Luke 15:13

Younger son. In his departure from the parental roof the younger son represents the publicans and the sinners (v. 1), who have severed connections with their heavenly Father and make no profession of allegiance to Him.

Afar country. He was not content to settle down near home, where he would be reminded from time to time of his father and his father’s counsel. He sought to be free from all the restraints of home. Undoubtedly he wanted to forget. The “far country” thus represents a “far” removed condition of forgetfulness of God.

Wasted his substance. That is, he scattered his property in a wasteful manner. Thus he rapidly spent the treasures he had assiduously “gathered” together (see on v. 12). Apparently his conscience was asleep, and in the “far country” of forgetfulness of his father’s counsel and guidance there was nothing to prevent him from doing precisely as he pleased. According to his own conception of life, he was now living it to the full.

With riotous living. Literally, “in living riotously.” The Gr. asotos, “wastefully,” “dissolutely,” or “profligately,” is an adverb derived from a, a negative prefix, and sod or sozo, “to save.” The “living” of the young man may have been recklessly wasteful, or morally dissolute, or both. The elder son of the parable emphasized the second of these two possible shades of meaning in respect to his younger brother’s “living” (see v. 30). However, this latter way of life generally includes the first also. The way the youth disposed of his financial resources, which appear to have been considerable, reveals his concept of life. According to his way of looking at things, a man comes into this world for the purpose of getting all he can out of it, without contributing anything in return.