the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the com40 ing of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field; 41 the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other 42 left. Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord 43 doth come. But know this, that, if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken 44 up. Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye 45 think not, the Son of Man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his 40, 41. Then shall two, &c. i. e. two men, as the word is masculine in the original. Men would be securely engaged in their usual affairs, such is the general sense of these illustrations, when they would be swept off, with such hurry and confusion, that the nearest associates would be separated from each other. Some interpret it, that a providential distinction would be made, one being lost, and another rescued. Two women, &c. The machine for grinding grain in the east consists of a simple mill of two stones, a concave and a convex, turned one upon the other by a female hand. When the upper stone is large, or unusual despatch is required, two women are employed. 42. Watch, therefore, &c. This is a particular precept, adapted to that exigency. They were to be on the watch for the coming of those signs and wonders, that preceded the fall of the Jewish commonwealth, for their own personal safety and their usefulness to the world depended upon their vigilance. The precise hour and day were not known, they were therefore exhorted to be watch ful. It is an exhortation worthy of our attention in every age; for the coming of the Son of Man to us individually, in the event of death, will be, we know not how soon or how sudden. 43. He proceeds more impressively to inculcate this duty by a parable.. The good man of the house, i. e. the householder would not have slept and suffered his house to be broken through, had he known, not the hour, but even so much as the watch, a space of several hours; but would have taken precautions of resistance. There were four watches during the night, of three hours each. Thief. The correct translation is robber, one who steals with acts of violence or outrage, not the stealthy pilferer. Broken up. Better, broken into. 44. Therefore. Since you are in a similar condition with the householder, and liable to be surprised at any moment, be on the alert, and suffer not the overwhelming catastrophe to come upon you unawares; for it will descend suddenly and unexpectedly. 45-47. Jesus continues still further to illustrate the need of vigilance and circumspection, by the parable of the wise and the evil servant. Whom his lord hath made ruler, &c. To whom his master household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that 46 servant whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily, I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all 47 his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart : 48 My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his 49 fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the 50 lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of; and shall cut 51 him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth. hath given the superintendence of the rest of the servants, to distribute the rations of food at the proper times, which, according to general custom, were monthly, as some critics maintain. Ruler over all his goods. For his fidelity he would be promoted to the office of treasurer or steward. Luke xii. 4246. 48, 49. But and if. But if. That evil servant. But if the servant, thus intrusted with authority, should prove vicious and unfaithful, and should presume upon his master's absence, and begin to commit acts of outrage and oppression against the other servants, and to indulge in revelry, he would be surprised by his lord's unexpected return, and meet with condign punishment. The reference of this parable is, like the rest of the chapter, to the destruction of Jerusalem, for which the disciples were most solemnly warned to be ready. with greater probability, render the passage thus: will cut him off from his household, or discard him, and give him his portion, or punishment, with the unfaithful and perfidous, who only served, as hypocrites, with an eye-service. · Weeping, and gnashing of teeth. Servants, or slaves, who were unfaithful, were, according to Macknight, sometimes condemned to the mines; and as this was one of the severest of punishments, when they first entered, nothing was heard among them but weeping and gnashing of teeth, on account of their fatiguing and distressed life in those gloomy caverns, without the prospect of ever being released. Though Jesus spoke for the special warning of his little circle of followers seated around him on the Mount of Olives, to prepare them for events that would descend upon that generation, yet his words have a wider and more lasting significance, and 51. Shall cut him asunder. A call forth an echo from the human considerable difference of opinion heart everywhere. His followers has existed among expositors, rela- of all times must watch and pray, tive to the nature of the punishment lest they enter into temptation, here described. Some have, like watch for the coming of sickness, our translators, supposed that it was accident, and death, and be prepared a literal cutting in two of the body, to meet the will of heaven with suband cite, in proof of it, the custom mission, and God in peace. of the east to punish criminals in that manner. But what follows, the appointment of his portion with the hypocrites, is inconsistent with his having been killed. Others, "Whate'er its form, whate'er its flow, CHAPTER XXV. The Parables of the Virgins, the Talents, and the Judgment. THEN shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten vir CHAP. XXV. The following chapter contains three parables, familiarly known as those of the Virgins, the Talents, and the Judgment. Various interpretations of this passage have been proposed by different commentators. Some have referred the whole to the coming of Christ at the destruction of Jerusalem; others to a day of general judgment. While a third class unites both of these views, and considers the words of Jesus as containing two senses; a primary one, relating to his coming at the establishment of his religion on the ruins of Judaism; and a secondary one, his coming to judgment in a future state. Yet others believe the parables of the virgins and the talents to relate to the overthrow of Jerusalem, but the representation of the judgment, as limited in its application to another life. Great names, which it is needless to mention, have espoused these several views, and advanced plausible arguments to sustain them. But we would inquire, whether there has not been an unreasonable and injurious prominence given to the question of time in the interpretation of this chapter. Are not the words of our Lord rather designed to describe the establishment of his kingdom in a general sense? a kingdom, which would be set up more manifestly, indeed, at the fall of the holy city and the Mosaic system, but which was already enthroning itself in the hearts of his disciples, which would spread from them throughout the world, and last without end here and hereafter; a kingdom in which the duty of watchfulness, the faithful use of powers, and means, and the exercise of love and benevolence to others, in connexion of course with other virtues, would be of the highest importance, and a criterion of discipleship, as the several parabolical descriptions represent. This view would avoid the difficulties of double senses; or of an abrupt change in the discourse at the 31st verse, from speaking of the coming of Christ's kingdom at the overthrow of the temple, to an account of the scenes of eternity; or of forcing the whole chapter to refer to the future state, contrary to the use of language in verses 13, 31, the Son of Man shall come, &c., which elsewhere is explained in allusion to the destruction of the Jews by the Romans; see chap. xvi. 28, xix. 28, xxiv. 27, 30, 34, 44. This view would also escape the rather frigid explanation which refers the whole, including the judgment scene, to the period of the fall of the Jews. It also harmonizes with the fact of the elevated tone of feeling, in which Jesus was then speaking and the solemn visions of his mighty kingdom, his universal religion, then rising and glowing before his mind. To his spiritual glance, Time was but an accident and a circumstance, Death but a night between to-day and to-morrow, a door between this apartment and that of the Father's mansion. He saw his kingdom coming in the hearts of men, searching, and trying, and judging them, erecting the standard of eternal rectitude, and, now and for ever, in all worlds and ages, connecting sin and misery, goodness and happiness together in bonds never to be broken. The above interpretation is in substance advanced by some eminent critics of a recent date, gins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 2 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with 3 them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 4 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 5 And at midnight there was a cry made: Behold, the bride- 6 groom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins 7 arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the 8 wise: Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But 9 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 1. Then is used rather as an introductory word to the sentence, than as specifying a particular time. The kingdom of heaven. The Christian dispensation, or the coming of Christ in his kingdom. To meet the bridegroom. This refers to a marriage custom among the Jews and other eastern nations. It was usual for the bridegroom, accompanied by other young men, his friends, and attended by music, to go by night and wait upon his bride at her father's house, from which she returned to his home in a procession, in which her female companions joined carrying lighted torches or flambeaux. It is to the virgins, who attended on the bride and awaited the coming of the bridegroom, that reference appears to be had in the text. The whole company then repaired to the bridegroom's house, where the nuptial services were performed and the marriage feast held. 2-4. Wise. More exactly, prudent, and so throughout the parable. -Lamps. Or, torches made of iron or earthen ware, to which rags soaked in olive oil were attached, and which were carried on a wooden stick or handle. They gave a brilliant light, but needed replenishing, from time to time, with oil. Many circumstances in a parable are merely ornamental. Thus, ten was a favorite Jewish number, and has no special significance here. 6. An Armenian wedding is thus described by a traveller: "The large number of young females who were present naturally reminded me of the wise and foolish virgins in our Saviour's parable. These being friends of the bride, the vir gins her companions, (Ps. xlv. 14,) had come to meet the bridegroom. It is usual for the bridegroom to come at midnight; so that literally at midnight the cry is made, Behold, the bridegroom_cometh; go ye out to meet him. But on this occasion the bridegroom tarried; it was two o'clock before he arrived." 7. Trimmed their lamps. Or, snuffed them, for they had burned low and dim, while they waited. 8. Our lamps are gone out. Or, going out or expiring. They had made no provision for the delay of the bridegroom, and were unable, therefore, to moisten their wasted torches with new oil. 9. Not so. These words were supplied by the translators, as is shown by their being in Italics. Some critics propose to drop them, and read the sentence thus: "Lest there be not enough for us and you, go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves;" but being 10 yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the mar11 riage; and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other 12 virgins, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered 13 and said: Verily, I say unto you, I know you not. Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein 14 the Son of Man cometh. -For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, 15 and delivered unto them his goods; and unto one he gave five omitted in the original as spurious, by Griesbach and others. 10. Marriage. Marriage feast.— And the door was shut. The following is a description of a Hindoo wedding by Mr. Ward: "After waiting two or three hours, at length, near midnight, it was announced, as if in the very words of Scripture, Behold, the bridegroom cometh! Go ye out to meet him. All the persons employed now lighted their lamps, and ran with them in their hands to fill up their stations in the procession; some of them had lost their lights and were unprepared, but it was then too late to seek them, and the cavalcade moved forward to the house of the bride. The bridegroom was carried in the arms of a friend, and placed on a superb seat in the midst of the company, where he sat a short time, and then went into the house, the door of which was immediately shut and guarded by Sepoys. I and others expostulated with the door-keepers, but in vain. Never was I so struck with our Lord's beautiful parable as at this moment: And the door was shut." 12. I know you not, i. e. I acknowledge you not as belonging to my friends. 13. Watch, therefore. This is the important lesson and moral of the parable, and applicable to all ages. If the disciples of Jesus were to be prepared for his coming, whether his spiritual manifestation in their heart, or his external coming at the subversion of the Jewish church and state, so ought we of these latter times to be likewise watching and waiting unto prayer for his moral triumph in our souls, the growth of his kingdom among men, and the approach of that last solemn event which will be a coming of him to our spirits individually. "Let all your lamps be bright, The last clause of this verse, wherein the Son of Man cometh, is probably spurious, and has therefore been rejected by most biblical critics. 14. The kingdom of heaven is. These words were introduced by the English translators, and have been well superseded in some versions with the clause, The Son of Man is.-Travelling into a far country. Or, simply journeying abroad, or into another country. As Jesus had in the preceding parable inculcated watchfulness, in the following one, he enjoins the careful use of the smallest as well as largest gifts. - His goods. His money or property. Masters sometimes furnished their slaves with capital to be employed in traffic. This custom is said to be still continued in the East, and in Russia. 15. Talents. The talent has been |