“The father is convinced that the younger, the prodigal, is the one who is lost, and in many respects he is correct,” writes Levine. “However, we find out at the end of the parable that the son who is in fact ‘lost’ is the elder. The owner spots the missing sheep among the hundred, and the woman spots the missing coin among the ten. The father, with only two sons, was unable to count correctly.”3
