This parable in Matthew 25 is an interesting example for parable study since it is often dismissed as a creation of the later church to explain the long-delay of the return of the Lord. The parable is an allegory created by Matthew to explain why Jesus did not return as quickly as anticipated. For example, Eta Linnemann said that this parable “is certainly a creation of the early Church. A Christian prophet or teacher unknown to us uttered it in the name and spirit of Jesus.” (Parables, 126).
I would rather read this parable in the context of the other parables in Matthew 24-25, as well as the whole of Jesus’ teaching in the Temple his final week. The parable was intended to use common typology for Israel’s relationship with God found in the Hebrew Bible. For example, the relationship of God and Israel is pictured in the Old Testament as a marital relationship (Isa 54:4-6, 62:4-5, Ezek 16, Hosea).
If we follow Blomberg’s method for interpreting parables, then the bridegroom is the central character, the two sets of bridesmaids are the contrasting characters. This would imply strongly that the bridegroom is God / Jesus, since in most of these sorts of parables God is in that central position. The ten virgins or bridesmaids would then refer to the followers of Jesus who are waiting for his return. Five are prepared for a long interim, the other five are not.
But other elements are not intended to be typological at all. For example, the oil is sometimes equated to good works, or the merchants with the Church. (If you want to be ready for the return of Jesus, go and do good works in the Church?) This is very “preachable,” but I am not at all convinced that was Jesus’ original point.
What makes the bridesmaids “wise” or “foolish”? It cannot be that they fell asleep since both the wise and foolish get drowsy and fall asleep. The delay was so long that normal life had to go on. The issue is that the foolish five are unprepared for the long wait. The type of lamp they used would need to be refueled when the groom arrived. By preparing themselves, the five wise bridesmaids are allowed to join the groom and enter into the wedding feast.
But what about the unprepared virgins? Why are they judged harshly? The shutting of the door is an indication of final judgment: there is no longer any way for them to get into the kingdom, they have missed out. The groom’s response to their please is that he does not know them.
The groom’s response is exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 7:23 and is a rabbinical formula used to dismiss a student. The implication is that they had the same opportunity to be ready, and that since they were not ready at the right time, they will have no part in the kingdom. They remain outside, in the dark. The fact is, they were always in the dark and only thought that they would enter into the Wedding Feast.
This is yet another example in Jesus’ teaching of a shocking reversal. Those who think that they ought to be in the kingdom do not get in, they remain on the outside. I think that the context supports this reading – what else do you seen in Jesus’ final week that supports this conclusion? Who should we identify as the “wise” and “foolish” in the immediate context of the parable?
Certainly in Matthew this conclusion is supported. First of all in just one chapter prior to this parable Jesus tells His disciples that there will be a delay and no one can know when the end will come, but all must be ready. He tells a parable of a man left in charge while the master is away who, when he sees that the master delays, begins beating the other servants. Certainly this man would have thought he was ready for a while, but then the reality of the master’s return grew faint and he lost sight of the importance of being ready always (Matthew 24:44-51). As a result he was punished. And in the chapter right before this story even Jesus proclaims His woes to the Pharisees, telling that they are blind guides who think they do well but are really the farthest from the truth (Matthew 23). Matthew has just written chapters about the danger of hypocrisy and how important it is to be truly ready for the master’s return.
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
I guess this parable sort of confuses me. If the ten virgins are all followers of Jesus, then why would any of them miss out on getting in to the kingdom simply because they predicted his return incorrectly? Plus, the things Jesus said about his return often made it sound like his return was quite imminent. Like you said in class, a lot of Jesus’ followers assumed that Christ’s return would happen within their lifetimes. Paul says that Christ will come like a “thief in the night” (1 Thes. 5:2). If this is true, then nobody will be ready for the Wedding Feast.
The 5 virgins who didn’t have enough oil are the ones classified as foolish. My question then is why are they one hundred percent foolish. As Eric said “if the ten virgins are all followers of Jesus, then why would any of them miss out on getting in to the kingdom simply because they predicted his return incorrectly?” Could the reason be that the oil represents their belief (not trying to allegorize) and when Jesus doesn’t return in their life time they slowly run out of belief and begin to dismiss what he said. Not having enough oil to keep the lamps burning shows a lack of care for the groom. He would have been home preparing a house for them and the only thing they had to do was keep a lamp burning. They might not have put it under a bushel but by not keeping oil in in it they still let it blow out, and because of that they must be foolish.
After reading though this parable again, it is very obvious who is the wise and the foolish when looking in the context of this entire parable. The foolish 5 are actually called that in the parable: “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out’ (Matthew 25:7). They are not all foolish because they all fell asleep, but the foolish are those who weren’t prepared when the time came to join the wedding because they didn’t bring enough oil. It is hard to say whether the oil or the lack of preparation should be stressed in this parable. I think that their lack of preparation is the key point in this parable because the context of Jesus’ teachings at this time are about his return and what to expect when the kingdom comes. But, looking at the fact that 5 of the virgins didn’t bring enough oil, this can be related to other parables. For example, the parable of the bags of gold found in Matthew 25 shows that the foolish one was the servant who did nothing with the gold. This servant didn’t do enough with what was given to him, he actually did nearly nothing with it.
I agree with my classmates that this parable is one of the most confusing parables in the Gospels. And I think a great source of the confusion comes from the idea that all of the virgins are Jesus-followers. But, I think perhaps the reasoning behind the parable is simply our mindset about life. Perhaps, what Jesus is calling for is a perspective focused on eternity. Jesus wants his followers to focus on his return, as opposed to focusing solely on the present. Christianity calls us to focus on the future just as much as the present. We ought to be doing things in the present as a preparation for the future return of Jesus. Our present life only has purpose because of our future.
In Matthew 24:44 “ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” The foolish described in the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 are the ones who are not prepared. They were not prepared with oil for the return of the bridegroom. The wise in the parable are those who did prepare oil in awaiting the return of the bridegroom. As stated in the parable the wise enter the kingdom of heaven and the foolish do not. This parable kind of confuses me in a similar way that the parable of the bags of gold in Matthew 25:14-28. The servant who is given 1 piece of gold and does not profit any does not inherit the kingdom of God. The “lazy” servant and the 5 foolish virgins seem to have a connection to final God’s judgement. Their lack of initiative and preparation separate them from the kingdom of God. It’s to the extreme that God will say “I never knew you”. What is the harshness of the crime. Could it be that their failed opportunity to be prepared was their doom? Or is there something more? Did they ever know the bridegroom? Were they ever saved in the first place? These are some questions that I have concerning the parable.
In this parable I would consider the wise to be the 5 bridesmaids who had enough oil and were prepared. The 5 foolish ones were the ones who were not prepared. I think that is really what this parable is all about, being prepared and using the time that we have. The 5 foolish bridesmaids were very foolish with their time and were not prepared. In Matthew 25 in the parable of the talents, we see three men who are given different amounts of bags and the master told them to make more with what they were given, well the man with the least amount of bags did nothing with his bag and the master was very displeased with him. Similarly with the parable of the 10 virgins, whether we are given time or money, we need to take advantage and do our best to use it to glorify God.
If we look in the previous chapters, we find Jesus speaking to the Pharisees and scolding them for not being true to what they say they are. “So you must be careful to do everything they (The Pharisees) tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them”(Matthew 23 3:4). This passage is Jesus telling the crowds and the disciples to be careful of listening to the Pharisees. The Pharisses are a group that Jesus is constantly calling out about being hypocrites and not doing what He says. It is entirely possible that this parable could have been a stab towards the Pharisees, and it most likely was, especially if we look at the other accusations Jesus has towards them. Matthew 23, after this passage, is the ‘Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees’. So it is fairly easy to tell that this parable could have been pointed towards them. However, it is also a passage that is easily ‘preach-able’ and can be applicable to any follower of Christ who is not doing what they are originally called to do.
I would agree with my fellow classmates that this parable is confusing, to say the least. But I do think that taking a look at the surrounding chapters helps to shed some light on the themes that Jesus was trying to bring out. Matthew 24:36-44 touches on the idea that Jesus’ return will be very unexpected and sudden. People are exhorted to keep watch and be ready at all times for the return of the Lord. The end of chapter 24 tells of an unwise and rebellious servant who, when his master takes an extended leave, foolishly wastes his time and does not consider his master’s return until it is too late.
The parable just following the Parable of the Ten Virgins involves three servants who were entrusted with money while their master went away on a long journey. When the master returned after a long time, he required an account from each servant on how he had invested his money, and the master rewarded the wise servants and punished the foolish servant who did not invest his master’s money at all.
While the Parable of the Ten Virgins is confusing, I think that the context of these passages helps to understand what the two groups of five bridesmaids might mean. The five who were prepared with enough oil had the foresight to plan ahead for the bridegroom’s return. They invested while the master was gone so that when he returned they would be ready. The five foolish bridesmaids didn’t seem to place enough importance on being prepared for the return of the bridegroom, so when he arrived, they were caught off guard and were separated from the bridegroom forever.
While I don’t understand all of the details and imagery with this parable, it seems pretty clear that the wise are those who are anticipating and preparing for the bridegroom’s return, and the unwise are those who foolishly waste their time, unaware that the bridegroom will be coming soon and requiring an account of how they have prepared for his return.
The parable of the ten virgins has a similar message to another parable found in Matthew 13:24-30 called the parable of the weeds. In this parable, a farmer plants wheat in his field, only for an enemy to come in the night and plant weeds among the good wheat. When they begin to grow, the weeds are revealed for what they truly are, and the farmer forbids his servants from removing the weeds for fear that the good wheat will accidentally be taken with them. Instead, they wait until the harvest and separate the weeds from the wheat so that the weeds can be burned.
This is similar to the parable of the ten virgins in that the virgins were separated at the time when the bridegroom returned. The five foolish virgins who did not prepare accordingly found themselves locked out from the wedding ceremony, whereas the virgins who prepared well were able to join in the festivities. Like the weeds, the foolish virgins were of no use to the Kingdom and were therefore cast out and separated from the bridegroom, and as the wheat, the well-prepared virgins were able to join the bridegroom in celebration.
This connects to one of the primary themes of Jesus’ teaching, which is the harvest of souls which shall occur in the last days. The wheat shall be separated from the chaff, the sheep from the goats, the foolish virgins from the wise virgins, and the wheat from the weeds. Jesus uses these parables to paint a vivid and shocking picture as a plea to making to follow the true Law so that they may enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is a very interesting parable and one that was always hard for me to understand, and honestly still is. Every time I read it; I never feel like I have grasped it. Based on the teachings of Jesus and the other parts of his ministry, the interpretation that Jesus is saying to go and do good works in the church doesn’t seem like a Jesus thing to say. It seems more like an interpretation of the parable by 15th century priests before the protestant reformation. That is not to say that Jesus would never say to go and do good works because it’s a good thing to do, but specifically implying the needs of the church, rather than the needs of the whole world, makes me hesitate on that interpretation. If this parable is told by Jesus, which scripture implies that it is, then we have to evaluate it in the context of Jesus’ ministry just like all the other parables (Strauss, 449). The words “foolish” and “wise” are reminiscent of Proverbs, where actions determine foolishness or wisdom. The actions of the wise bridesmaids show their intentions of being ready for the bridegrooms return (v. 4 and 9). If this applicable to us awaiting the return of Jesus, then like the wise bridesmaids, we await patiently but ready. Our actions of readiness, potentially spiritual disciplines or righteousness don’t get us into heaven, but they do the show the fruit of our faith. We see this in James 2, when he talks about faith without works is dead (v. 20). Our readiness is shown in our faith and our faith is shown through how we live.
in this parable the wise are the 5 that are prepared, and the foolish are the ones who aren’t prepared with oil in their lamps for the bridegroom. i think the message of this parable is saying 1. God comes at a time we wont know. this is stated in the bible so that mean i must be prepared for when HE does come. 2. the foolish 5 were not prepared which is why they didn’t get to go to the feast. this is interpreted as God not letting in people who aren’t ready for when he comes. in matthew 24:13-14 it says , “. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this good news[d] of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.” i think this relates because prior to verse 13 and 14 it talks about when following jesus people will hate you, betray you, judge you, and many other cruel things, the ones who persevere through it all will be saved. so the foolish to me represent people who lose faith along the way after being constantly reminded of his power and what faith in him can do for you or dishonors God name and they do not get into the kingdom. obviously the intial reaction of the act in the parable of forgetting oil for a lamp and not getting into a feast seem null but when its deeper meaning are seen it sits with you, one of the ways said to interpret parables are to look at what is going on in jesus minstry at that point in time.
Thomas Hill
After reading this discussion post I learned that the 10 virgins or bridesmaids were actually split in half as one half of them are prepared and “The other five are not” (Phill Long). When I first read this I was confused about the prepared part of the five virgins that were not prepared and what they meant. What do you mean by “wait” because if you meant wait to have sex then why are they still considered to be virgins? Because I realize that They were banned from coming to the feast because they weren’t prepared. Mathew 24:13 says “But the one who endures to the end will be saved”. So I’m curious as to what they meant by the five virgins were not prepared.
Although this parable can be quite confusing. It is pretty obvious who the foolish virgins and wise virgins are out of the ten. The five virgins who didn’t present enough oil were foolish. The other five virgins who did present enough oil were wise because they rationed it. The confusing part comes in when the parable goes into depth. My question and many other people’s question is if they were still followers of Jesus why were they so foolish. They still presented oil, they just did not have enough . I would think that because they are still followers of Jesus he would show mercy on them, but he did not.
I think that in the immediate context of the passage we should consider the servants who were faithful with what they were placed over as wise in both the story of the wicked slave before this passage and the parable of the talents after this passage. In all three of these stories, Jesus commends the servants/virgins who were prepared even though they didn’t know the exact time that their Master/Groom was arriving. As said in the post, it wasn’t “that normal life had to go on” that distinguished the wise from the foolish, but rather their readiness for whenever they needed to be (Phillip Long). We still don’t know the exact time or date that Christ is returning. He even says in the chapter directly before this parable, in Matthew 24:44, that “[t]his is why you also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (HCSB). I think that if Christians understood the truth in this passage, that tomorrow isn’t promised, that we may be taken up to be with Him tomorrow or within the very next hour! We would do better at making every moment count because that moment isn’t promised! Our lives are so short compared to the length of eternity that we will spend with Jesus someday, but while we are still on Earth we should still try to make the best of this life that He’s given us while waiting expectantly in anticipation of what is to come.
My name is Alan Finch. JESUS my Lord and Saviour in April of 1976.
What really stands out to me about the 10 virgins in the parable that JESUS gives in the 25th Chapter of Matthew , is the fact that these 10 virgins who are engaged to Christ are Believers in Christ. Only Believers in Christ can become engaged to Christ.
Once we have this understanding, then we then realize that this parable of JESUS is revealing to us that not All Christians will rule & reign with Christ.
The Scriptures paint a picture for us of Christ being the Bridegroom of His Church which is made up of Believers in Christ portrayed as virgins.
There are a number of truths to be uncovered in this parable. I will attempt to explain the main point of this parable that JESUS wants Believers in Christ to come to an understanding of.
These 10 virgins in this parable were “engaged” to Christ, the Bridegroom. Only virgins which in this parable are representative of Believers in Christ, are “engaged” to Christ.
At the end of this present Age, JESUS will return to marry in the Spirit, His Bride, which is representative of His Church, which is made up of Believers in Christ. The “engagement period” for ALL Believers in Christ, from ALL Ages, will finally have come to an end.
In this parable, 5 of the virgins that were “engaged” to Christ were faithfully prepared for His return, because not only did they know JESUS as their Saviour, but they knew JESUS as their Lord, because they had submitted themselves to His Lordship.
The other 5 virgins who were also “engaged” to Christ, were not faithfully prepared for the Lord’s return, because they only knew JESUS as their Saviour. They did not know JESUS as their Lord, because they never submitted themselves to His Lordship.
So, the underlying message of this parable is: JESUS wants Believers in Christ to come to the understanding that being “engaged” to Him does not guarantee our becoming married to Him in the Spirit at the end of this present Age.
It will only be the faithful “engaged” Believers in Christ who have prepared themselves for His return by their submission to His Lordship that will be married to JESUS in the Spirit at the end of this present Age. These will be the Believers in Christ who will rule & rein with Him.
The bottom line is that in this parable JESUS is declaring that the door WILL BE SHUT to Believers in Christ who do not come under His Lordship, which will result in them not being allowed to enter into the Kingdom of God in the next Age to rule & reign with Him. The DOOR WILL BE SHUT to these Believers in Christ. However, at some point and time, they will be allowed to enter the Kingdom of God, but they will not rule & reign with Christ.
I have written a 31 page document in which I Biblically expound a great deal more on this, and Biblically expound extensively on “What the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel of Christ” really is, which for the most part, has been greatly overlooked by the present-day mainstream Christian Church. If anyone would like a copy, just email me at: (candy33alan@aol.com) and I will email you a copy.
It explains thisnin Jonothan blacks book history of the sevret world, The oil represent sexual fluids, The Virgins who was accepted retained their desires, The other 5 did not and was shunned as whores by the grooms…
No, that is not at all what the parable is about! History of the Secret World, for anyone wanting the commenter’s source. (Dan Brown type “history”)