c Matt. xviii. 12. 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, Red1 Pet. ii. 10, joice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say unto you, that m likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. m render, in like manner. 25. e ch. v. 32. d journey;- or rather, one to another-responsively. 3-7.] The man having the hundred sheep, is plainly the Son of God, the Good Shepherd. This had been his prophetic description, and that in this very connexion,-of seeking the lost, Ezek. xxxiv. 6, 11 ff. This it is which gives so peculiar an interest to David as a type of Christ-that he was a shepherd; ibid. ver. 23. Our Lord plainly declares then by this parable-and that I take to be the reason why it is placed first (see below)— that the matter in which they had found fault with Him was the very pursuit most in accordance with his divine Office of Shepherd. 4.] It is the Owner Himself who goes to seek, see Ezek. ver. 11God in Christ. The hundred sheep are the house of Israel, see Matt. x. 6; but in the present application, mankind: (not, believers in Christ;' see on ver. 7.) The argument is to their self-interest: place, but one abounding in pastures course of seeking and finding which the good Shepherd, either by Himself or His agents, now pursues in each individual case, even until He brings the lost sheep home into heaven to Himself-not in reality, so that it should not take place till the death of the penitent-but by anticipation,— till the name is written in heaven;-till the sinner is penitent. This is clear from the interpretation in ver. 7. The friends and neighbours represent the angels (and spirits of just men made perfect ?). my sheep which was lost breathes a totally different thought from "the piece (drachma) which I lost." There is pity and love in it, which, from the nature of the case, the other does not admit of. 7. I say unto you] In these words the Lord often introduces His revelations of the unseen world of glory: see Matt. xviii. 10. On these just persons, see note at Matt. ix. 12, 13. They are the subjectively righteous, and this saying respects their own view of themselves. (Or if it be required that the words should be literally explained, seeing that these ninetynine did not err,-then I see no other way but to suppose them, in the deeper meaning of the parable, to be the worlds that have not fallen;-and the one that has strayed, our human nature, in this our world.) But we have yet to enquire, what sort of sinner this parable represents; for each of the three sets before us a different type of the sinner sunk in his sin. Bengel, in distinguishing the three, says, " The sheep, the drachma, the prodigal son,-signify respectively, (1) the stupid sinner,—(2) the sinner wholly unconscious of the fact and of himself, (3) the sinner conscious and of purpose." This one is the stupid and bewildered sinner, erring and straying away in ignorance and self-will from his Shep 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 [P had] lost. 10 m 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 a literally, drachmas, and drachma. Pomit. herd, but sought by the Shepherd, and fetched back with joy. 8-10.] THE LOST PIECE OF MONEY. In the following wonderful parable, we have the next class of sinners set before us, sought for and found by the power and work of the Spirit in the Church of Christ. It will be seen, as we proceed, how perfectly this interpretation comes out, not as a fancy, but as the very kernel and sense of the parable. The woman cannot be the Church absolutely, for the Church herself is a lost sheep at first, sought and found by the Shepherd. Rather is the house here the Church-as will come out by and by, -and the woman the indwelling Spirit, working in it. All men belong to this Creator-Spirit; all have been stamped with the image of God. But the sinner lies in the dust of sin and death and corruption"wholly unconscious." Then the Spirit, lighting the candle of the Lord (Prov. xx. 27: Zeph. i. 12), searching every corner and sweeping every unseen place, finds out the sinner; restores him to his true value as made for God's glory. This lighting and sweeping are to be understood of the office of the Spirit in the Church, in its various ways of seeking the sinner-by the preaching of repentance, by the Word of God read, &c. Then comes the joy again. 9.] her (female) friends and her neighbours are invited-but there is no return home now-nor in the explanation, ver. 10, is there any "in heaven," because the Spirit abides in the Church -because the angels are present in the Church, see 1 Cor. xi. 10:-nor is it "shall be" (as in ver. 7 at the return of the Redeemer then future), but is-the ministering spirits rejoice over every soul that is brought out of the dust of death into God's treasure-house by the searching of the blessed Spirit. In this parable then we have set before us the sinner who is unconscious of himself and his own real • the original word is feminine. worth; who is lying, though in reality a precious coin, in the mire of this world, lost and valueless, till he is searched out by the blessed and gracious Spirit. And that such a search will be made, we are here assured. 11-32.] THE PRODIGAL SON. Peculiar to Luke. If we might venture here to make comparisons, as we do among the sayings of men, this parable of the Lord would rightly be called, the crown and pearl of all His parables.' Stier. We have here the glad and welcome reception of the returning sinner (sinner under the most aggravating circumstances) in the bosom of his heavenly Father: and agreeably to the circumstances under which the discourse was spoken, the just men who murmured at the publicans and sinners are represented under the figure of the elder son:-see below. The parable certainly was spoken on the same occasion as the preceding, and relates to the same subject. Those who for the sake of upholding the patristic interpretation deny this, seem to me to have entirely missed the scope of the parable: see below. two 11. A certain man- Our heavenly Father, the Creator and Possessor of all not Christ, who ever represents Himself as a son, although frequently as a possessor or lord. sons, not, in any direct or primary sense of the Parable, the Jews and the Gentiles: that there may be an ulterior application to this effect, is only owing to the parable grasping the great central truths, of which the Jew and Gentile were, in their relation, illustrations,-and of which such illustrations are furnished wherever such differThe two parties standing in the foreground of the parabolic mirror are, the Scribes and Pharisees as the elder son, the publicans and sinners as the younger;-all, Jews: all, belonging to God's family. The mystery of the admission of the Gentiles into God's Church ences occur. father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to f Mark xii. 44. 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 husks that the swine did eat and no 17 8 And when he came to himself, he his belly with the ¶ better, profligate: see note. was not yet made known in any such manner as that they should be represented as of one family with the Jews; not to mention that this interpretation fails in the very root of the parable; for in strictness the Gentile should be the elder, the Jew not being constituted in his superiority till 2000 years after the Creation. The upholders of this interpretation forget that when we speak of the Jew as elder, and the Gentile as younger, it is in respect not of birth, but of this very return to and reception into the Father's house, which is not to be considered yet. The objections of these interpreters do not touch the reasons here given. The relations of elder and younger have a peculiar fitness for the characters to be filled by them, and are I believe chosen on that account; as Euthymius says, "He names the sinner the younger, as being childish in mind and easily led astray." 12, 13.] The part of the parable relating to the prodigal himself divides itself into three parts-1. his sin: 2. his misery: 3. his penitence. In these verses his sin is described. It consists in a desire to depart from his Father's house and control, and to set up for himself, -to live a life of what the carnal man calls liberty. 12.] Such a request as this is shewn by Orientalists to have been known in the East, though not among the Jews. The firstborn had two-thirds of the property, see Deut. xxi. 17. The father, as implied in the parable, reserves to himself the power during his life over the portion of the firstborn, see ver. 31. The parable sets before us very strikingly the permission of free will to man. 13.] The images of both the preceding parables are united here :-in his taking his journey, we have the straying sheep; in his state when he got into the far country, the lost piece of money. $ render, But. But in this case the search is to be carried on within him-we are now on higher ground than in those two parables. "The far-off country represents forgetfulness of God." Augustine. profligate] The old English word retchless expresses perhaps best the meaning, which is not unsparing,' but incorrigible, past hope of reclaim. 14-15.] His misery is set forth in these verses. He soon spends all : -there is a fine irony, as Stier remarks, in the word spent, as compared with wasted before he spent his money for that which was no bread. 14. a mighty famine] This famine is the shepherd seeking his stray sheep-the woman sweeping to find the lost. The famine, in the interpretation, is to be subjectively taken; he begins to be in want,-to feel the emptiness of soul which precedes either utter abandonment or true penitence. 15.] He sinks lower and lower-becomes the despised servant of an alien (is there here any hint at the situation of the publicans, who were but the servants of wealthy Romans?) who employs him in an office most vile and odious to the mind of a Jew. 16. husks] These are not the husks or pods of some other fruit, as of peas or beans, but themselves a fruit, that of the carob [or caruba, found not only in the East, but in South Europe, e. g. in abundance on the Riviera between Nice and Genoa. H. A.] tree. . . . . They are in shape something like a bean-pod, though larger and more curved, thence called keration or little horn they have a hard dark outside and a dull sweet taste... the shell or pod alone is eaten.' Trench. His appetite even drove him to these for food; -for (this is the real sense involved in and) no man gave (aught) to him. We see him now in the depth of his misery,-the sinner reaping the consequences of his sin in utter said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I ss perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and t before thee, 19 u 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 Acts ii. 39, 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 tin thy sight, hu and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But h Ps. li. 4. the father said to his servants, w Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and 88 read and render, am perishing here. these two are the same expression in the original. u read, I am, placing a colon before it. Eph. ii. 13, 17. ▾ literally, eagerly kissed: see on Matt. xxvi. 49: Mark xiv. 45: ch. vii. 38, 45: Acts xx. 37. W many ancient authorities read, Bring forth quickly. I literally, first. shame and extremity of need. 17-20.] sinner now a sure ground of confidence, 22.] All these gifts belong to his reception, not as a servant, but as a son: the first robe, for him who came in rags,-Isa. lxi. 10; Rev. iii. 18:-but first must not be understood as meaning the robe which he used to wear-his former robe-this would not be consistent with the former part of the parable, in which he was not turned out with any disgrace, but left as a son and of his own accord: but best, as in the A.V.:-a robe, (yea) the first and goodliest. The ring, a token of a shoes on his feet: 23 and bring hither the fatted calf, and i ver. 32. Eph. kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 for this my son ii. 1: v. 14. Rev. iii. 1. was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. 25 Now his elder son was in drew nigh to the house, he And they began to be merry. the field and as he came and 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 a therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, b 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 y render, his. Z literally, in health. : distinguished and free person, see James ii. 2; Gen. xli. 42. The shoes, also the mark of a free man (for slaves went barefoot), see Zech. x. 12; Eph. vi. 15. These are the gifts of grace and holiness with which the returned penitent is clothed by his gracious Father; see Zech. iii. 4, 5. 25. 23. the fatted calf] So Judg. vi. Gideon is commanded to kill thy father's young bullock of seven years old (rendered by the LXX thy father's fatted calf): some calf fatted for a particular feast or anniversary, and standing in the stall. No allusion must be thought of to the sacrificing of Christ :-which would be wholly out of place here,-and is presupposed in the whole parable. merry] So ver. 6, "joy in heaven ;"-all rejoice. Some of these are servants who have entered into the joy of their Lord: Matt. xxv. 21, 23. 24.] dead, and is alive again, the lost money: lost, and is found, the lost sheep: see 1 John iii. 14: Eph. ii. 5: 1 Pet. ii. 25. began, a be contrast to the "began" in ver. 14. 25-28.] As far as regards the penitent, the parable is finished:-but those who murmured at his reception, who were the proud and faultless elder son,-always in the house and serving, but not, as will appear, either over-affectionate or overrespectful, they too must act their part, in order to complete the instruction. As regards the penitent, this part of the parable sets forth the reception he meets with from his fellow-men, in contrast to : See Acts v. 8, where the word that from his father; see Matt. xviii. 27, 29.] Lo, these many years do I serve thee, thou never gavest me answers to the younger son's " give me" in ver. 12;-it is a separation of the individual son from his father, and, as there pointed out, the very root and ground of sin. than a calf. a kid, of less value my friends-who are |