This parable helps disciples understand what it means to await the King's return with prudence.
25:1 The introductory "then"ties this parable to the subject of the preceding instruction, namely the Second Coming of the Son of Man. The beginning of the kingdom of heaven is in view. It will be similar to what the following story describes.
Jesus probably chose 10 virgins as a good round number that He could later divide into two groups easily. Such a number was also fairly common for marriages of His day. The number probably does not have symbolic significance. Likewise that the women were virgins (Gr. parthenos, cf. 1:23) probably has no other significance than that they were young women who were friends of the bride and groom. Their virginity is not a factor in the parable. The "lamps"(Gr. lampas) could have been either torches or lamps with wicks. "To meet"(Gr. hypantesis) connotes an official welcome of a visiting dignitary.934
Most premillenarian commentators have taken these virgins as representing Jews during the Tribulation. However a few argued that they stand for Christians in the present age.935The arguments in favor of the second view are primarily what the passage does not contain such as the title "Son of Man,"the phrase "times or seasons,"and Old Testament quotations. However, arguments from silence are never strong, and they are unconvincing here. The better explanation is that this parable deals with the same time and people as the immediately preceding and following parables do. The ten virgins represent Jewish disciples in the Tribulation waiting for the coming of the King.
Some background information concerning weddings in the ancient Near East is helpful in understanding this parable.936First, the parents arranged the marriage with the consent of the bride and groom. Second, the couple passed an engagement period of many months in which it would become clear, hopefully, that the bride was a virgin. Third, on the day of the wedding the groom would go to the bride's house to claim his bride from her parents. Friends of his would accompany him. Fourth, the marriage ceremony would take place at the bride's home. Fifth, the evening of the day of the wedding the groom would take his bride home. This involved a nighttime procession through the streets. Sixth, there would be a banquet that would often last as long as seven days. This often took place at the groom's home. Seventh, the bride and groom would consummate their marriage at the groom's home the night of the wedding ceremony.
The scene in this parable is at night as the bride's friends wait to welcome the couple and to enter the groom's house where the banquet would begin shortly. All ten of the virgins knew that the groom's appearing would be soon.
25:2-5 The five prudent (Gr. phronimoi, cf. 7:24; 10:16; 24:45) virgins represent Jewish disciples who not only anticipated Jesus' arrival but also prepared for it (cf. 3:2: 4:17). The five foolish virgins anticipated it but did not prepare for it. Preparedness is what separated the wise from the foolish.
"Perhaps their spiritual condition will be analogous to the Jews at the Lord's first coming. With eyes only for the physical benefits of the kingdom, the foolish Jews fail to prepare themselves spiritually for its coming."937
Both groups fell asleep. This period of delay corresponds to the time between the first signs of Jesus' coming and His appearance. Jesus did not praise or blame the virgins for sleeping. Apparently only the wise virgins had oil with them. The foolish ones evidently just lit their torches or wicks without oil.938The symbolism of oil is probably significant since it often represents the Holy Spirit in Scripture (e.g., 1 Sam. 16:13). Thus those with oil would be believers and those without oil unbelievers.
25:6-9 Midnight probably also has significance since it is often the time of judgment in Scripture (e.g., Exod. 11:4). When someone announced the arrival of the groom, the virgins all woke up and trimmed their lamps. However the lamps of the foolish soon began to go out (present tense in the Greek text). The preparations of the wise virgins did the unwise no good. The time to prepare had passed.
Though Jesus did not go into this, the bride in the parable must be the church, the bride of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 11:2). The church will be in heaven with Jesus during the Tribulation having gone there at the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:13-17). Christians will return to earth with Jesus at His second coming and will evidently have some part in the judgment that will begin the kingdom (vv. 31-46; cf. 1 Cor. 6:2).
25:10-12 Shortly after the announcement went out the groom arrived (cf. 24:27, 39, 50). There was not enough time for the foolish virgins to obtain oil then. The wise virgins entered the wedding feast, and someone shut the door into the banquet (cf. vv. 34-40). There was no more opportunity for the foolish to enter. Their pathetic cries were of no avail (cf. 7:21-23; 23:37). The groom's refusal to admit them was not the result of callused rejection in spite of their desire to enter the feast. Rather he refused to admit them because they had failed to prepare adequately.
"The closed door, which to those who were ready meant security and untold bliss, to the others meant banishment and untold gloom."939
These verses picture the judgment of Jews that will happen at the end of the Tribulation and before the establishment of the messianic kingdom.
25:13 This is the lesson the disciples were to learn from this parable. Disciples need to prepare for Messiah's appearing as well as to anticipate that event. Jesus was not calling for alertness in this parable, remaining awake when others sleep, as important as that is. He was calling for preparation. Preparing involves trusting in Jesus as the Messiah. Many Jews in Jesus' day were anticipating the appearance of Messiah and the inauguration of the kingdom. However they did not prepare as John the Baptist, Jesus, and Jesus' disciples urged them to. Those who did became believing disciples of Jesus. Likewise the same two types of Jews will exist during the Tribulation before Messiah appears the second time. The prudent disciple is the one who makes the necessary preparation by trusting in Jesus.
