Parsing the Prodigal – Part 2

With an awareness of its fractal literary structure, reading the parable is like holding a cut diamond and watching the light catch its features as it turns.

Read Part 1.

As mentioned, since there are twenty-one steps or stanzas, they divide easily into three cycles of seven. The first concerns the departure and failure of the younger son (Word); the second his return and restoration (Sacrament); and the third the response of his older brother (Government).

Analysis

Priesthood (Forming)

1A – The Demand

Creation – Initiation – Genesis

• The first stanza is patterned after the Creation Week, but obviously in social rather than cosmic terms. A “certain man” with two sons could be Adam or Isaac or Joseph, but the twist here is that it is the younger, not the older, son who rebels.
• The “younger” appears ironically at Maturity, and both brothers, as “them” appear at Oath/Sanctions awaiting the blessing of the father.

1B – The Portion

Division – Delegation – Exodus

• This Division stanza divides father from son, brother from brother, and property from property. It is divisive in every way.
• The firstborn son would usually receive a double portion compared to all other siblings (Deuteronomy 21:15-17). Assigning specific shares was likely done by casting lots.
• Not being the firstborn, the demand of the younger son is deceptive and selfish in numerous ways. Firstly, by taking his portion elsewhere, when his father dies he will not be under the rule of his older brother. Secondly, by indulging in gluttony and drunkenness in another country, he will escape the stipulations of the Law for such a son. Thirdly, he would also be avoiding the obligation of marrying, if necessary, his only brother’s widow. In many ways, he was disowning not only his family but also his obligations as a member of Israel. He was cutting himself off from among the people.
• This stanza also corresponds to Passover, so there is another irony in the fact that the son who is leaving with plunder is doing so in rebellion against God.
• Notice the use of “falling” in the Ascension stanza (putting a priestly or sacrificial spin on the allotment) and “divided” at Maturity, implying this son regarded his inheritance as spoils from a plundered enemy.

1C – The Waste

Ascension – Presentation – Leviticus

• In the Tabernacle sequence, this step corresponds to the Bronze Altar and the Golden Table. In a pictorial sense, this is an ironic Baalism—offering that which is permanent on the altar of the immediate in the hope of quick gratification. It combines the child sacrifice and self-immolation of pagan priesthood.
• Notice the ironies of the use of “gathering” at Division (putting possessions before people) and “wasted” at Maturity (an apparent abundance that was quickly gone due to his lack of wisdom). The “estate” appears at the “Joshua” step, implying a correspondence with Achan’s theft, and, of course, the extravagance at Glorification/Booths was only a “mist,” a play on the “Feast of Clouds” among the Gentiles.

1D – The Famine

Testing – Purification – Numbers

• A failure of priestly obedience in the use of kingly wealth inevitably leads to it being squandered. Unlike Joseph, whose faithful stewardship led to abundance even during a famine, this son’s assumption of the blessing of God outside of the land of milk and honey left him vulnerable.
• Although this is a parable, since famines were a covenant curse, perhaps Jesus is also implying that the famine came upon these Gentiles because of this unfaithful Jew, in the same way that Jonah’s bad testimony put at risk the lives of everybody on the ship. Because of the prodigal’s apostasy, God’s name was being blasphemed among the Gentiles.
• He lost what he had desired (kingdom) and now lost even those things that he needed for survival (priesthood). These are the two trees in Eden: notice that he is cursed on the “Day 6” of the stanza and that its “Day 7” is missing.

1E – The Pigs

Maturity – Transformation – Deuteronomy

• The fifth step of the Bible Matrix relates to swarms, hosts (armies), and although these are sometimes Israelites they are often Gentile hordes. In this case, the mustered host of the fifth feast (Trumpets) is a herd of pigs. In this way, the esoteric (implicit) compounds the exoteric (explicit) insult, by relating it to other biblical images.
• The younger brother is being contrasted with Abel, Jacob, Moses, and David who were not only younger brothers chosen over the older brother because of their faith but learned the nature of true kingdom through faithful service as shepherds. The implicit word here is that if you refuse to be a shepherd-king, like the Shemite shepherds who were despised by the Egyptians, then you will be a pig herder, the “ruler” over a pack of indiscriminate scavengers. It seems that this is a reminder from Jesus to His audience that being God’s firstborn forever was not a given. The standard by which the older brothers were disqualified still applies to the younger brothers.
• Within the stanza, every one of the seven steps is an inversion of what God intended. Instead of Sabbath there is a journey to “Egypt.” The sanctification of Passover is a voluntary submission to slavery. Instead of tithing a token to God (Firstfruits) there is complete indenture to a Gentile commoner. The “Pentecostal” Law that set Israelites apart has been removed. Instead of being prepared and purified for “conquest” of the land (Trumpets, Atonement), he is sent into a Gentile field. And finally, the punchline is that instead of hosting Gentiles at the final feast of the year (Ingathering) he is feeding unclean scavengers. This, like Jesus’ mention of eagles circling over a corpse, is a subtle prediction of the first-century fate of Israel at the hands of the Roman hordes.

1F – The Hunger

Conquest – Vindication – Joshua

• Positioned at the Oath/Sanctions step in the first cycle, the son is suffering under the curse of the covenant. He is not only being treated worse than a beast. He is being treated as of less value than a swine.
• The matrix thread that shines here seems to be the annual harvest calendar, just to rub it in. Notice that the pigs appear at the Trumpets step as a reminder of the point of the previous stanza. No one mediated for him (Atonement). No Gentile brought “riches” to Israel in gratitude to God for his service (Booths).

1G – The Awakening

Glorification – Representation – Judges

• The final stanza of the first cycle ends with the younger son being enlightened enough to judge his situation.
• Notice the position of “hired-servants” in the Priesthood line and the abundance of bread in the Prophecy line. All blessing comes from submission to God.
• The son has lost access to the Tree of Life, so under the Oath/Sanctions heading there is hunger, and at Succession, there is a curse upon the land and the womb – the end of his story.

Kingdom (Filling)

2A – The Plan

Creation – Initiation

• The goal of God for humanity is judicial wisdom, and redemption is but a means to that end. God rescued Israel from Egypt not merely for the sake of Israel but as a means to a greater end, one that would eventually bless all nations. Here, the enlightenment concerning the past that ended cycle one now leads to enlightenment concerning the future—a light to a path.
• The planned confession could be merely lip service to avoid starvation if it were not for the sacrificial structure of the stanza. The son is chosen from among the pigs as a “son of the herd” (the ben habbaqar of Leviticus 1:5), sanctified and placed upon the altar. The cry of “abba” opens the heavens and brings the transforming fire of the Spirit. The proclamation of repentance will bring an end to the famine, and the son recognizes his debt to the Heavenly Father and his earthly father.

2B – The Journey

Division – Delegation

• According to the Law of Moses, the son should be cut off. He calls for judgment at Pentecost (the giving of the Law) and to be made one of the “common” priestly troops at Trumpets (rather than being of less value than a pig). Atonement images the boldness of an ’adam in rising up from the dust to approach the throne of grace. The house of the father is the shelter of Booths.
• Notice the correspondence between the “son” at Ascension and the “servants” at Maturity. The son is willing to become an indentured bondslave to cover the debt of food and lodging. The contrast between servants and sons is a major theme in the New Testament (Galatians 4:1-7). All men are called to serve, but the light “yoke” placed upon God’s Sons is not to be despised.

2C – The Compassion

Ascension – Presentation

• The act of sacrifice is a “near bringing” that enables man to approach God. But notice that not only does the father approach the rebel son, but his compassion precedes any confession of wrongdoing.
• This Priesthood stanza replays the sacrificial motif but it is now the father who is the “sacrifice,” mediating for his estranged son.
• In his priestly role, he humbles himself by disregarding all dignity and running to the boy.
• At Oath/Sanctions, instead of cursing there is blessing.

2D – The Confession

Testing – Purification

• The son’s confession is the very center of the entire story. A confession of sin puts the sinner on God’s side of the courtroom against himself, and thus disempowers the accuser. But notice that the actual thesis of the stanza is the gracious father to whom the son responds.

2E – The Humility

Maturity – Transformation

• The second stanza is repeated here but without the final two lines. We must compare the fivefold covenant pattern of the Torah with the sevenfold pattern of the Heptateuch. The son is like Israel in the wilderness prior to the conquest of the land. This is the Succession of an Israel who has squandered his inheritance and expects no rest.
• Notice that “make me as one” appears at the Numbers step. From the beginning to the end of the Bible, only representative Jews were “counted” because they were “sons of the herd,” living sacrifices. The troops were counted at the Feast of Trumpets (which corresponds to the Maturity step) and the New Covenant martyrs were counted in Revelation 7, alluding to the book of Numbers.

2F – The Investiture

Conquest – Vindication

• What the son had squandered could never be restored but he was still a son, that is, an image (legal representative) of the father. This Conquest stanza corresponds in the cycle to the Day of Atonement, that is, the Day of Coverings. But instead of the son being stripped of his glory like the High Priest, he is the one who receives it from the father. Notice also that not only is this a covering of sin but also a renewed delegation of authority. The robe speaks of kingdom. The ring speaks of authority (a sign or signet like that given by Pharaoh to Joseph) and the sandals (which were untied by servants before they washed the guests’ feet) speak of renewed dominion over the land promised to his forefathers. The “ten toes” of the statue in Daniel 2 speak of the same thing, as do the legs of the mighty angel in Revelation, whose legs, as two temple pillars, stood upon the laver and the altar, the Sea and the Land, reuniting Jew and Gentile through the destruction of the Temple.
• The other thing to notice is the chain of authority, from heaven above, via the court of servant-angels, through the Holy Place (priest-king-prophet) to the dominion of the common man. This is Jesus’ reminder that the Jewish rulers were supposed to be public servants, shepherd of the people who have gone astray, not their lords and masters, judges and executioners. They were to image Abel not Cain, Enoch not Lamech, bearing the sword of heavenly justice tempered with heavenly mercy, as God does.

2G – The Feast

Glorification – Representation

• This is the “Booths” stanza so it begins with the slaughter of a bull. However, it is a calf, another reference to the “son of the herd” in Leviticus 1:5.
• The feast stanza is a recapitulation of every victory of the nation of Israel, since it begins with deference to God through faithful sacrifice. The pattern alludes to the “death” of Israel in the wildnerness and the nation’s “resurrection” in Deuteronomy.
• It also wonderfully works through the furniture of the Tabernacle, reminding us that although the Table of God and the tables of men were always distinct (a fact that disproves paedocommunion), they are still linked. If we, as Sons of God, bless God with our firstfruits in the Garden, He blesses us with an abundance in the Land, including sons of men. Jesus called His disciples to His table as His Abrahamic friends. The lost son would be restored to his place of honor, “enthronement” over the servants of the household.
• Notice that the promise of merriment corresponds to the table and the fulfillment appears at Shekinah. This pattern began in Genesis 1, with the fruitbearers created on the dry land on Day 3 and the promise of bread and wine at God’s table on Day 7. It can also be seen in the “firstfruits” of the haul of grapes from Eshcol as a promise of the vineyards of Canaan. The end of the “forming” section of the stanza ends with a preliminary “natural” filling. It also places the lost and found (cursed and blessed) son on Day 6 as an ’adam who has been restored to fellowship with God and is now able to enter into His rest. The pattern looks like this:¹This pattern also structures the listing of Jacob’s sons in Genesis 29-35. See Jacob’s Tabernacle.

Forming (Days 1-3) >	Filling (Days 4-7)
And having brought the calf fattened, Light and Darkness >	For this son of mine dead was, < Governing Lights
kill it, Waters Above and Below >	and is-alive-again; < Swarms in Sky and Sea
and having eaten, Dry Land >	he was lost, and is found. < Land Animals & Man
let us be merry. Grain & Grape Bearers >	And they began to be merry. < Rest and Rule – Bread & Wine

Prophecy (Future)

3A – The Brother

Creation – Initiation

• The actual “ruling bull” of the house, the firstborn son, comes in from the field. This alludes to Cain, Esau, and the “non-Rachel” sons of Jacob just before the attack on Shechem. The “field” speaks of cultivation, like the bloody Bronze Altar outside the tent, but the table speaks of representation, that is, culture, bearing office inside the tent like Jacob. The younger son who had been sent into the fields of a Gentile was now the honored guest at the father’s table! This mention is thus a means of pointing out that the older brother is the “natural” heir, and that his maintenance of that role depends upon his heart before God. “Loving” Jacob and “hating” Esau was an idiom used to describe the preference of the father regarding the Succession (Malachi 1:2-3). Like Jacob, this father could “cross his arms” at any time and give the rulership to the younger brother. Imagine the scandal!²This arm-crossing “X” of Jacob is the chiasm, or X-asm, of Matthew 23:12 in pictorial form. In Tabernacle terms, the left hand is priesthood and the right hand is kindgom. The same inversion … Continue reading
• Notice the use of “drew near” in the sacrificial line. Would this older brother be like Cain at the altar of God? But there is also an allusion to Moses at Sinai concerning the golden calf in the mention of music and dancing. This man, with all the authority of the father, has come to judge. Was this the celebration of godlessness, or the celebration of the angels over one sinner who repents? Combining these two images, the question is not whether he would rule, but whether he would rule over the sin crouching at the door.

3B – The Testimony

Division – Delegation

• Another brilliant arrangement where the placement of each object puts a covenant-liteary spin on it: the word of the servant is treated as “Gospel truth”; the younger brother is the “Shemite” rival at Passover; the killing of the calf by the father comprises the threefold “Ethics” at the center as the possible cause of offense; the calf is now at Maturity – Trumpets which highlights it as a symbol of abundance; the good health of the restored son is an unexpected blessing; and the reception at Glorification – Booths speaks not only of shelter but also hints at possible Succession as the chosen heir. Although this switch would be unlikely, the younger brother was indeed being treated as if he were the chosen one.

3C – The Anger

Ascension – Presentation

• The Ascension stanza gives us the anticipated “angry brother at the altar” in structural terms. Once again, the actions of the father comprise the Ethics of the stanza, and here he humbles himself and begs the brother to “come in.” This is an overt call for the “Cainite” rulers of Jerusalem to enter the kingdom. The parable does not give us the end of the story—the response of the brother—but history does. They slew their own brothers, the Jewish-Christian saints, even though Yahweh Himself had come to them and begged them through the apostolic prophets to “go in.” Structure is context, and context is everything.
• “Having gone” at the center also corresponds to the Peace Offering at the center of the fivefold personal offerings in Leviticus 1-5, which entailed qualified, representative men being invited to dine with God, as the elders did on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24. Those who refused to dine at Jesus’ Table would be cleansed, purified, sterilized from the Land by consuming fire.

3D – The Discontent

Testing – Purification

• This is the Testing stanza, so the older son is a serpent who is questioning the good character of the father. He is the rich young ruler who has kept the Law of Moses but failed to realize that he has freely received and must also freely give.
• The introduction of the goat completes the Yom Kippur imagery, with the blood of the bull for the rulers and the goats for the “bridal” people.
• The goat appears in the “bridal” step, alluding to the goat in the Abrahamic “proto-tabernacle” of Genesis 15 which corresponded to the Altar of Incense (the calf was the Land-Altar, the ram the Son-Table, etc). The goat was also a repeated image of deception by the bride as retaliation for deception by the serpent—Jacob was covered in goat skin, Joseph’s death was faked using goat’s blood, David’s “effigy” was goatskin, and the goat sent into the wilderness was for the purpose of “decieving“ the avenger that the other goat might be spared. Being bridal in nature, this goat is another image of covenant Succession. It is the “bridal” man (Jacob, Joseph, David) whom God favors with the future.
• Notice that the son and his friends commune at step 6, which corresponds to communion in the biblical pattern of worship. This is another nail in the coffin of paedocommunion. Jesus’ table is a royal “round table” for the Sons of God, knights of the covenant.

3E – The Charge

Maturity – Transformation

• The Trumpets stanza speaks of devouring the inheritance just as the locusts of the fifth trumpet in Revelation would devour the abundant blessings of the Land. But those Judaizing locusts were the “older brothers.”
• Notice that the devouring and the living correspond to the Altar and the Table.
• The arrival of the brother is heralded in the trumpets line, signaling his acceptance as one who is counted as an Israelite, and not as one who has been cut off.
• The son is speaking as a prophet, condemning his own father. Notice the kingly sin of adultery at the Ethical center of the stanza. Along with the “gold” that has been squandered, these are two of the kingly sins listed in Deuteronomy 17 – gold, girls, and guns.
• The calf that began the previous Booths stanza is now in the Booths line of this stanza.

3F – The Inheritance

Conquest – Vindication

• In this Oath/Sanctions stanza, the father reminds the older son of the blessing that is already his. He must eschew immediate gratification and look to his future role as the inheritor of all. But that role as a ruler includes showing mercy to the weak. This is a call for the older son to learn from his father that a true ruler is a shepherd.
• The placement of the words in the last two lines is brilliant.

3G – The Joy

Glorification – Representation

• As He spoke these parables, Jesus was on His way to the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. The final stanza leaves us hanging because, as mentioned, the parable called for a response from these rulers, those who were watching him carefully, as the older brother. In that sense, the three cycles are the three “walls” of the stage: the story ends with Jesus “breaking the fourth wall,” and all the actors in the story suddenly turning and “watching carefully” for the reaction of the rulers and the crowd that had gathered. The end of this particular play was up to them, after which its Author would appear on the stage and, quite literally, bring the house down.

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