 A
New Interpretation of the Prodigal Son Parable [Luke 15:11-32]
by Ross K. Nichols © 2003
The Prodigal Son – A Pesher
The New Testament has been
virtually ignored as a possible source for answers to the question of the
whereabouts, and / or identity of Israel’s lost tribes for two primary reasons.
First and foremost is a prevailing teaching within Christianity that the church
has replaced Israel.
Advocates of this view hold that the ‘church’ represents a ‘spiritual Israel’
and thus the allegorical heirs of the promises made by God to ‘physical
Israel’ in the ‘Old’ Testament. Secondly is a critical scholarly view of the
New Testament documents themselves. This view claims that the Christian
Scriptures are historically inaccurate – the product of a church already at odds
with its Jewish mother faith, and therefore unable to provide unbiased answers
to historical queries of any kind.
While the latter will have to
be worked out within the pages of prestigious academic journals, the former is
open to debate. Aside from heresies such as those espoused by Marcion,
Christians have constantly affirmed the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible – if
not in deed, at least in word. To do otherwise would be self-destructive.
The New Testament writers are
at pains to show that the personalities and events that it describes are a
fulfillment of a prophetic scenario outlined in the Hebrew Scriptures. They
quote freely from the Law, the Prophets and the Writings-more
often than not, providing the reader with a running commentary meant to prove
that these things were done to fulfill what the prophets spoke. Often the
connections between the New and Old Testaments are made by direct quotations
from a given text, either as it reads in the Hebrew Massoretic text or from the
Greek Septuagint. At other times alluding to a story through the use of similar
words or phrases makes the connections. The reader has to be on the watch for
both.
The present article is an
example of one possible case where a “well known” parable may not be as “well
known” after all. The interpretation that follows perhaps uncovers a belief
held by Yeshua that has been ignored, or more appropriately gone unnoticed. The
parable is called the Prodigal son. It just may contain threads of a belief on
the part of Yeshua that the meaning and goal of Biblical History is the reunion
of two brothers, known by the Hebrew prophets as Ephraim and Judah.
The Parable
11
Yeshua continued his teaching, “A certain man had two sons.
The
two sons in this parable represent the two houses of Israel - the house of Judah
and the house of Ephraim. The house of Judah became known as the Jews and the
house of Ephraim became known as Israel and the house of Joseph. These two
"sons" of the father are clearly distinguished throughout the prophets as the
two houses of Israel. An important lesson in Biblical interpretation is to
recognize the distinction between the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel.
12
The youngest said to his father, ‘My father, give me my share of the property
which will come to me.’ So he divided to them the means of his livelihood. 13
Not many days after that, the youngest son gathered all his belongings together
and left for a distant country. There he wasted his inheritance in reckless
living, and
The
departure of the "younger son" from the house of his father is described in I
Kings 11ff. This marks the beginning of the end for the united house of
Israel. At any rate, the northern tribes of Israel / Ephraim (the younger son)
left the "father's house" and immediately went into idolatrous living (see for
example I Kings 12:25ff).
14
after he had spent all he had, there was a severe famine in all that country;
and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself to one of the
citizens of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed the hogs. 16 He
longed to fill his stomach with the bean-pods that the hogs ate, but no one gave
him anything to eat.
This vivid analogy describes life in the dispersion for the scattered northern
kingdom. In approximately 722 BCE, the Assyrians conquered the house of
Israel. The subsequent scattering was complete - so much so, that the prophet
Amos declared that the northern kingdom would be sifted through the nations as
corn is sifted through a sieve (Amos 9:9). The famine described herein, is not
literally one of bread and water, but of hearing the words of the LORD (see Amos
8:11).
17
Coming to his right senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have
bread in abundance and to spare, and here I am dying of hunger? 18 I will get up
and go to my father and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven
and against you. 19 I am not worthy any more to be called your son. Treat me
like one of your hired servants.’
The
"awakening" pictured in these verses is spoken of by Moses. Referred to there
as the "secret things of the LORD", the scattered northern kingdom of the house
of Israel will "come to his right senses" and begin to make teshuvah - see
Deuteronomy 29-30.
20
So he got up and went to his father and while he was yet a good way off, his
father saw him and was moved with pity and ran toward his son and fell on his
neck kissing him fervently. 21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned
against you and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father
said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on
his finger, and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring here the fatted calf and butcher
it, and let us eat and be merry, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is
alive again. He was lost and is now found.’ They began to celebrate. 25
Meanwhile, the oldest son was out in the field, and as he got closer to the
house he began to hear the sound of music and dancing. 26 So he called one of
the younger servants and inquired as to the meaning of all these things. 27 He
answered, ‘Your brother has come home, and your father butchered the fatted
calf, because he has received him back safe and well.’
The
reunion of the two houses and the return of the "prodigal son" is spoken of in
no less than 40 prophetic passages throughout the Hebrew Bible. The connection
between this prodigal son in the parable of Jesus and the historical Joseph
(whose name represents this wayward house), is made clear with the words in
verse 24 above - because this son of mine was dead and is alive again! See
Genesis 45:28.
28
This made him very angry and he would not go into the house so his father came
out and pleaded with him. 29 He answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I
served you, and I never transgressed your commandments, and yet you never gave
me a young goat so that I could have a merry time with my friends. 30 But as
soon as this, your son, came home who consumed your living with harlots, you
butchered the fatted calf for him.’ 31 The father told his son, ‘You are always
with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 We had to be merry and rejoice,
because your brother was dead to us and is alive again, he was lost and is now
found.’
The anger and jealousy exhibited by the elder son (Judah) is spoken of in Isaiah
11:13. The healing of Judah will take place when the father "comes out of his
place to plead with him". Notice that Judah claims to have "never transgressed
the father's commandments". Judah, despite failures, has maintained the
covenant and kept the commandments. It is interesting to note that the father
in our parable, consoles the elder son and reaffirms his position in the "house"
with the words, "you are always with me and all that I have is yours". This
silences all those who would damn Judah with theories that replace the elder son
altogether. Judah and Ephraim will be reunited with the father and the result
will astound the world. Indeed the prodigal son is coming to himself in the
midst of a famine for hearing the words of God. Countless souls are beginning
to return to a Torah oriented lifestyle, seeking to keep the commandments as
prophesied in Deuteronomy 30.
| 
