In
the Holy Bible, the expression "the Bosom of Abraham" is
found only in two verses of St. Luke's Gospel (xvi, 22, 23). It
occurs in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus the imagery of
which is plainly drawn from the popular representations of the
unseen world of the dead which were current in Our Lord's time.
According to the Jewish conceptions of that day, the souls of the
dead were gathered into a general tarrying-place the Sheol of the
Old Testament literature, and the Hades of the New Testament
writings (cf. Luke, xvi, 22 in the Gr. xvi, 23). A local
discrimination, however, existed among them, according to their
deeds during their mortal life. In the unseen world of the dead the
souls of the righteous occupied an abode or compartment of their own
which was distinctly separated by a wall or a chasm from the abode
or compartment to which the souls of the wicked were consigned. The
latter was a place of torments usually spoken of as Gehenna (cf.
Matt., v, 29, 30; xviii, 9- Mark, ix, 42 sqq. in the Latin Vulgate)-
the other, a place of bliss and security known under the names of
"Paradise" (cf. Luke, xxiii, 43) and "the Bosom of
Abraham" (Luke, xvi, 22 23). And it is in harmony with these
Jewish conceptions that Our Lord pictured the terrible fate of the
selfish Rich Man, and on the contrary, the glorious reward of the
patient Lazarus. In the next life Dives found himself in Gehenna,
condemned to the most exeruciating tor ments, whereas Lazarus was
carried by the angels into "the Bosom of Abraham", where
the righteous dead shared in the repose and felicity of Abraham "the
father of the faithful". But while commentators generally agree
upon the meaning of the figurative expression "the Bosom of
Abraham", as designating the blissful abode of the righteous
souls after death, they are at variance with regard to the manner in
which the phrase itself originated. Up to the time of Maldonatus
(A.D. 1583), its origin was traced back to the universal custom of
parents to take up into their arms, or place upon their knees, their
children when they are fatigued, or return home, and to make them
rest by their side during the night (cf. II Kings, xii, 2; III
Kings, iii, 20; xvii, 19; Luke, xi, 7 sqq.), thus causing them to
enjoy rest and security in the bosom of a loving parent. After the
same manner was Abraham supposed to act towards his children after
the fatigues and troubles of the present life, hence the
metaphorical expression "to be in Abraham's Bosom" as
meaning to be in repose and happiness with him. But according to
Maldonatus (In Lucam, xvi, 22), whose theory has since been accepted
by many scholars, the metaphor "to be in Abraham's Bosom"
is derived from the custom of reclining on couches at table which
prevailed among the Jews during and before the time of Christ. As at
a feast each guest leaned on his left elbow so as to leave his right
arm at liberty, and as two or more lay on the same couch, the head
of one man was near the breast of the man who lay behind, and he was
therefore said "to lie in the bosom" of the other. It was
also considered by the Jews of old a mark of special honour and
favour for one to be allowed to lie in the bosom of the master of
the feast (cf. John 13:23). And it is by this illustration that they
pictured the next world. They conceived of the reward of the
righteous dead as a sharing in a banquet given by Abraham, "the
father of the faithful" (cf. Matt., viii, 11 sqq.), and of the
highest form of that reward as lying in "Abraham's Bosom".
Since the coming of Our Lord, "the Bosom of Abraham"
gradually ceased to designate a place of imperfect happiness, and it
has become synonymous with Heaven itself. In their writings the
Fathers of the Church mean by that expression sometimes the abode of
the righteous dead before they were admitted to the Beatific Vision
after the death of the Saviour, sometimes Heaven, into which the
just of the New Law are immediately introduced upon their demise.
When in her liturgy the Church solemnly prays that the angels may
carry the soul of one of her departed children to "Abraham's
Bosom", she employs the expression to designate Heaven and its
endless bliss in company with the faithful of both Testaments, and
in particular with Abraham, the father of them all. This passage of
the expression "the Bosom of Abraham" from an imperfect
and limited sense to one higher and fuller is a most natural one,
and is in full harmony with the general character of the New
Testament dispensation as a complement and fulfilment of the Old
Testament revelation.
FRANCIS E. GIGOT
