On Fri 28 Jul 2000 (11:28:11), joel.barnes@unb.ca wrote: > Luke 15:3 says, "And he spake this parable unto them, saying..." (A.V.) > > Who is represented by the word "them"? The Pharisees and Scribes, or > the publicans and sinners? The nearest antecedent is Pharisees and scribes in the preceding verse (2). They were the ones "murmuring against him" who needed to be refuted ever so gently in a parable or two or three. The one sheep in a hundred; the one coin among ten; the one son of two. The attitude of the Elder Brother is precisely the attitude of the Pharisees and scribes. The "Prodigal" (a word not actually found in the text) is the model for the "tax collectors and sinners" in verse 1. The coin bears the image and superscription of its Minter, a reference surely to the Sign of Circumcision borne by those publicans and sinners of Jewish race. The sheep was hopelessly lost; the coin was helplessly lost; but the Prodigal was deliberately "out of order", wilfully lost until his return to his father's house. OK Joel? Ben -- Revd Ben Crick, BA CF 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu