Bosom of Abraham
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The phrase "Bosom of Abraham" is found in Luke 16:22-23 in Jesus Christ's parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. It refers to the place of comfort where the Jews said the righteous dead awaited Judgment Day.
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[edit] Afterlife concepts
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, and the Hades of the New Testament writings (cf. Luke, 16:22 in the Gr. 16:23). 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., 5:29, 30; 18:9ff, Mark 9:42 sqq. in the Latin Vulgate)- the other, a place of bliss and security known under the names of "Paradise" (cf. Luke, 23:43) or "the Bosom of Abraham" (Luke, 16:22, 23).
The afterlife as portrayed in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus fits this concept of the Bosom of Abraham.
[edit] Origin of the phrase
While commentators generally agree upon the meaning of the "Bosom of Abraham", they disagree about its origins. 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, 12:2; III Kings 3:20; 17:19; Luke, 11:7 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.
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., 8:11 sqq.), and of the highest form of that reward as lying in "Abraham's Bosom".
[edit] Christian heaven
Since the coming of Jesus, "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.
[edit] Related concepts
The doctrine of particular judgment has largely replaced the concept of the Bosom of Abraham. Historically, however, many religious traditions have described something similar.
The Book of Enoch describes Enoch's travels through the cosmos and divides Sheol into four sections: for the truly righteous, the good, the wicked awaiting judgment at the resurrection, and the wicked that will not even be resurrected.
The belief of soul sleep holds that the righteous dead rest while awaiting Judgment Day. In some versions, the dead rest unconsciously, while others have believed that they rest either in comfort or torment. Augustine of Hippo, for example, refers to the righteous dead as disembodied spirits blissfully awaiting Judgment Day in secret receptacles [1].
Some take the Bosom of Abraham to refer to the limbo of the fathers, where the righteous dead before Christ awaited not Judgment Day but Christ's redemptive death and his Harrowing of Hell.
In Islam, the righteous dead are said to await Judgment Day resting blissfully in their graves, much like the righteous dead rest in the Bosom of Abraham. The unrighteous, meanwhile, wait in torment.
This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia.
