“The Younger Son” (Part 1)
Luke 15:11 states that a certain man had two sons. The younger of them decided to strike out on his own; so, he said: “Father, give me the portion of my goods that falls to me,” which he did (v. 12). Why? Did he think he would leave anyway? Did he advise his son on investment strategies so that he could be self-sustaining? Whatever words were exchanged between them are not recorded. Did the father warn the son of the many things that might befall him away from home? Did the son refuse to hear? Was it a tearful departure, or did the son say, “Don’t worry, dad. I can take care of myself”?
The younger son, a few days after receiving what he requested, gathered all his possessions together and traveled to “a far country” (v. 13). Does he seem to have a plan? Had he always heard that a certain location was “the place to be”? Was it a wild place where there was wine, women, and song—and few inhibitions? Certainly, he did not have mission work on his mind or a way to help the downtrodden. The “hot spot” of the day offered a lot of ways to go broke, and the younger son “wasted his possessions with prodigal living” (v. 13). What does that mean?
The verb wasted is from the Greek skorpizo [4650], which means “to scatter abroad.” Jesus uses the term in Luke 11:23: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters” (see also Matt. 12:30). Oddly enough, the verb comes from the noun skorpio [4651], which is translated scorpion(s) five times in the New Testament. The relationship in meaning of those two words is not apparent. But the younger son took his inheritance and scattered it, spending it here and there—in other words, wasting it. He squandered it with prodigal living. What kind of living is that? The Greek adjective, used only here, is from the noun, which appears three times in the New Testament. In Ephesians 5:18, the Greek word is rendered “excess,” and in Titus 1:6 and 1 Peter 4:4, we find “riot”; hence, here it is riotous or prodigal living.
How did he spend all his wealth? We don’t know. Did he play the ponies, frequent gambling casinos, spend a lot on booze? His older brother accused him of devouring his father’s goods with “harlots” (Greek, pornee) (v. 30). Was this his master plan—spend like crazy until he ran out of money? Did he never think about setting himself up in business, buying his own homestead, or joining the military? His foresight was apparently non-existent. “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want” (v. 14). The word translated “want” is hystereo. How can anyone just watch all his possessions slip through his fingers? Perhaps he thought, “Hah! I’ll get by.” He was wrong.