Luke 15:1-32 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

Luke 25. Three Parables Showing God's Love for the Lost, and His Joy at their Restoration. The three parables in this chapter have no definite note of time or place. An introduction is supplied from Luke 5:29 f. (Mark 2:15 f.). Both the introduction (sinners crowding to hear Jesus) and the parables strike the new noto that Jesus came to sound the direct interest in and appeal to the outcast (cf. p. 622). This parable (Luke 15:3) must mean the parabolic discourse, embracing the three illustrations. The Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin form a pair, and represent the bewildered sinner and the unconscious sinner, while the story of the Prodigal Son forms an exquisite picture of the sinner who deliberately chooses his own path, and deliberately turns back to ask his Father's forgive ness. In the first parable one out of a hundred is lost and restored, in the second one out of ten, in the third one out of two (Burnside).

Luke 15:4-7 (Matthew 18:12-14 *). There are some changes; in particular Lk. makes the neighbours rejoice with the shepherd, and inserts the moral which Mt. omits. We are not to suppose that Jesus is scorning the good Law-keeping Jew in the reference to the ninety-nine.

Luke 15:4. wilderness: not desert, but the usual moorland or mountain pasture.

Luke 15:8-10 (Lk. only). A domestic parable follows an out-of-doors one as with the Leaven and Mustard Seed (Luke 13:19-21). The piece of silver (a Greek drachma) probably formed part of a circlet worn on the forehead.

Luke 15:11-32. Parable of the Prodigal Son. No passage in the Gospels needs less comment than this matchless illustration of God's forgiving love towards the repentant sinner (Luke 15:11-20). Nor is there any real difficulty in Luke 15:25-32, which deals with the elder brother. The lesson is that those who have not fallen are wrong if they blame this forgiving love. The Father's goodness towards the penitent does not injure them; they should rejoice at the restoration of the lost brother and the mending of the broken circle. The parable had special point for the hard Pharisaic pietists who were offended because Jesus associated and even ate with the outcast but repentant publicans and sinners. The injured air of the complacent hide-bound moralist is drawn to the fife. The cold and unsympathetic attitude of the elder brother sets off the enthusiasm and warmth of the Father. The parable is a unity, its theme being the reception given to the lost and found son.

Luke 15:16. husks: pods of the carob tree, hard and un palatable.

Luke 15:17. he came to himself: mentally and morally.

Luke 15:21. Note how he fails to complete his rehearsed statement; probably the father breaks into the middle of it.

Luke 15:22. ring: as necessary as the shoes (slaves alone went bare-footed) to show his recovered sonship.

Related Commentaries of Luke 15:1

Luke 15:1-32

1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:

12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.

26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.

27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:

30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.