and he said, “A certain man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”‘ “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’ “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!'”
Sounds like a movie title doesn’t it? I think you know what I am alluding to.
After the younger brother has his realisation in the pig pen he starts to think about what he should do. He doesn’t even have the bread cutlery that his father’s servants have. He has absolutely nothing despite glueing himself to this Gentile. He considers his options. I know what I’ll do he says. I will go and I will say:
“Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.“
So he gets up and goes to the father and says:
“Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.“
Well it is easy to compare these two speeches isn’t it? Word for word the same except the end of the speech is missing. I drew your attention to this in Gem 1040. It is only the end of the speech that is missing. “Make me like one of your hired servants.” Why does he leave out that segment of the speech? It’s pretty important. At least it seemed like it was important when he was sitting in the pig pen. Remember he has burned his bridges with his father, his brother (although the brother is in the same boat) and with his community. He faces kezezah if he goes back. He must face the fact that he has spurned his father and broken his heart, oh yes, and taken his money and wasted it too. But I am sure the heart relationship is upper most in his mind. I sure he can still remember the look in his father’s eyes as he left. He must face the ridicule and vitriol of his older brother who no doubt has always belittled him in the past, how much more now.
He knows now that he has blown it big time. He has had a revelation deep down inside when he considered the fact that he has no bread cutlery or as he ponders how close he came to eating pig food. How could he stoop so low? Him, the high born son of a Jewish estate owner. He has no rights as the second born son anymore. He cashed them up for what? A pot of broth like Esau, his ancestor. He has lost all the money he got from his father through the shameful way he treated him. He realises he has sinned against heaven or against God. Also like his ancestor Joseph the prodigal realises he has sinned against God. Joseph hadn’t sinned against God, he simply recognised succumbing to Potiphar’s wife’s advances would have been a sin against God. (Gen 39:9). Likewise the prodigal recognises he has indeed sinned against heaven (God). But he also includes his father in the list as well. “I have sinned against you too father. I am not worthy to be called your son. I have thrown my sonship in your face when I told you (or by my actions showed you) you meant nothing to me and I walked away from you and the family and the community. I know you have pronounced kezezah over me and my relationship with the community and with you has been severed. But even though that has happened I realise I am still better off here as a hired hand. So please take me on as a hired servant. I am prepared to start at the bottom.”
I have told you already there is much debate over his response. Did he repent? Is his repentance valid or is it inadequate? Or is he merely playing his father for a fool, saying the right words but with no heart behind them? Have you had some time to think about it? Or maybe you think Ian will tell me the answer so you don’t need to think about it anymore. It requires more thought. Why doesn’t he finish his speech after going to all the trouble of rehearsing it? Is it that the father doesn’t give him a chance? I think there is more to the matter. I need to explain another expression before we can understand all the background to the words written here.
There is a huge difference between a son, a bond servant and a hired hand. The hired labourer is someone who is hired on a daily basis to do a menial job. They have no long term tenure and they are looked down on by others. If you were to tell someone that you are a hired labourer they would have contempt for you. Garbage collectors and sewage workers are the kinds of jobs that are done by hired labourers. The hired hand is not guaranteed any set wage. It is up to the hirer as to how much he is paid. He can pay a minuscule amount at the end of the day if he wishes. That adds meaning to the parable of the landowner hiring labourers to work in his vineyard in Matthew 20, doesn’t it?
The hired labourers had no food given to them. The slaves or servants of the household ate better. The hired hands had to fend for themselves. There was no guarantee that they would be given work the next day. It is the same for casual labourers these days. No union to ensure their work conditions are monitored. No guaranteed rates of pay, no holiday pay and no fringe benefits. Are you getting the idea? These are the lowest people on the pecking order. Even the household slaves fare better than the hired hand. He will not be sleeping in the father’s house. Likely as not he will have to find somewhere to live by himself in the village wherever he can find lodging. He will always be working outside in the fields under the hot sun or out in the cold in the winter time. No more comforts of home, even though what used to be home is so close, it is no longer an option for him. He will have no chance of getting close to the landowner (his father). He will have others supervising him and will be given no chance ever to talk with the Lord of the estate.
On the other hand he maybe able to secure a deal whereby he can pay off the debt to the family as an indentured labourer in which case he will have to work a certain number of predetermined years to pay back the debt. It will be a long number of years to make up for the amount of money he has received in inheritance as a son. His prospects are not great. But he is prepared to start from the bottom. This is a huge decision on his part, coupled with the fact that his brother will certainly make his life miserable just to rub salt into the wound.
Despite all of this he was willing to become a hired hand while he was in the pig pen. Now he makes no mention of it. This request has been left out. He doesn’t pursue this option when he sees his father. Is it as some commentators suspect that the father’s response has interrupted the son’s plans and now his intention to ask to be made a hired hand has been forgotten? Is it because of a change in the son’s plans? Maybe he sees the father’s response, so he is not going to mention the hired hand option unless he has to? Maybe the extravagance of the Father’s response makes the son’s planned response seem so inadequate.
What do you think? Put yourself in his place. What would you do? Think it through. It is important. We’ll come back to this issue in the next Gem. It was important for the younger son to figure out. It was important for the older son too and surprise surprise, it’s important for you and me too.
WWJD? WWYD?
Life is measured not by the things you do, but by the things you set into motion.
Jeff Leake
No argument is ever about the topic, it always about the emotions behind the topic.
Robi Sonderegger
Faith in God includes faith in His timing!
Kong Hee
Without risk, faith is an impossibility!
Rick Godwin