📖 Biblical Definition
Christ's second lost-found parable: a woman with ten silver coins (Greek drachma, a day's wage) loses one, lights a candle, sweeps the house, searches diligently until she finds it. Then she calls neighbors and friends to rejoice with her. Christ's interpretation: "likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." The parable parallels the lost sheep but adds a feminine and domestic dimension.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Luke 15: woman searches diligently for lost coin; angelic joy at repentance.
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Christ's second lost-found parable in Luke 15:8-10. A woman has ten silver coins (Greek drachma, roughly a day's wage). She loses one. She lights a candle, sweeps the house (interior dirt-floored Palestinian house with low light), and searches diligently until she finds it. When she finds it, she calls her neighbors and friends together: "Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost." Christ's interpretation: "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." The parable parallels the lost sheep (active search, joy at finding, communal celebration) but adds a feminine and domestic dimension — one of several places where Christ uses feminine imagery to illuminate God's character (cf. the hen gathering her chicks, Matt 23:37).
📖 Key Scripture
Luke 15:8-9 — "Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost."
Luke 15:10 — "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."
Matthew 23:37 — "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Often skipped to get to the prodigal son (the third parable); the trio is meant to be read as one escalating sequence.
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The three parables of Luke 15 form a deliberate sequence: lost sheep (1 of 100), lost coin (1 of 10), lost son (1 of 2). The proportion of the lost grows with each parable; the search intensifies; the celebration deepens. The three together answer Pharisaic complaint that Christ ate with sinners (15:2). Don't skip the coin; it is the bridge.
Recover the trio: read all three as one escalating answer to the question "why does Christ welcome sinners?" Because the kingdom is shaped by lost-and-found joy.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek drachma.
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['Greek', 'G1406', 'drachmē', 'drachma, silver coin']
['Greek', 'G2212', 'zēteō', 'to seek']
Usage
"Diligent search by candle."
"Bridge parable in Luke 15's trio."
"Feminine, domestic imagery for God."