Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 16:27

"And he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father`s house;" — Luke 16:27 (ASV)

I pray you therefore, father.—The reiterated appeal to Abraham as “father” is suggestive in many ways:

1. as expressing that in which too many of the rich man’s class placed undue trust, resting on the fatherhood of Abraham rather than on that of God (Matthew 3:9);
2. as showing that the refusal of the previous verse had been accepted, as it were, submissively.

There is no rebellious defiance, no blasphemous cursing, such as men have imagined as resounding ever more in the realms of darkness. Abraham is the sufferer’s father still, and he still counts on his sympathy.