Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 15:17

"But when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father`s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger!" — Luke 15:17 (ASV)

And when he came to himself.—The phrase is wonderfully suggestive. The man’s guilt was that he had been self-indulgent; but he had been living for a self that was not his true self. The first step in his repentance is to awaken as from an evil dream, to become conscious of his better nature, and then comes the memory of happier days, which is like “Sorrow’s crown of sorrow.”

The “hired servants” are obviously those who serve God, not in the spirit of filial love, but from the hope of a reward. Even in that lower form of duty, they find what satisfies their wants. They do not have the craving of unsatisfied desire which the son feels, who has cast away his sonship. He envies them and would gladly be as they are.