The presentation of this parable immediately follows Jesus' statements about faithfulness, which should be characteristic of a Christian (Matthew 24 chapter). Does this mean that Jesus continues his thought, which he began earlier in the parable of the faithful and wise servant? Undoubtedly. Given the context, I believe Jesus is here warning about personal spirituality and purity. Let's read chapter 24 carefully: it ends with Jesus' story about two categories of workers. Some of them are industrious, faithful, prudent slaves, distributing spiritual food to the servants of their master in time. Others are unscrupulous, careless slaves; they err themselves and lead others astray regarding the Coming of the Lord, they beat their comrades and in shabby friendship with drunkards (people of this world). If Jesus praised the first, calling them "blessed" because they please Him and build His Kingdom, then He severely condemned the second. Those who are negligent in their ministry, who are careless in serious matters, and do wrong deeds, He qualifies as a worthless slave, as a person with with an evil heart and equates their fate with the fate of the hypocrites: on the day of the visitation, He will "cut" them where "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." We know that this will be the most difficult time of testing under the Antichrist.
As we can see, the ending of chapter 24 prepares the reader for the thought of the imminent and sudden Coming of Christ, of the two categories of believers, and of how He will deal with them. Those who are waiting for His coming, who are preparing to meet, He will greatly rejoice; but those who do not wait, who act willfully and willfully, will be punished. In Chapter 25, the Lord deepens, expands and brightens this thought with a beautiful illustration from the life of an ancient eastern village. Jesus painted a picture that was clear to His disciples who listened, and only we believers of the 20th century need to understand it.
Historical and cultural context
According to the customs of that time, the father of the bride prepared a feast for the bride and his friends in his house, how long this feast lasted was unknown. Therefore, guests who were waiting for the bride and groom in the house could wait an indefinite amount of time until the groom returned to this house with his bride.
Why could the girls' lamps go out? It should be mentioned that the lamps could only contain a very small amount of oil, as they themselves were small, so it was customary to carry an extra supply of oil in special containers so that the fire could burn constantly.
When night fell, the guests decided that the groom would wait until morning to come to his house from the bride's house. But, contrary to custom, the groom went to his house after dark. When he approached the house, he sent messengers ahead of him, who were to inform the guests of his imminent arrival, so that they could meet him and then escort him to the place of the feast. It was already dark, so the greeters could not do it without lamps.
So, what was the "stupidity" of the five of the virgins? They decided that the bridegroom would not come at night, but according to custom, would appear during the day, and therefore they did not take additional oil, and, as a result, they could not go out to meet them. The groom came against their expectations, at night. False expectations led to complete unpreparedness.
Considerations by various interpreters
What does all this mean? Some believe that this is due to the baptism with the Holy Spirit, another version - that with salvation.
There are opinions as to how to interpret the symbols in the parable. No one doubts that the bridegroom is Christ, and the wedding is the marriage feast of the Lamb, that is, the meeting of Christ and the Church. For whom to take 10 virgins - for all people who hear the sermon, or only believers? Here differences in understanding appear, some interpreters even believe that only believers baptized in the spirit are meant, although this position is not justified by the text. The most striking difference arises in the interpretation that there is a lamp and oil in the lamp. Here you can hear completely opposite opinions. You can hear, for example, that "the lamps are the commandments of God, and the oil is the observance of these commandments or faith manifested in deeds." Another common belief is that the lamp is the spirit of man, this is supported by the Scripture "The lamp of God is the spirit of man that searches the depths of the heart." Then the oil is the Holy Spirit living in the human spirit. The third opinion: "The lamps symbolize the Word of God, as it is said: "Thy word is a lamp to my feet." Fourth: "Oil is faith, and lamps are truth." So what do we see? Almost everyone agrees on the interpretation of who the groom is, but disagree on all other details. The reason for this is that Christ did not explain the symbolism of this parable.
So let's recap what we've learned so far. We learned that the main idea of the parable is our readiness to meet Jesus Christ. The Greek word "gregoreo" rarely means "keep awake", but is almost always used as "be ready". Jesus also speaks of this as a conclusion at the end of the parable. The problem that was highlighted in the parable is that the false expectations of the unwise have led to their complete unpreparedness. What is oil in lamps and what does this symbol mean? Can it mean, for example, faith or the Holy Spirit? The parable speaks of our readiness, can a person who has faith be fully prepared to meet Christ? Or is it enough for a person to just be baptized, and thereby fully prepare for the coming of the Lord? Obviously not. One can have faith but not love, and be like a sounding cymbal. It becomes clear that the oil in the lamp cannot mean any one specific Christian virtue, because the Christian's readiness to meet the Lord implies that the disciple has a combination of virtues, and not just one. Few people pay attention to the fact that the foolish virgins had oil in the lamp, but did not have a supply of oil in a separate container. Here, those people who want to convey a certain meaning to “oil in a lamp” find themselves in a very difficult situation, it turns out that one can have faith, but it may not be enough, or one may not have enough of the Holy Spirit. It becomes clear that these are misinterpretations.
What does this symbol really mean? The whole parable speaks of our vigilance of our readiness. The oil in the lamp does not mean anything specific; in the parable, it simply illustrated the readiness of the wise virgins to meet the groom. Therefore, for us, it simply illustrates our readiness to meet the Lord.
In the previous chapter, chapter 24, Jesus commanded His servants to watch over His house until He comes, no matter how long the wait. In the teaching on vigilance, our personal life. We must keep personal purity, loyalty, honor and righteousness before God. We must show love to others and to Jesus. We must pray, study the Scriptures, we must be born again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is all part of what we are to do as we wait for His coming.
Jesus says that it is impossible at a crucial moment to borrow personal morality from somewhere. If you are dishonest, you cannot come to someone and say, lend me some piety. You either have it or you don't. No one can share honor or dishonor with anyone; no one can share in their salvation or the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Lord says to us: watch!
Of course, there may be moments of relaxation. We are unable to stay awake twenty-four hours a day, either physically or spiritually. But godliness, righteousness, and honor must never leave us. These are not things that you can put on and take off, you can use, but you can put aside. They are accumulated through personal initiative, effort, diligence and must be maintained constantly. They must become part of you.
You must keep clean. You must be moral this week. Should be true this week. Must be true and honest, must love on this day. Today you must be filled with the spirit of prayer and the righteousness of God. Today you must be saved. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit this week. Then, when severe trials come—or the Lord comes—your individual life will be spotless. Get ready to meet your coming Lord! This is the meaning of the parable of the ten virgins.
Bibliography:
1. “Interpreting the Parables” Craig L. Glomberg, Inter Varsity Press IL, 1990
2. “The parables of Jesus” George A. Buttrick, Baker Book House Michigan, 1973
3. “The parables of Jesus” J. Dwight Pentecost, Zondervan Corporation, 1982
4. "PARABLES OF JESUS CHRIST" © V.Ya. Kanatush, 1996
Everyone in Judea knew how weddings were celebrated. The bride and her friends were waiting at home for the arrival of the groom. But no one knew when he would appear. It could also happen in the middle of the night. When the groom finally arrived, the bride and her friends heard shouts: "The groom is coming! Go out to meet him!" Soon the groom appeared, accompanied by a joyful crowd. All the guests went to the groom's house and celebrated and had fun for a whole week.
Jesus wanted people to follow Him so that they might enter His kingdom before it was too late. He knew that He would not be with them for long. But someday He will return to earth as King - in all His power and glory. And then it will be too late to repent and follow Him.
On that day, Jesus said, the Kingdom of God will be like a wedding. One day the bride and ten friends with her were waiting for the arrival of the groom to join the wedding procession. It was evening, and each of the ten friends had a lamp. But five of them did not take oil with them to fill the lamps. Night fell and all the girls fell asleep.
Suddenly, at midnight, a cry was heard in a quiet street: "The groom is coming!"
The girls immediately jumped up and began to light the lamps. And then five foolish girls realized their mistake. "We don't have butter!" they complained. "Give us some of yours!" But the five prudent ones only had enough oil for their lamps. "We can't help you," they answered. "Go and buy yourself."
While the foolish maidens went for oil, the bridegroom came. The wise with all the guests entered the house for the wedding feast, and the doors closed behind them.
A little later, five fools came and began to knock on the door. "Let us go!" they shouted. The bridegroom answered: "I do not know you."
(from lecture course at http://oasis-media.tv/author/Joseph-Shulam/)
Peace to you! We continue the series of lessons on the parables of Yeshua. And as I said in the previous lesson, all the parables of Yeshua contain the secrets of the Kingdom of God.
We talked about this when we went through Matthew 13-11. When the disciples of Yeshua came and asked: “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He replied, “Because it has been given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it has not been given to them.” That is, it says that in every parable are the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. And a secret is a thing that should not be revealed to everyone, but only to the masters of the secret, who must and can understand the secret. Of course, there are political aspects within these parables, and they contain international political messages.
Also the parable of the ten virgins who came to meet the bridegroom, and each came with her own lamp. Five were wise, and brought extra butter with them. And five others did not bring oil, and they are called durrs or unreasonable, stupid.
Let's read the passage from Matthew 25 from the first verse:
1 Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 Of these, five were wise and five were foolish.
3 The foolish, taking their lamps, took no oil with them.
4 But the wise, along with their lamps, took oil in their vessels.
5 And as the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and fell asleep.
6 But at midnight there was a cry: Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose and adjusted their lamps.
8 But the foolish said to the wise, Give us your oil, for our lamps are going out.
9 But the wise answered: so that there is no shortage both among us and among you, it is better to go to the sellers and buy for yourself.
10 And when they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the doors were shut;
11 Then the other virgins also come and say, Lord! God! open to us.
12 And he answered them, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.
13 Watch therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
(Matt.25:1-13)
In the Christian evangelical world, the emphasis in this parable is on the oil, the extra oil that the wise virgins took with them. Oil is considered to be the most important thing in this parable.
But there is no mystery in the oil issue.
Everyone knows that when someone goes to a wedding, especially an Israeli wedding and a Jewish wedding in particular, there is bound to be a delay. I have never been to a wedding that started on time. This is not for Israel. All weddings start an hour and a half late from the time specified in the invitation. And that's okay. So the issue of delay is nothing new. And the oil issue is nothing new.
The new thing is that the groom comes unexpectedly. The groom comes unexpectedly and at midnight. And there is a midnight call: "Here is the bridegroom come." And the ten maidens (virgins) are all sleeping.
It is not that the wise do not sleep, but the foolish sleep. Everybody sleeps. And they are all equally caught in the fact that they need to wake up, get up, straighten their lamps and light them. And only then it becomes clear which of them are wise and which are stupid. For the wise had oil, but the fools did not. The news, the secret in this parable of Yeshua, is that everyone was caught by surprise, and the bridegroom does not accept those who are late. The door has closed and won't open again. And there is only one possibility - to be ready for the arrival of the groom: with lamps and additional oil, so as not to be late and not come to closed doors but get to the wedding feast.
What does Yeshua want to say here?
It is clear that the central thought is that the groom will be late, and that there will be a call at midnight, when everyone is sleeping, not waiting and not guessing. And then the bridegroom will come and appear unexpectedly before everyone. And when he comes, everyone should be ready to meet him. The one who was waiting will prepare the oil in advance, knowing that the groom will be late and that it will be a surprise. And he will surprise with his coming, and he will, so everyone should wake up and there will be no time to go to the market and buy more oil. There will be no time to prepare what should have been prepared in advance.
This expectation of the coming of the Messiah, which was in Israel, still exists. The expectation for the coming of the Messiah is perhaps the greatest in the entire world. We are a people who live in expectation that with the coming of the Messiah, reality will change. That the Messiah will bring peace, the solution of financial problems, the problems of our people and the whole world. Because, in the existing reality, we do not see how to solve these problems, we do not know how to create a real world between us and our neighbors. And so the only cure is to wait for something supernatural to come from heaven and solve our problems. And it is clear that the problems will not be solved without the intervention of the power of the Almighty in the Middle East. These problems have existed for hundreds, even thousands of years. And we were in dispersion, and returned, and until now our neighbors have remained the same neighbors. Waiting for the coming of the Messiah requires the people to be ready for His coming. To be ready to see him, to be ready with extra oil, so as not to be caught without oil, and when the bridegroom comes there will be no time to walk or run, to fill our lamps with last minute oil. Now we need to buy oil so that when the Messiah comes, there will be an opportunity to meet Him. There is a political message in this, understandable at a time when the people of Israel lived under the rule of the Romans and the ruling leaders were eliminated and the priests of the Temple and the spiritual leaders too. And the people were waiting for the Messiah to come and solve all problems. And Yeshua teaches here, first of all, that the bridegroom will come, and even if he is delayed, we will still wait for Him, as the Rambam said, and just as the prophet Habakkuk claims that the bridegroom will come, but will be delayed.
It's already lingering, and I think it's been lingering for thousands of years. But the news is that we must know in advance that he will be delayed and come unexpectedly. This teaching is not new in the parable, because in the previous chapter from Matthew, Yeshua teaches his apostles and disciples that the Messiah will come at midnight when everyone is asleep. And one will take, and the other will be left, that the Messiah will come like rain in broad daylight, like thunder and lightning from heaven, and no one can determine when it will happen. And therefore it is impossible to leave the oil at home, we must carry the oil with us and it must be enough.
And when we think of oil, what do we think of? About holiness, because the anointing oil was for holiness. We think about good deeds, about commandments, about things that will move the line of judgment in our favor. And that when the Messiah comes, we will not be caught unprepared. Similar things are still mentioned in the New Testament. Yeshua speaks of readiness so that there is no need to correct. Chazal, Rambam and great teachers of Israel taught about it. Especially Yeshua, who taught that at any hour and any day He can return.
Good day, good night.
And we will continue to teach the Word of God, which will wash us, encourage us, and strengthen us in the faith.
About ten virgins - one of the parables of Jesus Christ, given in the Gospel of Matthew
“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom. Of these, five were wise and five foolish. The foolish, taking their lamps, took no oil with them. The wise, along with their lamps, took oil in their vessels.
Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow
But at midnight there was a cry: behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him. Then all the virgins got up and adjusted their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, Give us your oil, for our lamps are going out. And the wise ones answered: so that there is no shortage for us and for you, it is better to go to the sellers and buy for yourself. When they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the doors were shut; Then the other virgins also come and say: Lord! God! open to us. And he answered and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Watch therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour when the Son of Man is coming."
(Matthew 25:1-13)
Christ depicted his second coming here under the image, well known to the Jews, of the coming of the groom to the bride's house during the wedding ritual. According to an ancient Eastern custom, after an agreement, the groom goes, accompanied by relatives and friends, to the house of the bride, who is waiting for him in her best outfit, surrounded by her friends. wedding celebration usually happened at night, so the bridesmaids met the groom with burning lamps and, since the time of the groom's arrival was not known exactly, those who were waiting stocked up on oil in case it burns out in the lamps. The bride, with her face covered with a thick veil, the groom and all participants in the celebration with singing and music went to the groom's house. The doors were closed, a marriage contract was signed, “blessings” were pronounced in honor of the bride and groom, the bride opened her face and the wedding feast began, which lasted seven days if the girl was getting married, or three days if the widow was leaving.
Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow
The wedding feast symbolizes in this parable the Kingdom of Heaven, where believers will be united with the Lord in blessed eternal life. Waiting for the bridegroom means the whole earthly life of a person, the purpose of which is to prepare oneself for a meeting with the Lord. The closed doors of the bridal chamber, which did not allow latecomers to the bridegroom, mean human death, after which there is no repentance and correction.
The Wise Virgins (Les vierges sages) James Tissot
According to the explanation of St. John Chrysostom, Christ led the believers entering the Kingdom of Heaven under the image of virgins, extolling virginity - not only bodily chastity, but mainly spiritual, true confession of the Christian Faith and life according to the Faith, as opposed to heresy, theomachism and neglect in regarding the salvation of his soul. “The lamp,” says St. John Chrysostom, “Christ calls here the gift of virginity, the purity of holiness, and the oil is philanthropy, mercy, help to the poor.” Oil in Holy Scripture, usually serves as an image of the Holy Spirit, and in this parable, burning oil means the spiritual burning of believers, blessed by the Holy Spirit of God, giving them His rich gifts: faith, love, mercy, and others, expressed in the Christian life of believers, in particular, in love and help near. The great righteous man clearly and convincingly explains the parable of the ten virgins. Reverend Seraphim Sarovskiy. The main idea of the Monk Seraphim is to understand the goal of the Christian life as "acquisition of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit", which he expressed in a wonderful conversation with the merchant N. Motovilov.
Jacopo Tintoretto
“In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins,” St. Seraphim says to his interlocutor, “when the holy fools did not have oil, it is said: “Go buy it at the marketplace.” But when they bought, the doors to the bridal chamber were already closed, and they could not enter it. Some say that the lack of oil among holy fools marks a lack of good deeds in them for life. This understanding is not entirely correct. What is their lack of good deeds when they, though holy fools, are still called virgins? After all, virginity is the highest virtue, as a state equal to the angels, and could serve as a substitute, in itself, for all other virtues ...
I, poor Seraphim, think that they lacked the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God. While doing virtue, these virgins, due to their spiritual folly, believed that this was only a Christian thing, to do only virtues. We, de, will do virtues and so, de, and we did the work of God, but before they received the grace of the Spirit of God, whether they achieved it, they didn’t care. About such and such ways of life, based only on one creation of virtues, without a thorough test, whether they bring and how much they bring, the grace of the Spirit of God, and it is said in the patristic books: “There is another way. seeming good in the beginning, but its ends are in the depths of hell.”
Francken, Hieronymus the Younger - Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins 1616
Not every “good deed”, according to the teachings of St. Seraphim, has spiritual value, but only those “good deeds” that are done in the name of Christ are valuable. In fact, it is easy to imagine (and often happens) that good deeds are done by unbelievers. But the Apostle Paul said about them: “If I give away all my possessions and give my body to be burned, but I do not have love, it does not profit me at all” (1 Cor. 13: 3).
Further, in order to clarify his idea of true goodness, St. Seraphim says: “Anthony the Great in his letters to monks speaks of such virgins: “Many monks and virgins have no idea about the differences in the wills that operate in a person, and do not know that three wills operate in us: the first is the will of God, all-perfect and all-saving; the second - one's own, human, that is, if not pernicious, then not saving, but the third will, enemy, completely pernicious. And it is this third, hostile will that teaches a person either not to do any virtues, or to do them out of vanity, or for good alone, and not for the sake of Christ.
Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow
The second - our own will, teaches us to do everything to please our lusts, and even as an enemy, teaches us to do good for the sake of good, not paying attention to the grace that it acquires. The first - the will of God and all-saving - consists only in doing good only for the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, as an eternal treasure, inexhaustible and incapable of being fully and worthy of appreciation.
It is this, this acquisition of the Holy Spirit, that is actually called that oil, which the foolish virgins did not have ... That is why they are called holy fools, because they forgot about the necessary fruit of virtue, about the grace of the Holy Spirit, without which there is no salvation for anyone and it cannot be, for “every soul is alive in the Holy Spirit” ... This is the oil in the lamps of the wise virgins, which could burn brightly and for a long time, and those virgins with these burning lamps could wait for the Bridegroom who came to midnight, and enter with Him into the palace of joy. The holy fools, who saw that their lamps were fading, although they went to the marketplace to buy oil, did not have time to return in time, for the doors were already closed.
Wise and Foolish Virgins Peter Joseph von Cornelius, c. 1813
From the parable of the ten virgins it follows quite clearly that the justification of a person both at a private judgment (after death) and at a universal the Last Judgment, only his earthly life in God will serve, according to the precepts of Christ and, therefore, consonant with the Kingdom of Heaven. All the same, "formal" Christians, living out of contact with God and not caring about their salvation, are preparing for themselves the fate of the outcasts. “No one ascends to heaven living cool,” teaches St. Isaac of Syria.
Neither formal faith, without living according to the commandments of Christ (Luke 6:46; James 1:22; Rom. 2:13), nor prophecy in the name of Christ, or many miracles performed in His Name, as can be seen from the words of the Savior (Matt. 7 : 21-23), are not sufficient to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. “Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ, that one is not His,” says the Apostle Paul (Rom. 8: 9) and it will be natural to hear the words of the Son of God: “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you” (Matt. 25: 12)
Matthew 25:1-13:
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom. Of these, five were wise and five were foolish. The foolish, taking their lamps, took no oil with them. The wise, along with their lamps, took oil in their vessels. And as the bridegroom slowed down, everyone dozed off and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry: "Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him." Then all the virgins got up and adjusted their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, "Give us your oil, for our lamps are going out." And the wise ones answered: “so that there is no shortage for us and for you, it’s better to go to those who sell and buy for yourself.” When they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the doors were shut; and then the other virgins come and say, “Lord! God! Open to us." He answered and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Watch therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”
Barnes' commentary defines the lamps referred to in the parable:
“The 'lamps' mentioned that were used during marriage ceremonies were most likely torches. They were made from rags twisted around iron or earthenware, which was filled with oil and attached to a wooden handle. These torches, to give light, periodically dipped in oil". (Highlight added.)
Thus, all ten virgins had oil in their lamps. This is evident from the biblical text, which states that ten virgins, waiting for the bridegroom, went out to meet him. However, the five foolish virgins did not take their supply of oil with them. Perhaps they were expecting the immediate appearance of the Lord, therefore, they felt that they would not need additional oil, or they simply did not care about it. Five intelligent virgins, on the contrary, realizing that they do not know "neither the day nor the hour" in which the Lord will appear, decided to stock up on oil in case their lamps go out. Therefore, they made the necessary preparations. The Lord came at midnight, when no one expected Him. The lamps of the foolish virgins went out, and they had no supply of oil. They were not ready at the time of the coming of the Lord and could not get to the wedding feast. The doors were locked when the foolish virgins approached them, and the Lord, instead of opening the doors for them, said: “Truly I say to you, I do not know you.” Jesus Christ told this parable to warn us, as can be seen from the last verse of this parable:
« So stay awake because you don't know the day or the hour."
Jesus spoke not to a general audience or some Pharisees, but to His apostles and disciples (see Matt. 24:4). In other words, the Lord, addressing us, His disciples, says: “Be vigilant, seeing what happened to the foolish virgins!” If it didn't apply to us, or whether we keep our faith while on the vine or not, then the Lord would have no reason to tell us, "Watch therefore!" This parable would be useless. However, two days before His crucifixion, the Lord addressed not to a wide audience of people, but to His disciples, warning them. It is dangerous to be found "without oil" or not abiding in Him. This will inevitably have serious consequences. People who find themselves “without oil” will not hear the welcoming voice of the Lord, on the contrary, they will be told the same words as the five foolish virgins: “Truly I say to you: I do not know you.”
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