Albert Barnes Commentary Luke 16:24

"And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame." — Luke 16:24 (ASV)

Father Abraham. The Jews considered it a great honor that Abraham was their father—that is, that they were descendants from him. Though this man was now in misery, he still seems not to have abandoned the idea of his relationship to the father of the faithful. The Jews supposed that departed spirits might know and converse with each other. See Lightfoot on this passage.

Our Savior speaks in conformity with that prevailing opinion. Since it was not easy to convey ideas about the spiritual world without some such representation, he therefore speaks in the language that was usual in his time. We are not, however, to suppose that this was literally true, but only that it was designed to represent more clearly the sufferings of the rich man in hell.

Have mercy on me. Pity me. The rich man is not represented as calling on God. The mercy of God will be at an end when the soul is lost. Nor did he ask to be released from that place. Lost spirits know that their sufferings will have no end, and that it would be in vain to ask to escape the place of torment. Nor does he ask to be admitted where Lazarus was. He had no desire to be in a holy place, and he well knew that there was no restoration for those who once sink down to hell.

Send Lazarus. This shows how low he was reduced, and how the circumstances of people change when they die. Just before, Lazarus was laid at his gate full of sores; now he is happy in heaven. Just before, he had nothing to give, and the rich man could expect to derive no benefit from him; now he asks, as the highest favor, that Lazarus might come and bring him relief. Soon the poorest person on earth, if a friend of God, will receive mercies that the rich, if unprepared to die, can never obtain. The rich will no longer despise such people; they would then be glad of their friendship and would beg for the slightest favor at their hands.

Dip the tip, etc. This was a small favor to ask, and it shows the greatness of his distress when so small a thing would be considered a great relief.

Cool my tongue. The effect of great heat on the body is to produce almost unbearable thirst. Those who travel in burning deserts thus suffer inexpressibly when they are deprived of water. So pain of any kind produces thirst, and particularly pain connected with fever. The sufferings of the rich man are therefore represented as producing burning thirst, so intense that even a drop of water would be refreshing to his tongue.

We can scarcely form an idea of more distress and misery than when this continues from one day to another without relief. We are not to suppose that he had been guilty of any particular wickedness with his tongue as the cause of this. It is simply an image intended to represent the natural effect of great suffering, especially suffering in the midst of great heat.

I am tormented. I am in anguish—in unbearable distress.

In this flame. The lost are often represented as suffering in flames, because fire is an image of the severest pain that we know. It is not certain, however, that the wicked will be doomed to suffer in material fire. See Barnes on Mark 9:44.