hell will yet be vacated of for ever, and the joys of Lazarus have its guilty millions, and all its miserable just commenced. One is to be com- inhabitants will be received to heaven! forted, and the other to be tormented, Who shall conduct them across this to all eternity. How much better, gulf, when Jesus Christ says it cannot be therefore, is poverty, with the friend- passed? Who shall build a bridge over ship of God, than riches, with all that that yawning chasm which he says is the world can bestow! And how fool-"fixed?" No. If there is any thing ish to seek our chief pleasures only in this life!

26. A great gulf. The word translated gulf means chasm, or the broad, yawning space between two elevated objects, or two precipices. In this place it means that there is no way of passing from one to the other. Fixed. Strengthened, made firm, or immovable. It is so established that it will never be movable or passable. It will for ever divide heaven and hell. Which would pass. We are not to press this passage literally, as if those in heaven would desire to go and visit the wicked in the world of wo. The simple meaning of the statement is, that there can

certain from the Scripture, it is, that they who enter hell return no more; they who sink there sink for ever.

27, 28. Five brethren. The number five is mentioned merely to preserve the appearance of verisimilitude in the story. It is not to be spiritualized, nor are we to suppose that it has any hidden or inscrutable meaning. ¶ May testify unto them. May bear witness to them, or may inform them of what is my situation, and the dreadful con sequences of the life that I have led. It is remarkable that he did not ask te go himself. He knew that he could not be released, even for so short a time. His condition was fixed. Yet he had

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