The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 65

is the book of life?" (Sermon liS. 3 of St. Gode.lone. Well was his trust, as we sho.ll .Augustine). Tradition says his no.me we.s see, justified. The ge.te at which he wo.s Nimeusis, but it is simply e. baseless tradi- daily lai_d was a stately portal (,ru~.S~). tion. Which was clothed in purple e.nd fine Lazarus 1s represented e.s utterly unable to linen. The words which describe the life of win his bread. He was a consto.nt sufferer, Dives were chosen with rare skill; thev are covered with sores, wasting under the do- few, but enough to show us that the worldly minion of e. loo.thsome, incurable disease. hero of the story lived a life of royal magni- This representative of human suffering he.e ficence and boundless luxury. Hi$ ordinary taken a strange hold on the imagination of apparel seems to have been purple e.nd fine men. In many of the languages of Europe linen. This purple, the true see. purple, was the no.me of tile bcgge.r of the parable ap- e. most prMions and rare dye, and the purple pears in the terms "lazar," "lazar-llouse," garment so dyed was a royal gi~, and was and" lazaretto," "lazze.roni." Unable him- scarcely nsed save by princes and nobles of self to walk, some pitying friend or friends very high degree. In it the idol-images were among the poor-the poor are never be.ckwo.rd sometimes arrayed. The fine linen (byssus) in helping others poorer than themselves, was worth twice its weight in gold. It was thus setting a noble example to the rich- in hue dazzlingly white. And fared sump- brought him and laid him daily close by the tnoll.Bly every day. With this prineely rich splendid gates of the palace of Dives. The man banqncts were a matter of de.ily occur- crumbs signify the broken fragments which rence. Luther renders the Greek here, the servants of the rich me.n would con- "lebte herrlich und in Freuden." Thus temptuously, perhaps pityingly, toss to the with all the accompaniments of grandeur poor helpless beggar-man 118 he le.y by the this nameless mighty one lived. his he.lls gate. Moreover the dogs oame e.nd licked ever filled with noble guests, his ante- his sores. These were the wild, homeless chambers with servants. Everything with pariah doge so common in all Eastern cities, him that could make life sple11did e.nd joyous who act as the street-scavengers, and are was in profusion. Some have sll.Bpected_that regarded e.s unclean. This mention of the our Lord took, as the model for his pic- dogs clustering round him does not suggest tnre here, the life of the tetrarch Herod any contrast between the pitying animals .Anti pas. The court of that magnificent and and pitiless men, but simply adds additional luxurious prince would certainly have well colour to the picture of the utter helpless- served e.s the original of the picture; but ness of the diseased sufferer; there he lay, Herod was still living, and it is more likely and 118 he lay, the rough homeless doge that Jesns was describing the earth-life of would lick his unbandaged wourde as they one "ho had already been" dismissed" from passed on the forage. his earthly stewardship, and who, when he Ver. 22.-And it oame to pe.ss, that the spoke the parable, was in the world to come. begge.r died, and we.a 011rried by the angels Vere. 20, 21.-AnT there was a. oei:'tiiif into Abraham's bosom. At le.et kind death beggar named L.a.zarns, whioh we.a laid at came, and relieved Lazarus of his sufferings. his ge.te, full of sores, and desiring to be fed His dismissal, 118 might have been expected. with the crumbs which fell from the rich preceded that of the rich man; for he we.s me.n's table. In striking contrast to the life enfeebled by a deadly disease. We must not, of the rich man, the Master, with a few of course, press too much the details we find touches, paints the life of the beggar Laze,- in po.rabies; still, from our Lord's way of rus. This giving a name to e. personage speaking of the great change in the cases in the parable occurs nowhere else in the of both Laze.rns and Dives, it would seem e.a evang-elists' reports of our Lord's parabolic though there was absolutely no po.use be- teaching. It probably was done in this case tween the two lives of this world and the just to give ns a hint, for it is nothing more, world to come. The rich man evidently is of the persona.I character of the poor sufferer pictured e.s c.loeing hie eyes upon hie gorgeous who in the end was so blessed. The object surroundings here, and opening them directly of the pe.re.ble, as we shall see, did not in- again upon his cheerless surroundings there. clude any detailed account of the beggar- Laza.me is described e.e being borne at once man's inner life; just this name is given him int.o Abraham's bosom. Indeed, some in- to show ns why, when he died. he found terpret the words e.s signifying that the body himseli at once in bliss. Among the Jews as well as the soul was carried by l!Jlgels the no.me very often describes the character into Pare.dise. It is, however, better, with of him who bears it. The Greek name Calvin, to understand the expression as e.1- LazanuJ is derived from two Hebrew words, luding only to Le.zarns'e soul ; of the body E"/,,-ezer (" God-help"), shortened by the of the pauper nothing was said, e.s men prob- rabbis into Leazar, whenoo LazarUB. He ably contemptuously, if notcareleesly, buried was, then, one of those happy ones whose it with the burie.l rites which such homeless, confidenoo, in o.ll his grief and misery, was in friendless ones too often receive. The place urr. xvr. 1-31.] 'fHE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 67