YES! The Rich Man Parable, The Christian Bible (1991)

[jabcat]

Went to services with my wife Sunday.  Got to hear again how the rich man "in hell" was trying to get someone to go warn his brothers about ET;  but "if they won't believe what's clearly written in the Word of God, they won't believe someone come back from the dead".  Hell's gon'na get'em.      After shaking my head and uttering a few things, I talked with my wife about it.  She (a newer believer in UR) said "that never made sense to me", i.e., rich man in hell because he was rich, Lazarus in heaven because he was poor, etc.

It's been on my mind, and today I just opened my copy of The Christian Bible.  And YES!!!  Check this out;

(But first, Luke 8:10, CB – Now He said,  "To know the secrets of God's Kingdom has been given to you, yet it is in illustrations to the rest, that though they are observing, they shall not observe;  and though they are hearing, they shall not understand' [Is. 6:9])


Beginning at Luke 16:19

Now there was a certain rich man [symbolic of Judaism], and he was wearing a reddish-purple coat [symbolic of royalty] and fine linen [symbolic of being just], having a good time day after day in a dazzling manner.  Now a certain poor person [symbolic of the pagans] names Lazarus ['God is my help'} had been thrown at his [the rich persons's] entryway, covered with open sores [symbolic of being spiritually unclean];  and he continually desired to be satisfied by the things [symbolic of spritual favors] falling from the rich person's table, but even the dogs [symbolic of paganism] were coming and licking his open sores.

Now it occurred that the poor person died, and he was carried away by the Messengers [symbolic of the ones spreading the Good Message about Yesu] to Abrahams's lap [symbolic of the father of the faithful].  Now the rich person also died and was buried [Judaism died, the Law was no longer in power].  Then in the grave, he lifted up his eyes, while existing in tortures [the Jews no longer had spiritual favors over the pagans, rather the Christians had the Pure Spirit], and saw Abraham a distance away, and Lazarus on his lap.  So he shouted out and said, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, because I am in pain in this flame!" 

Yet Abraham said, "Child, you must remember that you got your good things during your life [the time period of the Law of Moses], and in the same way Lazarus got bad things!  Yet it is a fact that he is being encouraged here [by the Encourager, the Pure Spirit], yet you are in pain [because Judaism had been deserted, since they deserted God].  Now in all these things, there has been solidly established a great canyon between us and you [between faith in Yesu and Judaism], so that those who want to cross over from here to you, can't do so;  nor can those there even go across to our side to us [Judaism didn't dissolve into Christianity, but was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.]  Yet he said, "I ask you then, father to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers [the other ten tribes of Israel], so that he might give testimony to them, so that they won't also come to this place of torture."

Yet Abraham says, "They have Moses and the Prophets;  they must hear them!"  Yet he said, "No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead [as Yesus went to the Jews], they will change their thoughts and feelings."  Yet he said to him, "If they aren't hearing Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises up from among the dead".   The Christian Bible (1991)

[WhiteWings]

Now there was a certain rich man [symbolic of Judaism], and he was wearing a reddish-purple coat [symbolic of royalty] and fine linen [symbolic of being just], having a good time day after day in a dazzling manner.  Now a certain poor person [symbolic of the pagans]

What an anti-climax. Pagans in heaven and believers in hell  :winkgrin:
But I think it's more complex than that. Today Christianity are the pagans from a Jewish pov. And the Christians blame the Jews of the same.

[Judaism didn't dissolve into Christianity, but was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.]

The Temple yes. But Judaism....?

[jabcat]

I see the CB explanations as alluding to similar as J. Preston Eby explains it;

the rich man was the Jewish religious elite, about to lose their place of privilege (rich man) to the pagans/Gentiles (Lazarus).

Judaism per se wasn't destroyed, but the system of Temple worship was;  and more profoundly, the OC ended with the end of the age of Law, the casting out of temple worship, and Jesus' death and resurrection ushering in the New Covenant.

I actually think J. Preston explains it better (in many more words) than the CB, but at least the CB makes an attempt in its "bracket explanations" to get at accuracy, rather than just leaving it alone or saying it means "heaven" and "hell" as most teach it.   At least they see and allude to the basic concepts of it, which is unusual.  Ask the mainstream Christian what those verses mean, and they'll most likely tell you it shows an actual man in hell, it's eternal (the gulf) etc., rather than having an understanding of the parable and what it was really addressing - OC, NC, impending judgment in 70 AD, etc. 

The CB "takes a shot at it".   I've never seen that in a translation before.  That's my main point - even though perhaps not perfect and could have worded some things differently, still they took some definite steps in the right direction, IMO, and pointed out some things we don't see from mainstream.  :thumbsup:

[WhiteWings]

Yeah, I agree. They used the inline commentary quite well.

rather than just leaving it alone or saying it means "heaven" and "hell" as most teach it.

That's why I wrote (recently) that the Bible can't be fully understood without studying Jewish culture.