Charles Ellicott 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)

Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger...—The words, in their relation to the effect of the punishment on the rich man’s character, offer two tenable explanations. On the one hand, they have been thought to indicate the old selfish arrogance and heartlessness of the man who still looks on Lazarus as one who may be sent here and there, at any cost of suffering, to do his bidding and attend to his comfort; on the other, we may see in them the traces of pride conquered, and the cry for mercy at last coming from lips that had never uttered it before, and the craving for help and sympathy from one whom in his lifetime he had despised as beneath his notice.

There is something terribly significant in the fact that it is the “tongue” that suffers most in that agonizing flame. That was the organ of the sense which the man had pampered by his riotous and sumptuous living; that is now the chief instrument of retribution. The lesson is the same as that which a poet of our own has taught us—

“The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to scourge us.”

Shakespeare, King Lear, 5.3.