<p>16:22 <i>And it came to pass, that the beggar died; and he was carried away by the angels into Abraham's breast, and the rich man also died and was buried</i>- &quot;Abraham's breast&quot; or bosom was a Rabbinic phrase referring to Paradise. The Lord is not teaching that the faithful literally go anywhere on death let alone to Abraham's breast; He is clearly using the terms and ideas which the Jews were familiar with, and telling a story within those frames of reference. Adam Clarke comments: &quot;By the phrase, Abraham&rsquo;s bosom, an allusion is made to the custom at Jewish feasts, when three persons reclining on their left elbows on a couch, the person whose head came near the breast of the other, was said to lie in his bosom. So it is said of the beloved disciple, Jn. 13:25&quot;.</p><p>Carrying by Angels after death is not a Biblical idea, but again is alluding to apostate Jewish beliefs.</p><p>The way the Lord constructed His parable about the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 is proof enough that He Himself alluded to false ideas without correcting them, but rather in order to make a moral point within the faulty framework of understanding of His audience. Indeed, the Bible is full of instances of where a technically &lsquo;wrong&rsquo; idea is used by God without correction in order to teach a higher principle. Thus an eagle doesn&rsquo;t bear its young upon its wings; it hovers over them. But from an earth-bound perspective, it would appear that looking up, the eagle is carrying its young on its wings. God accommodates Himself to our earthly perspective in order to lead us to Heavenly things. He doesn&rsquo;t seek to correct our knowledge at every turn, or else His end aim would not be achieved.</p><p>We assume too quickly that the Lord's reference to the Angels carrying Lazarus to the bosom of Abraham means 'straight after his death'. But not necessarily so. He died, was buried, and then at the Lord's return, the Angels will carry the faithful to judgment / the Kingdom- they will go forth and gather the elect. The rich man would only be thrown into Gehenna at the last day, as Jesus so often taught elsewhere. The only element of accommodation to, or parody of, existing Jewish beliefs was in the rich man asking that Lazarus be returned from the dead to warn his brethren. And this element is doubtless inserted into the story by the Lord as a prophecy of how even His resurrection would not convert those who did not truly listen to the Old Testament.</p><p>So serious is the tendency to material acquisition that the Lord uses a telling hyperbole in Lk. 16 (in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus): He implies that the rich man was condemned just for being rich. This is hyperbole, an exaggeration to make a point. And the point was, that being rich is <i>very likely</i> to lead you to condemnation. The rust of riches is likened to the fire of condemnation and rejection (James 5:3).</p>