CHAPTER 25. THREE ESCHATOLOGICAL PARABLES. These parables (especially the first and third) are appropriately introduced by Mt. at this place, whether actually uttered in immediate connection with the Olivet discourse, or during the Passion week, or otherwise. In his reproduction of the book of Logi... [ Continue Reading ]
τότε, then, connecting what follows in the evangelist's mind with the time referred to in the previous parable, _i.e._, with the _Parusia_. δέκα παρθένοις : _ten_ virgins, not as the usual number as to that no information is available but as one coming readily to the mind of a Jew, as we might in a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Parable of the Ten Virgins_, in Mt. only.... [ Continue Reading ]
πέντε μωραὶ, πέντε φρόνιμοι : equal numbers of both, not intended to represent the proportion in the spiritual sphere; foolish, wise, not bad and good, but imprudent and prudent, thoughtless and thoughtful. Even the “foolish” might be very attractive, lovable girls; perhaps might have been the favou... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔλαιον : the statement about the foolish, indicating the nature or proof of their folly, is that they took their lamps but did not take oil. None? or only not a supply sufficient for an emergency possible delay? Goebel (_Die Parabeln Jesu_) decides for the former view. His idea of the whole situatio... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τοῖς ἀγγείοις : the wise took oil _in the vessels_, _i.e._, in vessels, with an extra supply, distinct from the cups at the top of the torches containing oil.... [ Continue Reading ]
χρονίζοντος τ. ν.: no reason given for delay, a possibility in natural life, _the_ point on which the spiritual lesson, “be ready,” hinges. ἐνύσταζαν, they nodded, aorist, because a transient state; ἐκάθευδον, and remained for some time in slumber, imperfect, because the state continuous. Carr (Camb... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδοὺ ὁ νυμφίος : at length at midnight a cry is raised by some one _not_ asleep _lo! the bridegroom_; laconic, rousing, heard by all sleepers. ἐξέρχεσθε εἰς ἀπάντησιν, go forth to meeting: no words that can be dispensed with here either. Go forth whence? from the bride's house (Goebel); from some in... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκόσμησαν, trimmed, or proceeded to trim, for which the imperfect would have been more suitable. In the case of the five foolish it was an action attempted rather than performed, begun rather than completed.... [ Continue Reading ]
σβέννυνται, are _going_ out, as in R.V [135] [135] Revised Version.... [ Continue Reading ]
μήποτε, lest, implying, and giving a reason for, an unexpressed declinature. Kypke renders, _perhaps, fortasse_, citing examples from classics, also Loesner, giving examples from Philo. Elsner suggests that ὁρᾶτε or βλέπετε is understood before μήποτε. Schott, putting a comma after ὑμῖν, and omittin... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπερχομένων, etc. The foolish took the advice and went to buy, and _in so doing acted in character_; foolish in that as in not having a good supply of oil. _They should have gone on without oil_, the great matter being to be in time. By reckoning this as a point in their folly we bring the foolish v... [ Continue Reading ]
κύριε, κύριε, etc., master, master, open to us; a last, urgent, desperate appeal, knocking having preceded (Luke 13:25) without result. The fear that they are not going to be admitted has seized their hearts.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς, I do not know you; in the natural sphere not a judicial penalty for arriving too late, but an inference from the late arrival that those without cannot belong to the bridal party. The solemn tone, however (ἀμὴν λ. ὑ.), shows that the spiritual here invades the natural. Pricaeus refers... [ Continue Reading ]
he moral, γρηγορεῖτε, watch; not directed against sleep (Matthew 25:5) but against lack of forethought. The reference of the parable to the _Parusia_, according to Weiss (Meyer), is imposed upon it by the evangelist.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥσπερ : suggests a comparison between the parabolic history and the course of things in the kingdom, but the apodosis carrying out the comparison is omitted. γὰρ implies that the point of comparison is in the view of the evangelist the same as in the preceding parable. ἀποδημῶν, about to go abroad.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Parable of the Talents_ (_cf._ Luke 19:11-28), according to Weiss (Mt.-Ev., 535) and Wendt (L. J., i., 145) not a _Parusia_ -parable originally, but spoken at some other time, and inculcating, like the parable of the unjust steward, skill and fidelity in the use of earthly goods.... [ Continue Reading ]
πέντε, δύο, ἕν : the number of talents given in each case corresponded to the master's judgment of the capacity (δύναμιν) of each man. All were supposed to be trustworthy and more or less capable. Even one talent represented a considerable sum, especially for that period when a _denarius_ was a day'... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰργάσατο ἐν αὐτοῖς, traded in or with them, used in classics also in this sense but without any preposition before the dative of the material. ἄλλα πέντε, other five, which speaks to a considerable period in the ordinary course of trade.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὡσαύτως, in like manner; that absolutely the same proportion between capital and gain should be maintained in the two cases was not likely but possible, and the supposition is convenient for the application.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὤρυξεν γῆν, dug up the earth, and hid the silver of his master. Not dishonest the master had not misjudged as to that but indolent, unenterprising, timid. What he did was often done for safety. The master might have done it himself, but he wanted increase as well as safety. In Lk.'s parable the same... [ Continue Reading ]
πολὺν χρόνον : the master returns after _a long time_, an important expression in a parable relating to the _Parusia_, as implying long delay. συναίρει λόγον, maketh a reckoning, as in Matthew 18:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 25:19-23.... [ Continue Reading ]
he first servant gives his report: bringing five and five, he presents them to his master, and says: ἴδε, as if inviting him to satisfy himself by counting.... [ Continue Reading ]
εὖ, well done! excellent! = εὖγε in classics, which is the approved reading in Luke 19:17. Meyer takes it as an adverb, qualifying πιστός, but standing in so emphatic a position at the head of the sentence and so far from the word it is supposed to qualify it inevitably has the force of an interject... [ Continue Reading ]
raise and recompense awarded to the second servant in identical terms: reward the same in recognition of equal devotion and fidelity with unequal ability a just law of the Kingdom of God, the second law bearing on “Work and Wages” there. For the first, _vide_ on Matthew 20:1-16. Euthymius remarks ἴσ... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰληφώς, the perfect participle, instead of λαβὼν in Matthew 25:20, because the one fact as to him is that he is the man who has _received_ a talent of which he has made no _use_. (So Weiss in Meyer.) ἔγνων σε ὅτι, for ἔγνων ὅτι συ, by attraction. σκληρὸς, “hard”: grasping, ungenerous, taking all to... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 25:24-30.... [ Continue Reading ]
φοβηθεὶς, etc., fearing: loss of the talent by trade; he thought the one thing to make sure of in the case of such a master, was that what he had got might be _safe_. ἐν τῇ γῇ : the primitive bank of security. _Vide_ Matthew 13:44. ἴδε ἔχεις τὸ σόν, see you have what belongs to you; no idea that the... [ Continue Reading ]
πονηρὲ (_vide_ on Matthew 6:23), wicked” is too general a meaning: mean-spirited or grudging would suit the connection better. πονηρὸς is the fitting reply to σκληρὸς, and the opposite of ἀγαθὸς. You call me hard, I call you a churl: with no heart for your work, unlike your fellow-servant who put hi... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔδει, etc., you ought in that case to have cast my silver to the money-changers, or bankers. That could have been done without trouble or risk, and with profit to the master. ἐγὼ, apparently intended to be emphatic, suggesting a distribution of offices between servant and master = yours to put it in... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄρατε, etc., take the one talent from the man who made _no_ use of it; and give it to the man who will make _most_ use of it.... [ Continue Reading ]
eneral principle on which the direction rests pointing to a law of life, hard but inexorable.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀχρεῖον, useless. Palairet renders _injuriosum_; Kypke, _improbum_. Being useless, he was both injurious and unjust. The useless man does wrong all round, and there is no place for him either in this world or in the Kingdom of God. His place is in the outer darkness. Difference of opinion prevails... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Judgment programme_. Much diversity of opinion has prevailed in reference to this remarkable passage; as to the subjects of the judgment, and the authenticity of this judgment programme as a professed _logion_ of Jesus. Are the judged all mankind, Christian and non-Christian, or Christians only... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅταν δὲ, the description following recalls Matthew 24:30, to which the ὅταν seems to refer.... [ Continue Reading ]
πάντα τὰ ἔθνη naturally suggests the heathen peoples as distinct from Jews, though the latter may be included, notwithstanding the fact that in one respect their judgment day had already come (Matthew 24:15-22). ἀφοριεῖ : first a process of separation as in the interpretation of the parable of the t... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ στήσει, etc., the bare placing of the parties already judges, the good on the right, the evil on the left; sheep, emblems of the former; goats, of the latter. Why? No profit from goats, much from sheep; from their wool, milk, lambs, says Chrys., Hom. lxxix. Lust and evil odour secure for the goa... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ πατρός μου, my Father's blessed ones, the participle being in effect a substantive. κληρονομήσατε, etc.: this clause Weiss regards as a proof that the parable originally referred to disciples, as for them only could the kingdom be said to be prepared from the foundation of the wor... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπείνασα, ἐδίψησα, ξένος ἤμην : hungry, thirsty, a stranger. The claims created by these situations are universally recognised though often neglected; to respond to them is a duty of “common humanity”. συνηγάγετέ με, ye received me (into your house) (_cf._ Judges 19:18, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνὴρ συνάγων με εἰς... [ Continue Reading ]
γυμνὸς, ἠσθένησα, ἐν φυλακῇ : deeper degrees of misery demanding higher degrees of charity; naked = ill clad, relief more costly than in case of hunger or thirsty sick, calling for sympathy prompting to visits of succour or consolation; in prison, a situation at once discreditable and repulsive, dem... [ Continue Reading ]
κύριε : not necessarily spoken by disciples supposed to know or believe in Jesus (Weiss). The title fits the judicial dignity of the person addressed by whomsoever used. In disclaiming the praise accorded, those who call the Judge κύριος virtually deny personal acquaintance with Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐφʼ ὅσον, n so far as = καθʼ ὅσον (Hebrews 7:20), used of time in Matthew 9:15. ἑνὶ … ἐλαχίστων, the Judge's brethren spoken of as a body apart, not _subjects_, but rather _instruments_, of judgment. This makes for the non-Christian position of the judged. The brethren are the Christian poor and nee... [ Continue Reading ]
κατηραμένοι, cursed, not _the_ cursed (οἱ wanting), and without τοῦ πατρός μου. God has no cursed ones. εἰς τὸ πῦρ, etc., the eternal fire is represented as prepared not for the condemned men, but for the devil and his angels. Wendt brackets the clause κατηραμένοι … ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ to suggest that as... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 25:42-43, imply negative all the statements contained in Matthew 25:35-36.... [ Continue Reading ]
repeats in summary form the reply of the δίκαιοι, _utatis mutandis_, rapidly enumerating the states of need, and disclaiming, with reference to all, neglect of service, οὐ διηκονήσαμέν σοι; Matthew 25:45 repeats Matthew 25:40 with the omission of τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου and the addition of οὐκ before ἐποιήσ... [ Continue Reading ]
κόλασιν, here and in 1 John 4:18 (ὁ φόβος κόλασιν ἔχει), from κολάζω = mutilation or pruning, hence suggestive of corrective rather than of vindictive punishment as its tropical meaning. The use of this term in this place is one of the exegetical grounds rested on by those who advocate the “larger h... [ Continue Reading ]