Luke 15:3
Ben Crick
ben.crick at argonet.co.uk
Fri Jul 28 18:29:12 EDT 2000
On Fri 28 Jul 2000 (11:28:11), joel.barnes at unb.ca wrote:
> Luke 15:3 says, "And he spake this parable unto them, saying..." (A.V.)
>
> Who is represented by the word "them"? The Pharisees and Scribes, or
> the publicans and sinners?
The nearest antecedent is Pharisees and scribes in the preceding verse (2).
They were the ones "murmuring against him" who needed to be refuted ever so
gently in a parable or two or three. The one sheep in a hundred; the one coin
among ten; the one son of two.
The attitude of the Elder Brother is precisely the attitude of the Pharisees
and scribes. The "Prodigal" (a word not actually found in the text) is the
model for the "tax collectors and sinners" in verse 1. The coin bears the
image and superscription of its Minter, a reference surely to the Sign of
Circumcision borne by those publicans and sinners of Jewish race. The sheep
was hopelessly lost; the coin was helplessly lost; but the Prodigal was
deliberately "out of order", wilfully lost until his return to his father's
house.
OK Joel?
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
<ben.crick at argonet.co.uk>
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
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