Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 15:11

"And he said, A certain man had two sons:" — Luke 15:11 (ASV)

And he said, A certain man had two sons.—We enter here into one of the parables that are not only unique to Luke's Gospel but also have a somewhat different character, as they present, more than those found in the other Gospels, the incidents of a story from common daily life. As with the Good Samaritan, it seems open to us to believe that it was based on a foundation of facts that had actually occurred. It is obvious that in the social state of Palestine at that time, where the Jews were brought into contact with the great cities of the Roman Empire, such a story as the one recorded here must have been all too painfully familiar.

In the immediate application of the parable, the father is the great Father of human souls; the elder son represents the respectably religious Pharisees; the younger stands for the class of publicans and sinners. In its subsequent developments, it applies to the two types of character that correspond to these in any age or country. On a wider scale, but with less close parallelism, the elder son may stand for Israel according to the flesh, and the younger for the entire Gentile world. Looking back to the genealogies of Genesis 5:10, Genesis 9:18, and even (according to the correct interpretation of the words)Genesis 10:21, they correspond respectively to the descendants of Shem and those of Japheth. It is obvious from the whole structure of the parable that the elder son cannot represent the unfallen part of God’s creation; and, as far as this point goes, it argues against that interpretation of the ninety-nine sheep or the nine pieces of silver.