constitute the two sides,--the right and left of the new man. To that
new man as a whole both parables alike refer; but the one touches him
for testing on the right side, and the other on the left. The first
tests his works by his faith, and the second tests his faith by his
works. The first goes directly to the root and inquires whether the tree
is good or bad; thus determining what the character of the fruit must
be; the second goes first to the fruit, and by its sweetness or
bitterness ascertains the character of the tree. The parable of the ten
virgins speaketh on this wise,--If there be true faith in the heart,
there will be active obedience in the life: the parable of the talents
speaketh on this wise,--If there be active obedience in the life, there
must be a root of faith unseen whereon that good fruit grows.
XIII.
THE TEN VIRGINS.
"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which
took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of
them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took
their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in
their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they
all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made,
Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those
virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto
the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the
wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and
you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 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.
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to
us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you
not."--MATT. xxv. 1-12.
Here is one of the larger and grander pictures in this gallery of
various glory. It is sublime in its ample outline, and exquisitely
tender in its details. It is charged with many precious lessons, which
flow freely at the gentlest touch; and it is cruel to put it to the
torture to compel it to give meanings which it never received from its
author.
The painful search for precisely identical customs in eastern countries
and ancient times is here, for the most part, unnecessary and
unprofitable. The usages incidentally photographed in such a parable as
this are indeed true sections of the place and the time, but others,
agreeing in general character though differing in detail, might have
been substituted in perfect consistency with the circumstances. There is
some elasticity even in Oriental manners. It is not probable that all
marriages were conducted on precisely the same plan. There might, for
aught I know, be a difference between a wedding among the rich and a
wedding among the poor, and another difference between the method of
celebrating a marriage in the city and the country,--in Galilee and
Judea. In examining analogous cases, I would look for similarity of
style rather than identity of individual features. Looking on the
parable of the ten virgins as a grand original, I don't trouble myself
with the work of hunting for corroboration of its truth or explanations
of its meaning in the form of identical observances recorded in other
books.
The more important portion of the nuptial ceremonies were performed at
night. They consisted in a great measure of processions along the road
and festivals within the dwelling. The out-door part of the pageant is
of course conducted by torch-light. A small cup, filled with rags and
resin, is affixed to a rod, that it may be held aloft. At the proper
time the rags are lighted, and the flame is fed from time to time by
pouring oil into the cup. Each processionist carries such a lamp, and
the many separate lights dancing and crossing each other, and changing
places as the bearers advance on the undulating and tortuous path,
impart great liveliness to the joyful nocturnal scene.
From the nature of the case there must be two successive processions,
one in which the bridegroom with his friends goes for the bride to her
father's house, and another in which bride and bridegroom, together with
the friends of both families, march to the future home of the married
pair. There was more or less of ceremonial and feasting in either
mansion. It is not certainly known, and the knowledge would not be
important although it were obtained, whether the principal feast was
held in the home of the bride's father or in that of the bridegroom. It
is probable that the practice in this matter varied according to the
wealth of the parties and the capacities of the several mansions. In one
case the father of the bride, and in another the bridegroom, might
possess the more commodious dwelling, and be more able, in virtue of
ampler resources, to entertain the company. I am not aware that there is
any ascertained law or habit of the places and times demanding that the
principal feast should be always given by the father or by the
bridegroom.
In this case there is nothing in the narrative that determines with
certainty whether the bridegroom, when the ten virgins waited for him,
was on his way for the bride to her father's house or with her to his
own. On the whole, the balance of probability inclines to the side of
those who think that this is the procession coming for the bride rather
than the procession returning with her. The particular expression, "The
bridegroom cometh," among other circumstances, points in this direction.
Lange's conception commends itself as probable that the virgins are in
some sense representatives of the bride, that they go forth to meet the
bridegroom, that he has come from afar, and that some unexpected delays
have occurred on the journey.
The house whose door was shut ere the foolish five came up was obviously
the house in which the grand marriage festival was held: to be shut out
of that house was to be shut out from the marriage.
When the curtain rises and the scene is first displayed, we behold ten
young women, adorned according to the fashion of the time, lingering in
a group by the wayside at night in the warm climate of Palestine.
They may have been the young companions of the bride, a selected ten,
specially invited to meet the bridegroom on the way, and enter with him
into the festal hall,--a group in character and constituents closely
corresponding to the bridesmaids at our marriage feasts,--or they may
have been the daughters of neighbouring families, sent by their parents,
or going of their own accord, in compliance with the custom of the
place, to offer a tribute of respect and affection to the bride and
bridegroom on their marriage-day.
This feature of the scene, although in itself subordinate and
incidental, derives great importance from the subsequent development of
the parable: it becomes the hinge on which the lesson turns. From the
circumstance that a portion of the company neither came with the
bridegroom nor waited in the house for his arrival, but went out to meet
him, all the tender and solemn teaching of this parable has sprung.[50]
[50] The closest analogue that I know of the fact which plays so
great a part in the structure of this scriptural lesson may be found
in a custom which prevails at funerals in the rural districts of
Scotland. When the distance between the house of the deceased and
the cemetery is considerable, a common, perhaps I should say a
uniform, practice is, that those friends of the mourning family who
reside in the neighbourhood of the burying place assemble in a group
at a convenient turning of the road, and wait till the funeral
procession reaches the spot; they then silently fall into their
places and follow the corpse to the grave. I like the analogy none
the less that it is taken, not from a time of mirth, but from a time
of weeping. The two cases coincide in all their features except one.
In either example we have an occasion of absorbing interest to one
family, and the sympathy of neighbours expressed by means of large
assemblies and public processions. In a minor but characteristic
feature there is an exact coincidence,--a portion of the
sympathizing neighbours wait for the main body at a point on the
path and fall into the line of march from that spot to the terminus.
That the one is a joyful and the other a mournful group enhances
rather than diminishes the value of the comparison.
Waiting long without employment, the group of maidens would stand, and
sit, and recline by turns. Each holds a tiny torch in her hand, or has
laid it on the ground by her side. As the night wears on, the
conversation that had at first been animated, gradually dies away, and
one by one the wearied damsels drop over into snatches of slumber.
Before midnight they have all sunk into a continuous sleep. At midnight
a cry arose, apparently from some more wakeful watcher in the
neighbourhood, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." At
this alarm the whole band awake simultaneously and spring to their feet.
Each maiden hastily snatches up her torch; not one of them burns
brightly now; some are flickering low, and some are altogether
extinguished. In a moment, all those nimble young hands begin to ply the
work of trimming the expired or expiring lamps. All alike are able to
touch them skilfully, but the main want with every lamp is a new supply
of oil. Some can supply that want at the moment on the spot, while
others cannot. Those who had brought from home a supply of oil in
separate vessels, found it easy to make the flame of their torches burn
up as brightly as ever; but those who had neglected to provide such a
supply could not with all their efforts revive the dead or dying light.
"Give us," said the five improvident maidens, "give us of your oil, for
our lamps are gone out." The more thoughtful, and therefore more
fortunate watchers, while they pitied their sisters, were afraid to part
with any portion of their own stores, lest they should be left in the
same hapless condition ere the procession should close: "Go to them that
sell, and buy for yourselves." Alas, this was now the only alternative!
Away went those foolish virgins at the dead of night on the hopeless
errand of buying oil for immediate use in the shops of the neighbouring
town. The folly, however, lay not in this latest act; this was now their
only resource. The foolish deed was done in the day time, and before the
cry arose, Behold the bridegroom cometh.
As soon as the foolish five had gone, the procession came up, and they
that were ready fell into their places. The new accession, each bearing
a flaming torch aloft, increased the grandeur of the scene. When the
company reached the house, they all entered with the bridegroom, and the
door was shut. Some time afterwards the five who had gone away in search
of oil, returned and pleaded for admission; but they pleaded in vain.
Within the house the glad festival went forward; but those who came too
late were not admitted.
* * * * *
The story at its close is indebted for its deep pathos, not to anything
inherent in itself, but to the sublime lesson which it conveys. The
Lord's great parable, like the Lord's great apostle, is "weak and
contemptible" in its bodily presence; but the letters in which it writes
its meaning are like his, "weighty and powerful." A few country girls
arriving too late for a marriage, and being therefore excluded from the
festival, is not in itself a great event: but I know not any words in
human language that teach a more piercing lesson than the conclusion of
this similitude. The frame is constructed of common materials; the
sublimity lies in the spiritual truth which that frame sustains. This
conception, like that of the hen gathering her chickens under her wing,
seems so common and so common-place, that we would not have ventured in
dignified discourse to employ it; in the hands of Jesus the similitude
becomes at once tender and terrible in the highest degree. At his word
the world sprang from nothing; we need not be surprised to find that
under his touch small things become great.
I think no symbolic character should be attributed to the virgins, as
such, in the interpretation of the parable; it is when they take their
lamps and go forth to meet the bridegroom that they first acquire a
spiritual significance. The whole group represent that portion of any
community who hear the Gospel, accept its terms, and profess to be the
disciples of Christ. The sincerity and depth of their profession will be
tested afterwards; but in the meantime, both in their own opinion and
that of their neighbours, they are all alike Christians. The structure
of the parable required virgins in this place, in order that the picture
might be true to nature; in the customs apparently of all times and all
countries, this position at a marriage feast is assigned to young
unmarried women. The ancient practice of the East is, in its essential
features, reproduced among ourselves from day to day in the troop of
virgins, dressed in white, who attend the bride on her bridal day. I
cannot acquiesce in the view of those who see in the special condition
of these watchers a symbol of the purity which becomes the followers of
Christ, for I find, as I read onward in the parable, that while the ten
were in respect to condition all equal, in as far as they represent
spiritual relations, five are symbols of sincerity, and five are symbols
of deceit. The condition of virgins which was common to all, cannot,
without complete confusion of ideas, be made, within the compass of the
same allegory, to signify both the true and the false. From the
procession of virgins, therefore, I obtain no more than I would have
obtained from a procession of men or matrons, if the habits of society
had permitted such a representation to have been made.[51]
[51] Lange's view on this point seems sound and consistent; while
both Olshausen and Stier endeavour with much pain but little fruit,
to prove that the foolish represent true but defective disciples.
"One part of the Church is living, while the other lives only _in_
appearance, because it lives only _to_ appearance."--_Lange_.
They took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom; this
represents an open, intelligent, and seemly profession of faith in
Christ. As all the lamps burned at first with equal brightness, and no
suspicion of a defect occurred either to the wise or the unwise, we
learn that the profession which never had life may appear so well
favoured for a time, that neither the false professor nor his converted
neighbour may be aware of its shallowness.
"To meet the bridegroom;" the parable and the discourse which precedes
it, bear upon Christ's second coming, and the attitude, which becomes
his disciples in prospect of that decisive event. They who have been
washed in his blood love his appearing.
No difference between class and class was as yet manifest; but already
the causes which subsequently wrought the separation had begun to
operate in secret, and here accordingly they are recorded by the Lord;
"five of them were wise, and five of them were foolish." I stand in awe
of this dividing word. While the whole band take part in the loyal
exodus, and all seem equal in zeal and love, the Searcher of hearts
already perceives and pronounces that some of them are wise unto
salvation, and some are so foolish that they are throwing away their
souls. That same Lord looks on the ten thousand times ten thousand who
in our times go out to meet the bridegroom. There is not a more grand or
a more beautiful spectacle on earth than a great assembly reverently
worshipping God together. No line visible to human eye divides into two
parts the goodly company; yet the goodly company is divided into two
parts. The Lord reads our character, and marks our place. The Lord
knoweth them that are his, and them also that are not his, in every
assembly of worshippers.
The distinguishing feature is now specifically set down,--the wise
carried each a separate vessel containing a supply of oil, that they
might keep the flame of their lamps alive, however long the bridegroom
might tarry: the foolish, satisfied that their lamps were burning at the
moment, laid in no supply for future need. This is the turning-point of
the parable, and in the light of subsequent events its spiritual import
may be determined with precision and certainty. The oil in the lamp, and
the flame which it sustained, indicate a seemly Christian profession;
this the virgins all possessed, and all alike. The quality that tested
and divided them, lay not in the burning lamps but in the supply
vessels. The oil, whether employed to anoint a person or to feed a
flame, represents, in Old Testament typology, the Holy Spirit. That
which the wise virgins carried in their vessels, as distinguished from
that which burned in their lamps, points to the Spirit as a spirit of
grace and supplication dwelling in a believer's heart. All experienced
convictions, and made profession, as is indicated by the lamps lighted
and borne aloft; but some had nothing more than convictions and
professions, while others had passed from death unto life and had gotten
their life, through the Spirit's ministry, "hid with Christ in God."
This will more fully appear as we proceed stage by stage with the
interpretation.
"The bridegroom tarried." For a special purpose, the Lord represents
that the bridegroom lingered till a much later hour than that at which
the virgins expected him. The disciples, during their Master's ministry
and long afterwards, cherished a belief that the coming of the Lord and
the end of the world would take place in their own generation. This
expectation was, in its literal sense, incorrect; but it could not be
corrected by an explicit announcement that for more than a thousand
years all things should continue as they were; for such an intimation
would have destroyed the expectant watchfulness which in the
circumstances was salutary and even necessary. By that watchfulness the
Christians of the immediately succeeding generation escaped the
disasters which befell the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem, and by
it believers in subsequent times were kept more loose to the world and
more close to Christ. In this parable, however, and elsewhere in the
Scriptures, prophecies are recorded, which events subsequently
explained,--prophecies which showed the Christians of a later age that
while their Lord desires to keep them in an expectant attitude through
all generations, his intention from the beginning was to permit a long
period to intervene between his ascension and his return. The
preparation which Christ desires and true Christians attain, pertains
more to the inner spirit than to the anticipation of the external
advent.
While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. At this
point many interpreters endeavour to grasp a lesson regarding the
tendency of even true disciples to slumber sinfully at their post, like
their worldly neighbours. The lesson is in itself good, and comes
readily to hand, but it is not taught in this text. Calvin has correctly
conceived and clearly expressed the meaning of the sleep that oppressed
the waiting virgins; it intimates the necessity that lies on all of
going down into the ordinary affairs of this life. Disciples in the
body cannot be occupied always and only with the expectation of their
Lord's appearing. Sleep and food, family and business, make demands on
them as well as on others,--demands which they cannot and should not
resist. If the coming of the bridegroom be delayed till midnight, the
virgins must slumber; this is not a special weakness of individuals, it
is the common necessity of nature. So, when life is lengthened in the
body, we must attend to the affairs of this world.
The coming of the Son of man may surprise one at his farm and another at
his merchandise, but it does not follow, on that account, that it will
surprise them unprepared. Now and then in the history of the Church a
Christian has been found dead in his closet and on his knees. A few
years ago, in a rural district of Scotland, an elder who was leading the
devotions of a district prayer-meeting suddenly ceased to speak,--ceased
in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a prayer. The worshippers
opened their eyes, and observed that his head and breast leant heavily
on the desk; they approached and found him dead. At the moment when the
bridegroom came this watcher was wide awake, standing on tiptoe, and
straining forward to catch the first glimpse of the glory that should
herald his approach. When the bridegroom came this watcher went out to
meet him, and went in with him to the feast: safe and happy he, but not
he only.
On the other side we hear sometimes of a merchant who died in his
counting-house, his ledger, not the Bible, the last book he had read; of
a miner killed in an instant by an explosion while he was picking coals
in the bowels of the earth; of a soldier falling on a battle-field,
while his right hand raised the sword to strike a foe; these were all
slumbering and off guard when the bridegroom came. What of them? were
they all shut out? Nay, verily. Some of them were shut out, and some
were let in, according as they were carnal or spiritual when the
decisive moment came. The new creature in Christ, who is surprised amid
the toils of his daily calling, goes as safely into rest as his brother
of the same family who is summoned over in the very act of prayer. The
five wise virgins were stretched on the ground asleep, with their lamp
fires dead or dying, when the cry arose, Behold the bridegroom cometh,
and yet there was no surprise, and no damage. Although they were only
awakened by his coming, they were ready to meet him when he came, and to
enter with him into his rest.
When the cry was heard all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
When life is closing behind, and eternity opening before us, we are all
aroused. Every one who has a lamp hastens then to examine its condition
and stimulate its flame: all who have borne Christ's name search
themselves to see whether they are ready for his presence. There is no
visible distinction at this stage between those who have only a name
that they live, and those who have attained also the new nature: all
bestir themselves to examine the ground of their hope, and the state of
their preparation.
At this point the decisive difference which existed in secret long
before emerges into view. The foolish virgins, having no oil in separate
vessels, could not keep the flame of their lamps any longer alive. Both
classes had a profession; the formalists had a profession and nothing
more. Finding in the hour of their extremity that they had neglected
their souls while the day of grace was running, they make a piteous
appeal to believing neighbours for help, "Give us of your oil, for our
lamps are gone out." How true to nature is this picture! He who draws it
knows "what is in man." How fondly the empty, in such a crisis, lean on
the full. Alas, even the full is but a little vessel filled by Christ.
That vessel is not a spring; this saved sinner is not a saviour of
sinners. He has gotten from his Lord all that himself needs; but he
cannot supply a neighbour's want. Brother, if the call come to you while
you are not in Christ reconciled and renewed, though all the saints in
heaven and earth stood weeping at your bedside they could not save you.
If you neglect the Son of God while he stands at the door and knocks, in
vain will you apply to a godly neighbour, after the day of grace is
done.