Luke 16 Bible study: A certain rich man

Jesus tells of two rich men in this chapter, and both tellings begin the same way. To his disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had a manager" (16:1) (tap rich). Then, after the Pharisees scoffed and he spoke to them (16:14-15): "Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day" (16:19). Here is what almost everyone misses: in Luke's Greek the second opening is the first one's words with one small word added (de). In the first, the rich man has a manager, and "An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions" (16:1). In the second, there is a beggar at the rich man's gate: "A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores" (16:20). Between the two, "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him" (16:14). Luke doesn't comment on the two openings, and these notes don't either.

Exodus 7:22→leads toLuke 16:31

After the river turned to blood, "Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them" (7:22), and "he didn’t even take this to heart" (7:23). Jesus tells of a rich man who, after death, asks Abraham to send someone from the dead to warn his brothers (Luke 16:27-30). Abraham answers, "If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead" (Luke 16:31). Jesus doesn't mention Pharaoh or Exodus 7, so this is a reading: some hear the same truth in both, that a sign alone doesn't make someone listen; others read Jesus's words on their own.

πλούσιοςplousiossay PLOO-see-os

Strong's: "wealthy". Both of the tellings in this chapter begin with "a certain rich man" (16:1, 16:19), and the word comes twice more in the second: "the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table" (16:21), and "The rich man also died and was buried" (16:22). The WEB's Luke has "a certain rich man" once more, in a parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly" (12:16). Luke's Greek has the word eleven times (counted in RP2018), more than any other book of the New Testament.