Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 15:24
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
24. was dead, and is alive again ] The metaphor of ‘death’ to express the condition of impenitent sin is universal in the Bible. “Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead,” Rev 3:1. “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,” Eph 5:14. “You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins,” Eph 2:1. “Yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead,” Rom 6:13.
was lost ] This poor youth had been in the exact Roman sense perditus a ‘lost,’ an ‘abandoned’ character.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Was dead – This is capable of two significations:
- I supposed that he was dead, but I know now that he is alive.
- He was dead to virtue – he was sunk in pleasure and vice.
The word is not unfrequently thus used. See 1Ti 5:6; Mat 8:22; Rom 6:13. Hence, to be restored to virtue is said to be restored again to life, Rom 6:13; Rev 3:1; Eph 2:1. It is probable that this latter is the meaning here. See Luk 15:32.
Was lost – Had wandered away from home, and we knew not where he was.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 24. Was dead] Lost to all good – given up to all evil. In this figurative sense the word is used by the best Greek writers. See many examples in Kypke.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
24. my sonnow twicehis son.
dead . . . lostto me;to himselfto my service, my satisfaction; to his owndignity, peace, profit.
alive again . . . foundtoall these.
merry(See on Lu15:10).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For this my son was dead,…. These words contain the reasons of the above entertainment, and of all that spiritual joy and mirth; in which the father acknowledges the returning penitent as his son; though he had behaved so wickedly before, and though he judged himself unworthy of the relation; and this he did, by sending the Spirit of adoption into his heart, to witness his sonship to him; and takes notice of his past state and condition, to show the great reason there was for joy, at his present one: for before be was “dead”, dead in Adam, in whom all died; dead in law, being under a sentence of condemnation and death; and dead in trespasses and sins, which is a spiritual or moral death: in which all mankind by nature are: and which lies in a separation from God, Father, Son, and Spirit; in an alienation from the life of God; in a deformation of the image of God; in a loss of original righteousness; in the darkness of the understanding; in the inordinateness of the affections; in the pollution of the mind and conscience; in the stubbornness of the will; and in an impotency to that which is spiritually good; and in a privation of spiritual sense and motion: this had been the case, but now it was otherwise:
and is alive again: the Spirit of life from Christ had entered into him, and Christ was formed in his heart; and a principle of life was infused into him; a divine image was enstamped upon his soul; the understanding was enlightened in divine things; the affections were set upon them; the will was subjected to God, to his will and law, and to Christ and his righteousness, and the way of salvation by him, and to his commands and ordinances; and principles of grace and holiness were wrought in him, to do as well as to will; a spiritual sense of things were given him; a spiritual sight, hearing, tasting, and feeling, and savouring; he lived a life of holiness from Christ, of faith upon him, and of communion with him, and to his glory: and he came to be so, not of himself, nor by any creature; for no man can quicken himself, nor can any creature do it for him; it was entirely owing to the power and grace of God: and great reason here was for joy and mirth, as there is for every one that is quickened by the Spirit of God; for such shall never enter into condemnation, nor die again, but shall live and reign with Christ for ever:
he was lost; lost in Adam, and in himself; so he was when in the far country, and when among the swine and husks; so as that he knew not where he was, nor what a condition he was in; nor did he know how to get out of it, nor could he help himself; nor could any other creature; though not irretrievably and irrecoverably lost; not to the love of God, his knowledge of him, care and provision for him in Christ, in his counsel and covenant: hence the following mercy,
and is found; not only by Christ, in redemption, but by the Spirit of Christ in the effectual calling; when he was brought and came to himself, and saw his lost state and condition by nature; and when he was directed and brought home to his Father’s house, and entertained with all the provisions of it; and such have reason to rejoice and be glad, for they shall be found in Christ at death and at judgment, and shall be with him to all eternity:
and they began to be merry: all parties. The Father expressed his joy, and the gladness of his heart, upon the return of his son to him; he exhorted to be merry on this account, Lu 15:23 and enforces it with reasons in this verse, taken from the relation he stood in to him, and the wonderful change that had passed upon him, and the finding of him; and he rejoices himself at his conversion, in the exercise of that grace which he himself implanted, and in the performance of duty by his assistance: not that any new joy arises in God’s heart at such a time; for he always rejoiced in the persons of his elect, as they were the objects of his love, as chosen in Christ, and given to him, and as interested in the covenant of grace; and he rejoiced in the accomplishment of their salvation, by his Son: but in conversion, there are new expressions of joy; he rejoices over them to do them good, and rejoices in the good he does them; and this is the open beginning of his joy, and but the beginning of it; for it will continue, it is not all over, not all expressed, but will be in the fullest manner hereafter, to all eternity: the returned son began to be merry, as he had good reason for it; as that he was come back from the far country, where a mighty famine had been: and from the citizen of that country, his fields, and swine; that he was come to his father, and his father’s house, where was bread enough and to spare; an house well furnished with all suitable provisions; a family made up of saints, where ministers of the Gospel are stewards, and angels guards, and where Christ is Son, priest, and master; and that he was received here, and owned as a son; not only was one secretly, but was owned as such openly; and was not only called so by the servants, but by the father himself; and that after he had behaved so vilely, and in his own conscience knew he was unworthy of the relation; and that he was received immediately, as soon as ever he came, and that in the most tender manner; and was entertained in the most free, generous, and sumptuous way; though he went away from his father of himself, and had spent his substance in a scandalous manner; and was in a most filthy, ragged, and piteous condition; and that he should be clothed with the best robe, the robe of Christ’s righteousness; and so had nothing to fear from law and justice; nor was he in any danger of wrath to come because of his sins; nor had he any reason to doubt of his right and admission to the heavenly glory; and that he had the ring of love on the hand of faith, and could believe his interest in it, which is better than life, and will continue for ever; and that his feet were shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; that he understood the Gospel, and was brought to a submission to Gospel ordinances, and had his conversation agreeably to it; and that the fatted calf was killed, and set before him to eat of, and feed upon: and now he began to live and fare sumptuously, and to have spiritual joy and pleasure, which he never knew before; and this was but the beginning of joy to him: spiritual joy is not all over at once, it continues and increases; nor is it full and perfect in this life, but in heaven it will be complete, and without interruption; the servants also, the ministers of the Gospel, began to be merry on this occasion; who express their joy at the conversion of sinners, because of the glory of Father, Son, and Spirit, concerned in it; because of the grace bestowed then on sinners themselves; and because the interest of Christ is strengthened, and his churches increased, and Satan’s kingdom weakened; and because their own ministry is blessed; and which strengthens their hands and hearts, and encourages them to go on in their work: and this is but the beginning of their joy; for they continue to rejoice at the growth of grace in believers, and when they are in a thriving and flourishing condition; when they walk becoming the Gospel of Christ, and live in peace among themselves; and persevere in faith and holiness to the end; and these will be their joy and crown of rejoicing, at the coming of Christ Jesus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And is alive ( ). First aorist active indicative of , to live again. Literally, he was dead and he came back to life.
He was lost ( , periphrastic past perfect active of and intransitive, in a lost state) and he was found (). He was found, we have to say, but this aorist passive is really timeless, he is found after long waiting (effective aorist) The artists have vied with each other in picturing various items connected with this wonderful parable.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Is alive – is found [ – ] . Both aorists, and pointing back to a definite time in the fast; doubtless the moment when he “came to himself.” Wyc., hath lived.
The Prodigal Son is a favorite subject in Christian art. The return of the penitent is the point most frequently chose, but the dissipation in the far country and the degradation among the swine are also treated. The dissipation is the subject of an interesting picture by the younger Teniers in the gallery of the Louvre. The prodigal is feasting at a table with two courtesans, in front of an inn, on the open shutter of which a tavern – score is chalked. An old woman leaning on a stick begs alms, possibly foreshadowing the fate of the females at the table. The youth holds out his glass, which a servant fills with wine. In the right – hand corner appears a pigsty where a stable – boy is feeding the swine, but with his face turned toward the table, as if in envy of the gay revellers there. All the costumes and other details of the picture are Dutch. Holbein also represents him feasting with his mistress, and gambling with a sharper who is sweeping the money off the table. The other points of the story are introduced into the background. Jan Steen paints him at table in a garden before an inn. A man plays a guitar, and two children are blowing bubbles – “an allegory of the transient pleasures of the spendthrift.” Mrs. Jameson remarks that the riotous living is treated principally by the Dutch painters. The life among the swine is treated by Jordaens in the Dresden Gallery. The youth, with only a cloth about his loins, approaches the trough where the swine are feeding, extends his hand, and seems to ask food of a surly swineherd, who points him to the trough. In the left – hand corner a young boor is playing on a pipe, a sorrowful contrast to the delicious music of the halls of pleasure. Salvator Rosa pictures him in a landscape, kneeling with clasped hands amid a herd of sheep, oxen, goats, and swine. Rubens, in a farm – stable, on his knees near a trough, where a woman is feeding some swine. He looks imploringly at the woman. One of the finest examples of the treatment of the return is by Murillo, in the splendid picture in the gallery of the Duke of Sutherland. It is thus described by Stirling (” Annals of the Artists of Spain “) : “The repentant youth, locked in the embrace of his father, is, of course, the principal figure; his pale, emaciated countenance bespeaks the hardships of his husk – coveting time, and the embroidery on his tattered robe the splendor of his riotous living. A little white dog, leaping up to caress him, aids in telling the story. On one side of this group a man and a boy lead in the fatted calf; on the other appear three servants bearing a light – blue silk dress of Spanish fashion, and the gold ring; and one of them seems to be murmuring at the honors in preparation for the lost one.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For this my son was dead,” (hoti houtos ho huios mou nekros en) “This heir son was dead,” whether dead to or in fruitless, barren service, as a backslidden child of God, or one dead in trespasses and sins, God’s compassion accepts all who come, as this one did, Eph 2:1-3; Rev 3:11; Eph 4:14; Rom 6:13.
2) “And is alive again” (kai anezesen) “And he lives again,” and is alive. And he was later said to have been “lost and is found,” Luk 15:32. He was lost to love and duty, but is now restored to a renewed way of life.
3) “He was lost, and is found.” (en apololos kai heurethe) “He was (existed as) having been lost, and he came to be and is found,” lost to me, and to himself. As the lost sheep and lost coin, each with intrinsic, literal value to their owner, but not while lost, Luk 15:4; Luk 15:6; Luk 15:8-9.
4) “And they began to be merry.” (kai erksanto euphrainesthai) “And they began to be merry,” or very much gladdened, to rejoice, much like that at the hour of the marriage of the Lamb, Rev 19:7-9. Like the joy in the presence of the Lord forever, Psa 16:11.
But what of the elder brother? Let us now hear from him.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(24) This my son was dead.The words, looked at merely as part of the story, have a wonderful pathos. Absence, alienation, the self-chosen shame, this had made the father think of the son as dead. Death would indeed have been far easier to bear. Spiritually, we are taught that repentance is nothing less than the passing from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, from the graves of lust (Num. 11:34) to the power of the resurrection. The lost and found appear as furnishing the link that connects this with the preceding parables, and makes the trilogy, as it were, complete.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. Dead alive The metaphors of death and life, to express ruin and recovery, can be found in various languages. Thus Cicero at his return to Rome after banishment says, in a public address to the city, that he is recalled from death to life; from despair to hope; from destruction to safety.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Luk 15:24. This my son was dead, and is alive, &c. It is by a very common and beautiful emblem, that vicious persons are represented as dead, both by sacred and prophane authors; (Compare 1Ti 5:6. Eph 2:1; Eph 5:14.) and the natural death of their children would certainly be less grievous to pious parents, than to see them abandoned to such a course as this young sinner took. Nothing so powerfully calls home the mind as distress; (see Luk 15:17.) the tense fibre then relaxes,the soul retires into itself,sits pensive, and susceptible, through grace, of right impressions: if we have a friend, it is then that we think of him; if a benefactor, at that moment all his kindnesses press upon our mind.Gracious and bountiful God! is it not for this, through thy grace and blessing, that they who in their prosperity forget thee, do yet remember and return to thee in the hour of their sorrow? When our heart is in heaviness, upon whom can we think but thee?who knowest our necessities afar off, puttest all our tears in thy bottle, seest every careful thought, hearest every sigh and melancholy groan that we utter?Strange! that we should only begin to think of God with comfort, (if we do then,) when with joy and comfort we can think of nothing else.Man is surely a compound of riddles and contradictions: by the law of his nature he avoids pain; and yet, unless he suffer in the flesh, he will not cease from sin, though it is sure to bring pain and misery upon his head for ever. Whilst all went pleasurablyon with the prodigal, we hear not one word concerning his father; no pang of remorse for the sufferings in which he had left him, or resolution of returning to make up the account of his folly: his first hour of distress, through the gracious Spirit of God, seemed to be his first hour of wisdom: When he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, whilst I perish! Of all the terrors of nature, that of dying by hunger surely is the greatest; and it is wisely woven into our frame, to awaken men to industry, and call forth their talents.It had this effect, through Divine grace, with the prodigal: he arose, to go unto his fatherAlas! how shall he tell his story?ye who have had this round, tell me in what words he shall give in to his father the items of his extravagance and folly?Yet leave the story, it will be told more concisely: when he was yet a great way off, (Luk 15:20.) his father saw him.Compassion told it in few words:he fell upon his neck, and kissed him.The idea of a son so ruined as this was, and yet returning, would double the father’s caresses; every effusion of his tenderness would add bitterness to his son’s remorse.”Gracious heaven! what a father have I rendered miserable!” Luk 15:21. And he said, I have sinned,and am no more worthy to be called thy son.But the father said,Bring hither the best robe.O ye affections! how fondly do you play at cross-purposes with each other?It is the natural dialogue of true transport; joy is not methodical; and when an offenderbelovedseems, if it were possible, to overcharge himself in the offence, words are too cold, and a conciliated heart replies by tokens of esteem. And he said,Bring forth the best robe, &c.and let us eat, and be merry.When the affections so kindly and graciously break loose, joy is another name for religion: we look up, as we taste it. The cold stoic without, may ask sullenly, (with the older brother, Luk 15:26; Luk 15:28.) “what it means?” and refuse to enter; but the pious and compassionate fly impetuously to the banquet, given for a son who was dead, and is alive again; who was lost and is found. Was it not for this, that God gave man music to strike upon the kindly passions? but we must never forget, that no distress or sorrow is effectual to the salvation of the soul, but that which brings us, in brokenness of heart and genuine contrition for our sins, to our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, by whose grace and merit alone salvation can be obtaine
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Ver. 24. For this my son was dead, &c. ] So fareth it with every faithful Christian. He was dead, but now lives, and cannot be insensible or ignorant of such a change.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
24. ] . . ., the lost money: . , the lost sheep: see 1Jn 3:14 ; Eph 2:5 ; 1Pe 2:25 .
, a contrast to the in Luk 15:14 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Luke
THE PRODIGAL AND HIS FATHER
Luk 15:11 – Luk 15:24
The purpose of the three parables in this chapter has to be kept in mind. Christ is vindicating His action in receiving sinners, which had evoked the murmurings of the Pharisees. The first two parables, those of the lost sheep and the lost drachma, appeal to the common feeling which attaches more importance to lost property just because it is lost than to that which is possessed safely. This parable rises to a higher level. It appeals to the universal emotion of fatherhood, which yearns over a wandering child just because he has wandered.
We note a further advance, in the proportion of one stray sheep to the ninety-nine, and of one lost coin to the nine, contrasted with the sad equality of obedience and disobedience in the two sons. One per cent., ten per cent., are bearable losses, but fifty per cent. is tragic.
I. The first part Luk 15:11 – Luk 15:16 tells of the son’s wish to be his own master, and what came of it.
That is the essential absurdity in our attempts to do without God and to shake off His control. We can only get power to seem to do it by misusing His gifts. When we say, ‘Who is Lord over us?’ the tongues which say it were given us by Him. The next step soon followed. ‘Not many days after,’ of course, for the sense of ownership could not be kept up while near the father. A man who wishes to enjoy worldly good without reference to God is obliged, in self-defence, to hustle God out of his thoughts as soon and as completely as possible.
The ‘far country’ is easily reached; and it is far, though a step can land us in it. A narrow bay may compel a long journey round its head before those on its opposite shores can meet. Sin takes us far away from God, and the root of all sin is that desire of living to one’s self which began the prodigal’s evil course.
The third step in his downward career, wasting his substance in riotous living, comes naturally after the two others; for all self-centred life is in deepest truth waste, and the special forms of gross dissipation to which youth is tempted are only too apt to follow the first sense of being their own masters, and removed from the safeguards of their earthly father’s home. Many a lad in our great cities goes through the very stages of the parable, and, when a mother’s eye is no longer on him, plunges into filthy debauchery. But living which does not outrage the proprieties may be riotous all the same; for all conduct which ignores God and asserts self as supreme is flagrantly against the very nature of man, and is reckless waste.
Such a ‘merry’ life is sure to be ‘short.’ There is always famine in the land of forgetfulness of God, and when the first gloss is off its enjoyments, and one’s substance is spent, its pinch is felt. The unsatisfied hunger of heart, which dogs godless living, too often leads but to deeper degradation and closer entanglement with low satisfactions. Men madly plunge deeper into the mud in hope of finding the pearl which has thus far eluded their search.
A miserable thing this young fool had made of his venture, having spent his capital, and now being forced to become a slave, and being set to nothing better than to feed swine. The godless world is a hard master, and has very odious tasks for its bondsmen. The unclean animals are fit companions for one who made himself lower than they, since filth is natural to them and shameful for him. They are better off than he is, for husks do nourish them, and they get their fill, but he who has sunk to longing for swine’s food cannot get even that. The dark picture is only too often verified in the experience of godless men.
II. The wastrel’s returning sanity is described in Luk 15:17 – Luk 15:20 .
There is no sign that his conscience smote him, or that his heart woke in love to his father. His stomach, and it only, urged him to go home. He did, indeed, feel that he had been wrong, and had forfeited the right to be called a son, but he did not care much for losing that name, or even for losing the love to which it had the right, if only he could get as much to eat as one of the hired servants, whose relation to the master was less close, and, in patriarchal times, less happy, than that of slaves born in the house.
One good thing about the lad was that he did not let the grass grow under his feet, but, as soon as he had made the resolution, began to carry it into effect. The bane of many a resolve to go back to God is that it is ‘sicklied o’er’ by procrastination. The ragged prodigal has not much to leave which need hold him, but many such a one says, ‘I will arise and go to my father to-morrow,’ and lets all the to-morrows become yesterdays, and is sitting among the swine still.
Low as the prodigal’s motive for return was, the fact of his return was enough. So is it in regard to our attitude to the gospel. Men may be drawn to give heed to its invitations from the instinct of self-preservation, or from their sense of hungry need, and the belief that in it they will find the food they crave for, while there may be little consciousness of longing for more from the Father than the satisfaction of felt wants. The longing for a place in the Father’s heart will spring up later, but the beginning of most men’s taking refuge in God as revealed in Christ is the gnawing of a hungry heart. The call to all is, ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat.’
III. The climax of the parable, for which all the rest is but as scaffolding, is the father’s welcome vs. 20 b -24.
No doubt he hesitated when the old home came in sight, and perhaps his resolution would have oozed out at his finger ends if he had had to march up alone in his rags, and run the gauntlet of servants before he came to speech with his father. So his father’s seeing him far off and running to meet him is exquisitely in keeping, as well as movingly setting forth how God’s love goes out to meet His returning prodigals. That divine insight which discerns the first motions towards return, that divine pity which we dare venture to associate with His infinite love, that eager meeting the shamefaced and slow-stepping boy half-way, and that kiss of welcome before one word of penitence or request had been spoken, are all revelations of the heart of God, and its outgoings to every wanderer who sets his face to return.
Beautifully does the father’s welcome make the son’s completion of his rehearsed speech impossible. It does not prevent his expression of penitence, for the more God’s love is poured over us, the more we feel our sin. But he had already been treated as a son, and could not ask to be taken as a servant. Beautifully, too, the father gives no verbal answer to the lad’s confession, for his kiss had answered it already; but he issues instructions to the servants which show that the pair have now reached the home and entered it together.
The gifts to the prodigal are probably significant. They not only express in general the cordiality of the welcome, but seem to be capable of specific interpretations, as representing various aspects of the blessed results of return to God. The robe is the familiar emblem of character. The prodigal son is treated like the high-priest in Zechariah’s vision; his rags are stripped off, and he is clothed anew in a dress of honour. ‘Them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also sanctified.’ The ring is a token of wealth, position, and honour. It is also a sign of delegated authority, and is an ornament to the hand. So God gives His prodigals, when they come back, an elevation which unforgiven beings do not reach, and sets them to represent Him, and arrays them in strange beauty. No doubt the lad had come back footsore and bleeding, and the shoes may simply serve to keep up the naturalness of the story. But probably they suggest equipment for the journey of life. That is one of the gifts that accompany forgiveness. Our feet are shod with the preparedness of the gospel of peace.
Last of all comes the feast. Heaven keeps holiday when some poor waif comes shrinking back to the Father. The prodigal had been content to sink his sonship for the sake of a loaf, but he could not get bread on such terms. He had to be forgiven and bathed in the outflow of his father’s love before he could be fed; and, being thus received, he could not but be fed. The feast is for those who come back penitently, and are received forgivingly, and endowed richly by the Father in heaven.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
was. Not the past tense of the verb “die”, but of the verb “to be”. He had been as a dead man (Greek. nekros. App-189) to his father.
is found = was; i.e. “when he came to himself” (Luk 15:17), which shows that that was the result of the father’s seeking. began, &c. Contrast “began to be in want” (Luk 15:14).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
24.] . . .,-the lost money: . ,-the lost sheep: see 1Jn 3:14; Eph 2:5; 1Pe 2:25.
, a contrast to the in Luk 15:14.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 15:24. , this) This is a [triumphal] verse, or formula of words, and hymn, which has in it somewhat of rhythm, and seems to have been often repeated; see Luk 15:32 : it was accompanied with symphony (music), Luk 15:25. The ancients used verse when strongly affected. See Gen 37:33; 1 Chronicles 13 (12):18, [which are in the Hebraic form of poetry, parallelism.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
this: Luk 15:32, Mar 8:22, Joh 5:21, Joh 5:24, Joh 5:25, Joh 11:25, Rom 6:11, Rom 6:13, Rom 8:2, 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15, Eph 2:1, Eph 2:5, Eph 5:14, Col 2:13, 1Ti 5:6, Jud 1:12, Rev 3:1
he: Luk 15:4, Luk 15:8, Luk 19:10, Gen 45:28, Jer 31:15-17, Eze 34:4, Eze 34:16, Mat 18:11-13
they: Luk 15:7, Luk 15:9, Luk 10:19, Isa 35:10, Isa 66:11, Jer 31:12-14, Rom 12:15, 1Co 12:26
Reciprocal: Exo 24:11 – did eat Deu 28:63 – rejoiced over Pro 23:15 – even mine Son 3:11 – in the day of the Isa 53:10 – the pleasure Isa 55:7 – the wicked Jer 31:20 – Is Ephraim Mic 7:18 – he delighteth Zep 3:17 – will rejoice Mat 18:13 – he rejoiceth Luk 15:5 – rejoicing Luk 15:6 – his Act 15:3 – they caused Phm 1:11 – profitable 1Jo 3:14 – we have
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The Elder Son
Luk 15:24-32
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We come now to the study of the elder son. In doing this we think it will be wise to give the dispensational picture a little stronger setting than we gave in our last study as we studied the prodigal son.
It was suggested last week that the prodigal son stood for the publicans and the sinners among the Children of Israel, and that the elder son stood for the Scribes and Pharisees, and the rulers of the people. We suggest now that the younger son stands for the down and outs, and the elder son stands for the up and outs. These two classes predominated in Israel.
1. The publicans and the sinners. This class among the people of God were the impoverished class. They were the class who, to a more or less extent, put God and religion out of their lives. They were oppressed and afflicted. The religion they did possess was forced upon them. The Scribes and the Pharisees put heavy burdens upon them, grievous to be borne. The publicans and the sinners were the class to whom Jesus chiefly came. They were the common people who heard Him gladly. They were the ones who, for the most part, were healed of body and healed of soul by Him. Somehow their penury and their shame made them long the more for the Saviour.
2. The Scribes and the Pharisees. The Scribes and the Pharisees stood for that class in Israel who were self-righteous. They sat in Moses’ seat. They made broad their phylacteries, and enlarged the borders of their garments. They loved the uppermost rooms at the feasts, and the best seats in the synagogues. They delighted in greeting’s in the market places. It was a small matter with them to devour widows’ houses, while, for pretence, they made a long prayer, seeking to cover up their villainy. They even encompassed sea and land to make a proselyte. They paid their tithes of mint and annis and cummin, but omitted law and judgment and mercy.
As we study the elder son, let us study him in the light of the younger son. With the twofold vision of this parable before us, we cannot but think of a few statements of Christ. He said that the publicans and the harlots went into the Kingdom of God before the Scribes and the Pharisees. Christ described these religionists (the elder son type of Israel), as saying, “I go,” but they went not; while the prodigal boy type, He described as the ones who said, “I go not,” but afterward he repented and went. The elder son was like the Pharisee who prayed within himself, boasting his righteous deeds; the younger son was like the publican, who beat upon his breast confessing his sin.
As we close these opening remarks, we wish to ask, To which class do we belong? Are we sinners, saved by grace, or are we self-righteous, proud, and haughty, parading our own goodness? May God make this a real blessing to all.
I. THE CRITICAL SPIRIT (Luk 15:25-26)
How different was the attitude of the elder son toward the prodigal, from that of his father’s! The elder son was neither looking, nor longing, nor yearning for the return of his brother. When he heard the music and the dancing, as he drew nigh to the house, he quickly called one of the servants, and asked what it all meant. He had no heart to welcome, and no hand to extend to the wanderer who had come home.
To our minds the very basis of Pharisaism is the lack of sympathy for the lost. We may have a right conception of the Person of Christ; we may even know much of His power, and yet be lacking in His compassion.
When the Lord Jesus saw the multitudes, as sheep without a shepherd, His heart was moved toward them. He stood in their midst and said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” The Lord Jesus always had a heart of sympathy, and of love and compassion toward anyone who was in distress, impoverished, or oppressed.
Let us examine our own hearts, and let us be true to ourselves. Do we weep with those who weep?
“Have we sought for the sheep that wandered
Far away on the mountain cold?
Have we come like the tender Shepherd
To bring him again to the fold?”
If we have not had this spirit of longing, we had better sit down by the side of the elder son and confess that we are possessed with his spirit. It is not alone giving money to foreign missions that counts with God; it is a heart that yearns for the lost of heathendom. It is not alone paying the preacher’s salary that satisfies God; it is our going out “into the highways and hedges” and seeking the lost. Jonah carried the spirit of the elder son when he fled from Nineveh. He had no pity for the Ninevites. He wanted them destroyed. We know this because when God spared them Jonah complained and was angry, even unto death. God, give us the compassionate heart of the Son of God!
II. OVERCOME WITH ANGER (Luk 15:28)
It seems almost impossible that the elder son was not only foreign to compassion, but he was even angry because his father welcomed home the wanderer. Thus it was in the beginning of our chapter. We remember how the Scribes and Pharisees went so far as to criticise Jesus Christ for receiving sinners and eating with them.
They not only left the publicans and the sinners to their bitter state, but they had no sympathy toward anyone who sought to help them. They were even critical toward the Son of God, because He reached His hand down into the mud and the mire that He might lift men up into light, and life, and love. Jesus Christ is still seeking to save.
We remember very well how a poor sinner, intoxicated and undone, came to the altar one night. We remember how some of the “nice women,” well robed and decked, were bitter against him. They did not think it proper for such a sinner to be welcomed by their pastor. They thought he should have been given the toe of a boot, instead of the lift of a hand. Beloved, we have neglected the lost long enough. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save them, while we have given them the cold shoulder, the sneer, and the slight.
We wonder sometimes if the spirit of the Pharisees which dragged the woman before Christ and demanded that she be stoned, is not the spirit of many reformers. Should we not rather go out into these dens of darkness, and preach Christ in these places of impurity? Does the darkness not need the light? Do the sick not need a physician? The attitude of the elder son, can receive from the true believer nothing but condemnation.
III. A BOASTFUL HEART (Luk 15:29, f.c.)
Our verse tells us that when the father entreated the elder son concerning his brother, that the elder son immediately began to flaunt his own goodness, in contrast with the profligacy of his brother. The elder son said, “Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment.” Alas, alas, how we seek to make up for the tyranny of our temper, and the failure of our sympathy, by parading some cold, formal and lifeless service which we have rendered.
Of course the Pharisee could easily boast his adherence to the legalities or religion, that was his chief thought. He was very proper. He was very concise. He even added countless rites to the Law of God. He had included burdens heavy to be borne, and service hard to be rendered in the requirements of the Law. So far as an outward show of piety was concerned, he was a model. So far as religious service was concerned, he was a leader. All the time, however, his heart was wrong. Beloved, thinkest thou that God is more interested in a formal religion, properly conducted and ethically stated, than He is in the manifestations of love? Do you notice that the elder son never once said, “Father, all these years have I loved thee”? He merely said, “Do I serve thee.” He did not ask, “At any time have I ever forgotten thy grace?” He did say he had never transgressed his commandment. Do you remember the Church at Ephesus? It was full of works, and of labor, and even of patience. It could not bear those who were evil. It tried them and found them at fault, and yet in it all the Lord detected a great lack. “Thou hast left thy first love.”
IV. A COMPLAINING SPIRIT (Luk 15:29, l.c.)
How do these words strike you? “Thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends.” There is a complaint against the father’s bounty.
1. That “Thou never gavest me a kid.” This could not have been true, for the father said, “Son, * * all that I have is thine.” Do we ever imagine that God has never given us a kid? If we do, let us lift up our eyes; let us stop and count our blessings. God has filled the earth with everything for our temporal and physical needs. Every good and perfect gift has come from Him. Not only that, but He “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places.” He has gone to prepare a city for us, a city, whose Builder and Maker is God. Do we dare to look into His face and say, “Thou never gavest me a kid”?
2. “That I might make merry with my friends.” Ah, here is the heart of it all. The elder son was with the father, but he had no fellowship with the father. He sat at the table with the father; he walked constantly under the eyes of the father, but he knew nothing of a genuine love for the father. He said his father had never given him a kid to make merry with his friends. We feel that there are many sons who are not living in filial fellowship. Paul wrote to Timothy, “My son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” In Jude we read, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” Is there no joy with the Father? Is there no consolation of love in Him, that we should seek to make merry with our friends? Must we warm at the enemy’s fire? The Father had not killed the fatted calf, that the prodigal might make merry with bis friends-the feast was one welcoming the wanderer back to the father’s heart.
The friendship of this world still remains enmity with God. Whosoever therefore is a friend to the world is an enemy to God.
V. CONDEMNING THE FATHER’S HEART (Luk 15:30)
The elder son, at home, not only had no longing and no love for his brother, but he was angry that his father should love him. He said, “As soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.”
Oh, beloved, have we failed to see the heart of God? Not only that,-Have we criticised Him because He has received back the prodigal, who had wandered away?
We wish for a moment to carry your minds to another scene. One of these days the Lord Jesus Christ will come. back to earth. The twelve tribes will, once more, be reunited in the land. There is a group, today, of Pharisaical self-satisfied Jews, who during all the centuries have kept up the rites of religion. The Lord Jesus Christ will restore unto them their land, and give back unto them their place among the nations. Shall that part of Israel, represented by the elder son, be angry with God if He restore back to their land the tribes who have been lost in the nations?
If that part of Israel, which has wasted the substance of the Father, returns, will the Israel, which has stayed at home, be angry?
Somehow, to us, there is a wonderful picture of a coming feast, in the killing of “the fatted calf.” In the music and the dancing we can almost anticipate what will happen when Jesus Christ shall come and restore the disbursed of Israel. He will rejoice over His wandering children, as they come back to His side. Oh, how happy, how glad will He be! We tremble lest there should be any of the “stayers-at-home” who will criticise a loving God.
In the mean time let us seek to enter into God’s love and care for every backsliding, but returning saint.
If God is “like as a father,” let us be like as the Father.
VI. THE FATHER’S SELF-VINDICATION (Luk 15:32)
In the verse before us the father says, “It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad,” He then proceeds to give his reason for the joy that filled his heart.
1. “Thy brother was dead, and is alive.” We have here a vision of the past and of the present. Our mind at once goes to that expression in Ephesians two which says, “When we were dead in sins, [He] hath quickened us.”
God’s name for the prodigal as he wandered in the far country is the name “dead.” Death carries with it invariably the thought of separation. The son was separated from the father. Anyone who lives in pleasure is dead while he lives.
Life carries with it the thought of fellowship. The younger son was alive again, because he was home again. He was back in the father’s presence. He was restored to the father’s embrace. He was walking in the father’s love.
2. “Thy brother * * was lost, and is found.” The word “lost” is descriptive of the estate of the one who is dead. He was lost because he was impoverished. He was lost because he was undone.
The Lord Jesus came from Heaven to seek and to save that which was lost. In the first part of the fifteenth of Luke there is a lost sheep; then, there is a lost coin; and finally, there is the lost son.
The word “found” carries with it all of the marvels of the grace of God. In that word lies hidden the long search of the Shepherd who sought the sheep; of the woman who sought the coin. In that word lies hidden all of the manifestation of grace which greeted the prodigal boy.
Whenever a soul which was dead is quickened; whenever a life which was lost is found, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God.
“Nor angels can their joy contain,
But kindle with new fire,
A soul on earth is born they claim,
And touch their golden lyre.”
AN ILLUSTRATION
The elder son did not show the spirit of forgiveness as it is seen below:
One evening in Belgium, during the World War, some little children were playing outside a village that had been ruined by German artillery, when the Angelus sounded, calling them to prayer. They drew near to a wayside shrine, and, led by an older girl, began to repeat the Lord’s Prayer. When they came to, “Forgive us our trespasses,” she stopped, and so did the others. It was not long since the enemy had laid waste their homes and killed many of their loved ones. How could they go on and say, “As we forgive those who trespass against us”? There was silence for several moments, and then a man’s voice behind them took up the prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” and steadily the clear strong voice led them through to the solemn “Amen.” When the astonished children turned to look, there stood a tall, uniformed man with a group of officers. It was their beloved king! He had proved himself their king indeed, by leading them, through that great prayer, to the spirit of forgiveness.-Christian Herald.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
4
These words may have been used figuratively only, and yet this son had been dead to his father’s home, since death means “separation.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 15:24. Was dead, and is alive again. Even in the parable, the father speaks figuratively of moral death; much more in the application is it true; the state of sin is a moral death, the state of salvation a moral resurrection.
Was lost, and is found. This expresses the relation to the father. In the application: Sin is estrangement from God, salvation fellowship with God.
And they began to be merry. The same point is now reached as in the other parables; and the eating with penitent sinners (Luk 15:2) abundantly justified.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Luk 15:24. For this my son was dead Was considered by me as dead; and is alive again It is by a very common and beautiful emblem, that vicious persons are represented as dead, both by sacred and profane authors; and the natural death of their children would be less grievous to pious parents than to see them abandoned to such a course as this young sinner took. Doddridge. He was lost and is found We looked upon him as utterly lost, but lo! he is come back again, beyond all expectation, in safety. Two things here are worthy of observation: 1st, That the conversion of a soul from sin to God is the raising of that soul from death to life, and the finding of that which seemed to be lost. It is a great, wonderful, and happy change: it is like that which passes upon the face of the earth when the spring returns. 2d, The conversion of sinners is very pleasing to the God of heaven, and all that belong to his family ought to rejoice in it. Those in heaven do, and those on earth should, rejoice. And they began to be merry They sat down to the feast, rejoicing exceedingly at the happy occasion of it.