As It Was Originally Intended - Prodigal Son Book Review

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As It Was Originally Intended Book Review on ‘The Prodigal Son’ by John MacArthur The Prodigal Son. John MacArthur. Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2008. 210 pages I love the parable of The Prodigal Son! It is such a well-known and beloved story, inspiring the likes of Shakespeare, Dickens and Rembrandt. It has even shaped contemporary language by giving us common phrases like ‘feeding on husks’ and ‘killing the fatted calf.’ In his book, The Prodigal Son (previously published A Tale of Two Sons), John MacArthur takes us deeper into those 22 verses in Luke 15 and provides fascinating new insight into one of the Bible’s most important stories. The book is broken neatly into five main parts: The Parable, The Prodigal, The Father, The Elder Brother and the Epilogue. Adding historical context, MacArthur retells the story of the prodigal son while highlighting cultural details most likely missed by the 21st century reader. As John writes, “the vividness of the parable is deliberately designed to highlight the parable’s central meaning.” So even though it is easy to get the essence of this simple parable, it’s an added treat when the details of the story are examined more closely and seen as they were originally intended – “Through the lens of first-century agrarian village life.” In particular, I enjoyed reading about how the original audience probably reacted as Jesus, the master storyteller, let the plot unfold – Shocking and incredible at every turn (from a first-century point of view). As an example – For modern day readers like us, the younger son’s request to get his inheritance early is definitely inappropriate. In that culture, however, where honor was so important, it wasn’t just inappropriate – It was completely disgraceful, and deserved a punishment as severe as being considered by the family to be dead. Therefore, reading how the father responded to

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