Bible Study series: Matthew 25:1-13. The main message is to get ready for the coming of the bridegroom (the Messiah)
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13
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.” (Matt. 25:1-13)
Comments:
“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), 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.
Quick digression: What is a parable?
Bridegroom = the Messiah
Ten Bridesmaids = His followers (wise and true v. foolish or false)
1-2:
One more definition of terms:
“kingdom of heaven”: 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.
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 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”: 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 describes these ten maidens or girls straightforwardly: 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 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 that 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)
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”: Jesus’s faith in his own words is remarkable and points to his unique calling. In the OT and later Jewish writings it 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 the context of all of Matt. 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 Matt. 25:1-13
1. Oil often symbolizes the Holy Spirit. When you were born again, the Spirit caused your new birth. Tell your story about being born again.
2. Are you morally and spiritually watchful of the Lord’s return? How do you do this?
RELATED
9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 