Luke Chapter 15, Verse 15
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15: και πορευθεις εκολληθη ενι των πολιτων της χωρας εκεινης και επεμψεν αυτον εις τους αγρους αυτου βοσκειν χοιρους
15: And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country;
and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
15: And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country.
And he sent him into his farm to feed swine.
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 Jesus in the parable, is to show the loathsome employments and the deep degradation to which sin leads men, 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 honourable and dignified employment.
