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Author: Stephen Weller
661 words, 3 minutes read time

Ten Virgins

Scripture: Matthew 25:1-4

With the previous lesson we finished the section about Jesus bringing division and not peace to earth by diving the population into two groups: those who believe and those who don’t. With this lesson we begin a new section covering the parable of ten virgins.

^{Mt 25:1} Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

Earlier in our study we looked at other examples of what the kingdom of heaven will be like. In Matthew 13, we find several examples: It was described as a grain of mustard seed (verse 31 – H254); as leaven (verse 33 – H255); as treasure hidden in a field (verse 44 – H257); as being like a merchant in search of fine pearls (verse 45 – H257); and as a net thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind (verse 47 – H257). Then in Matthew 20:1 (H536) it was described being like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

The above examples used the expression “is like” but we also looked at two examples of the kingdom of heaven being compared to something: In Matthew 18:23 (H415 H416) “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants” and in Matthew 22:1 (H576 H577 H578) “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.” Now in Matthew 25:1 we encounter ten virgins who will be used as an illustration of the kingdom of heaven.

In Isaiah 54:4 – 6 we find reference to Israel being described as a “wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off.” There God describes himself as her husband. Here Jesus is pictured as a bridegroom as he was in Matthew 9:14 – 15 ESV: ¹⁴ “Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

The Jewish marriage custom was quite different than ours is here in the west. There the bridegroom and his friends would leave his home and go to the home of the bride, where the marriage ceremony was conducted, often at night. Then after the ceremony, the entire wedding party returned to the bridegroom’s home for a celebration banquet. When the announcement came that the bridegroom was on his way the ten virgins took their lamps and went to the bride’s house to meet the bridegroom.

Since it would probably be evening when the bridegroom and his friends arrived, the virgins took their lamps so they could see. Five of them had prepared themselves by having a flask of oil to take with their lamps, but the other five put off being ready until it was too late. These lamps were dome-shaped torches that were fueled by rags soaked in oil. The extra flask of oil would provide for a longer period of having light to see by.

Conclusion

We will leave the parable with the ten virgins at the bride’s house waiting for the bridegroom and his friends to show up. If they delay in coming it will be dark when they arrive and there will be five virgins who will soon be left in the dark because they were not prepared by having a flask of oil to take with their lamp.