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!
And when he came to himself - as if before he had been "beside himself." How truly does the wise man say, "Madness is in the heart of the sons of men while they live, and after that they go to the dead" (Ecclesiastes 9:3). But in what sense men far from God are beside themselves will presently appear more clearly.
He said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger! What a testimony to the nature of the home he had left! But did he not know all this before he departed, and every day of his voluntary exile? He did, he did not. His heart being wholly estranged from home and steeped in selfish gratifications, his father's house never came within the range of his vision, or but as another name for bondage and gloom. Now empty, desolate, withered, perishing-home, with all its peace, plenty, freedom, dignity, starts into view, fills all his vision as a warm and living reality, and breaks his heart.