There is an old African-American spiritual that says, “Rock a my soul in the bosom of Abraham. Oh, rock a my soul!” At first glance its meaning may seem obscure, but it speaks to a deep tradition and a kind of spiritual strategy that has great wisdom.
Enjoy this video, featuring an interpretation of this beautiful and rhythmic spiritual. It is a graceful and exuberant dance showing security in God’s love and embrace.
Biblically, the “bosom of Abraham” referred to the place of rest in Sheol, where the righteous dead awaited the Messiah and Judgment Day. It is mentioned only once (Luke16:22-23), in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. In the parable, Lazarus is said to rest and abide in the bosom of Abraham, awaiting the Messiah’s full redemption, whereas the rich man is in Gehenna, a place of torment.
I don't find this "Biblical" at all. First of all "Sheol" was Hebrew ... meaning "pit" or "grave". It was used only in the Old Testament and King James interpreters rendered it as "Hell". In the book of Luke, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom..." and the rich man also died and was buried; Verse 23 continues, “And in
hell he lift up his eyes being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom."
The "hell" in verse 23 was not the Hebrew Sheol. Luke used the Greek word "Hades" (which was also rendered by King James interpreters as "Hell"). Jesus (who delivered the parable Luke describes) often used the word "Gehenna" (which was also rendered by King James interpreters as "Hell") when illustrating the final consuming fire that would engulf unrepentant sinners following the last judgement. His listeners in Jerusalem understood that he did not literally mean Gai-hinnom itself which in his day was an ever-burning trash dump. He used it as a metaphor. In the Old Testament, the valley of Gai-hinnom was an abominable place. At Tophet, which is a part of the valley, infant children were sacrificed to the god Molech. King Ahaz made them “pass through the fire.” The king of Judah, Josiah, put a stop to the rites of Molech and rendered the whole valley unclean (II Kings 23:10). That is why it became a despicable cesspool and was used as the city dump. In Matthew 27:8, the “field of blood” called Aceldama, which was purchased with the money Judas received when he betrayed Christ, was also a part of the same valley. In the parable of Lazarus and Dives, Jesus did not say gehenna or Shoel. When Dives “lift up his eyes,” he was still in his grave and Jesus used the word hades, which his listeners understood. “Hades” is used eleven times in the Bible, and it always means “the grave.”
So even though the Old Testament Hebrew "Sheol" means "grave" it was not the word Luke used. This old English word "hell", meant a hole in the ground covered with dirt. In the 1600's, English farmers commonly put potatoes in hell for the winter (a hole in the ground covered with dirt). Not until the translators applied hell to the Greek words tartaros and hades, as well as gehenna and Sheol did hell became an ever burning habitation for demons and the unrepentant dead, and that is not what Jesus meant when he said the rich man was in hades. He simply meant that Dives was in his grave. This is the same "hell" that Peter said Jesus himself went to when he died (Acts 2:31).
Many preachers have used this parable as a foundation of sermons which teach that the saved go instantly to heaven (Abraham's Bosom) at the moment of death and that the lost are plunged into the eternal torture of hell. Their central theme is that Lazarus went to paradise as his reward and Dives was cast into the burning pits of hell for all time.
Studying the scripture, we find that this was not the lesson Jesus was teaching in this parable. In fact, this popular interpretation is far from the real truth about life after death which Jesus taught. Jesus said that Lazarus "was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom." Many preachers teach that Abraham's bosom is another way of saying heaven, but there is no evidence for this. Yes, there are hymns that refer to Abraham's bosom as heaven, but they were all written long after Jesus' time, and based on a misunderstanding of this single scripture. Why did Jesus not say that Lazarus was carried to heaven if that is what he meant? Jesus did not preach a doctrine of confusion. Jesus meant something else.
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines the noun bosom as;
1: The front of the human chest 2: The anatomical center of secret thoughts and emotions close relationship 3: a broad surface an inmost recess 4: the part of a garment covering the breast: the space between the breast and the garment covering it. Bosom is also defined as an adjective that means:
close, intimate; and finally in its verb transitive form it is defined as
an embrace. In the Bible bosom is often used to illustrate a close, intimate relationship. Consider Isaiah 40:11, which tells us that God carries his people "in his bosom." In John 1:18, the apostle says that Jesus was "in the bosom of the Father." Moses carried the children of Israel in his bosom (Numbers 11:12). To be "in someone's bosom" is to have that one's love and protection,
to share in their blessings and their inheritance.
At the time this parable was related "in the bosom," had still another meaning among the Greeks. It was their custom to recline upon their left elbow on soft pillows or low upholstered couches during meals and to eat using the right hand. This custom spread among nations and became a symbol of genteel and gracious living. This style of eating gave rise at the time to universally understood metaphors. At meals the host would position his guest of honor to his immediate right and as both reclined on their left elbow it positioned the guest's head near the host's breast. The guest was considered "in the bosom" of his host. Again, we see the intimate relationship symbolized by the term.
Lazarus was carried to the position of honor at Abraham's right. You may wonder what difference does it make? It makes a difference because Jesus was not speaking about heaven at all. He was illustrating that Lazarus had entered into a close, intimate relationship with Abraham. Paul wrote in Galatians, "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29). By accepting Christ, the beggar became Abraham's seed (child) and an heir the promise. You can find the promise that God made to Abraham beginning in Genesis 12:5-7 and in Genesis 13:15. God promised Abraham, "All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever." God's promise to Abraham was the land of Canaan (see Gen. 15:18) and he promised it forever, so this promise includes eternal life and eternal inheritance (see Hebrews 9:15). Using scripture to interpret scripture it is plain that Lazarus had been carried into the inheritance of Abraham and his heirs. The promise was land and eternal inheritance on this earth. In Hebrews 11:8-13 we read how Abraham came by faith to the "place which he should after receive for an inheritance ... by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise ... these all died in faith, not having received the promises."
Abraham died before he received the promises. In John 8:52 we read; "Abraham is dead." John does not say that Abraham is in heaven. John 3:13 plainly states, "No man hath ascended up to heaven." Jesus tells his apostles that "whither I go, ye cannot come" (John 13:33). Abraham is dead, and he is still dead today. He has not yet received the promises, and none of his heirs have inherited, so the land and the eternal life which God promised has yet to be given. As an heir of Abraham, Lazarus is still waiting to inherit the promise, as are all who are in Christ, and therefore in Abraham's bosom. You don't have to die to become an heir to the promise, and you don't have to die to be included in "Abraham's bosom," you just have to accept the truth of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said that Lazarus died and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. Now if Abraham is still dead; not yet resurrected, and Lazarus is dead as well, when did the angels come for him? The answer is that they haven't come yet! Remember that the promise has not been fulfilled yet. Look at Matthew 25:31: "When the Son of Man shall come in glory, and all the holy angels with him." At the second coming of Christ the angels will come and the dead will rise! (I Thess. 4:16-17) At that time Abraham will be resurrected and all the heirs including Lazarus will be given the inheritance: Eternal life in the promised land.
The Holy Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23). Since no mere human is without sin, we all must die, but when we die, what then? In Ecclesiastes 9:5, Solomon states; "For the living know that they will die: but the dead know not anything..." There is clear evidence in God's word that "the dead sleep" (2 Samuel 7:12, 1 Kings 1:21, Job 14:12, Psalm 13:3, Matthew 9:24, Mark 5:39, Luke 8:52) ...they are without consciousness. David knew the truth about death when he wrote that "in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4). Peter said that David "is both dead and buried," and that he "did not ascend into the heavens" (Acts 2:29, 34). How can we believe that the dead will rise from their graves when Jesus returns, and still believe the dead are safely existing in heaven? The Bible does not contradict itself, it is false teachings that lead to contradiction and confusion.
Daniel tells of the resurrection of the just, and of the unjust (Dan. 12:2): "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Notice that only the just receive everlasting or eternal life. Jesus said: "The hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5:28-29) The Bible tells us that when judgement comes, all men will lift their eyes and face the Lord. That is when Dives will open his eyes again and view the lake of fire which will consume him. He will not burn eternally in hell because eternal, everlasting life is reserved for the righteous and the just. For the wicked there is only the promise of damnation and contempt. The rich man is going to die "the second death" from which there is no resurrection (Revelation 20:14). "Into smoke they shall consume away" (Psalm 37:20).
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch ... And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this" (Malachi 4:1,3). The wicked will not burn forever ... they will be devoured (Hebrews 10:27).
"The great gulf fixed" between Abraham and Lazarus on one side and Dives on the other is the difference between the eternal life of God's glorified saints in the coming kingdom of God and the ultimate total destruction of the doomed unrepentant sinner. Lazarus is resurrected into immortality while Dives is about to be utterly consumed. Lazarus will inherit the promised land and life everlasting, while Dives is to perish and be no more. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Notice that Jesus did not say that whosoever believeth in Him, should not burn in everlasting hellfire. He said perish. Again, check the dictionary. The truth about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man is not to teach that the dead immediately go to heaven or hell. In verse 30, Dives screams; "Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent"! Dives knows he is doomed and he is desperately trying to save his brothers. He knows Lazarus is to be risen from the dead! Abraham's reply shows how totally wrong about his brothers Dives is. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though ONE rose from the dead" (verse 31). Here is the message Jesus was teaching: resurrection from the dead. He rose and ascended to his Father in Heaven, where his own disciples could not follow. Human beings die and they remain dead until the almighty God of Israel begins the judgement. If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, if they do not accept the One that did come and rise from the grave, if they do not accept the truth of the gospel and see the real meaning of Christ's resurrection than neither will they be persuaded to repent. For those who do accept the truth, and do believe the promise and truly repent, there is a reward. The pages of the Bible shout it. Every time we pray the prayer Jesus taught us to pray we declare it: "Thy Kingdom Come ... on earth as it is in Heaven." To be in "Abraham's Bosom" is to be an inheritor of the Covenant. Just my 2¢, God bless.
