《Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures – Matthew (Vol. 4)》(Johann P. Lange)
25 Chapter 25
Verses 1-13
THIRD SECTION
THE JUDGMENT UPON THE CHURCH ITSELF SECOND PICTURE OF JUDGMENT
Matthew 25:1-13
(The Gospel for the 27 th Sunday after Trinity)
1Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which [who] took their [own][FN1] lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.[FN2] 2And five of them were 3 wise [foolish], and five were foolish [wise].[FN3] They that were foolish[FN4] took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4But the wise took oil in their [the][FN5] vessels with their lamps 5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered [nodded, ἐνύσταξαν] and slept [fell asleep, ἐκάθευδον]. 6And at midnight there was a cry [a cry was] made, Be hold, the bridegroom cometh;[FN6] go ye out to meet him 7 Then all those virgins arose,and trimmed [adorned, ἐκόσμηοαν] their [own, ἑαυτῶν] lamps 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out [going out, σβέννυται].[FN7] 9But the wise answered, saying, Not so [Not Song of Solomon, μήποτε·];[FN8] lest there be not [there will not be, οὐ μή[FN9] enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut 11 Afterward came also the other virgins [the rest of the virgins, αἱ λοιπαὶ παρθένοι], saying, Lord, Lord, open to us12, 13But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore; for ye know neither [not, οὐκ] the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.[FN10]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Matthew 25:1. Then shall be likened.—Fritzsche rightly notes a hint of sequence in the τότε. After the judgment upon the servants and the office, following the judgment upon the people generally.[FN11] The figure introduces females, in conformity with the idea of the Church.
Ten virgins.—Ten, the number of developed secular life; and thus the number of the completed secular development of the Church. It was termed by the Rabbins the “all comprehending number.” What goes beyond ten returns to units again. Hence the ten commandments, the harp with its ten strings,[FN12] the ten Sephiroth of the Cabbalists, etc[FN13] (Comp. Nork: Etymologisch-symbolisch-mythologisches Real-wörterbuch, sub Zehn.) Five, the number of freedom as half-consummation, and of the course of the world in motion: hence also the number of punishment or compensation, Exodus 22:1 (five senses, five fingers, etc.); compare Luke 19:19. The virgins are not merely companions of the bride, but representatives of the bride, the Church.[FN14] See the prophetical type in 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 14:4. Virginity signifies Christianity as separation from the world, as restraint from all worldly contamination. See Ezekiel 23; Hosea 1.; Revelation 17.; comp. Matthew 14:4.[FN15]Concerning the relation of the virgins to the bride, we must bear in mind the analogy of the marriage supper of the king’s son and his guests. The Church, in her aggregate and ideal unity, is the bride; the members of the Church, as individually called, are guests; in their separation from the world, and expectation of the Lord’s coming, they are His virgins. Virginity, waiting for the Lord, and festal joy, they share with the bride. Bengel, in his Discourses on the Revelation (p1039), distinguishes between such Christians as belong to the bride and such as belong only to the number of guests. This is so far true, as the perfect experience of Christianity finds its proper centre only in the elect. But we are not authorized to make a full separation between the two, but must assume a gradual rising.
Their own lamps.—A feature of the custom which is significant. Propriety, individuality, preparation, independence of others. Vocation to a peculiar and personal spiritual life. There was a kind of torch amongst the ancients, which consisted of a long, thick wooden staff, in the upper end of which a vessel was inserted, having a wick sustained by oil: thus they were at once lamps and torches. [Alford on the contrary: These were not torches or wicks fastened on staves, but properly lamps, and the oil vessels (which is most important to the parable) were separate from the lamps; the lamps being the hearts lit with the flame of heavenly love and patience, supplied with the oil of the Spirit.—P. S.]
And went forth.—“Here the customs of a solemn bridal procession in the night are presupposed. 1 Maccabees 9:37 gives us an example of such a procession in daylight. Among the Greeks and Romans, the bride was brought home by night: hence the torches of which so much is said. Comp. R. Salomo, ad Chelim, ii8 (see Wetstein and Lightfoot) witnesses the same practice in Palestine. Ordinarily, the bride was fetched by the bridegroom and his friends (domum ducere); but here it is the office of the virgins (comp. Psalm 45:15, Grotius) to fetch the bridegroom, and the wedding seems to take place in the house of the bride, as in Judges 14:10.” De Wette. Similarly Meyer. The figure generally is modified by the circumstance, that the bridegroom comes from afar, as in Judges 14. This brings in the festal going forth to meet him, in which the virgins represent the bride; it also indicates the long tarrying of the bridegroom; and finally, though less markedly, that the marriage takes place in the house of the bride. Compare the art. Hockzeit in Winer’s Bibl, Realwörterbuch [and the art. Marriage in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. ii. p240 sqq.]
Matthew 25:3. They that were foolish took their lamps.—We must carefully note the contrast: In the case of the foolish virgins, the taking of the lamps is everything (λαβοῦσ αι τὰς λαμπά δας ἑαυ τῶν); but in the case of the wise, it is the taking of oil in their vessels. The foolish are thus represented as being vain and thoughtless, looking only at appearances, and only in haste going forth through excited feeling.
Matthew 25:5. While the bridegroom tarried.—Meyer supposes that the virgins had set forth from the house of the bride, and had gone into another house by the way. This strange notion is needless, when it is considered that the virgins secretly provide their own lamps, and then betake themselves to the bride’s house. The ἀξῆλθυν of Matthew 25:1 does not mean that they had already gone forth some distance on the way: it is a preliminary description of the great event of the parable.—They all nodded and fell asleep.—An intimation of weakness indeed, yet expressing the great delay of the bridegroom rather than censure.[FN16] Certainly the slumbering was perilous, since it took away the possibility of repairing, in haste, the lack of oil. [Nast: The expression denotes the gradual approach of sleep to such as occupy a sitting posture, and strive at first to withstand the disposition to slumber. These virgins made efforts to keep awake, but finally yielded to the influence of seep. Alford: Being weak by nature, they gave way to drowsiness; as indeed the wakefulness of the holiest Christian, compared with what it should be, is a sort of slumber. D. Brown: Two stages of spiritual declension—first, that half-involuntary lethargy or drowsiness which is apt to steal over one who falls into inactivity; and then a conscious yielding to it after a little vain resistance.—P. S.]
Matthew 25:6. At midnight.—Significant, The most unfit time to obtain what they had omitted.—A cry was made.—The greater the apparent delay, the more intense the surprise at the cry of the heralds sent forward.
Matthew 25:7. Adorned their own lamps.—The trimming[FN17]had probably taken place before. The adornment of the lamp was the kindled festal flame, in the light of which it shone. Hence, afterward, extinction is spoken of at once, σβεννυται: they burn dimly, and will go out.[FN18]
Matthew 25:9. Not so!—Since οὐμή is the correct reading in the following clause, μήποτε is not dependent on ἀρκέσ ͅη, but has the force of a strongly repelling negative: By no means!
Matthew 25:10. They that were ready went in with him.—It is presupposed that they first went out to meet him with their festal lamps. It is not needful to explain, with Bornemann, “into the house of the bridegroom;” nor, with Meyer, to suppose that they had gone back from the imaginary midway house to that of the bride.
Matthew 25:12. I know you not.—See Matthew 7:23, p145. [Here—Non agnosco, I do not acknowledge you as mine. This as well as the ἐκλεισθη ἡ θύρα, bears rather strongly against the view of Olshausen, Alford, and others, who suppose that the foolish virgins were only excluded from the millennium, but not from the ultimate kingdom of glory in heaven. (See below, Doctrinal Thoughts, No5.) Alford tries to evade the difficulty by making an essential distinction, which is hardly justified, between οὐκοιδαὑμᾶς in this passage, and ουδέ ποτε έ̀γν ωνὑμᾶς in Matthew 7:23.—P. S.]
Matthew 25:1-12. The Meaning of the Parable.—The leading idea is the readiness of the Church for the coming of the Lord: but that rather viewed intenally than externally; not in its extension, but in its intensity.[FN19] The Lord had made it very clear that the question was not of a mechanical millennarian preparation; for He represented all the virgins as asleep, the wise in common with the foolish. Internal preparation is before all things dependent on the possession of the oil. The oil signifies the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which de Wette denies in vain, This explanation is founded upon the constant typical meaning of the oil in the Old and New Testaments. See Hebrews 1:9; comp. Psalm 45:7-8; Acts 10:38. The name of the Messiah shows that the oil of unction was a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. But the oil which fed the lamps could have no other meaning; for even the olive-tree partook of the same significance. See Zechariah 4:2-3; Revelation 11:4. Now, if the oil signifies the true inward life of faith, the spiritual life, the interpretation of the lamps is not far off: they denote the form of faith.[FN20] Hence it is significant that the foolish virgins were very careful to secure their lamps, but neglected the oil; while the wise virgins took oil in their vessels with their lamps. They did not neglect the lamps, but their chief concern was about the oil. Olshausen gives the right interpretation of the oil; but he improperly makes the lamp mean the heart;[FN21] observing that in the foolish virgins faith had its root only in the feeling. Chrysostom gives an arbitrary explanation: with him the oil is alms; and so on with the rest of the particulars. Luther inversely makes the lamps good works, and the oil-vessels faith. Meyer is against all interpretation of the details, and appeals to Calvin: “Multum se torquent quidam in lucernis, in vasis, in oleo. Atqui simplex et genuina summa Esther, non sufficere alacre exigui temporis studium, nisi infatigabilis constantia simul accedat.” But in this constancy, externally regarded, the foolish virgins are not by any means wanting. They pray, they even run in the very midnight to the sellers. It would be out of the question to suppose that even, after all, they obtained a supply, and came with their oil after the rest. This is not in the parable; and the simple point remains, that they troubled themselves about the oil too late. The division of the virgins into two classes must therefore have this meaning, that one part of the Church is living, while the other lives in only appearance, because it lives only to appearance. Hence the distribution into two halves must not be literally pressed. Midnight is a late and dark season, a season of sleep and the danger of surprise. “The ancient Church took the word literally; and hence the origin of the vigiliæ.” Heubner. The cry at midnight cannot refer to the ecclesiastical watchers exclusively; but, in connection with them, to the cosmical signs of the parousia which have been already mentioned. The sellers have been interpreted of the Holy Scripture and its writers.[FN22] The means of grace generally, or prayer, will obviously be thought of; but this is a trait in the parable which scarcely endures interpretation. The sleeping of the virgins was very inappropriately referred by Chrysostom to their bodily death;[FN23] and by Calvin to “occupationum hujus mundi distractio.” But it seems best to understand it of an involuntary entanglement in the world and its spirit of carnal security,[FN24] to which even believing Christians are liable. Heubner: “The sleepiness is not the relaxation or decline of Christianity, [FN25] but the remission of a definite expectation of the near approach of Christ’s coming. We can easily understand how this expectation has decreased with increasing ages; it is not found now among all faithful Christians, of whom very few can bring themselves to think that we may live to see the last day. But this sleepiness does not exclude the general preparation of Christians in other respects, that Isaiah, their faith and love.”
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The Judgment on the Church.—The ten virgins signify not merely a part of the Church, as Olshausen contends for, but the whole of it. This is evident, first, from the number ten, which points to the perfect secular development of the Church. Further, the circumstance that individual traits are not at all exhibited; the five virgins on the one side, and the five virgins on the other, being altogether alike respectively. And, lastly, the position of this parable between that of the two servants and that which follows concerning the entrusted talents; that Isaiah, between the judgment upon the ministerial office, and the judgment upon individual Christians.