The following comes from:
Bernard Brandon Scott, Hear then the Parable: A
Commentary on the Parables of Jesus (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1989),
155-57
From Story to Kingdom:
Tales from the Past
Customarily a study of this parable begins with a
reference to Hugo Gressmann's collection of parallel Egyptian and Jewish
stories. [50] Since our entrance to the story was through its conclusion,
perhaps it is fitting to conclude with the mandatory beginning.
Gressmann's collection embodies a thesis concerning
the relation between the parable and a series of parallel Egyptian and Jewish
stories. Caught up in a genetic view of the interrelation of texts, Gressmann
has posited that the parable A Rich Man Clothed in Purple was a descendant of
an Egyptian tale now preserved in a second-century demotic translation. He
traces seven extant Jewish stories belonging to the same family tree. [51]
The narrator of the Egyptian story is Si-Osiris, [52]
a long-dead Egyptian who was raised up by Osiris as the miraculous child of a
childless couple. Eventually he was to face and defeat a mighty sorcerer from
Ethiopia who threatened Egypt. The part of the story that parallels the Lukan
parable is initiated by a remark the boy's father makes as he observes the loud
wailing and magnificent decorations of a rich man's funeral procession and, by
contrast, the humble burial of a poor man. Says the father, "How much
better it shall be in Amenti [land of the dead] for great men for whom they
make glory with the voice of wailing than for poor men whom they take to the
desert-necropolis without the glory of funeral." [53] The son, a former
dweller in Amenti, then takes his father on a trip through the twelve halls of
Amenti. In the final hall, Si-Osiris reveals the standard of judgment:
For he of whom it shall be found that his evil deeds are more numerous
than his good deeds is delivered to Ama [54] of the Lord of Amenti; his soul
and his body are destroyed and she does not permit him to live again for ever.
But as for him of whom it shall be found that his good deeds are more numerous
than his evil deeds, he is taken among the gods of the council of the Lord of
Amenti, his soul going to heaven with the noble spirits. [55]
Soon after, the father sees a richly clothed man
sitting next to Osiris, in a place of highest honor. The son explains to his
father,
Dost thou see this great man who is clothed in raiment of royal linen,
standing near to the place where Osiris is? He is that poor man whom thou
sawest being carried out from Memphis; ... his evil deeds were weighed against
his good deeds ... and it was found that his good deeds were more numerous than
his evil deeds .... And it was commanded before Osiris that the burial outfit
of that rich man, whom thou sawest carried forth from Memphis with great
laudation, should be given to this same poor man. [56]
The obverse was, of course, the fate of the rich man.
Before commenting on the Egyptian story, it is
important to consider at least one Jewish story that Gressmann points to as a
parallel. This story is from the Palestinian Talmud and, according to
Gressmann, is the earliest Jewish version of the story.
There were two holy men in Ashqelon, who would eat
together, drink together, and study Torah together. One of them died, and he
was not properly mourned. But when Bar Maayan, the village tax collector, died,
the whole town took time off to mourn him. The surviving holy man began to weep
saying, "Woe, for the enemies of Israel [a euphemism for Israel itself)
will have no merit.* [The deceased holy man] appeared to him in a dream, and
said to him, "Do not despise the sons of your Lord. This one did one sin,
and the other one did one good deed, and it went well for [the latter on earth,
so while on earth I was punished for my one sin, he was rewarded for his one
good deed].* Now what was the culpable act that the holy man had done? Heaven
forfend! He committed no culpable act in his entire life. But one time he put
on the phylactery of the head before that of the hand [which was an error]. Now
what was the meritorious deed that Bar Maayan, the village tax collector, had
done? Heaven forfend! He never did a meritorious deed in his life. But one time
he made a banquet for the councillors of his town, but they did not come. He
said, "Let the poor come and eat the food, so that it not go to waste. •
There are those who say that he was traveling along the road with a loaf of
bread under his ann, and it fell. A poor man went and took it, and the tax
collector sad nothing to him so as not to embarrass him. After a few days the
holy man saw his fellow [in a dream] walking among gardens, orchards, and
fountains of water. He saw Bar Maayan the village tax collector with his tongue
hanging out, by a river. He wanted to reach the river but could not reach it. [57]
Although one does not have to accept Gressmann's
genetic thesis concerning the interrelation of the several versions of the
tale, obviously tales about an afterlife involving a reversal of the status of
rich and poor furnished a common folklore motif. Further, this motif has found
a place in the Jesus parable about Lazarus. These tales confront the problem of
theodicy, explaining how God or gods can allow evil to be exalted on earth. The
answer is that in death evil will be punished and the righteous will be
exalted. Perhaps, to state the issue more precisely, these stories explain how
those falsely exalted in this life (or vice versa) will receive their just
deserts in the afterlife. In all the examples given by Gressmann, this common
mytheme is present. The examples allow us to determine the common mythical
structure to which the parable belongs. The kingdom of God is the manifestation
of God's righteousness in the face of injustice.
Notes for the Above:
[50] Greesman, Von reichen Mann.
[51] Ibid., 46-58. Of the seven Jewish stories, one is
from the Palestinian Talmud, five form various medieval commentaries, and one
from Peter of Cluny (Peter the Venerable) quoting Joshua ben Levi.
[52] Griffith, Stories, 43. Griffith translates
this as “Son of Osiris,” but Grobel (“ . . . Whose Name Was Neves,’” 376)
argues that it could just as well mean “man of Osiris,” i.e., “Servant of
Osiris.”
[53] Griffith, Stories, 45. Griffith includes a
complete translation of the demotic manuscript. Creed (Gospel according to
St. Luke, 210) presents an extensive summary of the demotic story.
[54] A multiheaded monster of the underworld.
[55] Griffith, Stories, 47.
[56] Ibid., 49.
[57] j. Hag. 2.2 (Neusner 20:57). For an
alternate translation, see Manson, Sayings, 297.
