Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 15:14

"And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want." — Luke 15:14 (ASV)

NIV captures the vivid wording of the account, including “squandered his wealth” and “wild living.” The famine made employment and food even harder than usual to get. The “distant country” was apparently outside strictly Jewish territory, and the way-ward son found himself with the demeaning job of feeding pigs, unclean animals for the Jews. He would even have eaten “pods,” seeds of the carob tree used for pigs’ food. He had fallen so low and had become so insignificant that “no one gave him anything.”