Albert Barnes Commentary Luke 16:23

"And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." — Luke 16:23 (ASV)

In hell. The word translated here as hell (Hades) literally means a dark, obscure place; the place where departed spirits go, but especially the place where wicked spirits go. See Barnes on Job 10:21, Job 10:22, and Isaiah 14:9.

The following circumstances are related about it in this parable:

1. It is far off from the dwelling places of the righteous. Lazarus was seen far off.
2. It is a place of torment.
3. There is a great gulf fixed between that and heaven (Luke 16:26).
4. The suffering is great. It is represented by torment in a flame (Luke 16:24).
5. There will be no escape from it (Luke 16:26). The word hell here means, therefore, that dark, obscure, and miserable place, far from heaven, where the wicked will be punished forever.

He lifted up his eyes. This is a phrase in common use among the Hebrews, meaning he looked (Genesis 13:10; Genesis 18:2; Genesis 31:10; Daniel 8:3; Luke 6:20).

Being in torment. The word torment means pain or anguish (Matthew 4:24); particularly the pain inflicted by the ancients to induce men to confess their crimes. These torments or tortures were the keenest that they could inflict, such as the rack, scourging, or burning; and the use of the word here denotes that the sufferings of the wicked can be represented only by the most extreme forms of human suffering.

And sees Abraham, etc. This was an aggravation of his misery. One of the first things that occurred in hell was to look up and see the poor man who lay at his gate completely happy. What a contrast! Just now he was rolling in wealth, and the poor man was at his gate.

He had no expectation of these sufferings. Now they have come upon him, and Lazarus is happy and forever fixed in the paradise of God. It is, perhaps, more than we are authorized to infer that the wicked will see those who are in paradise. That they will know that they are there is certain; but we are not to suppose that they will be so near together as to be seen, or as to make conversation possible.

These circumstances mean that there will be a separation, and that the wicked in hell will be conscious that the righteous, though on earth they were poor or despised, will be in heaven. Heaven and hell will be far from each other, and it will be no small part of the misery of the one that it is far and forever removed from the other.