Note 72 — THE LOST SHEEP, THE LOST COIN, AND THE PRODIGAL SON. Luke xv.

While the evidence that the main division is twofold, not threefold, lies chiefly in the nature of the several representations, the minute formulae by which the transitions of the narrative are effected, point in the same direction. The parable of the lost sheep is introduced by the phrase, “And he spake this parable,” (ειπε δε την παραβολην), and that of the prodigal by the corresponding, “And he said,” (ειπε δε). These two are thus balanced over against each other; but the only link between the lost sheep and the lost silver is, Either (η), indicating that the second does not introduce a new subject, but gives another illustration of that which was already expressed in the first.[72]