Luke 16:27

“Then he said, I pray thee therefore father, etc.] The Cambridge, copy of Beza's, and the Ethiopic version read, “father Abraham”; finding he could have no redress of his misery, nor any relief for himself, he applies for others: that thou wouldst send him to my father's house; the house of Israel and Jacob, the surviving Jews: and this agrees also with a notion of theirs, that the dead seek for mercy for them f516. The Persic and Ethiopic versions read, “that thou wouldst send Lazarus”, etc. whom the one calls Gazarus, and the other Eleazar.”

“Then he said--now abandoning all hope for himself. send him to my father's house, &c.--no waking up of good in the heart of the lost, but bitter reproach against God and the old economy, as not warning him sufficiently [TRENCH]. The answer of Abraham is, They are sufficiently warned.”

“Five brethren - The number “five” is mentioned merely to preserve the appearance of verisimilitude in the story. It is not to be spiritualized, nor are we to suppose that it has any hidden or inscrutable meaning. May testify unto them - May bear “witness” to them, or may inform them of what is my situation, and the dreadful consequences of the life that I have led. It is remarkable that he did not ask to go himself. He knew that he could not be released, even for so short a time. His condition was fixed. Yet he had no wish that his friends should suffer, and he supposed that if one went from the dead they would hear him. return to 'Top of Page'”