Many. many turnings of the seasons ago, I took a religion class on the parables of Christ. One evening the teacher brought in a friend of his to teach us about the parables found in Luke 15. This friend of his was a Methodist minister who was of Armenian decent. Now the Armenian culture in which this minister had been raised was very similar to the culture that existed among the Jews of Jesus' time. So, he was able to give us the cultural background on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. What follows is a summery of the lecture that he gave.
We start with verses 11 & 12.
"11 ¶ And he said, A certain man had two sons:
"12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living."
What the younger son is doing here is asking for his share of the inheritance. In that culture, a son did not receive his inheritance until after his fathers death. So, for this young man to ask for his inheritance right then was an extremely disrespectful thing to do. It would be the equivalent of one of us saying to his father, "I wish you were dead!" and really mean it.
The traditional response of the father to such an insult would be to say, "You are not my son. My son is dead." In other words, these actions by the younger son would have led to his being disowned by the family. So, the young man gets his money, but he loses his family in the process.
"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."
Not being a very wise young man, the son waists his money on debauchery and superficial friends such that, when a famine arises, he as no means of taking care of himself and no friends to help him through the crisis.
"15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine."
This is getting pretty low for a Jew. Remember, Jews consider pigs to be unclean. Therefore, they don't associate with then if they have any choice in the matter. However, in oder to make a living this young man has to sink to the level of taking a job caring for swine, but it gets even worse than that.
"16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him."
So, not only does he have to associate with the swine, but he has to eat what they ate. This would have hardly been kosher. So, he has sunk about as far as it is possible for a Jew to sink. The next few verses give an indication as to just how low he has sunk.
"17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
"18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
"19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants."
There are two things of importance here. First of all, he is contemplating returning to his father. This is a real indication of how low he has sunk in his own life. When he asked for his inheritance, he insulted, not only his own father, but the entire village in which his family lived. In these villages, most of the people are related in some way. So, his insult was against the larger family of the village. At this point, the son is figuratively dead to this family. The traditional response of the villagers to the return of such a disrespectful child would be to see to it that he does not have the opportunity to bring further dishonor onto the family and, by extension, the village. So, the villagers would usually take such a person to some secluded spot and see to it that he became literally dead to the family. That's right, they would kill him to protect the honor of his family and the village.
So, in deciding to return to his father, what this young man has decided is that his life, as it is at the present, is not worth living. He has decided that he would rather die than go on as he has. So, he starts reciting a traditional speech to ask for forgiveness of his father. He is basically saying that he realized that he really screwed up. He admits that what he has done is not pardonable and is not worthy of being accepted back into the family. All he is asking for is a job so that he can support himself.
"20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."
The significant thing here is the reaction of his father when he sees his son returning. For an old man to be seen running is a very undignified thing. For a child to make his father run is also disgraceful. The minister who gave this lecture told us about one family gathering in which his younger brother was lipping off. Rather than accepting the just chastisement from his father for this, the boy ran from him causing his father to have to run after him. Ever after this incident, one of the main topic of discussion at family gatherings was, "Do you remember the time that little Johnny made his father run?"
Now then, the father in the parable knows what will happen if the villagers get to his son first. So, he throws his own dignity to the wind and runs to get to his son first. In essence, the father is taking the son's disgrace onto himself in order to save his life. (Just as the Savior took all of our disgraces onto Himself in order to save our eternal lives.)
"21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."
So, the son begins his speech asking for a job, but the father does not let him finish.
"22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:"
Now one of the ways in which you could tell from where a person had come was by their clothing. The clothing of each village is slightly different than that of the others. (This was the significance of the victim of the robbers being stripped by them in the parable of the Good Samaritan. This in addition to his being left unconscious left no way for anyone to tell where he was from. So, Jews that passed him could justify not helping him because they did not know if he was a Jew or a Gentile.) So, in putting a robe on his son's shoulders, the father is saying that he is a part of the village again.
The minister did not know the significance of the ring, but I suspect that it my have been a signet ring. So, in giving this ring to his son, the father is not only welcoming his son back into the village, but is also welcoming him back into the family.
"23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
"24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry."
"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." As a result of his transgression against his family, the young man was considered dead to them. He was lost. As a result of his repentance he is now alive again. He has found his way back to the father that loves him. Just as we all need to repent and find our way back to our Heavenly Father. In both cases the reconciliation that occurs is worthy of great celebration.
Unfortunately, this was where we ran out of time for the class. So, the minister was not able to go into the parts of the parable concerning the older son. However, this was still sufficient to illustrate just how rich the Savior's parables were. Those of us that are weren't raised in that culture miss a lot in these stories because we don't understand the cultural background in which they were given.
Comments
sweet. I hope we can be like a prodigal son.
by FineBalance . on December 7th, 2006
another lesson for parents is:no matter how well you have tried to raise them, they mostly will rebel, but if you did right they will most likely come back to you, HUMBLED. when they do "open your arms, IF they have said sorry and asked forgiveness , as the prodigal son did.....
by thatsJustme on February 3rd, 2008