Note B — Numb. vi. 22-27.
Reading edition
When we speak of God as a Father we must not forget that He is only such in its full meaning to those who have become His children by faith in Christ Jesus; and that the sad and solemn words of the loving Saviour to the unconverted were, "Ye are of your father, the devil." The prodigal was a backslider: when furthest from home he could yet think and speak of the privileges of his father's house.