3. The expression 'Abraham's bosom ' (Lk 16" ^) has already been dealt with in its general eschato- logical signification (see art AbraH-\M). A ques- tion remains, however, as to the precise form of the figure which the words are meant to suggest (note that the plur. in v.''' has no separate conno- tation from the sing, in v.-. Cf. Homer, II. ix. 570, and see AViner-Moulton, Gram, of NT Gr. 219 f.). Is Abralium to be thought of, fatherlike, as enfolding Lazarus in his arms (cf. 'Father Abraham,' vv.-^- -"'•*), or rather as receiving him into the place of the honoured guest, the place nearest to himself at a heavenly banquet? 'Into Abraham's bosom' (eh rbv kUKtov 'A., v.--) might suggest the former, but 'in his bosom' (iv tois Kl>\irois avTov, v.^) may very well be used «-ith reference to the idea of a feast, after the analogy of Jn 13^ (k6\to% is used in the plural form both of the human bosom and of the folds of the upper garment. See Liddell and Scott and Grinim-Thayer, S.V.). And this seems to be confirmed by tliat other passage (Mt 8", cf. Lk \Z^- -^) in whicli Jesus says, 'Many sliall come from the east and the
west, and shall sit down (RVm ' recline,' Gr. dxa- K\WriiTovTai ; cf. aiieKXWr) in TK leading of Lk 7'^ wliicli AV renders 'sat down to meat') ^Wth Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.' Alike for the social outcast (Lazarus) and for the religious outcasts (the Gentiles), Je.sus holds out as a joyful prospect the thought of sitting down with Abraham at a heavenly banqueting- table. The conception of Paradise, moreover, under the figui-e of a feast, is specially appropriate, because of tlie contrast it presents to the eartlily condition of Lazarus as a starving beggar (v.-'), just as it is in keeping mth the great reversal in the positions of the two men that Dives, who on earth had 'fared sumptuously every day' (v.''), should now lack even a (bop of water to cool Ms burning tongue (v.^).
i. The only passage that remains is Jn 1", where Jesus Christ is described as 'the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Fatlier.' In this case the image of neighbours at a feast seems quite inappropriate, though some have suggested it ; and it Ls in evei-y way more suitable, in view of the whole pui-pose of the Prologue no less than the language of the immediate context, to take 'in the bosom of the Father ' in that closer and more tender meaning in which in the OT the expression is used to describe, whether literally or figuratively, the relation of a wife to her husband (Dt 13"), or of a chUd to his father (Nu 11'-) or mother (1 K 17'"). This beautiful term of human ali'ection is employed here to denote the intimate fellowship of perfect love wliich exists between God and His Son. Some difficulty is occtisioned by the fact that the phrase in the original is eis rbv KbXirov, literally, ' into the bosom.' Meyer insists on giving to ds its ordinary meaning of ' direction towards, and so recognizes as the prominent element in the expres- sion the idea of having arrived at. He admits that ' so far as the thing itself is concerned,' the «'s rbv kAXttov of v. '8 does not difl'er from the vpbi rbv Bebv of v.i, but maintains that in v.'*, at all events, the Evangelist desii-es to express the fullest fellow- ship with God, not before the Incarnation, but after the Ascension Lato glory. In this case, how- ever, the description of Jesus Christ as els rbv Kb\irov of the Father would be inappropriate, for the Evangelist is in the act of explainmg how it is that the Only-Begotten Son was made to ' declare ' the Father while on earth (note the aorist i^qyiiaaTo). It seems proper, therefore, to tjike ui' as a timeless present, and to understand the author to mean that Jesus had declared God on earth because His inherent relijition to the Father, before the Incar- nation as after the Exaltation, was one of being ' in his bosom ' (cf. 16^ ' I c;ime out from the Father, and am come into the world'; 17^'' 'the glory which I had with thee before the world was ... I manifested [i(pav4pui(!a, aor.] thy name'). The eh in this case may either simply be used for ev, after tlie fashion of the constructio pragnans (cf. >Ik \2?- ", Ac 7^ 8*), or, as Godet and^Westcott think {Comm. in loc), may point to a relationship not of simple contiguity merely, but of perfect communion realized through active intercourse. The Father's bosom is not a place but a life. ' The Son is there, only because He plun>;es into it by His unceasing action ; it is so with every state which consists in a moral relation' (Godet, tb.).
Literature.— Grimm-Thayer, Lex., s.v. xAtk ; the Comm. on the various passages ; Hastings' DB, artt. ' Dress,' ' Abraham's
Bosom.' J. C. Lambert.
BOTTLE.— This is the AV rendering (RV ' wine- skin ') of aaxis, which denotes the tanned skins of slieep and goats that are used in the East for hold- ing water, oil, wine, and cheese (see art. ' Bottle ' in Hastings' DB i. 311). In tlie Gospels the allusion