Hebrew expression used by Jesus in the parable of the wicked rich man and Lazarus the poor. When the characters of the parable die, Lazarus is taken by the angels to the s. of A., which corresponds to the expression † œjoin his parents †, as it is said in Jc 2, 10; that is, with the patriarchs, Lk 16, 22. The expression has to do with the Jewish way of describing the joys of the messianic era with the image of a banquet: “And I tell you that many will come from east and west and will be at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven† , Mt 8, 11.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
It indicates bliss after death, since being close to the founder of the Hebrew nation was considered the highest honor (Luk 16:22-23).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
type, type
vet, Expression used by the Lord Jesus himself in Lc. 16:22, designating the abode of rescued souls after death, that is, Paradise. The Jews thought of the happiness of the welcome that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would give them in this Paradise (cf. 4 Mac. 13:17). They rejoiced at the prospect of communing with him and saw themselves, as it were, resting on his bosom. In the rabbinical language of the third century AD, the expression “to be in the bosom of Abraham” means: “to have entered Paradise”. The concept of “resting on the breast” comes, in turn, from the oriental custom of eating reclined towards the table. In this way, the head of the next person was very close to the bosom of the antecedent. Seats were assigned so that the one receiving the most honor was the one closest to the host. It is in this sense of closeness and communion that the expression is understood.
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Expression based on the metaphor of Luke (Lk. 16.22) alluding to Abraham’s bosom (lap, kolpon in Greek) where the beggar Lazarus went. It was thus designated to the state, place or situation, in which the just souls were supposed to be before the Redemption of Jesus. The soul of the Lord came to him, because the body remained in the tomb, and from it he freed the souls of the just and took them with him.
They are obviously metaphorical and anthropomorphic expressions, since everything from the “beyond” cannot be understood with theories of space and time. “Down,” “place,” “bosom,” and “Abraham” are simplified ways of alluding to the mystery of transcendent life.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
In Luke 16:22f. it is narrated that Lazarus is carried by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. It is natural, and in harmony with NT thinking elsewhere, that we think of the heavenly banquet to which Lazarus is now admitted. Reclining at the table next to Abraham (cf. Jn. 13:23), Lazarus thus enjoys the privileges of an honored guest (cf. Mt. 8:11). Rabbinic Judaism used the expression in a different sense, that is, to refer to rest from the sufferings and necessities of earthly life and in intimate communion with the father of the race, who still lives and is blessed in death.
Hades and Abraham’s bosom are two different places, and not two compartments of the same place. If Abraham’s bosom had meant one of the compartments of Hades, then the other division would have been mentioned with equal precision. Hades is only mentioned in connection with the rich man; the other place is separated by “a great peak.” Hades is associated with the idea of being in torment, so torment is the consequence of being in Hades. If Hades here were a neutral concept, in this case this contrast with the sumptuous life that the rich man previously had would not have been expressed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- meyer in kolpos in TWNT; SBK, II, p. 225ff.
Marten H. Woudstra
TWNT Theologisches Woerterbuch zum Neuen Testament (kittel)
SBK Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch (Strack and Billerbeck)
Harrison, EF, Bromiley, GW, & Henry, CFH (2006). Dictionary of Theology (568). Grand Rapids, MI: Challenge Books.
Source: Dictionary of Theology
In the Holy Bible, the expression “Abraham’s bosom” is found only in two verses of the Gospel of Saint Luke (16,22-23). It appears in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, whose figurative language is clearly drawn from the popular representations of the invisible world of the dead that were current at the time of Our Lord. According to the Jewish conceptions of that time, the souls of the dead gathered in a general waiting place, the Sheol of the Old Testament literature, and the Hades of the New Testament writings (cf. Luke, 16 22, in the Greek 16,23). However, there was a local separation between them, according to their acts during their mortal life. In the invisible world of the dead the souls of the righteous occupied an abode or compartment of their own which was clearly separated by a wall or an abyss from the abode or compartment to which the souls of the reprobate were sent. The latter was a place of torment usually called Gehenna (cf. Mt. 5,29-30; 18,9; Mk 9,42 ss. in the Latin Vulgate) – the other, a place of happiness and safety known under the names of “Paradise” (cf. Luke, 23,43) and “Abraham’s bosom” (Luke, 16, 22-23). And in accordance with these Jewish conceptions Our Lord painted the terrible fate of the selfish rich man, and on the contrary, the glorious reward of the patient Lazarus. In the future life, Dives finds himself in Gehenna, condemned to the most atrocious torments, while Lazarus was taken by angels to “Abraham’s bosom” where the righteous dead shared the rest and happiness of Abraham, “the father of the dead.” faithful”.
But while commentators generally agree on the meaning of the figurative expression “Abraham’s bosom” as designating the blissful abode of the souls of the righteous after death, they disagree as to how the phrase itself originated. . Until the time of Juan Maldonado (1583 AD), its origin went back to the universal custom of parents to take their children in their arms, or place their children on their knees when they were tired, or when they returned home, and make them lie down. their side during the night (cf. 2 Sam. 12,3; 1 Kings 3,20; 17,19; Lc. 11,7ss.), thus making them enjoy rest and security in the bosom of a loving father. In the same way Abraham was supposed to act with his children after the fatigues and difficulties of the present life, hence the metaphorical expression “to be in Abraham’s bosom”, meaning to be at rest and happiness with him.
But according to Maldonado (In Lucam, XVI, 22), whose theory has since been accepted by many scholars, the metaphor “being in Abraham’s bosom” derives from the custom of reclining on sofas at the table commonly used among Jews. before and during the time of Christ. As at a banquet each guest leaned on his left elbow to leave his right arm free, and as two or more sat on the same sofa, a man’s head was close to the chest of the man behind him, and therefore He said that he “rested in the bosom” of the other. Also the Jews of old considered it a sign of special honor and favor towards one to be allowed to lie down on the bosom of the owner of the house (cf. Jn. 13,23). And it is through this illustration that they painted the future world. They conceived the reward of the righteous dead as participation in a banquet given by Abraham, “the father of the faithful” (Cf. Mt. 8,11ff.), and as the highest reward to rest in “Abraham’s bosom” .
Since the coming of Our Lord, “Abraham’s bosom” gradually ceased to designate a place of imperfect happiness, and became synonymous with Heaven itself. In their writings the Fathers of the Church with that expression sometimes denote the abode of the righteous dead before they were admitted to the Beatific Vision after the death of the Savior, sometimes Heaven, in which the righteous of the New Law are introduced immediately after his death. When in her liturgy the Church solemnly prays that the angels transport the soul of one of her deceased children to “Abraham’s bosom”, she uses the expression to designate Heaven and her eternal bliss in the company of the faithful of both Testaments, and in particular with Abraham, the father of them all. This passage of the expression “the bosom of Abraham” from an imperfect and limited sense to a more complete and superior one is very natural and is in full harmony with the general character of the New Testament design as a complement and fullness of the Old Testament revelation. .
Source: Gigot, Francis. “The Bosom of Abraham.” The Catholic Encyclopaedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01055a.htm
Translated by Francisco Vazquez.
Revised and corrected by Luz María Hernández Medina.
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia