26. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe 27 And he said unto him, Thy and sound. bekkeh, thrum the deff, rattle the castanets, and clap their hands in concert, without intermission until long after midnight." penitent, or any one who is promoted contrary to expectation or beyond desert. But aside from the evident participation in the general joy which this servant manifested, as above remarked, the word has not the feeble signification assigned it by those eminent expositors. To receive a beloved son, who had long been absent, alive and well, would be the great cause of thankfulness to God, in reference to which all else would be quite subordinate. Es 26. And he called, &c. Instead of entering the house, as his position in the family would have justified, and learning by personal observation the cause of this unwonted joy, he calls one of the servants, and seeks information from him. His cool and calculating selfishness betrays itself in this little incident, and prepares us for its out-pecially would this be so, when, as here, burst in vs. 28, 29. Wilkinson and Webster remark, "that there are three words for servants in the parable, hired servants, servants, and footboys [or lackeys, the word employed in this verse], denoting the wealth of the father." What these things meant (literally, might be), i. e. what was the occasion of this festivity and joy. 27. Thy brother is come. The hearty, straightforward terms of the reply, show that this servant shared in the general feeling of joy at the prodigal's return, and supposed that its simple announcement would fill the heart of the elder son with like emotions. Hence he employs the expressions, thy brother, and thy father, on the natural supposition, that the elder son, whose illhumor the time and manner of his question probably indicated, would be propitiated thereby and unite in the general rejoicing. Hath killed for him, &c. No mention is made of the robe, shoes, and ring, with which the son had been adorned and honored, but only of the fatted calf, the serving of which upon the table was more immediately associated with the sounds of mirth, which had fallen upon the ear of the elder brother. Safe and sound; literally, in a healthful condition. Webster and Wilkinson refer this reply of the servant, which so fully expressed the occasion of rejoicing, to the disposition of everybody to sneer at the the return of the prodigal was unlooked 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him. 29 And he answering said to 28. He was angry. If his hesitation to enter the house resulted, as some think, from his unwillingness to appear, before a festive company in the clothes soiled with his day's labor, yet to no such reason can be attributed his anger on the receipt of the intelligence that his brother had returned. The verb, was angry, refers in the original to excessive anger, accompanied with a desire for revenge. Would not or was unwilling to go in. This verb expresses active choice or purpose, and with the negative may be translated refused to go in. He gave angry and open expression to this determination. While the house was resounding with music and gladness, he stood without in sullen rage, showing not only his want of brotherly love, but also of sympathy with the joy of his father at the unexpected return of his son. This surely is not indicative of the filial love, which is necessary to vitalize the cold obedience boasted of in v. 29, before it can be received as evidence of the real righteousness of this elder son. Therefore, in consequence of his refusal to enter the house, and participate in the common festivities. Came his father out, &c. He went forth to meet the prodigal; now he comes out to entreat the elder son to lay aside his anger and enter the house. His happiness was not complete even on the return of the prodigal, while his other son stood without displeased and unhappy. He leaves the company within, intermits his affectionate attentions to his longlost son, and condescends to go forth and expostulate with the elder brother, and urge him to enter the house. Thus God is no respecter of persons, and would welcome into the kingdom of his grace, the scribes and Pharisees, and all such as are represented by this elder brother, as readily as the publicans and sinners, against his reception of whom they were at this very time murmuring. his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment; and yet thou never "By divine grace there may be human examples of this, although rare; ordinarily no man, as a father, would do this. But thus does the Heavenly Father act; He thus acted at this very time, through the gracious preaching of the Son, through this parable which fell from his lips." Stier. 29. The language of this reply was highly disrespectful to the father, and exhibited the very essence of selfishness. Do I serve thee. Although voluntary service is here intended, yet in the heat of his anger, he employs a word, which literally signifies to be a slave. Webster and Wilkinson paraphrase it: "Here am I who have been serving thee as a slave." The words many years stand opposed to as soon as, in v. 30. Neither transgressed I, &c. In this profession of invariable obedience, contrasted with the implied disregard of the father's command, evinced by the desertion of the younger son, there is strongly displayed the selfrighteous spirit of this elder brother. He boasts of perfect obedience, while at the very time his conduct belies his words, and shows that he was devoid of all true filial respect and moral uprightness. It is well remarked by Stier, that the elder son is now the lost one. The grace which had reached even the publicans and sinners, and arrested and turned their footsteps into the path of truth and holiness, was rejected by the Pharisees, and henceforth they were to be regarded as the lost and abandoned of God, while the others were participating in the blessings of the Messianic kingdom. Thus the last were first and the first last. See 13:30. Thou never gavest me a kid. Alford remarks that "here, as in the case of the younger son, who had demanded his portion of the estate, there was a separation of the individual son from the father, the very root and ground of sin." The sons should have yielded cheerful and con gavest me a kid, that I might voured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, is no brother of mine, nor will I acknowledge him as such. With a disposition still further to annoy and distress his father, he adds, who has devoured (i. e. squandered) thy living (i. e. so much of it as fell to his share) with harlots. Alford says that in thy living is a covert reproach of his father for having given it to the younger son. The words with harlots, are not necessarily implied in the words with riotous living (see N. on v. 13). It is rather to be regarded as an envious exaggeration of the faults of his brother, to make his conduct appear in as odious a light as possible. We need give ourselves no trouble, as to how the elder brother came by the knowledge that the younger son had squandered his share of the estate. Stier says, that the servant had not told him this. But this cannot be affirmed, and is not very probable. On the supposition, however, that he was not informed by the servant of the destitution of his brother, would it argue any ex tented service to their father, leaving it with his superior wisdom and wellknown parental love, to have disposed his favors upon them as he saw fit. But the one had broken away into open rebellion and sin, and now the other betrays the same contumacious and selfish spirit, in this boast of his faithful and long-continued service, and the charge that his just rights had been withheld from him. Who is not reminded, as he reads this story of paternal love and filial ingratitude, of the divine exclamation by the mouth of the prophet, "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me?" Isa. 1: 2. A kid is contemptuously spoken of in contrast with the fatted calf, to which it was inferior in value. With my friends. He disingenuously implies that the fatted calf had been killed, in order that the younger son might have a merry-making with his friends, which he denies ever to have been done in his own case. But the truth was that the fat-traordinary reach of knowledge for him ted calf had been dressed, in order that the father, elder son, and the whole household might celebrate in a befitting manner their joy at the return of the prodigal, and not that the latter might do this with his own particular friends. The selfish and unamiable character of the elder son, is brought out in full relief by these touches. 30. As soon as stands strongly opposed to these many years in the preceding verse. Indeed this whole verse responds in strong contrast with the pompous parade of good deeds of the elder son made in v. 29. This thy son; literally, thy son, this, or the son of yours, this, as though he pointed scornfully with his finger towards the house where the younger son then was, when the pronoun in its contemptuous use (see N. on Matt 26: 61) was repeated. There is also a scornful emphasis in the use of thy son, as though he had said, he to have divined this, in view of the habits and character of the younger son when he took his departure from home? The cool, calculating shrewdness of this elder brother, would not be at fault, as to the condition in which his profligate brother returned to his father's house. Thou hast killed for him, &c. How aptly this responds to the murmurs of the Pharisees and scribes in v. 2. If the elder son was made so angry by the killing of the fatted calf in honor of his brother's return, Stier pleasantly asks, "what will this noble brother say, when he sees the robe of honor, and all its other appurtenances." 31. Son. How tenderly does this contrast with the behold, with which the elder son commenced his address. He did not say father, but this does not prevent his being addressed by the af fectionate title son. This is almost beyond the reality of any earthly scene. thou art ever with me, and all this thy brother was dead, and is that I have is thine. alive again; and was lost, and is found. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad for But not so in its application. God says to all his creatures, "My son, give me thy heart," although his patience and love are wearied by their sin and ingratitude, beyond the power of words to express. Thou art ever with me, enjoying my society and receiving constant tokens of my love. In the nature of the case, there cannot be such a concentration of joy over you, as over your once lost, but now restored brother. The word ever, is here opposed to never, in v. 29. How infinitely does the ever with me, transcend the never gavest me a kid, in v. 29, to which it evidently stands opposed. All that I have is thine. The younger son had received his portion, and could legally claim nothing more. But it would seem, that the elder brother had not yet entered into the full possession of his share, but held it in abeyance. Now the father reasserts his claim, in order to remove all ground of jealousy, that there would now be a second division of the estate. From the fact that there is no open denial of the claims of the son put forth in v. 29, it is thought by some that the boast of perfect obedience there made, was not discordant with the truth. But the silence of the father proves nothing at all on that point. His reply was wisely intended and adapted to avert the wrath and jealousy of his elder-born, and he studiously avoids all reference to the manner or matter of his son's unkind speech. But it is not difficult for us to infer, that this was not the first time, in which the patience and forbearance of this kind father had been tried by the domineering pride and unfilial conduct of this son. Anger like this does not so suddenly and fiercely blaze forth, unless there is a mass of slumbering fire within, ready to burst forth in flames whenever occasion offers. 32. It was meet, i. e. right, proper. That we. The elder son is affection k V. 24. ately included in this general expression, notwithstanding his contemptuous and sneering words, uttered apparently with the express purpose of wounding the feelings of the father. For this thy brother. Again, thy brother this, purposely repeated from the this thy son, but with different manner, denoting the deepest affection. The elder son had studiously avoided the words my brother, but now his father emphatically reminds him of this relation, and by the words thy brother, evinces his determination, that the younger son shall enter upon all the relations which he had previously forfeited. We have no intimation whether the kind address of the father was prevalent with the son. It is to be feared, however, from his evident hardness and selfishness of heart, that these efforts were unavailing. This is the more probable from the continued hardness and unbelief of the Pharisees, who seem to have been represented in this parable by the elder brother. I would not press into any prominence that which belongs to the mere costume of a parable, but I am of the opinion, that this elder son plays too important a part in this narrative, to be ignored in the spiritual application, and see no method of interpretation less encumbered with difficulties, than to make him the type of all such as trust in their own righteousness for salvation, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, those living in the time of Christ, or in any other age of the world. Even in the same person may exist these frames of mind, according as the "old man" in his self-righteous garb may be in the ascendant, or the " man in tears of self-abasement and contrition, may cry from within, Father, I have sinned, &c.; which will make his type, in the one case, this proud rebellious son, dwelling on his many years' service, in which he never transgressed his father's commands, and in the other, new the prodigal, returning with penitence | and confession of unworthiness to his father's house, from which he had so wickedly wandered away. CHAPTER XVI. 1-13. PARABLE OF THE UNJUST STEWARD. Perea. This parable has been regarded as one involving many difficulties of interpretation, and therefore, as might be expected, has received a variety of interpretations. The great point of difficulty is that our Lord apparently praises and holds up for imitation, the grossly fraudulent conduct of an unfaithful steward, when about to be deprived of his office. But this difficulty results from a threefold mistake. The first consists in overlooking or misinterpreting the general scope of the parable, considered in relation to those which preceded it in the foregoing chapter. The process of salvation in God's provisions for the recovery of the sinner-in the goings forth of His infinite grace to seek and bring him back to the fold from whence he has strayed away -and in the part which the sinner himself performs in the return to his Father's house, is the theme of these preceding parables. Now our Lord brings out and enforces the necessity of vigor, energy, and promptness of action, in regard to the attainment of the blessings of salvation. Feebleness of effort, vacillating purpose, and indecision in regard to the execution of that which is planned, are the faults against which this parable is directed. The second error in the interpretation of this passage, consists in supposing the lord of the steward to commend his dishonesty, whereas it is simply and solely his shrewdness, energy, and promptness of decision and action in making provision for his future support, which was praised. In the application, a like energy and prudent forethought is to be exercised by the children of light, that they may be received into everlasting habitations. The third error, which has been a fruitful source of difficulty, is the misinterpretation of the phrase, mammon of unrighteousness, which from the parable has been explained to mean fraudVOL. II.-11* ulent or ill-gotten gains. According to this mode of interpretation, wealth thus acquired is to be so used, that when life on this earth is ended, the soul may be admitted into mansions of happiness in heaven. Of this interpretation Doddridge well remarks: "Nothing can be more contrary to the whole genius of the Christian religion, than to imagine that our Lord would exhort men to lay out their ill-gotten goods in works of charity, when justice so evidently required that they should make restitution to the utmost of their abilities." The expression takes its form from the language of the parable. But what is the exact point of comparison or resemblance between the action of the unjust steward and the course of conduct recommended to the children of light? Not surely his fraudulent and unjust doings. Not the doing of evil that good may come. (Rom. 3:8.) The end never sanctifies the means. But the point of comparison is simply this, and here lies the central truth of the parable: as the unjust steward by his prudence, energy, and promptness of action, made provision for his future wants, before he was deprived of his stewardship, so were those, whom our Lord addressed, who in a higher sense were all stewards and unfaithful ones too, when weighed in the balance of strict justice, to so discharge their stewardship-called here the mammon or riches of unrighteousness, from the well-known and universal fact, that riches constitute the main object of present pursuit, and the love of which is the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6 : 10)—that when called to an account for it, they might be approved of God and received into everlasting habitations (see Matt. 25: 21, 23). As the steward by his shrewd and prompt action, extracted a future living from his unfaithful stewardship, so we, in the exercise of wisdom, prudence, and energy, are to so use our own stewardship-the duties of which in the sight of God are far more unfaithfully discharged than that of this unjust steward, and it is therefore rightly termed the unrighteous mammon-as to achieve out of it provision for the fu |