[5484] St. Matt. xxiv. 9-14, and parallels.
[5485] St. Luke xxi. 12.
[5486] St. Mark xii. 9.
[5487] St. Matt. xxiv. 9-14, and parallels.
[5488] St. Matt. xxiv. 10-13.
[5489] St. Matt. xxiv. 14.
[5490] St. Matt. xxiv. 15-28, and parallels; note especially the language of St. Luke.
[5491] St. Matt. xxiv. 3.
[5492] vv. 4, 5.
[5493] So Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. iii. 5) relates that the Christians of Judæa fled to Pella, on the northern boundary of Peræa in 68 A.D. Comp. also Jos. War iv. 9. 1, v. 10. 1.
[5494] 2 Macc. vi. 1-9.
[5495] The quotation from Dan. ix, 27 is neither a literal translation of the original, nor a reproduction of the LXX. The former would be: And upon the wing [or corner] of the abominations the destroyer.' Our Lord takes the well known Biblical expression in the general sense in which the Jews took it, that the heathen power (Rome, the abominable) would bring desolation - lay the city and Temple waste.
[5496] St. Matt. xxiv. 22.
[5497] Ver. 28.
[5498] vv. 29-31.
[5499] St. Matt. xxiv. 3.
[5500] xxiii. 38, 39.
[5501] xxiv. 14.
[5502] ver. 34.
[5503] St. Matt. xxiv. 30.
[5504] ver. 14.
[5505] ver. 30.
[5506] ver. 31.
[5507] vv. 32, 33.
[5508] Not as in the R. V. He.' It can scarcely be supposed that Christ would. speak of Himself in the third person. The subject is evidently the summer' (not as Meyer would render thros='harvest'). In St. Luke xxi. 31 it is paraphrased the Kingdom of God.'
[5509] vv. 29-31.
[5510] St. Matt xxiv. 36 to end.
[5511] St. Matt. xxiv.36.
[5512] The expression does not, of course, refer to Christ in His Divinity, but to the Christ, such as they saw Him, in His Messianic capacity and office.
[5513] vv. 37-40.
[5514] vv. 40,41.
[5515] vv. 42-51.
[5516] St Matt xxiv. 43, 44.
[5517] ver. 45, end.
[5518] ver. 42.
[5519] ver. 44.
[5520] The Parable in St. Luke xii. 35-48 is so closely parallel to this, that it seems unnecessary to enter in detail upon its consideration. __________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER VII. EVENING OF THE THIRD DAY IN PASSION-WEEK-ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES-LAST PARABLES: TO THE DISCIPLES CONCERNING THE LAST THINGS-THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS-THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS-SUPPLEMENTARY PARABLE OF THE MINAS AND THE KING'S RECKONING WITH HIS SERVANTS AND HIS REBELLIOUS CITIZENS
(St. Matt. xxv. 1-13; St. Matt. xxv. 14-30; St. Luke xix. 11-28.)
1. As might have been expected, the Parables concerning the Last Things are closely connected with the Discourse of the Last Things, which Christ had just spoken to His Disciples. In fact, that of the Ten Virgins, which seems the fullest in many-sided meaning, is, in its main object, only an illustration of the last part of Christ's Discourse. [5521] Its great practical lessons had been: the unexpectedness of the Lord's Coming; the consequences to be apprehend from its delay; and the need of personal and constant preparedness. Similarly, the Parable of the Ten Virgins may, in its great outlines, be thus summarised: Be ye personally prepared; be ye prepared for any length of time; be ye prepared to go to Him directly.
Before proceeding, we mark that this Parable also is connected with those that had preceeded. But we notice not only connection, but progression. Indeed, it would be deeply interesting, alike historically and for the better understanding of Christ's teaching, but especially as showing its internal unity and development, and the credibility of the Gospel-narratives, generally to trace this connection and progress. And this, not merely in the three series of parables which mark the three stages of His History - the Parables of the Founding of the Kingdom, of its Character, and of its Consummation - but as regards the parables themselves, that so the first might be joined to the last as a string of heavenly pearls. But this lies beyond our task. Not so, to mark the connection between the Parable of the Ten Virgins and that of the Man without the Wedding-Garment.