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Selected Verse: Luke 15:15 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Lu 15:15 |
King James |
And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
joined himself, &c.--his pride not yet humbled, unable to brook the shame of a return.
to feed swine--glad to keep life anyhow, behold the son sank into a swineherd--among the Jews, on account of the prohibition of swine's flesh, emphatically vile! "He who begins by using the world as a servant, to minister to his pleasure, ends by reversing the relationship" [TRENCH]. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Joined himself - Entered the service of that citizen. Hired himself out to him. It would seem that he engaged to do any kind of work, even of the lowest kind.
A citizen - One of the inhabitants of one of the cities or towns of that region, probably a man of property.
Into the fields - Out of the city where the owner lived.
To feed swine - This was a very low employment, and particularly so to a "Jew." It was forbidden to the Jews to eat swine, and of course it was unlawful to keep them. To be compelled, therefore, to engage in such an employment was the deepest conceivable degradation. The "object" of this image, as used by the Saviour in the parable, is to show the loathsome employments and the deep degradation to which sin leads people, and no circumstance could possibly illustrate it in a more striking manner than he has done here. Sin and its results everywhere have the same relation to that which is noble and great, which the feeding of swine had, in the estimation of a Jew, to an honorable and dignified employment. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Joined himself (ἐκολλήθη)
The verb means to glue or cement. Very expressive here, implying that he forced himself upon the citizen, who was unwilling to engage him, and who took him into service only upon persistent entreaty. "The unhappy wretch is a sort of appendage to a strange personality" (Godet). Compare Act 9:26. Wyc., cleaved. See, also, on Act 5:13.
To feed swine
As he had received him reluctantly, so he gave him the meanest possible employment. An ignominious occupation, especially in Jewish eyes. The keeping of swine was prohibited to Israelites under a curse. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| And he joined himself to a citizen of that country - Either the devil or one of his children, the genuine citizens of that country which is far from God. He sent him to feed swine - He employed him in the base drudgery of sin. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| To feed swine - The basest and vilest of all employments; and, to a Jew, peculiarly degrading. Shame, contempt, and distress are wedded to sin, and can never be divorced. No character could be meaner in the sight of a Jew than that of a swineherd: and Herodotus informs us, that in Egypt they were not permitted to mingle with civil society, nor to appear in the worship of the gods, nor would the very dregs of the people have any matrimonial connections with them. Herod. lib. ii. cap. 47. |
13 And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.
26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.