Luke 15:8

8. What woman The woman here is the Lamb’s wife, the Church. But if we adopt the interesting view that, while the shepherd is the Son of God, the woman the Holy Spirit, and the father in the last parable is God the Father Almighty, then we may view this woman as the Church, in which the Holy Spirit dwells, and through which it works. Then as the Son was incarnated in the Christ, and the Father embodied in creation, so the Holy Spirit is here impersonated in the living Church of God.

Ten pieces of silver Commentators have recognized the increasing value of the sheep, the coin, and the son, by the diminished number from which they are lost. The sheep is but the hundredth part of the flock; the coin is but the tenth part; the son is one of

two. Pieces of silver In the original a drachma.

This was a true heathen coin, circulating among the chosen people of God. It was no sacred shekel. It was a Greek piece, from a Roman mint, stamped with some pagan superscription; as the owl, the tortoise, or the head of the Grecian goddess Minerva. Fit emblem of the heathen sinners who were circulating and mixing among the house of Israel.

The house If the woman is the Church, then the house is not the Church, but the world. The dead, senseless sinner is not in the Church.

Light… swept… searched In her missionary work the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit, must hold forth the light of divine truth, must sweep through every part of the world, and seek until she finds the sinner. She must display her light; for valuable as is this coin it is hid in darkness. She must sweep the world; for he is buried in the dust of this earth. She must search till she find; for the precious metal knows not its own value. It is unconscious of its own nature and state. All this, as literal description, was specially suitable in the ancient house; as it was without the wonderful modern convenience of the glass window, of which the use is now so common, that we never think of it among the great inventions.