What kind of disciple are you? Wise or foolish? Are you prepared for the Second Coming?

This parable challenges us to be prepared and watchful and expectant of the Messiah’s return.

Before we begin the exegesis …..

Quick definition of a parable:

Literally, the word parable (parabolē in Greek) combines para– (pronounced pah-rah) and means “alongside” and bolē (pronounced boh-lay) which means “put” or even “throw”). Therefore, a parable puts two or more images or ideas alongside each other to produce a new truth. […] The Shorter Lexicon says that the Greek word parabolē can sometimes be translated as “symbol,” “type,” “figure,” and “illustration,” the latter term being virtually synonymous with parable.

For more information on what a parable is and its purposes, click on this link:

What Is a Parable?

The translation is mine. If you would like to see other translations, click here:

biblegateway.com.

If you don’t read Greek, ignore the left column.

I often quote scholars in print because I learn many things from them. They form a community of teachers I respect (1 Cor. 12:28), though I don’t agree with everything they write. But they do ensure I do not go astray. There is safety in numbers (for me at least).

Now let’s begin.

Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids(Matt. 25:1-13)

1 Τότε ὁμοιωθήσεται ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν δέκα παρθένοις, αἵτινες λαβοῦσαι τὰς λαμπάδας ἑαυτῶν ἐξῆλθον εἰς ὑπάντησιν τοῦ νυμφίου. 2 πέντε δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἦσαν μωραὶ καὶ πέντε φρόνιμοι. 3 αἱ γὰρ μωραὶ λαβοῦσαι τὰς λαμπάδας αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔλαβον μεθ’ ἑαυτῶν ἔλαιον. 4 αἱ δὲ φρόνιμοι ἔλαβον ἔλαιον ἐν τοῖς ἀγγείοις μετὰ τῶν λαμπάδων ἑαυτῶν. 5 χρονίζοντος δὲ τοῦ νυμφίου ἐνύσταξαν πᾶσαι καὶ ἐκάθευδον. 6 μέσης δὲ νυκτὸς κραυγὴ γέγονεν· ἰδοὺ ὁ νυμφίος, ἐξέρχεσθε εἰς ἀπάντησιν [αὐτοῦ]. 7 τότε ἠγέρθησαν πᾶσαι αἱ παρθένοι ἐκεῖναι καὶ ἐκόσμησαν τὰς λαμπάδας ἑαυτῶν. 8 αἱ δὲ μωραὶ ταῖς φρονίμοις εἶπαν· δότε ἡμῖν ἐκ τοῦ ἐλαίου ὑμῶν, ὅτι αἱ λαμπάδες ἡμῶν σβέννυνται. 9 ἀπεκρίθησαν δὲ αἱ φρόνιμοι λέγουσαι· μήποτε οὐ μὴ ἀρκέσῃ ἡμῖν καὶ ὑμῖν· πορεύεσθε μᾶλλον πρὸς τοὺς πωλοῦντας καὶ ἀγοράσατε ἑαυταῖς. 10 ἀπερχομένων δὲ αὐτῶν ἀγοράσαι ἦλθεν ὁ νυμφίος, καὶ αἱ ἕτοιμοι εἰσῆλθον μετ’ αὐτοῦ εἰς τοὺς γάμους καὶ ἐκλείσθη ἡ θύρα. 11 ὕστερον δὲ ἔρχονται καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ παρθένοι λέγουσαι· κύριε κύριε, ἄνοιξον ἡμῖν. 12 ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς. 13 Γρηγορεῖτε οὖν, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε τὴν ἡμέραν οὐδὲ τὴν ὥραν.

1 “At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like ten maidens who took their own torches and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five prudent. 3 For the foolish ones, taking their torches, did not take oil with them. 4 But the prudent ones took oil in their flasks along with their own torches. 5 When the bridegroom delayed, all of them got drowsy and fell asleep. 6 But in the middle of the night, a shout happened: ‘Look! the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 Then all of those maidens got up and prepared their own torches. 8 But the foolish ones said to the prudent ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our torches are going out.’ 9 But the prudent ones replied, saying, ‘In case there is in no way enough (oil) for us and you, go instead to the sellers and buy it for yourselves.’ 10 After they departed to buy it, the bridegroom came, and the prepared ones went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was closed. 11 Later on, the remaining maidens also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up to us!’ 12 But in reply, he said, ‘I tell you the truth: I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore because you do not know the day nor the hour.”

Quick introduction

“But the point is simply that readiness, whatever form it takes, is not something that can be achieved by last-minute adjustments” (France p. 947).

In the above pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or unit or section, we find this sequence:

Parousia → Judgment → Kingdom Age

Recall that the parousia means the Second Coming or the Return. The bridegroom returned or arrived, and the five wise girls went into the wedding feast with him, which represents the New Kingdom Age or Messianic banquet, while the five silly girls were judged and excluded. This pericope is not about a separate rapture; it’s about the parousia, as the previous pericopes after 24:36 and the next two parables confirm.

Bridegroom = the Messiah

Ten Bridesmaids = His followers (wise and true v. foolish or false)

Now let’s take things verse by verse.

1-2:

One more definition of terms:

“kingdom of heaven”: Matthew substitutes “heaven” (literally heavens or plural) nearly every time (except for 12:28; 19:24; 21:31, 43, where he uses kingdom of God). Why? Four possible reasons: (1) Maybe some extra-pious Jews preferred the circumlocution or the roundabout way of speaking, but this answer is not always the right one, for Matthew does use the phrase “kingdom of God” four times; (2) the phrase “kingdom of heaven” points to Christ’s post-resurrection authority; God’s sovereignty in heaven and earth (beginning with Jesus’s ministry) is now mediated through Jesus (28:18); (3) “kingdom of God” makes God the king (26:29) and leaves less room to ascribe the kingdom to Jesus (16:28; 25:31, 34, 40; 27:42), but the phrase “the kingdom of heaven” leaves more room to say Jesus is the king Messiah. (4) It may be a stylistic variation that has no deeper reasoning behind it (France). In my view the third option shows the close connection to the doctrine of the Trinity; the Father and Son share authority, after the Father gives it to him during the Son’s incarnation. The kingdom of heaven is both the kingdom of the Father and the kingdom of the Messiah (Carson). And, since I like streamlined interpretations, the fourth one also appeals to me.

Now let’s go for a general consideration of the kingdom of heaven / God. As noted in other verses that mention the kingdom in this commentary, the kingdom is God’s power, authority, rule, reign and sovereignty. He exerts all those things over all the universe but more specifically over the lives of people. It is his invisible realm, and throughout the Gospels Jesus is explaining and demonstrating what it looks like before their very eyes and ears. It is gradually being manifested from the realm of faith to the visible realm, but it is not political in the human sense. It is a secret kingdom because it does not enter humanity with trumpets blaring and full power and glory. This grand display will happen when Jesus comes back. In his first coming, it woos people to surrender to it. We can enter God’s kingdom by being born again (John 3:3, 5), by repenting (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:5), by having the faith of children (Matt. 18:4; Mark 10:14-15), by being transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son whom God loves (Col. 1:13), and by seeing their own poverty and need for the kingdom (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20; Jas. 2:5). The kingdom has already come in part at his First Coming, but not yet with full manifestation and glory and power until his Second Coming.

5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully

Bible Basics about the Kingdom of God

Questions and Answers about Kingdom of God

Basic Definition of Kingdom of God

1 Introducing the Kingdom of God (begin a ten-part series)

Now let’s get back to the personal side of the parable.

The maidens are the friends of the bride and groom (the Greek noun says “virgins”, see just below), so please don’t draw the excessive conclusion that this parable endorses polygamy of “biblical proportions.”

“At that time”: it is the conjunction tote (pronounced toh-teh), and it refers backwards to 24:36, where Jesus had introduced the fact that no one knows the day or the hour of the parousia or Second Coming, which is repeated here in v. 13. Context, context, context. This whole parable is one long teaching about what the days leading up to the parousia or Second Coming will look like. That’s why the verb is in the future tense: “will be like.” The prudent girls illustrate how we are to prepare for the parousia.

Blomberg summarizes the scene:

The imagery of the parable accurately reflects typical customs of first-century Palestinian wedding festivities. A welcoming processional escorts the newly married couple from the bride’s home to a great banquet at the bridegroom’s home, some unspecified time after the legal nuptials have been exchanged. Torches light the way in the darkness, so all the bridesmaids have to take enough oil to keep them burning for as long as might be necessary. The two groups of women are described as exactly alike in everything except their preparations. Thus the fact that five fall in each category does not teach that there will be the same number saved as lost. (comment on 25:1-5)

“torches”: it was a bundle of cloths tied to a stick, and the cloths were dowsed or soaked with olive oil. The flame would not last more than fifteen minutes, so oil had to be taken with the girls in a container (translated here as flask, following Grammarian Olmstead). At night, the bridesmaids would light their torches, go out and meet the groom, and escort him into the wedding feast.

Jesus straightforwardly describes these ten maidens or girls: foolish and prudent. The Greek for maidens is parthenos (pronounced par-then-oss), and it means virgin. The bride is not mentioned, but virginity even in the bridesmaids was sacrosanct. In this culture, the girl lived with her family, the marriage was arranged, and she did not stray far, under the watchful eye of her father and mother. It is a sure thing that girls back then were indeed virgins. Even pagan Greek novels at the time went to great lengths to protect the heroine’s virginity, even when she had been kidnapped by pirates, for example. She remained pure up to the time she was reunited with the bridegroom at the end of the story.

“foolish”: the adjective is mōros (pronounced moh-ross, and our word moron is related to it). It appears in Matt. 5:22, where Jesus said not to call someone a fool, but he was speaking in the context of a thoughtless, mean-spirited remark. It appears in Matt. 7:26 about the foolish man who built his house on an unstable foundation. In Matt. 23:17, he called the Pharisees and teachers of the law “fools!” Yes, he really was being thoughtful and had analyzed and sized them up accurately. And finally it appears here in Matt. 25:2, 3, 8 (see also 1 Cor. 1:25, 27; 3:8; 4:10; 2 Tim. 2:23; Ti. 3:9). Matthew is the only Gospel writer who uses it. BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT, and it defines the term simply: “foolish, stupid.”

“prudent”: it comes from the adjective phronimos (pronounced fraw-nee-moss), and it means: “sensible, thoughtful, prudent, wise.” It is God-given know-how. It may even include shrewdness (Luke 16:8). It also appears back in 24:45 in the Parable of the Faithful and Unfaithful Servants, where the servant is smart or wise enough to run a household faithfully and with business savvy.

3-4:

“For”: Jesus now explains why five were foolish and five were prudent. The prudent ones prepared with olive oil, while the others were unprepared.

Some teachers say that the oil symbolize the Holy Spirit. However, this symbolism is not the main point of the story, because oil can be bought, while the Spirit cannot! Instead, it is to be prepared and watch spiritually and morally, as we go about our business and daily routine (v. 13).

5-6:

Both the prudent and foolish ones fell asleep. As just noted, this indicates that it is all right to go about your daily routine; just keep spiritually and morally alert, every minute.

“delayed”: it is the verb chronizō (pronounced khro-nee-zoh), and it means, depending on the context: (1) “take time, linger, fail to come (or stay away), for a long time … (2) delay, take a long time in doing something; (3) stay (somewhere for a long time)” (Shorter Lexicon). The best definition here is the second one. It appears in 25:5, the Parable of the Faithful and Unfaithful Servants (24:45-51), so the two parables are connected by the same themes and wording. The main point is to be alert because you don’t know the day or the hour of the parousia or Second Coming.

These verses speak of scoffers who sneer at the delay:

³ Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” ⁵ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ⁶ By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.  ⁷ By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. (2 Pet. 3:3-10, NIV).

The scoffers need to be careful! They will be shocked when the Lord returns in his parousia (Second Coming).And by the way, that long passage does not teach a separate rapture or a thousand year reign (millennium) between the day of the Lord (Second Coming) and the judgment (v. 10). In fact, Peter says that the thousand years is symbolic! Maybe we should interpret the millennium reign of Christ, mentioned only in Rev. 20, the most symbolic book of the Bible, symbolically. (See the Summary and Conclusion section, below.)

Once again: What Does ‘Parousia’ Mean?

7-9:

Uh-oh. The bridegroom returned. A shout went out (literally “happened” or “took place”) in the middle of the night. The maidens got up and trimmed or prepared their torches, but the foolish ones realized their fire was going out. They had lit their torches, but they burned only fifteen minutes, so they had no oil to replenish their fuel for the flame. They asked the wise ones for a share of their oil, but they wisely said no. There is not enough for the both of them.

No, this parable is not about sharing, but about preparing adequately. Each individual must guard her heart to wait expectantly for the Lord. No one can give her share of the Holy Spirit to another person. In any case, once again, let’s not overinterpret a parable and apply it to a social, national setting.

The wise girls (= prepared girls) told the foolish ones (= unprepared girls) to go to the marketplace and buy the oil. It is not clear if a seller would be open in the middle of the night, so the foolish ones must have waited until early morning for the vendor to open. This proves once again how foolish they were.

10-12:

While the foolish ones departed to buy the oil, the bridegroom came more visibly and with full manifestation and entered the place of the wedding feast—his own house. When the girls came back, they asked to be allowed in. The door was closed shut. Too late. Closing the door symbolizes the final division at the last judgment (Matt. 13:30, 48, 41; 22:8-13; and Luke 13:25). Yes, the bridegroom knew the girls, so his words “I don’t know you” are a judicial sentence, echoed in Matt. 7:22.

These words from the Sermon on the Mount are sobering:

²¹ Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one doing the will of my Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? And in your name expel demons? And in your name do many miracles?” ²³ And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you! Depart from me, you practitioners of lawlessness!” (Matt. 7:21-23)

I don’t believe that the foolish ones practiced lawlessness, but they did not prepare properly for the parousia. Their lack of oil symbolizes a false relationship, illustrating their lapse in judgment.

They must have floated through life, without a care in the world. They must have not been waiting patiently for the groom, but instead their minds wandered off and were distracted. They didn’t even go to the marketplace while they were waiting to buy enough olive oil. How foolish! What were they doing when the five wise ones bought their oil earlier in the waiting process, as each girl engaged in her daily routine? Were the silly girls trying out new makeup? Trying on new dresses for the big arrival? They didn’t think about the oil to greet him at night, the usual time for the girls to form a procession to escort him into the wedding feast. The wedding feast speaks of the Messianic Age, after final judgment when all ungodliness will be finally and thoroughly purged from the moral universe, not some feast after a rapture when more moral purging needs to happen after a final battle. The wedding feast celebrates the final victory (Matt. 8:11-12; 22:1-13).

“I tell you the truth”: Matthew uses this expression thirty times in his Gospel. “Truth” comes from the word amēn (pronounced ah-main and comes into English as amen). It expresses the authority of the one who utters it. The Hebrew root ’mn means faithfulness, reliability and certainty. It could be translated as “truly I tell you” or I tell you with certainty.” Jesus’s faith in his own words is remarkable and points to his unique calling. In the OT and later Jewish writings is indicates a solemn pronouncement, but Jesus’ “introductory uses of amēn to confirm his own words is unique” (France at his comment on 5:18).  The authoritative formula emphasizes pronouncements which are noteworthy and will be surprising or uncomfortable to the listener.

13:

Here’s the main point. Watch does not mean staying up 24/7/365, but to be prepared so that one can be ready to welcome the Lord at any time. After all, the ten girls fell asleep. No problem with it, because it illustrates living your daily routine as you wait for the parousia. Also, when the shout went forth, the prepared girls and the unprepared girls woke up at the same time. So what’s the big difference? Their preparations were different. Watching does not only mean posting a guard, but to be observant and expectant throughout your daily life. We simply don’t know the day or the hour of his parousia.

In context of all of Matthew 25, this parable does not allow for a separate rapture that happens before the Second Coming. No. This is about Jesus answering the disciples’ second question: no one knows the day or the hour of his return or parousia or Second Coming, which he restates in 24:37 and 39. The parousia will usher in the Messianic Age (the wedding feast) and being locked out in darkness (judgment and punishment).

See my post:

Rapture = Second Coming and Happen at Same Time on Last Day

Keener sums up this parable well:

To participate in their friends’ wedding was a great honor; as virgins, these young women were in a sense practicing for their own impending wedding around the age of twelve or sixteen. But to have spoiled the wedding for her by failing to do their appropriate part was a great insult to their friend and to the groom and guests. That they would be shut out of the fest in punishment suits their case, but the language used to depict this nightmare points beyond itself to more severe, eternal judgment, probably echoing the sayings in 7:21-23. … Wedding feasts involved great joy; thus the transgressors will mourn because they have been shut out from it (p. 599)

The Parable of the Faithful and Unfaithful Servants (24:45-51), this parable, and the next one, teach us that the parousia (Second Coming) is imminent. Be ready, because it could happen at any time.

GrowApp for Matthew 25:1-13

A.. Are you morally and spiritually watchful of the Lord’s return? How do you do this?

SOURCES

At this link you will find the bibliography at the very bottom.

Matthew 25