Two younger sons of two fathers, one in the Prodigal Son parable and the other, Jacob, son of Isaac, each acquires his inheritance before the father’s death and is resented by an older brother. In both instances, heaven so directs events as to mitigate fraternal discord.

In the Good Samaritan parable, the victim suffering from an assault and the passing Samaritan who cares for him are inspired by two different facets of Joseph’s life. Joseph was a victim, beaten up by his brothers and thrown into a pit. Later, as the ancestor of the Samaritans, he was the rescuer of the Egyptians and his family from famine.

The influence of stories in Genesis is an outstanding feature of the parables. Patriarchal misconduct is particularly in focus. Activities depicted in the parables are inspired by incidents involving the very first ancestors of Israel. Luke presents Jesus as the creator, a patriarch in some sense, of the final redeemed community of a new Israel awaiting the kingdom of God. His disciples, “sons of light,” are its first members.

The story in Genesis 38 about the salvation of the line of Judah by Tamar inspires the Widow and the Unjust Judge parable. The widow in the parable evokes the oppression experienced by the widow Tamar, who was the victim of Judah’s failure as head of family to implement the levirate duty to reestablish her dead husband’s estate. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector parable depicts a Pharisee extolling his own virtue who would not be “acquitted of his sins,” and a tax collector who berates himself for his sinfulness who would “be exalted.” In the background is Judah’s acknowledgment that Tamar had been more righteous than he because he had not compelled his son Shelah to fulfill the levirate requirement, a neglect that, in turn, prompted her to prostitute herself with Judah to attain a much desired child.

The Friend at Midnight parable depicts a request for food being rebuffed and then accommodated. Underlying events are when the brothers asked Joseph, when he was master of the land of Egypt, for food and were accommodated, but in a fraught manner.

In the Pounds parable, a nobleman, disliked among his people, goes abroad, and returns to prove himself a good administrator, though one with harsh standards, as is Jesus in the parable in regard to his enemies. In Genesis, Joseph, disliked by his brothers, had gone abroad to Egypt and proved there to be a good administrator in the time of the famine, but one who, for a time, treated his brothers harshly.

The Lost Sheep parable’s straying sheep are comparable to Joseph when he wandered in the wilderness in search of his brothers, who treated him badly. Although Joseph later acted on his own vengeful feelings against the brothers, joyful reconciliation ensued, the positive moment being reflected in the parable. The Lost Coin parable puzzlingly associates a woman’s joy at finding a lost coin in her home with a call for repentance for sin. Evoked are developments in the Judah and Tamar story that include questionable behavior on both their parts and resulted in the birth of Perez, ancestor of Jesus.

In the Rich Man and Lazarus parable, a privileged rich man suffers after death while the suffering Lazarus, after death, is comforted in heaven. The tale conveys the urgent necessity of repentance. The parable portrays a form of divine justice not available to Esau in Genesis 25, who, when in a reduced state, had to beg his brother Jacob for food for which the deceived Esau, under duress, exchanged his birthright.

The Joseph story has money the brothers paid for grain surreptitiously returned to their sacks, in some sense a loan only but, as it turned out, an act concealing a gift, which led to reconciliation. Topics in the Two Debtors parable covering debt, sin, and forgiveness rework these features of the Joseph story.

The Rich Fool parable entails an implicit contrast between Joseph’s splendid public handling of the grain from superabundant harvests in Egypt and a private individual’s management of his abundance of stored crops. Condemned in the parable, the rich man’s focus on his own prosperity stands in sharp contrast to Joseph’s magnanimous contribution to the wider public’s welfare and the well-being of his own family.

Unrighteousness in the Steward of Unrighteousness parable adheres to a business tycoon whose steward is forced to act cannily on his own behalf, a stratagem that in an ideal future world will no longer be necessary. Underlying are deceptive actions involving money that Joseph had his steward take against the brothers, which nonetheless resulted in reconciliation among Israel’s first family.

The Introduction lays out connections between Parables unique to Luke and stories about Israel’s founding families. Like Jesus who looked to stories of Israel’s origins when explaining matters relating to himself, Luke reworked well-known Genesis texts to convey ideas.