Upon this, Rachel breaks forth into lamentation and bitter weeping,
and refuses to be comforted, because her children are not. Then the Lord says to
her, "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall
be rewarded, saith the Lord." Jer. 31:15-17; Matt. 2:17, 18; Gen. 35:18-20.
25. That Rachel did literally weep and shed bitter tears at the murder of her
children nearly two thousand years after her entrance into sheol, no one will
assert. Nor will it be maintained that the slaughtered Egyptians and Chaldeans
lying in sheol with their swords under their heads were able to converse together
in the nether parts of the earth; and that one was literally "comforted," or the
other literally "ashamed." Equally difficult is it to believe that the kings who had
been overthrown by the king of Babylon were literally seated on thrones in sheol,
deep in the earth, and that when he was cast down to sheol they arose from their
thrones and mocked him, declaring that he was now become weak as they.
Please compare the following texts on the king of Babylon: Jer. 51:39, 57; Dan.
5:1-4, 30; Isa. 14:4-30.
26. Taking our leave of "Moses and the prophets," whose testimony on this
subject has the direct endorsement of our Lord, let us return to the case of Dives
and Lazarus. Luke 16:19-31. Lazarus lived in the deepest poverty; too helpless
to walk, or even to stand, he was laid at the rich man's gate; he had no other food
than the crumbs, perhaps grudgingly bestowed, from the table of the rich man;
and no other nurses than the dog which licked his sores. In process of time,
death comes to his relief; but his burial is not mentioned, though that of the rich
man, who died soon after, is distinctly named. It is likely that the dead beggar,
covered with sores, was disposed of with as little trouble as possible; in the sight
of man, he had the burial of a dog; but this poor man, forsaken of all earthly
friends, and apparently unnoticed of Heaven, had, unseen to
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mortal eye, such a burial as the wealth of the whole world could not command.
The angels of God took part as his bearers to that quiet resting place from which,
by-and-by, when hades gives up the righteous dead, at the sound of the last
trumpet, they shall take him up through the air, to meet his triumphant Redeemer.
Till that time, we leave him asleep in Jesus, resting in hope, with Abraham the
father of the faithful, and all the ancient worthies who have not yet received their
promises. Heb. 11:8-16, 39, 40.
27. The rich man lived in luxury, faring sumptuously every day. To the eye of
all beholders, his lot was envied, and that of the beggar to be despised. But he
dies, also and of him it is recorded that he was buried. All that wealth could
purchase, all that pride could exhibit of earthly pomp and grandeur, were, no
doubt, displayed at his funeral. But there were no angels of God to participate in
it. He had lived for himself, neglecting the great preparation for the future. He
goes down to hades a lost man, there to wait until the resurrection to damnation.
As the Douay Bible reads, "He was buried in hell," i.e., in hades, or sheol. There
he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
in his bosom. Then, as though calling to mind the littleness of the favors he had
bestowed on Lazarus, he asks a favor at the hands of the despised beggar - the
smallest indeed that he could ask - that Lazarus should dip the tip of this finger in
water to cool his tongue. This being denied, he asks that Lazarus may be sent to
warn his brethren. And this also was refused, because they had Moses and the
prophets, whose testimony was sufficient.
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28. This scene transpires in hades, or sheol, which, as we have seen, is in
the nether parts of the earth. The place is one of darkness and silence, where
there is neither wisdom nor knowledge. It is the place of the dead, and those who
are therein are called "the congregation the dead." Prov. 21:16. In the utter
