Luke 15:4

ἐξ ὑμῶν, what man of you. Even the Pharisees and scribes would so act in temporal affairs. Every human being knows the joy of finding things lost. It is only in religion that men lose the scent of simple universal truths. ἑκατὸν πρ.: a hundred a considerable number, making one by comparison insignificant. The owner, one would say, can afford to lose a single erring sheep. Yet not so judges the owner himself, any owner. Losing only one (ἐξ αὐτῶν ἓν) he takes immediate steps to recover it. ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, in the unfilled, unfenced pasture land; but of course not so as to run the risk of losing the whole flock: it is left under the care of an assistant, the master taking the more arduous task to himself. ἐπὶ after πορεύεται indicates not only direction but aim: goeth after in order to find. (Schanz; Kypke remarks that ἐπὶ with verbs of going or sending often indicates “scopum itionis” and is usually prefixed to the thing sought. Similarly Pricaeus.) ἕως εὕρῃ : the search not perfunctory, but thorough; goes on till the lost one be found, if that be possible.