The Prodigal Son Feeding Pigs in the FamineBible World
15:14Luke 15:14
And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
After he had wasted his inheritance a severe famine came upon the country where he was staying, and he began to be in need of even life's bare necessities, left destitute, hungry and exposed to hardship. His poverty exposed how little his chosen separation from his father and his expected freedom and prosperity had secured him. His condition pictures the sinner who turns from God to self-indulgence and wastes life and God-given powers, finding that apparent freedom ends in spiritual poverty, misery and bondage. Destitution and hunger brought him to regret his course, to remember the abundant provision in his father's house, and to resolve to return, confess his sin and trust his father's love to supply his need. The father longs and waits with yearning love, and when the degraded and lost one repents and returns He receives him with compassion, forgiveness and greatest joy, with no reproach for unworthiness.
Story and Its Setting
After he had spent all his inheritance, a severe famine arose in the country where he was staying, and he began to be in need. He lacked even life's bare necessities, and was left destitute, desolate, hungry and exposed to hardship. His hunger and isolation drove him to the degrading work of feeding swine, where he longed even for their food, with loss of money and pride and weakened will and dulled feelings. His destitution made him regret his extravagant course and brought him to recognize his need of his father and to remember the kindness and abundant provision enjoyed by servants in his father's house.
He had chosen to separate himself from his father and manage his inheritance as he wished, free from his father's counsel, reproof and advice. His poverty and hunger exposed how little his supposed freedom, prosperity, independence and expected happiness had secured him. Separated from his father he was left with no money, no friends and no satisfaction, his apparent freedom ending in misery and bondage to sin. Christ drew this parable from familiar events of daily life to illustrate immortal truth and make spiritual realities vivid through ordinary experience, teaching so as to reach every kind of hearer.
The prodigal's exhausted resources and hardship are used to represent Israel as a wayward son who resisted grace and wasted its privileges and opportunities, and to represent Christ's loving treatment of Israel. Those acting as the prodigal include professed commandment keepers who transgress the law, are unthankful and unholy, and flatter themselves they are Christians. They use entrusted talents to counterwork God, have no light, are conformed to worldlings, exert influence on Satan's side, and retain the form of godliness while denying its power, so that Jesus longs to do them good but cannot because of their perversity, and they will give account to God. In some uses the famine and want in the verse are not explained separately apart from the wider story of the wanderer and his return, which illustrates Christ's readiness to receive and welcome the lost sinner.
Sin's Misery and Bondage
The famine that struck after the inheritance was squandered left the son in growing need, and his apparent freedom collapsed into misery and bondage to sin. Separated from his father he became destitute, hungry and alone, with no money, no friends and no satisfaction, forced into degrading work. His condition pictures the sinner who turns from God to self-indulgence, wastes life and God-given powers, and becomes spiritually impoverished when a life spent apart from God has exhausted its gifts.
In a strange country his sinful indulgence left him friendless, dressed in rags and hungry, compelled to take the lowly work of feeding swine and even longing for their food. His hunger and isolation brought him to regret his extravagant course. His loss of money and pride, with weakened will and dulled feelings, shows the misery and bondage that follow a life of sin.
Being in want means finding no profit in serving sin and the flesh and the devil and receiving only poor wages. It is traveling a road that ends in perishing in sins and death with no certain hope of eternal life. His state is that of a soul who has known the love of Jesus and the guardianship of the compassionate Shepherd but through Satan's deceiving and deluding power has left the pleasant pasture and fold for darkness, confusion and a wilderness of bewilderment. There he is miserable, dissatisfied and frightened, rushing farther and farther from heaven's gates and from the Shepherd's care and protection, unable to find the way back or rescue himself without help, needing the tender and true Shepherd to endure storm, cold and roughness of the way to search for, find and bring him back to the fold.
Many such prodigals result from indulgence at home and from parents' failure to restrain and guide their children. The verse describes one separated from the Father's blessing whose selfish indulgence leads to ruin. Worldly life does not satisfy, and the one who has left wants something better, while the contrast with the rich supplies in his father's house warns against remaining away and starving when provision is available at home. The Father still loves him and calls him to return to Christ, whose gifts are eternal riches and life.
Awakening Toward Return
After he had spent all, famine and want left him destitute, hungry and isolated, and that hardship made him regret his extravagant course and recognize his need of his father. In his adversity he was humbled and brought to consider the kindness and abundant provision enjoyed even by servants in his father's house. This led him to decide to return with humble confession, to confess his sin and accept that he was no longer worthy to be called a son.
Want after spending all makes the erring sensible of sin and neglect, appreciating the father's love and acknowledging the father's claims. That felt need drives him back to his father as the only one who can supply it. The distress of famine and want thus marks what leads him back toward his father's house, and the need underscores the call to return rather than despair.
His misery in a strange country, friendless, in rags and longing even for swine's food, left returning humbly and repentantly as his last hope. His hardship brought him to the point of returning home to a father who longs to welcome and forgive.
Penitence is required of the returning sinner, who receives no reproach or reminder of unworthiness. Even when hope is nearly gone, a message of love without rebuke can help the lost return in contrition with a humble heart and find redemption through Christ. The story therefore warns not to delay returning to God but to come back at once and seek forgiveness.
Even in that wasted, spent condition more than finite possibilities remain within reach by linking with God. Turning to God with full decision of soul brings acceptance, and giving heart and soul to God brings blessing and a work of helping other youth give their hearts to God and be converted. The one in want remains accountable for all the good he might have done and which Jesus died for him to do, and Jesus still invites him to wear His yoke, lift His burden, and learn His meekness and lowliness of heart, with rest unto his soul as reward.
The verse shows the possibility of returning after going astray. Failure does not prevent a person from returning to the Lord and seeking strength for a fresh effort. It is a pattern for one who once loved and served the Lord but left the Father's house, applied to backsliders urged to return to the Father's house and service, and to those who have left God and need encouragement to return to Him. It is applied to seekers coming with confession and contrition, and to named individuals such as Arthur and Rosetta, who can come back to God by following an enlightened conscience.
Such a thorough backslider in Satan's and sin's service, who through discouragement, temptation and harsh dealing gave up the Sabbath for worldly work and trade, must turn square about at once and return like the prodigal to the Father's house and service. He must leave sin and Sabbath-breaking employment even at loss of position and unfinished trade and decide from that day to be a Christian, which brings pardon and love, purified thoughts, changed purposes and solemn joy. Likewise one who has long denied Jesus, having spent all and begun to be in want away from the Father's house, is to grasp Christ by faith, fix the eye upon Him, cast himself all helpless upon His mercy, come penitent, cease known sin, give life's remnant to Jesus and be saved by His cleansing blood.
Father's Forgiving Welcome
The parable shows pitying love for those who have strayed and become lost, for God does not leave them in misery but remains kind and tender toward those exposed to temptation, full of lovingkindness and tender pity. A soul endangered by temptation calls forth tender sympathy and earnest labor, and when a sinner repents the joy is greater than over those who do not need repentance. His dealings are with those who once knew the Father's love but separated from Him and were led captive by the tempter, and He continues to work to bring them back so that when they repent He receives them with joy.
The Father longs and yearns for the wayward son and waits with yearning love to receive the sinner who comes back to Him. Famine and need after spending all brought the prodigal to the point of returning home, and his hardship belongs to the story of a wayward son whom the father longs to welcome and forgive. The erring, degraded, lost one awakens to sin and repents, and erring children who stray may return and be received with joy and compassion, pity, love, forgiveness and greatest joy. He meets the returning sinner with no accusations of wrath and no reproach or reminder of unworthiness, but with welcome and a feast, the moving picture of one thought dead becoming alive again, while penitence is required. That welcome rebukes the cold, condemning spirit of the elder brother and his refusal to regard publicans and sinners as brothers who should be sought, forgiven, encouraged and led to eternal life, calling instead for tender sympathy and encouragement toward the repentant.
When the son repents the Father places His arm about him, covers his rags with His own garments and the robe of righteousness, places a ring upon his finger as a token of royalty, and gives him a place at the Father's table. This love is revealed in the gift of His beloved Son as a sacrifice, which made a channel for the outflow of infinite love so that all who believe in Jesus Christ are restored again to favor, with believing leading to obedience to all the commandments and to life in Him. The welcome to the father's house shows boundless love welcoming returning sinners in Christ, who assumed humanity in the person of the Son, made propitiation for the sins of the whole world, is not far from anyone, and will freely cooperate with and gladly receive all who receive Him as Saviour. Christ's love shown at Calvary assures the sinner of acceptance, peace and love, and the prodigal's return illustrates the work God undertook through the gift and suffering of His Son to bring wandering sinners back to the Father.
God takes the first step and seeks people while they are still in rebellion, and He will bring every wanderer who allows Him to the Father's house. Even while the sinner is far off in a strange country the Father's heart yearns for him, and the desire to return is the pleading of the Spirit drawing him back to the Father's love. Heaven expends labor and energy with amazing sacrifice to reclaim the lost in want away from the Father's house and bring them back. As the true Shepherd He goes after the lost sheep and speaks to the lost, distressed, perishing wanderer in need to return to Him, promising to return, to heal backslidings and to love freely, with all heaven rejoicing in the finding of the lost.
The Father's welcome brings joy among the heavenly host when even the poorest person comes to God with repentance, as the prodigal did after his need. That joy is greater than over those who do not need repentance.
Conditions of Restored Sonship
To enjoy a son's privileges on return the son must also accept a son's obligations, remaining under his father's care instead of renewing his wanderings and repaying love by staying in the fold and living in accordance with the father's conditions. The welcome back to the father's house does not leave the returned one free to live as before, but binds enjoyment of sonship to life under the father's conditions. Claiming the place of a son therefore means consenting to be kept, staying in the fold rather than going out again to waste what has been restored.
That compliance must be on God's ground, not man's, with cordial assent and willing obedience. It requires renouncing the favor and friendship of the world and making Christ all and in all, walking in accordance with His Word, acknowledging Him as King, submitting to His authority and consulting His will. It requires making His law the rule of life and being bound by His requirements, taking His life as the pattern and obeying the stern precepts of His Word, denying self and being ready to part with all and make any sacrifice for His sake. It requires receiving Him to reign in the soul, with friendship measured by His dominion, while the welcome itself reveals boundless love that gladly receives in Christ all who receive Him as Saviour, He having assumed humanity in the person of the Son and made propitiation for the sins of the whole world and being not far from anyone.
Being thus returned to the Father's house means being led by the Lord step by step in submission to His will and His way into a rich experience.
Compassion for the Erring
The want that follows spending all leaves the erring inwardly suffering, desponding and discouraged in feeling, and for that reason they need pity, help, sympathy and above all free forgiveness rather than efforts to make them feel their error and remind them of their mistakes. That want makes the sin sensible of neglect, appreciates the father's love, acknowledges the father's claims, and drives the needy one back to the father as the only one who can supply the need. Complaint and reproach of brother toward brother after the manner of the elder brother may be natural, but it is not right.
The wandering one who repents needs compassionate help, tender sympathy and encouragement with opportunity to recover, rather than censure, suspicion, jealousy, severe judgment or harsh condemning rejection. His need calls for the loving Father's welcome instead of the elder brother's cold rejection. Tenderness toward those fallen into sin should move to seek and restore the erring rather than abandon them to temptation or treat them harshly, with compassion instead of severe judgment. The straying child struggling against temptation and turning homeward is to be received and encouraged, while the elder brother's contempt stands as a warning against despising those trying to return.
Looking on the prodigal not only with indifference but with contempt, saying God I thank Thee that I am not as other men, is rebuked. Standing by like the elder brother, stubborn, self-willed and selfish, while a soul makes its struggle against the flood of temptation, instead of uniting in Christlike sympathy and love, is rebuked. Resentment at joy over the returned prodigal pictures church members who want to be constantly fed with sermons and murmur when ministers labor for those who do not know the truth. A living church is not a gossiping church planting doubt, questioning, evil surmising and jealousy, but an earnest working church whose members seek to save the lost, reflect truth to all they meet, testify by precept and example in home and church, stretch out hands in burden and sincere prayer for souls, and hunt for souls to bring truth close to hearts.
Those rescued from sin as prodigals, brought back to the Father after their sinful course left them in need, can help others like themselves find the way back to God through Christ. The prodigal far from the house, perishing with hunger and in need, is to be an object of compassion. The parable is intended to teach mercy and forgiveness. Together with the lost sheep and the lost piece of silver it means much with eternal interests involved and must be carefully studied and practiced by seeking the lost sheep instead of wounding and driving it away, since woe follows offending those who believe.
After he had wasted his inheritance a severe famine came upon the country where he was staying, and he began to be in need of even life's bare necessities, left destitute, hungry and exposed to hardship. His poverty exposed how little his chosen separation from his father and his expected freedom and prosperity had secured him. His condition pictures the sinner who turns from God to self-indulgence and wastes life and God-given powers, finding that apparent freedom ends in spiritual poverty, misery and bondage. Destitution and hunger brought him to regret his course, to remember the abundant provision in his father's house, and to resolve to return, confess his sin and trust his father's love to supply his need. The father longs and waits with yearning love, and when the degraded and lost one repents and returns He receives him with compassion, forgiveness and greatest joy, with no reproach for unworthiness.
Story and Its Setting
After he had spent all his inheritance, a severe famine arose in the country where he was staying, and he began to be in need. He lacked even life's bare necessities, and was left destitute, desolate, hungry and exposed to hardship. His hunger and isolation drove him to the degrading work of feeding swine, where he longed even for their food, with loss of money and pride and weakened will and dulled feelings. His destitution made him regret his extravagant course and brought him to recognize his need of his father and to remember the kindness and abundant provision enjoyed by servants in his father's house.
He had chosen to separate himself from his father and manage his inheritance as he wished, free from his father's counsel, reproof and advice. His poverty and hunger exposed how little his supposed freedom, prosperity, independence and expected happiness had secured him. Separated from his father he was left with no money, no friends and no satisfaction, his apparent freedom ending in misery and bondage to sin. Christ drew this parable from familiar events of daily life to illustrate immortal truth and make spiritual realities vivid through ordinary experience, teaching so as to reach every kind of hearer.
The prodigal's exhausted resources and hardship are used to represent Israel as a wayward son who resisted grace and wasted its privileges and opportunities, and to represent Christ's loving treatment of Israel. Those acting as the prodigal include professed commandment keepers who transgress the law, are unthankful and unholy, and flatter themselves they are Christians. They use entrusted talents to counterwork God, have no light, are conformed to worldlings, exert influence on Satan's side, and retain the form of godliness while denying its power, so that Jesus longs to do them good but cannot because of their perversity, and they will give account to God. In some uses the famine and want in the verse are not explained separately apart from the wider story of the wanderer and his return, which illustrates Christ's readiness to receive and welcome the lost sinner.
Sin's Misery and Bondage
The famine that struck after the inheritance was squandered left the son in growing need, and his apparent freedom collapsed into misery and bondage to sin. Separated from his father he became destitute, hungry and alone, with no money, no friends and no satisfaction, forced into degrading work. His condition pictures the sinner who turns from God to self-indulgence, wastes life and God-given powers, and becomes spiritually impoverished when a life spent apart from God has exhausted its gifts.
In a strange country his sinful indulgence left him friendless, dressed in rags and hungry, compelled to take the lowly work of feeding swine and even longing for their food. His hunger and isolation brought him to regret his extravagant course. His loss of money and pride, with weakened will and dulled feelings, shows the misery and bondage that follow a life of sin.
Being in want means finding no profit in serving sin and the flesh and the devil and receiving only poor wages. It is traveling a road that ends in perishing in sins and death with no certain hope of eternal life. His state is that of a soul who has known the love of Jesus and the guardianship of the compassionate Shepherd but through Satan's deceiving and deluding power has left the pleasant pasture and fold for darkness, confusion and a wilderness of bewilderment. There he is miserable, dissatisfied and frightened, rushing farther and farther from heaven's gates and from the Shepherd's care and protection, unable to find the way back or rescue himself without help, needing the tender and true Shepherd to endure storm, cold and roughness of the way to search for, find and bring him back to the fold.
Many such prodigals result from indulgence at home and from parents' failure to restrain and guide their children. The verse describes one separated from the Father's blessing whose selfish indulgence leads to ruin. Worldly life does not satisfy, and the one who has left wants something better, while the contrast with the rich supplies in his father's house warns against remaining away and starving when provision is available at home. The Father still loves him and calls him to return to Christ, whose gifts are eternal riches and life.
Awakening Toward Return
After he had spent all, famine and want left him destitute, hungry and isolated, and that hardship made him regret his extravagant course and recognize his need of his father. In his adversity he was humbled and brought to consider the kindness and abundant provision enjoyed even by servants in his father's house. This led him to decide to return with humble confession, to confess his sin and accept that he was no longer worthy to be called a son.
Want after spending all makes the erring sensible of sin and neglect, appreciating the father's love and acknowledging the father's claims. That felt need drives him back to his father as the only one who can supply it. The distress of famine and want thus marks what leads him back toward his father's house, and the need underscores the call to return rather than despair.
His misery in a strange country, friendless, in rags and longing even for swine's food, left returning humbly and repentantly as his last hope. His hardship brought him to the point of returning home to a father who longs to welcome and forgive.
Penitence is required of the returning sinner, who receives no reproach or reminder of unworthiness. Even when hope is nearly gone, a message of love without rebuke can help the lost return in contrition with a humble heart and find redemption through Christ. The story therefore warns not to delay returning to God but to come back at once and seek forgiveness.
Even in that wasted, spent condition more than finite possibilities remain within reach by linking with God. Turning to God with full decision of soul brings acceptance, and giving heart and soul to God brings blessing and a work of helping other youth give their hearts to God and be converted. The one in want remains accountable for all the good he might have done and which Jesus died for him to do, and Jesus still invites him to wear His yoke, lift His burden, and learn His meekness and lowliness of heart, with rest unto his soul as reward.
The verse shows the possibility of returning after going astray. Failure does not prevent a person from returning to the Lord and seeking strength for a fresh effort. It is a pattern for one who once loved and served the Lord but left the Father's house, applied to backsliders urged to return to the Father's house and service, and to those who have left God and need encouragement to return to Him. It is applied to seekers coming with confession and contrition, and to named individuals such as Arthur and Rosetta, who can come back to God by following an enlightened conscience.
Such a thorough backslider in Satan's and sin's service, who through discouragement, temptation and harsh dealing gave up the Sabbath for worldly work and trade, must turn square about at once and return like the prodigal to the Father's house and service. He must leave sin and Sabbath-breaking employment even at loss of position and unfinished trade and decide from that day to be a Christian, which brings pardon and love, purified thoughts, changed purposes and solemn joy. Likewise one who has long denied Jesus, having spent all and begun to be in want away from the Father's house, is to grasp Christ by faith, fix the eye upon Him, cast himself all helpless upon His mercy, come penitent, cease known sin, give life's remnant to Jesus and be saved by His cleansing blood.
Father's Forgiving Welcome
The parable shows pitying love for those who have strayed and become lost, for God does not leave them in misery but remains kind and tender toward those exposed to temptation, full of lovingkindness and tender pity. A soul endangered by temptation calls forth tender sympathy and earnest labor, and when a sinner repents the joy is greater than over those who do not need repentance. His dealings are with those who once knew the Father's love but separated from Him and were led captive by the tempter, and He continues to work to bring them back so that when they repent He receives them with joy.
The Father longs and yearns for the wayward son and waits with yearning love to receive the sinner who comes back to Him. Famine and need after spending all brought the prodigal to the point of returning home, and his hardship belongs to the story of a wayward son whom the father longs to welcome and forgive. The erring, degraded, lost one awakens to sin and repents, and erring children who stray may return and be received with joy and compassion, pity, love, forgiveness and greatest joy. He meets the returning sinner with no accusations of wrath and no reproach or reminder of unworthiness, but with welcome and a feast, the moving picture of one thought dead becoming alive again, while penitence is required. That welcome rebukes the cold, condemning spirit of the elder brother and his refusal to regard publicans and sinners as brothers who should be sought, forgiven, encouraged and led to eternal life, calling instead for tender sympathy and encouragement toward the repentant.
When the son repents the Father places His arm about him, covers his rags with His own garments and the robe of righteousness, places a ring upon his finger as a token of royalty, and gives him a place at the Father's table. This love is revealed in the gift of His beloved Son as a sacrifice, which made a channel for the outflow of infinite love so that all who believe in Jesus Christ are restored again to favor, with believing leading to obedience to all the commandments and to life in Him. The welcome to the father's house shows boundless love welcoming returning sinners in Christ, who assumed humanity in the person of the Son, made propitiation for the sins of the whole world, is not far from anyone, and will freely cooperate with and gladly receive all who receive Him as Saviour. Christ's love shown at Calvary assures the sinner of acceptance, peace and love, and the prodigal's return illustrates the work God undertook through the gift and suffering of His Son to bring wandering sinners back to the Father.
God takes the first step and seeks people while they are still in rebellion, and He will bring every wanderer who allows Him to the Father's house. Even while the sinner is far off in a strange country the Father's heart yearns for him, and the desire to return is the pleading of the Spirit drawing him back to the Father's love. Heaven expends labor and energy with amazing sacrifice to reclaim the lost in want away from the Father's house and bring them back. As the true Shepherd He goes after the lost sheep and speaks to the lost, distressed, perishing wanderer in need to return to Him, promising to return, to heal backslidings and to love freely, with all heaven rejoicing in the finding of the lost.
The Father's welcome brings joy among the heavenly host when even the poorest person comes to God with repentance, as the prodigal did after his need. That joy is greater than over those who do not need repentance.
Conditions of Restored Sonship
To enjoy a son's privileges on return the son must also accept a son's obligations, remaining under his father's care instead of renewing his wanderings and repaying love by staying in the fold and living in accordance with the father's conditions. The welcome back to the father's house does not leave the returned one free to live as before, but binds enjoyment of sonship to life under the father's conditions. Claiming the place of a son therefore means consenting to be kept, staying in the fold rather than going out again to waste what has been restored.
That compliance must be on God's ground, not man's, with cordial assent and willing obedience. It requires renouncing the favor and friendship of the world and making Christ all and in all, walking in accordance with His Word, acknowledging Him as King, submitting to His authority and consulting His will. It requires making His law the rule of life and being bound by His requirements, taking His life as the pattern and obeying the stern precepts of His Word, denying self and being ready to part with all and make any sacrifice for His sake. It requires receiving Him to reign in the soul, with friendship measured by His dominion, while the welcome itself reveals boundless love that gladly receives in Christ all who receive Him as Saviour, He having assumed humanity in the person of the Son and made propitiation for the sins of the whole world and being not far from anyone.
Being thus returned to the Father's house means being led by the Lord step by step in submission to His will and His way into a rich experience.
Compassion for the Erring
The want that follows spending all leaves the erring inwardly suffering, desponding and discouraged in feeling, and for that reason they need pity, help, sympathy and above all free forgiveness rather than efforts to make them feel their error and remind them of their mistakes. That want makes the sin sensible of neglect, appreciates the father's love, acknowledges the father's claims, and drives the needy one back to the father as the only one who can supply the need. Complaint and reproach of brother toward brother after the manner of the elder brother may be natural, but it is not right.
The wandering one who repents needs compassionate help, tender sympathy and encouragement with opportunity to recover, rather than censure, suspicion, jealousy, severe judgment or harsh condemning rejection. His need calls for the loving Father's welcome instead of the elder brother's cold rejection. Tenderness toward those fallen into sin should move to seek and restore the erring rather than abandon them to temptation or treat them harshly, with compassion instead of severe judgment. The straying child struggling against temptation and turning homeward is to be received and encouraged, while the elder brother's contempt stands as a warning against despising those trying to return.
Looking on the prodigal not only with indifference but with contempt, saying God I thank Thee that I am not as other men, is rebuked. Standing by like the elder brother, stubborn, self-willed and selfish, while a soul makes its struggle against the flood of temptation, instead of uniting in Christlike sympathy and love, is rebuked. Resentment at joy over the returned prodigal pictures church members who want to be constantly fed with sermons and murmur when ministers labor for those who do not know the truth. A living church is not a gossiping church planting doubt, questioning, evil surmising and jealousy, but an earnest working church whose members seek to save the lost, reflect truth to all they meet, testify by precept and example in home and church, stretch out hands in burden and sincere prayer for souls, and hunt for souls to bring truth close to hearts.
Those rescued from sin as prodigals, brought back to the Father after their sinful course left them in need, can help others like themselves find the way back to God through Christ. The prodigal far from the house, perishing with hunger and in need, is to be an object of compassion. The parable is intended to teach mercy and forgiveness. Together with the lost sheep and the lost piece of silver it means much with eternal interests involved and must be carefully studied and practiced by seeking the lost sheep instead of wounding and driving it away, since woe follows offending those who believe.