<p>15:11 <i>And he said: A certain man had two sons</i>- The man is not that wealthy; for he has only two sons and no other children are mentioned. This heightens the generosity of the father to the younger son, and the tragedy of the waste. The two sons may represent Israel and Judah.</p><table border=0 cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0 width=100%>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td>            <p>As with most of the parables, the prodigal has a   primary reference to the nation of Israel. The many Old Testament allusions   bring this home without doubt. In practice, this means that the intensity of   repentance which Israel will eventually manifest should be seen in our contrition   at sin. In this lies a real challenge. The following allusions demonstrate   that our Lord clearly intended us to make a connection between the prodigal   and apostate Israel- and therefore with ourselves:<br />            - The father falling on the prodigal's neck and kissing him sends the mind   back to Joseph weeping on Benjamin's neck (another younger brother), typical   of Christ's receiving home of a repentant Israel in the last days. As Joseph   commanded his servants &quot;Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready&quot;   (Gen. 43:16), so the father did likewise (:23). Both repentances were   celebrated with a meal of fellowship (cp. the breaking of bread). Both the   prodigal and the sons humbled themselves to the position of servants. Like   the prodigal, Israel were often brought back to their spiritual senses by   famine (Ruth 1:1; 1 Kings 8:37; Lk.4:25 etc.). His realization that &quot;I   perish with hunger&quot; (:17) matches the description of Jacob in Canaan as   &quot;A Syrian ready to perish&quot; (Dt. 26:5), dwelling in a land that was   'perishing through the famine' (Gen. 41:36). This affliction came upon   natural Israel because of their 'murder' of Joseph / Jesus. The prodigal's   profligacy is therefore to be seen as the crucifying of Christ afresh by the   believer. <br />            - The prodigal Israel went &quot;into a far country&quot; (Lk. 15:13) - a   phrase normally used in the Old Testament concerning the Gentile lands of   Israel's dispersion (Dt. 29:22; 1 Kings 8:41,46; 2 Kings 20:14; 2 Chron.   6:32,36). In passing, the &quot;far country&quot; of Lk. 19:12 and 20:9   should also refer to the lands of the Gentiles; <i>this</i> is where Christ   has gone (as well as Heaven), and will return to Israel when they desire him   to. As with so many of the parables, this one is packed with allusions to the   Proverbs. The &quot;far country&quot; recalls Prov. 25:25: &quot;As cold   waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country&quot;. Like many   Proverbs, this is alluding to the Law- concerning how Israel would return   from the &quot;far country&quot; of their dispersion upon their repentance.   The sense of refreshment and exhilaration which this gives God should surely   motivate us to repent, and also to encourage others to do so. Yet we need to   ask whether we feel this same exaltation of spirit as God does &quot;over one   sinner that repents&quot;. It requires selflessness, and a real desire to see   glory given to our Father.<br />            - Our association of the prodigal with Israel in dispersion is strengthened   by the mention that the prodigal &quot;wasted&quot; the Father's riches, the   Greek meaning 'to scatter abroad'- suggesting that as Israel had wastefully   scattered God's riches in the Gospel, so they too were scattered. Note how   the prodigal is pictured as ending up with the pigs- well known symbol of the   Gentiles. As the Son's return to the Father was matched by His going out to   meet the son, when Israel &quot;return unto the Lord... then the Lord your   God will... return and gather you from all the nations&quot; (Dt. 30:2,3).<br />            - The book of Hosea frequently presents prodigal Israel as the one who went   astray from God, her loving Father and husband, committing adultery with the   surrounding countries, with the result that God cast her off, leaving her to   suffer in those very lands whose idols she had worshipped. Her sense of shame   and knowledge of God's constant love then brought her to her senses (Hos. 2;   5:11-15; 6:1; 7:8-10). There can be little doubt that our Lord had his eye on   this symbology when framing the prodigal parable. Hos. 2:7,8 is the clearest   example: &quot;She shall follow after her lovers... he shall seek them, but   shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first   husband; for then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I   gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold (cp. the   father giving the son his substance), which they prepared for Baal&quot;.   These blessings of corn, wine and oil are referring to the blessings for   obedience promised in Dt. 28. The point is being made that these blessings   were not immediately and totally removed once Israel started to go astray.   This demonstrates how material 'blessings' are not necessarily an indication   that we have favour with God. Consuming the Father's substance &quot;with   harlots&quot; (:30) is therefore parallel to giving it to idols. The   spiritual riches of being in covenant with God, as well as our every material   blessing from Him, were frittered away by Israel. God's &quot;hand&quot;   worked upon Israel to make them realize the seriousness of their ways (Hos.   2:10). This fact starts to plumb the depth of God's love- that even with   those who have broken His covenant, God's hand is still working to lead them   to repentance.<br />            - Jer. 31:18-20 describe how Ephraim moans: &quot;You have chastised me...   turn me, and I shall be turned... after that I was turned, I repented; and   after that I was instructed... I was ashamed... because I did bear the   reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son?... since I spake against him, I   do earnestly remember him still... I will surely have mercy upon him, says   the Lord&quot;. We must not think from this that God just chose to turn   Israel (the prodigal) back to him at a certain moment. It was because God   &quot;spake against him&quot;, through which the prodigal was   &quot;instructed&quot;, that he turned back. <br />            - There is reason to see the family portrayed in the parable as being a   priestly family- thus representing prodigal Israel, &quot;a Kingdom of   priests&quot;. The son did not ask for his share of the inheritance,   but&nbsp;of &quot;the portion of goods&quot;- remember that Levites did not   own any land. There is surely an echo of the curse on Eli's priestly family   in the prodigal parable: &quot;Every one that is left in your house shall   come and crouch... for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall   say, Put me, I pray you, into one of the priests offices, that I may eat a   piece of bread&quot; (1 Sam. 2:36). The Father had &quot;hired servants&quot;,   which takes us back to the reference in Lev. 22:10 to the priests having   &quot;hired servants&quot; in their household, who would have performed the   mundane work for them (cp. the Gibeonites). The prodigal was therefore asking   to be admitted back into God's service, resigning all the spiritual   superiorities he could have enjoyed through being of the priestly line.   Similarly latter day Israel will be willing to be accepted by God as   Gentiles, having resigned their trust in their natural lineage. Our attitude   on repentance ought to be similar- just wanting to quietly, humbly   participate in God's family for the joy of being close to Him. Further   indication that the hired servants represent the Gentiles is found in the   fact that they had &quot;bread enough&quot; (Gk. 'an abundance of loaves'),   connecting with the Gentiles of Mt. 14:20 being &quot;filled&quot; (same word   in Lk. 15:16) with the abundance of loaves created by Christ.<br />            - The parable of the lost son complements that of the lost sheep earlier in   the same chapter. &quot;My people have been lost sheep&quot;, &quot;the lost   sheep of the house of Israel&quot; (Jer. 50:6; Mt. 10:6; 15:24). A comparison   of the parable with Hos.7 :9,10 indicates that most of Israel remain as the   prodigal in the pig country: &quot;Strangers have devoured his strength (cp. &quot;devoured   your substance&quot;), and he knows it not... they do not return to the Lord   their God, nor seek him for all this&quot;. The illogicality of Israel   remaining in their pathetic spiritual position is so apparent to us from   this; yet we of the new Israel can also be crazy enough to go on living out   of real fellowship with God.</p>            <p>            The reason for presenting such a catalogue of evidence is to show that   prodigal Israel's latter day repentance will be of a similar intensity of   repentance to ours in this life. They will mourn and weep with a rare   intensity of self-hate and self-knowledge- even as a father for his only son.   Do we shed tears on repentance? Do we realize, as they will, how our sins   brought about the crucifixion? Do we appreciate that our spiritual   indifference and lack of perception means that we, like Israel, &quot;did   esteem him stricken&quot;, seeing no beauty in him (Is. 53:2-5) as we march   through our lives, unthinking as to the power and beauty of the cross?</p>            <p>The younger son is presented as lacking wisdom   and being disobedient to the law, as Judah in dispersion. &quot;Whoso loves   wisdom rejoices his father: but he that keeps company with harlots spends his   substance&quot; (Prov. 29:3) was clearly in the Lord's mind when constructing   this parable. He evidently saw this proverb as applying to the same person in   time of sin and repentance. Repenting and loving wisdom are therefore   paralleled, showing again that repentance is not just a twinge of conscience,   but involves coming to really know God. The prodigal wished to return home so   that he could share in the loaves which the servants had &quot;to   spare&quot;, or (better), &quot;had in abundance&quot;. This same word occurs   in Jn. 6:12 concerning the bread which &quot;remained&quot;, i.e. was in   abundance, after the feeding of the five thousand. In that acted parable, the   bread represented the abundance of spiritual food which is in the   spirit-words of Christ. It was this which the truly repentant sinner   earnestly seeks, rather than a mere salving of conscience. &quot;Whoso keeps   the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shames his   father&quot; (Prov. 28:7) shows that such genuine repentance and knowing of   God's wisdom is effectively reckoned as keeping the letter of the Law.   &quot;A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causes shame, and shall   have part of the inheritance&quot; (Prov. 17:2) seems to also connect with   our parable; implying that the wise son who was willing to be a servant was   ultimately greater than the son who appeared to be technically obedient to   the letter of the law. Likewise, the son desiring to be fed with the husks of   the pig food may connect with Lazarus desiring to be fed with the crumbs from   the rich man's table (Lk. 16:21). Yet Lazarus is representative of the   repentant sinner who is ultimately justified. The degree to which God will so   totally impute righteousness to us is indeed hard to come to terms with. But   it is faith in this which will be our ultimate salvation.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table>