12. the younger--as the more thoughtless.
said, &c.--weary of restraint, panting for independence, unable longer
to abide the check of a father's eye. This is man impatient of
divine control, desiring to be independent of God, seeking to be his own
master; that "sin of sins, in which all subsequent sins are included as
in their germ, for they are but the unfolding of this one" [TRENCH].
he divided, &c.--Thus "God, when His service no longer appears a
perfect freedom, and man promises himself something far better
elsewhere, allows him to make the trial; and he shall discover, if need
be by saddest proof, that to depart from Him is not to throw off the
yoke, but to exchange a light yoke for a heavy one, and one gracious
Master for a thousand imperious tyrants and lords" [TRENCH].
JFB.
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