A very interesting post Scott, thanks for elaborating on the role of both the younger and elder brothers in this story.
You talk about the need to obey God's commandments and his way of life, as it is the way of joy and peace and happiness. The younger brother went in search of that happiness.
Yet God has many occasions within his Law for rejoicing before him at his Annual Festivals that were to remind Israel of the great events in history when God delivered them and provided for them.
The younger brother wanted to have this kind of party all the time, and have adultery as well.
The elder brother said that the Father had never given him a fatted calf to enjoy, but this is not true as he would have gone to the festivals three times a year to celebrate before God and rejoice with other from all over Israel. This shows his disrespect for what God and his Father had given him.
Taking the Festivals of God into the equation gives a greater dimension to the issue of moralism.
I am so thrilled to have found your Substack. Excellent writing, with great thought behind it. Your Substack led me to buy your book, A Gentle Answer, and I’m really enjoying it. I read from it nightly, if you don’t have a new Substack post up. I also read Andrew and Spencer Klavan’s Substack, The New Jerusalem, and find your writing of the same high quality. Thank you again - very thought provoking.
A very interesting post Scott, thanks for elaborating on the role of both the younger and elder brothers in this story.
You talk about the need to obey God's commandments and his way of life, as it is the way of joy and peace and happiness. The younger brother went in search of that happiness.
Yet God has many occasions within his Law for rejoicing before him at his Annual Festivals that were to remind Israel of the great events in history when God delivered them and provided for them.
The younger brother wanted to have this kind of party all the time, and have adultery as well.
The elder brother said that the Father had never given him a fatted calf to enjoy, but this is not true as he would have gone to the festivals three times a year to celebrate before God and rejoice with other from all over Israel. This shows his disrespect for what God and his Father had given him.
Taking the Festivals of God into the equation gives a greater dimension to the issue of moralism.
I am so thrilled to have found your Substack. Excellent writing, with great thought behind it. Your Substack led me to buy your book, A Gentle Answer, and I’m really enjoying it. I read from it nightly, if you don’t have a new Substack post up. I also read Andrew and Spencer Klavan’s Substack, The New Jerusalem, and find your writing of the same high quality. Thank you again - very thought provoking.
An amazing post today. And a really good tool I can use. Thank you.