23—32.
πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ἐξελθὼν παρεκάλει αὐτόν.
583
20. 6 δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπε
τῷ πατρί,ῖ Ιδού, τοσαῦτα ἔτη δουλεύω σοι, καὶ οὐδέποτε ἐντολήν σου παρῆλθον, καὶ ἐμοὶ οὐδέποτε ἔδωκας ἔριφον,; ἵνα μετὰ τῶν φίλων -
µου εὐφρανθῶ.
39. ὅτε δὲ ὁ υἱός σου οὗτος 6 καταφαγών σου τὸν
, x ~ a βίον peta πορνῶν ὃ ἠλθεν, ἔθυσας αὐτῷ τὸν µόσχον τὸν σιτευτόν."
ς a a ο ~ 31. 6 δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Τέκνον, σὺ πάντοτε pet ἐμοῦ et, καὶ πάντα τὰ
ἐμὰ σά ἐστιν. σου CUTS νεκρὸς ἦν, καὶ ἀνέζησε >-
32. εὐφρανθῆναι δὲ καὶ χαρῆναι Eder, ὅτι ὁ ἀδελφός καὶ ἀπολωλὼς ἦν,ό καὶ εὑρέθη.”
1 BD add αντου (W.H.), wanting in many copies (Tisch.).
3 B has εριφιον (W.H. marg.).
ἕτων πορ. in ADL (W.H. marg.). wopvwv in $B (Tisch., W.H., text). 4 rov σιτ. µοσχον for τ. poo T. ott. in NBDLQR.
δεζησεν in NBLRA. Τ.Ε. = D, etc.
® For και απολ. ην NDX τ, 13, 69, etc.,
have simply απολωλως; with these BLR
omit ην but retain και before απολ. (Tisch. has απολ., W.H., και απολ.).
ment of which this particular neglect was but a specimen.—6 δὲ πατὴρ, etc.: the father goes out and presses him to come in, very properly; but why not send for him at once that he might stop working on the farm and join in the feasting and dancing on that glad day? Did they all fear he would spoil the sport and act accordingly? The elder son has got a chance to complain, and he makes the most of it in his bitter speech to his father.—Ver. 29. ἔριφον, a kid, not to speak of the fatted calf—pera τῶν φίλων µου: he would have been content if there had been any room made for the festive element in his life, with a modest meeting with his own friends, not to speak of a grand family demonstration like this. But no, there was nothing but work and drudgery for him.—Ver. 30. οὗτος: con- temptuous, this precious son of yours.— μετὰ πορνῶν: hard, merciless judgment ; the worst said and in the coarsest way. How did he know? He did not know; had no information, jumped at con- clusions. That the manner of his kind, who shirk work and go away to enjoy themselves.—Vv. 31, 32. The father answers meekly, apologetically, as if conscious that the elder son had some right to complain, and content to justify himself for celebrating the younger son’s return with a feast; not a word of re- taliation. This is natural in the story, and it also fits well into the aim of the parable, which is to illustrate the joy of finding the lost. It would serve no pur- pose in that connection to disparage the object ofthe lesser joy. There is peculiar
joy over one sinner repenting even though the ninety-nine be truly righteous, and over a prodigal returned even though the elder brother be a most exemplary, blame- less, dutiful son.
CuHaPpTER XVI. Two ADDITIONAL PARABLES ON THE RIGHT USE oF WEALTH. These two parables, the un- just steward and Dives, bear such a foreign aspect when compared with the general body of Christ’s teaching as to give rise to a doubt whether they have any claim to a place in an authentic record of His sayings. One at first won- ders at finding them in such company, forming with the preceding three a group of five. Yet Luke had evidently no sense of their incongruity, for he passes from the three to the two as if they were of kindred import (ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ). Doubt-_ less they appealed to his social bias by the sympathy they betray for the poor (cf. vi. 20, xi. 41), which has gained for them a place among the so-called Edion- itic sections of Luke’s Gospel (vide Holtz- mann in H.C.). ‘In favour of the authen- ticity of the first of the two parables is its apparently low ethical tone which has been such a stumbling-block to commen- tators. Who but Jesus would have had the courage to extract a lesson of wisdom from conduct like that of the unright- eous steward? The literary grace of the second claims for it the same origin and author.