I was reading a children’s book on the Prodigal Son and one sentence stopped me in my tracks. “So the man divided all he had between his sons.”

Wait. What?

I had always thought that when the Prodigal asked for his portion, the father just gave his portion to the younger son. And the older son didn’t get anything at that time (the father retained the rest of his wealth). So, I could kind of see why the older brother got upset when the father threw a party for the return of the younger brother. Not only did he get his inheritance before he should have, but he got a party, too.

But if they both got their inheritance before they should have… This could change things.

So, I looked up Luke 15:11+ in various version of the Bible. Sure enough, *both* brothers got their inheritance.

Now, I don’t really get why the older brother is so upset. The father’s just not commenting on what each son did with his inheritance. He’s only celebrating because the younger son is back. All this time, the older brother *had* his inheritance and could have thrown parties left and right if he wanted to.

Thanks be to God for children’s books. They teach me stuff. 🙂