I read your original statements; what I'm missing is the significance of your assertion that the "gulf" is the result of Jewish assimilation of pagan ideas. What point are you trying to make? Does this make the use of the image invalid or does it change the meaning? How are we to understand Jesus' understanding of Law and righteousness if we discount all that he says that is not explicitly derived from Torah or the Tanakh?
I have based my statements on the following points.
1. To whom he was speaking.....the Pharisees
2. What he said before the parable.
"And the PHARISEES also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said unto them, YE ARE THEY WHICH JUSTIFY YOURSELVES BEFORE MEN; but God knoweth your hearts: FOR THAT WHICH IS HIGHLY ESTEEMED AMONG MEN IS ABOMINATION IN THE SIGHT OF GOD" Luke 16:14-15
These statements from Jesus to the Pharisees leads me to believe that what ever he said from this point on would be directed at them.
3. The statement about Adultery
"Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery." Luke 15:18
I said that Jesus was speaking of "spiritual" adultery. I offer the following verses as support...
"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the LAW HATH DOMINION OVER A MAN AS LONG AS HE LIVETH? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an ADULTERESS: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." Rom 7:1-3
"Then certain of the SCRIBES and of the PHARISEES answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, AN EVIL AND ADULTEROUS generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:" Mat 12:38-39
These verses, along with the well documented history of the Jews straying from the Law and fornicating with other beliefs in the Old Testament is why I believe that the parable of Lazarus and the Rich man was directed at those who Jesus was speaking to. The Rich Man being the Pharasees, Lazarus being "whom God helps". Strong #2976
The whole point of my post from the beginning was that everyone seems to overlook Luke 16:14-18 as support that Lazarus and the Rich Man is indeed a parable.
The Mishnah is rabbinical interpretation of the Tanakh. Rabbis would take a portion of scripture and then write a long, detailed commentary. For some groups who followed certain Rabbis, these interpretations were considered either on the level with the authority of Scripture (such as the writings of the Teacher of Righteousness at the Qumran community) or just less authoritative than the Scripture itself.
As I said, I had not heard of the Mishnah. If the "Gulf" mentioned is quoted in it, then I must take your word for it. However, I don't believe that Jesus was too fond of the work of the Rabbis of his time. There are many writtings that are a product of Rabbinical Judaism that are concidered "authoritative", such as Kabballah, which was a rabbinical interpretation of the Torah. This work turned out to be the basis for modern Satanism and was also around during the days of Jesus.