LAZARUS AND DIVES lăz’ ər əs, dī’ vĕz, from Jesus’ parable recorded in Luke 16:19-31. The name Lazarus is the Lat. Vul. transliteration of the Gr. Λάζαρος, G3276, which, in turn, represents the rabbinic Heb. personal name, לַעְזַר, an apocopated form of אֶלְעָזָ֖ר, the familiar name Eleazar of the OT (Exod 6:23 and numerous other passages). The name means “whom God helps” and became common as a personal name throughout the history of Israel ancient and modern. The name Dives is a literal transliteration of the Lat. Vul. term “rich.” The Gr. text reads, “̓́Ανθρωπος δέ τις ἦν πλούσιος,” and the Lat. trs. it as, Homo quidam erat dives, “there was a certain rich man.” In the narrative, however, the rich man remains indefinite and unnamed. The use of the name “Dives” is found early in Eng. lit., prob. due to the use of it in cathedral dramas enacting the story, e.g. “Lazar and Dives liveden diversly, and diverse guerdon hadden they thereby—” (Chaucer, The Summoner’s Tale 11. 759, 760.) Other names for this anonymous rich man were current among the Syrian and Coptic rite churches, but they were not adopted in the W. The central theological issue concerning the story has been the use of a name for the poor man—the only such ascription in all of our Lord’s parables. This is esp. important as the story takes place on two levels and in two universes of discourse, the life on this earth and the life of the world to come. The traditional orthodox position has been to assume that Jesus’ narrative about the condition of the two men after death was based upon His divine omniscience. However, some commentators judge that if this is so it is out of character with the normative nature of J esus’ parabolic discourse. In the history of Lucan exegesis some have thought that here is a veiled allusion to characters living and well known in the Apostolic age, e.g. Tertullian a.d. 160?-230? (who thought that Herod and John the Baptist were meant). The major theme of the story is its condemnation of the self-righteous rich and its assurance that God’s revelation is effective in calling men to repentance. The decisions of this life are thus eternally binding. It is probable that this is a sing. usage of the omniscient power of Christ as it logically connects a group of typical parables to a definite prophetic statement in Luke 17. The proposal of various writers that the evangelist here adopted the name of the more familiar Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead (John 11:1ff.) is to be rejected as there are no lower critical grounds to support it.