Luke 15:1-18

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Luke 15:12

And the younger of them said - By this younger son we are to understand the publicans and sinners to be represented. By the older, the Pharisees and scribes.Give me the portion - The part.Of goods - Of property.That falleth to me - That is properly my share. There is no impropriety in supposing that he was of age; and, as he chose to leave his father’s house, it was proper that his father should, if he chose, give him the part of the estate which would be his.He divided unto them his living -... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Luke 15:13

Gathered all together - Collected his property. If he had received flocks or grain, he sold them and converted them into money. As soon as this arrangement had been made he left his father’s house.Took his journey - Went, or traveled.Into a far country - A country far off from his father’s house. He went probably to trade or to seek his fortune, and in his wanderings came at last to this dissipated place, where his property was soon expended.Wasted his substance - Spent his property.In riotous... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Luke 15:14

A mighty famine - Famines were common in Eastern nations. They were caused by the failure of the crops - by a want of timely rains, a genial sun, or sometimes by the prevalence of the plague or of the pestilence, which swept off numbers of the inhabitants. In this case it is very naturally connected with the luxury, the indolence, and the dissipation of the people in that land, read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Luke 15:15

Joined himself - Entered the service of that citizen. Hired himself out to him. It would seem that he engaged to do any kind of work, even of the lowest kind.A citizen - One of the inhabitants of one of the cities or towns of that region, probably a man of property.Into the fields - Out of the city where the owner lived.To feed swine - This was a very low employment, and particularly so to a “Jew.” It was forbidden to the Jews to eat swine, and of course it was unlawful to keep them. To be... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Luke 15:16

He would fain - He would gladly. He desired to do it.The husks - The word “husks” with us denotes the outward covering of grain. In this there is little nourishment, and it is evident that this is not intended here; but the word used here denotes not only “husks,” but also leguminous plants, as beans, etc. It is also used to denote the fruit of a tree called the “carob or kharub-tree,” which is common in Ionia, Syria, and Rhodes. The tree is more bushy and thick set than the apple tree, and the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Luke 15:17

He came to himself - This is a very expressive phrase. It is commonly applied to one who has been “deranged,” and when he recovers we say he has “come to himself.” In this place it denotes that the folly of the young man was a kind of derangement - that he was insane. So it is of every sinner. Madness is in their hearts Ecclesiastes 9:3; they are estranged from God, and led, by the influence of evil passions, contrary to their better judgment and the decisions of a sound mind.Hired servants -... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Luke 15:18

I will arise - This is a common expression among the Hebrews to denote “entering on a piece of business.” It does not imply that he was “sitting,” but that he meant immediately to return. This should be the feeling of every sinner who is conscious of his guilt and danger.To My father - To his father, although he had offended him, and treated him unkindly, and had provoked him, and dishonored him by his course of conduct. So the sinner. He has nowhere else to go but to “God.” He has offended... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Luke 15:1

Luke 15:1. Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners That is, some of all the different classes of publicans, or all those of that place, and some other notorious sinners; for to hear him Being influenced to do so through the condescension and kindness which he manifested toward all descriptions of persons, the most abandoned not excepted. Some suppose they came by a particular appointment from all the neighbouring parts. But as Luke goes on in the story, without any... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Luke 15:2-7

Luke 15:2-7. And he spake this parable That he might justify his conversing freely with sinners, in order to their reformation and salvation, he spake the parable of the lost sheep, which he had delivered once before, and also two other parables, which all declare, in direct contrariety to the Pharisees and scribes, in what manner God receiveth sinners. What man having a hundred sheep, &c. See note on Matthew 18:12-15. Doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness Where they... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Luke 15:8-10

Luke 15:8-10 . Either what woman As if he had said, To illustrate the matter by another obvious similitude, that it may yet more powerfully strike your minds, what woman, having ten pieces of silver Though each of them but of the value of a drachma; or about seven pence halfpenny, and the whole only about six shillings three pence sterling money: if she lose one piece Out of her little stock; doth not light a candle, &c. Will not immediately make search for it, and take all... read more

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