The subject reveals the answer.
A Greek word study is important here too.
(2 Timothy 2:15).
The overall message is the place and state of departed souls ***.
But to be exact Luke 16:23 "hell" here is Hades;
and its only real Bible meaning is grave; pertaining to a decay of body.
Ex.
Acts 2:31 (kjv) He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see
corruption.(1 Corinthians 15:53 kjv).
(Its Hebrew equivalent is Sheol in Psalm 16:10).
Paul would say of the body : corruptible or incorruption of the bodies ressurection (1 Thess 4:15 (prevent = precede).
The divide is a illustration of place and State.
To draw on Paul's wording of this exact subject ; a person stands at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Not The Lake of Fire). But Paradise.
To either immortality or to remain mortal until The Judgment Day (Revelation 20).
2 Corinthians 5:10
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that
every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that
he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Paul here introduces a different subject (bold Type) of the Soul :
1 Corinthians 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality. ( Hence The Divide in Jesus's teaching)
It maybe good to know the Greek for these words:
Mortal -
G2349 θνητός thnētos thnay-tos' From G2348; liable to die: - mortal
(-ity).
(At Judgment Day).
And
immortality -
G110 ἀθανασία athanasia ath-an-as-ee'-ah From a compound of G1 (as a
negative particle) and G2288; deathlessness: - immortality.
Luke 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great
gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot;
neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
This is further made clear by The Rich mans request for water that exist across this Divide. Immediately this should remind The Christian of Jesus's teachings in parables.
John 4:14 (kjv) But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.**
Greek solidifies this further:
Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and
seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
G931 βάσανος basanos bas'-an-os Perhaps remotely from the same as
G939 (through the notion of going to the bottom); a touch stone, that
is, (by analogy) torture: - torment.
Touch Stone NOUN 1 A piece of fine-grained dark schist or jasper
formerly used for testing alloys of gold by observing the color of the
mark which they made on it.
‘Small black stones were used as touchstones to test the colour, and
hence purity, of gold.’
Example sentence: A standard or criterion by which something is judged
or recognized. ‘they tend to regard grammar as the touchstone of all
language performance’
The Rich mans life was Judged and found lacking value for Eternal life.
1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be
found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ:
Revelation 3:18 “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire,
that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint
thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”
This burning in flame, is one of analogy to pure emotions of falling short of Gods standard. In Paradise/Heaven his sins are revealed.
It is this feeling within self , while in naked view of Gods Majesty who he neglected in life and who will Judge Him after The Lords Day concludes.
That burns him in regret guilt and shame. In the presence of all those who overcome that are happy there . It is this that torments the rich man. Not from God, nor of Satan. But self, in The Light revealing the darkness in man that Only Christ can cleanse.
In closing I'll compare the difference
to another Greek word:
Matthew 10: 26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered,
that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye
hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body
in hell.
Verse 28 hell is Gehenna.
Following the Subject related to Revelation 20.
In our Lord's day the idolatry had ceased (Jeremiah 7:31 kjv),
but the fires were still continually burning there for the destruction of the refuse of Jerusalem.
Hence, geenna was used for the fires of destruction associated with the judgment of God.
The Great White Throne Judgment not having taken place Yet as in the order of Gods plans. The rich main is very much alive as God is not the God of the dead, but Living. Albeit those in the rich mans state, are dead in a spiritual sense being mortal.
Seeing as even Satan is very much alive and the continual accuser (Revelation 12:10) until he meets his fate in The Lake.
Closing Notes consider
Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today
shalt thou be with me in paradise.
1 Peter 3:
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein
few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Romans 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end
everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ill add this verse in and now should be more readily understood:
Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt.
The everlasting part only applies to those who perish. As if a everlasting proverb. Ashes to Ashes and smoke to smoke. A soul bottled is never reconstituted.
Psalms 37:20
But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
Obviously with ALL sequence of teachings and events accounted for.
Licking the dust is also used in the bible sometimes for a moral state of degradation.
Ex.
Isaiah 49:23
and
Micah 7:17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move
out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of
the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
I had fun typing up this study and notes. I hope it Helps someone.
John.