bosom of Abraham

The phrase "Bosom of Abraham" refers to the place of comfort in sheol (Greek: hades) where the Jews said the righteous dead awaited Judgment Day. Another name for it is Limbo of the Fathers. The phrase "Bosom of Abraham" is found in Luke 16:22-23 in Jesus' parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

Abode of the righteous dead

According to 1st century Jewish beliefs, 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). Here, 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 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 story of the Rich Man and Lazarus fits this concept of the Bosom of Abraham.

In the 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome referred to Abraham's bosom as the place in hades where the righteous await judgment day in delight.^[1]

Augustine of Hippo likewise referred to the righteous dead as disembodied spirits blissfully awaiting Judgment Day in secret receptacles.^[2]

Since the righteous dead are rewarded in the bosom of Abraham before Judgment Day, this belief represents a form of particular judgment.

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".

Christian heaven

Since the 1st century AD, "the Bosom of Abraham" has gradually ceased to designate a place of imperfect happiness, and it has generally become synonymous with Heaven itself. Church fathers sometimes used the term to mean the limbo of the fathers, the abode of the righteous who died before Christ and who were not admitted to heaven until his resurrection. Sometimes they mean Heaven^{[citation needed]}, into which the just of the New Law are immediately introduced upon their demise. Tertullian, on the other hand, described the bosom of Abraham as that section of hades in which the righteous dead await the day of the Lord ^[3].

When Christians pray that the angels may carry the soul of the departed to "Abraham's Bosom", they mean it as heaven; those in the Limbo of the Fathers went to heaven after the Ascension of Jesus, and so Abraham himself is now in heaven.

Related concepts

The belief that the souls of the dead go immediately to hell, heaven, or purgatory has largely replaced the original 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.

In medieval England, some people believed in a place called Arthur's Bosom, which was similar to Abraham's Bosom. In Kenneth Branagh's film Henry V, Sir John Falstaff dies of a "quotidian fever": Mistress Quickly asserts confidently that the noble Falstaff is resting in Arthur's Bosom.

The belief of soul sleep holds that the dead (righteous and unrighteous) rest unconsciously while awaiting Judgment Day.

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.

See also

• Limbo

References

1. ^ Against Plato, on the cause of the universe [1]. As to the state of the righteous, he writes, "And there the righteous from the beginning dwell, not ruled by necessity, but enjoying always the contemplation of the blessings which are in their view, and delighting themselves with the expectation of others ever new, and deeming those ever better than these. And that place brings no toils to them. There, there is neither fierce heat, nor cold, nor thorn; but the face of the fathers and the righteous is seen to be always smiling, as they wait for the rest and eternal revival in heaven which succeed this location. And we call it by the name Abraham's bosom."
2. ^ City of God, Book XII
3. ^ Church fathers: a treatise on the soul

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

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