I would nthink the parble in respect to the Rich and Lazrus began as a series of parablews in Chapter 15 .And as part of the parble (chapter 16) he also or adedd to it.
Ultimately teaching us no man can serve two teachimg masters . (1) (all things written in the law or Moses The law giver and the proiphets (soal scriptura) or the (2) oral traditons I heard it through the grape vine . Using the teaching authority (one true) to show those who followed a law of the fathers a hiegarchy of venerrable men that lord it over the faith of the pew sitters .
Mammon representing those who conmune with the dead as disembodied workers with a familar spirits like that of Saul in the Old testestement .A abominantion of desolation, the false authority of ; "I heard it through the grape vine" as a law of the fathers . It is shown opposing all things writen in the law signified by Moses and the prophrets making the word of God desolate.
Again a series of parables
Luke 15;1-3 King James Version (KJV) Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
The continualtion form chapter 15
Luke 16 :1-3King James Version (KJV)16 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
No servant can serve two teaching masters : The key that unlocks the gospel understanding hid from natural unconverted mankind This is in regard to the whole series of parablres.
Luke 16 : 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 mammon.And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
Luke 16 :29-31 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
When jesus rose from the dead they still belivered not the gospel .
The Spirit of Christ protecting the integrity of all things written in the law and the prophets.The true spirituall understanding. In the end when chalenged with another teaching authority other that sola scriptura .Sola scriptura, represnts the true riches that goes beyond wordlly goods as mammmon .
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PARABLE (Hebrew, ; Greek, παραβολή):
By: Wilhelm Bacher, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach
Table of Contents
Biblical Parables.
In the Talmud.
Examples.
The Parable of the Banquet.
In the Midrash.
A short religious allegory. That the Hebrew designation for "parable" is "mashal" (comp. David Ḳimḥi's commentary on II Sam. xii. 1-4 and on Isa. v. 1-6) is confirmed by the fact that in the New Testament the Syriac "matla," corresponding to the Hebrew "mashal," is used for παραβολή (Matt. xiii. 18, 31, 33; xxi. 45; Mark iv. 2; Luke v. 36, vi. 39). It must be noted, however, that "mashal" is used also to designate other forms in rhetoric, such as the fable and apothegm.
Biblical Parables.
The Old Testament contains only five parables,corresponding to the definition here given, aside from a few symbolic stories, such as Ezek. iii. 24-26, iv. 1-4, and xxiv. 3-5. These parables are as follows: (1) Of the poor man who had raised a single lamb which a wealthy neighbor took to set before a guest (II Sam. xii. 1-4); intended to illustrate the sin which David had committed with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. (2) Of the wise woman of Tekoah, who induced David to make peace with his son Absalom (ib. xiv. 6-8). (3) Of the prophet's disciple, showing Ahab the wrong course which he had adopted toward Ben-hadad (I Kings xx. 39-40). (4) Of the vineyard which does not thrive despite the care bestowed upon it (Isa. v. 1-6), illustrating Israel's degeneracy. (5) Of the farmer who does not plow continually, but prepares the field and sows his seed, arranging all his work in due order (Isa. xxviii. 24-28); intended to show the methodical activity of God. All these parables were based on conditions familiar at the time; and even the event described in II Sam. xiv. 6-8 was probably no rare occurrence, in view of the custom which then prevailed of avenging bloodshed.
In the Talmud.
A large number of parables are found in post-Biblical literature, in Talmud and Midrash. The Talmudic writers believed in the pedagogic importance of the parable, and regarded it as a valuable means of determining the true sense of the Law and of attaining a correct understanding thereof (Cant. R. i. 8). Johanan b. Zakkai is said to have studied parables and fables side by side with the Miḳra, Mishnah, Halakah, Haggadah, etc. (B. B. 134a; Suk. 28a), and R. Meïr used to divide his public discourses into halakah, haggadah, and parables (Sanh. 38b). In the Talmud and Midrash almost every religious idea, moral maxim, or ethical requirement is accompanied by a parable which illustrates it. Among the religious and moral tenets which are thus explained may be mentioned the following: the existence of God (Gen. R. xxxiv. 1); His manner of retribution, and of punishing sins both in this world and in the next ('Ab. Zarah 4a; Yalḳ., Lev. 464; Shab. 152a); His faithful governance ('Ab. Zarah 55a; Sanh. 108a); His impatience of injustice (Suk. 30a); His paternal leniency (Ex. R. xlvi. 6), and His relation to Israel (ib. xlvi. 4; Ber. 32a); Israel's sufferings (Ber. 13a); the folly of idolatry ('Ab. Zarah 54b-55a); the Law as the guardian and faithful protector in life (Soṭah 21a); the sin of murder (Mek., Yitro, 8 [ed. Weiss, p. 78a]); the resurrection (Sanh. 91a); the value of benevolence (B. B. 10a); the worth of a just man for his contemporaries (Meg. 15a); the failure of popularity as a proof of intrinsic value (Soṭah 40a); the evil tendency of freedom from anxiety (Ber. 32a); the limitations of human knowledge and understanding (Sanh. 39a); the advantage frequently resulting from what appears to be evil (Niddah 31a); conversion (Shab. 153a); purity of soul and its reward (ib. 152b).
Although the haggadists took the material for their parables from conditions of life with which their hearers were familiar, yet they selected details to which Biblical allusions were found to apply; since in certain cases the idea underlying the parable was already well known to their auditors. Thus parables dealing with kings were frequently chosen to illustrate God's relation to the world in general and to Israel in particular, as in Num. R. ii. 24, since the idea of the God-king had been made familiar to the people by the Bible (Ps. x. 16; Zeph. iii. 16; Zech. xiv. 16-17; Mal. i. 14). Israel is the first-born of the Lord (Ex. iv. 22; Deut. xiv. 1); there are accordingly many parables of a king who had a son who was very dear to him (Ber. 13a; Deut. R. iii. 12; Ex. R. xix. 8), which illustrate God's relation to Israel. This relation is also frequently illustrated by the parable of a king who had a beloved or a wife (e.g., Num. R. ii. 14-15; Deut. R. iii. 9, 11, 16), since, according to Isa. liv. 5, Jer. ii. 2, and Hosea ii. 18, 21-22, Israel is the bride of God, His wife, whom He loves, and whom He always takes back, although He may at times disown her and cast her off. The attitude of God toward Israel is illustrated with especial frequency by the parable of a king who had a vineyard in which he planted fine vines (e.g., Num. R. xv. 18, and in Tanḥuma in most of the weekly sections), on account of the comparison of Israel to the vineyard of God (Isa. v. 1-7), and to the noble vine which He planted (Jer. ii. 21). Similarly the flight of the prophet Jonah from God is illustrated by the parable of the servant who runs away from his master (Mek., Bo, i. [ed. Weiss, 1b]), since the idea that a prophet is a servant of God was familiar to the people from Isa. xx. 3, 1. 10.
The following Talmudic parables may be quoted to show the manner in which the writers employed this form of argument:
Examples.
A pagan philosopher once asked R. Gamaliel why God is angry with idolaters and not with idols, whereupon R. Gamaliel answered him with the following parable: "A king had a son who raised a dog which he named after his royal father; and whenever he was about to swear he said, 'By the life of the dog, the father.' When the king heard of this, against whom did his anger turn, against the dog or against the son? Surely only against the son" ('Ab. Zarah 54b).
Once Akiba was asked to explain why persons afflicted with disease sometimes returned cured from a pilgrimage to the shrine of an idol, though it was surely powerless. His answer was the following parable: "There was a man in a certain city who enjoyed the confidence of all his fellow citizens to such a degree that without witnesses they entrusted deposits to him, with the exception of one man in the city who always made his deposits before a witness. One day, however, this distrustful man forgot his caution, and gave the other a deposit without a witness. The wife of the trustworthy man attempted to induce him to deny having received a deposit from the distrustful man, as a punishment for his suspicion; but the husband said: 'Shall I deny my rectitude because this fool acts in an unseemly fashion?' Thus it is with the sufferings inflicted by Heaven upon man, which have a day and an hour appointed for their end. If it happens that a man goes on that day to the idol's shrine, the sufferings are tempted not to leave him, but they say, 'Shall we not fulfil our obligation to leave this fool, although he has behaved with folly?'" (ib. 55a).
Emperor Antoninus asked Rabbi how there could be punishment in the life beyond, for, since body and soul after their separation could not have committed sin, they could blame each other for the sins committed upon earth, and Rabbi answered him by the following parable: "A certain king had a beautiful garden in which was excellent fruit; and over it he appointed two watchmen, one blind and the other lame. The lame man said to the blind one, 'I see exquisite fruit in the garden. Carry me thither that I may get it; and we will eat it together.' The blind man consented and both ate of the fruit. After some days the lord of the garden came and asked the watchmen concerning the fruit. Then the lame man said, 'As I have no legs I could not go to take it'; and the blind man said, 'I could not even see it.' What did the lord of the garden do? He made the blind man carry the lame, and thus passed judgment on them both. So God will replace the souls in their bodies, and will punish both together for their sins" (Sanh. 91a, b). La Fontaine, in his "Fables," ascribes this parable to Confucius.
The Parable of the Banquet.
Johanan b. Zakkai illustrates the necessity of daily conversion and of constant readiness to appear before God in heaven by the following parable: "A king invited his servants to a banquet without stating the exact time at which it would be given. Those who were wise remembered that all things are ever ready in the palace of a king, and they arrayed themselves and sat by the palace gate awaiting the call to enter, while those who were foolish continued their customary occupations, saying, 'A banquet requires great preparation.' When the king suddenly called his servants to the banquet, those who were wise appeared in clean raiment and well adorned, while those who were foolish came in soiled and ordinary garments. The king took pleasure in seeing those who were wise, but was full of anger at those who were foolish, saying that those who had come prepared for the banquet should sit down and eat and drink, but that those who had not properly arrayed themselves should stand and look on" (Shab. 153a). Similar parables expressing the same thought are found in the New Testament (Matt. xxii. 10-12, xxv. 1-12; Luke xii. 36), but the Talmudic fable shows the finer and more striking elaboration.
Another parable may be cited from the Palestinian Talmud, which is found in the New Testament also. When R. Ḥiyya's son, R. Abin, died at the early age of twenty-eight, R. Zera delivered the funeral oration, which he couched in the form of the following parable: "A king had a vineyard for which he engaged many laborers, one of whom was especially apt and skilful. What did the king do? He took this laborer from his work, and walked through the garden conversing with him. When the laborers came for their hire in the evening, the skilful laborer also appeared among them and received a full day's wages from the king. The other laborers were angry at this and said, 'We have toiled the whole day, while this man has worked but two hours; why does the king give him the full hire, even as to us?' The king said to them: 'Why are you angry? Through his skill he has done more in the two hours than you have done all day.' So is it with R. Abin b. Ḥiyya. In the twenty-eight years of his life he has learned more than others learn in 100 years. Hence he has fulfilled his life-work and is entitled to be called to paradise earlier than others from his work on earth; nor will he miss aught of his reward" (Yer. Ber. ii. 5c). In Matt. xx. 1-16 this parable is intended to illustrate the doctrine that the heathen who have accepted Christianity have equal rights with the Jews in the kingdom of heaven. Other interesting parables of the Talmud are found in Ḳid. 2b; Niddah 31b; B. Ḳ. 60b; B. B. 16a; Ber. 7b, 9b; Yoma 38b-39a; Suk. 29a; Meg. 14a; M. Ḳ. 21b; Ḥag. 12b; Ta'an. 5b-6a; Sanh. 96a.
In the Midrash.
Parables occur with even greater frequency in the Midrash than in the Talmud, one or more parables being found in nearly every section in Midrash Rabbah as well as in Tanḥuma. It is not necessary to quote any of these, since they are used in the same way as in the Talmud, and the examples cited from the Talmud may serve also as specimens of midrashic parables, especially as nearly all of those quoted are found in the Midrash as well. The parables of both the Talmud and the Midrash, reflecting the characteristics of the life of their time, are a valuable aid in studying the cultural history of that period; Ziegler has shown, e.g., that the parables dealing with kings reflect the conditions of the Roman empire. The same statement holds true in the case of the other parables of the Talmud and Midrash, which likewise mirror their time; for it may be assumed that the haggadists who made use of the form of the parable were intimately acquainted with the conditions upon which they drew for illustration, although they may have colored those conditions to suit their purposes.
The teachers, philosophers of religion, and preachers of the post-Talmudic period also had recourse to the parable to illustrate their meaning, such as Baḥya ibn Paḳuda in his "Ḥobot ha-Lebabot" (ii. 6, iii. 9), Judah ha-Levi in his "Cuzari" (i. 109), and Leon of Modena (comp. Azulai, "Shem ha-Gedolim," s.v.). In the eighteenth century Jacob Kranz of Dubno (Dubner Maggid) was especially noted as a composer of parables, introducing them frequently into his sermons. His homiletic commentaries on the Pentateuch and on certain other books of the Old Testament contain many parables taken from life and which serve to illustrate the condition of the Jews of his time. See Maggid.
Bibliography:
König, Stylistik. Rhetorik, Poetik in Bezug auf die Biblische Literatur, 1900, pp. 89-91;
M. Zipser, in Orient, Lit. viii. 733 et passim, ix. 61 et passim;
I. Ziegler, Die Königsgleichnisse des Midrash Beleuchtet Durch die Kaiserzeit, Breslau, 1903;
Hamburger, R. B. T. ii. 887 et seq.;
P. Fiebig, Altjüdische Gleichnisse und die Gleichnisse Jesu, Tübingen, 1904.
Complete contents the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia.
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Mashal pregnant with......
Marc Lipshitz
Been involved in counter missionary work for 20+ yearsAuthor has 9.5K answers and 6M answer viewsUpdated 2y
Yes and no- literal is just one way. The way we interpret it is often referred to as PaRDeS an acronym for
(P)shat- the literal interpretation
(R)emez- the alluded to meanings. Things we get from the grammar, how words are spelled, the gematria (in Hebrew letters are also numbers thus words and phrases have numerical values and somethings these allude to other words and phrases that teach us something). Here is the primary reason why Jews see it as essential to study the Torah in Hebrew as this entire layer is inaccessible in other languages.
(D)rash- meanings from the Midrash. Oral stories, history and elucidations on the Torah that eventually got written down in various collections. Some concentrating on the issues from Halachah (law) such as Midrash Sifri, others more on stories that fill the gaps in the biblical accounts along with aggadata- stories that teach often through allusion and hidden meanings such as Midrash Rabba
(S)od- the ancient term for Kabbalah. The hidden meanings, the ones that teach us about relationship to G-d and how we relate to him and him to us and the world. This is what Kabbalah actually is- not the nonsense that cults fleecing the gullible push about angelology, demonology, red strings and other rubbish.
So yes, we study the Tanakh (our term for the written scriptures as the Christian version is a badly translated and re-ranged version) literally, but we also study it in other ways. Each has something to teach us and we lose out if we ignore any of them.
So I take this as P'shat as I can in the account of Lazarus and the rich man and Matthew 25.
Sahlom
Johann
