I. Howard Marshall on the Egyptian Background to Luke 16:19-31

An Egyptian folk tale, to which attention was drawn by H[ugo] Gressmann, tells the story of an Egyptian who was reincarnated after his death as Si-Osiris, the miraculous son of a childless couple.  When his 'father' one day remarked on how a rich man had had a sumptous funeral while a poor man had been simply buried, Si-Osiris took him to Amnte, the land of the dead, where he was able to see the rich man in torment and the poor man in luxury.  The explanation is added that the good deeds of the poor man had outweighed his evil deeds, but the opposite was true of the rich man.  The general motif of this story found its way into Jewish lore, and it is attested in some seven versions, the earliest of which concerns a poor scholar and the rich publican, Bar Ma'jan... Because of his one good deed Bar Ma'jan had a great funeral, but the poor scholar had a simple burial.  One of the scholar's friends, however, had a dream in which he saw the poor man after his death in paradisial gardens beside flowing streams, while the publican was standing on the bank of the river but unable to reach the water.  Thus the scholar received no reward in this life, in order that he might have a full reward in the next, while the publican received his reward for his one good deed in this world, so that he might have no reward in the next.  It is clear that Jesus' parable bears some relation to this folk tale. (I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke [The New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1978], 633)