The Parable of the Lost Sons

Throughout the Bible land is symbolic of God's love for His people. When they are living peacefully in the promised land, it means they are living rightly and receiving God's gifts, but when they are at war and especially when they are in exile it reveals that they have not been following His commands. In the parable of the two lost sons neither understands why their father gives them his land. The younger thinks it's so that he can do whatever he wants and the older thinks it's because his father wants him to be a slave. The land is God's love for us. It is a love that provides for us and sustains us.