The Rich Man and Lazarus - The Rich Man is Caiaphas the High Priest

Who is the rich man in Luke chapter 16?

According to chapter 16, the rich man wears purple, he keeps Lazarus "outside the gate", he's rich, he denied the resurrection, and he had five brothers (Lk 16:27-28).

High priests wear purple. High priests opened and closed the gates to the Temple compoles. High priests are rich. Sadducean high priests denied the resurrection.

Caiaphas was a high priest, he wore purple, he was very wealthy, he was a Saducee and he had five brother-in-laws who reigned as high priests in Jerusalem:

1. Eleazar ben Ananus (16–17)
2. Jonathan ben Ananus (36–37 and 44)
3. Theophilus ben Ananus (37–41)
4. Matthias ben Ananus (43)
5. Ananus ben Ananus (63)

This could also be confirmed by the fact that the "raising of Lazarus" in John 11 provokes Caiaphas to declare that Christ must die. Thus Caiaphas and Lazarus are also conjoined in John's Gospel.

Another possibility that I'm entertaining at the moment is that the Rich Man is "Apostate Judah". Scripture tells us that Judah had five blood brothers: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, and Zebulun (Gen. 35:23). However, I think that the "Caiaphas solution" is the best one.

Any comments or suggestions?

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