Ten Virgins? Hmmmm…

The parable of the ten Virgins is often cited as a warning to all to be ready, ready for the Day our Lord returns to collect His church.  And in this parable such a message is possible.  However, ten virgins are a bit of overkill to make the aforementioned point.  Why are ten Virgins cited in this parable?  Why not cite twelve or just six or four or, more simply, just two?  Two would have made the point quite nicely — if the point was simply to warn about being prepared. However, I believe the parable was meant to teach us more than most typically believe.

To be sure, the parable speaks of ten virgins, but I would suggest that the focus is actually on two groups of five virgins.  Assuredly, it is not the virgins who are the sole focus of the parable.  However, they do represent something, especially as they are cast into two separate groups of five. The lamps they carry represent something greater, however, something central to the people of Israel from Mt Sinai right up to this day.

And all of the virgins sleeping as they wait for the bridegroom, the shout in the night announcing His arrival and the whole parable cast in the light of an ancient Jewish wedding symbolically teaches more than simply “being prepared’.

I strongly suspect Christ depicted ten Virgins in His parable as two groups of five — with each group, with their five lamps, as metaphors for the five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) and the Torah represented in two different ways.  One way, the Torah being kept “by the letter” only, and the other, the Torah being kept by the letter and “in the spirit”. Undoubtedly, the oil in the lamps represents that spirit, the Holy Spirit.

A 1st century Jew would be predisposed to readily understand Christ’s symbolism of the lamps the virgins carried.

Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

And…

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,  (Proverbs 6:23)

Both the verses above likens the Word of God to a lamp.  To a 1st century Jew that was understood as the Torah itself, and in particular, to the Ten commandments revealed therein.  And, of course, it would be self-evident to the hearers of Christ’s parable that a lamp without oil would be useless for its intended purpose, just as the Torah and the Ten Commandments without the Holy Spirit would be just poetic words inked onto parchment, without power and fruitless in their intended purpose.

It is interesting to note that both groups of virgins slept while waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom, and that both groups were in fact looking forward to His arrival.  But does that sleep represent something?  And the shout in the night? the shout that announces the bridegroom’s arrival and awakens the virgins from their sleep, that must certainly have a symbolic meaning, too.  All of Jesus’ parables are steeped in symbolism. That is the function of a parable — to say something indirectly, veiled in metaphor, and doing so for this purpose:

“This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Matthew 13:13; Mark 4:11-12 RSV)

So, let us consider what symbols are used in this parable and just what message is Jesus conveying.

Firstly, as already mentioned the ten lamps of the ten virgins represent the Word/Law of God — but in two different conditions.  And as likewise already mentioned, to a 1st century Jew five lamps (two instantances of five) would be identified as the five books of the Torah, thus two groups of five lamps.  As I see it Jesus depicted ten virgins with ten lamps to allude to two differing states of the law.  And, of course, the oil of the lamps represents the Holy Spirit, the very element that is the illuminating power of the lamps — just as the Holy Spirit is the illuminating Power of the Word of God.  The two states of the Word/Law represented by the two groups of five virgins with their symbolic lamps is beautifully depicted by the prophet Jeremiah:

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Jeremiah clearly speaks of the “New Covenant” and the covenant made with Israel previously, the “Old Covenant”. That Old Covenant which Israel agreed to in the wilderness, at Mt. Sinai, was the Ten Commandments spoken to Israel face-to-face by God (not through an intermediary) and written in stone by God with His very own finger. (Exodus 20, 31:18)

Now Jeremiah tells us the Old Covenant, the one written in stone by God and broken within days by Israel was God’s law, the Ten Commandments. Jeremiah goes on to say that God would in the future from Jeremiah’s time going to make a new covenant with unfaithful Israel. However, with the new covenant God would again write His law, the very same Ten Commandments, not in stone as the first time, but the second time in the hearts of His people.

So, it would appear the lamps in their two groups of five represent the two covenants of God’s law.  The lamps with little oil, symbolizing the lack of the Holy Spirit, representing the Old Covenant written in stone. The five lamps with abundant oil representing the New Covenant written on hearts.

It is obvious that both groups of virgins are looking forward to the arrival of the Bridegroom.  And, that, of course, being the arrival of the Messiah.  Both groups of virgins sleep as they wait His arrival. However, it is not a sleep they experience.  It is quite apparent that sleep here is a metaphor for death.  The virgins represent to groups of people who look forward to the arrival of the Messiah and also, while waiting, realize death. We can be assured that their sleep is the sleep of death. Jesus uses the death metaphor more that once in his miracles. Raising His friend Lazarus is an excellent example of His doing so. (John 11:1-44)

When Jesus was told of Lazarus’ illness, Jesus deliberately delayed going to him.  Once Lazarus was dead, Jesus then embarked for Bethany.  When He determined to make the trip, His disciples were dismayed, questioning Jesus why he would go to Bethany, it being so close to Jerusalem and the ones who wished to kill Him.  Jesus told them that their friend Lazarus was sleeping and that He was going to Bethany to wake him. The disciples didn’t have a clue.  They said that if Lazarus was sleeping then he would recover.  Jesus had to tell them plainly and bluntly that Lazarus was dead, not sleeping, but dead.  It is the same with the virgins in both groups, they do not go to sleep waiting for the Bridegroom, they die, and they sleep the sleep of death as the world awaits the return of the bridegroom, Jesus.

But of course, at the arrival of the Bridegroom there is a shout in the night and all the virgins are awakened!  This certainly alludes to Paul’s description of the return of Christ and the 1st resurrection at the beginning of the Millennium where the dead (and living) in Christ rise and meet Christ in the air.  It is then later at the end of the Millennium when Christ and His Bride, the Church, return to earth for the marriage feast after those one thousand years in Heaven, and the rest of the dead rise in the 2nd resurrection to judgement and rejection by Christ.  (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Revelation 20)

So, to conclude, the following is how I interpret the parable of the Ten Virgins:

As already stated, the Ten Virgins represent two groups — two groups of believers — or at least, two groups of those professing belief.

The five lamps of each group represent the five books of the Torah.  The Torah because to 1st century Jews the Torah would be the embodiment of God’s Word, His instruction, His law, His way.

The oil for the lamps represents the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the very element that gives life to the law, the Torah. Just as oil when present in a lamp gives the lamp power to illuminate and reveal. It is the Holy Spirit that empowers the Word of God, to illuminate and guide one with truth though darkness.

As Jeremiah pointed out, the Law written on stone was cold, lifeless and ultimately ineffective in binding man to God. However, the Law written on hearts of flesh by God would give eternal life and an eternal relationship with God.

The virgins with insufficient oil can be likened to those who rely on ritualistic worksto bind God to themselves.  (Please note that I said – bind God to themselves – an impossible feat for a sinner.) They represent the Old Covenant, a covenant carved in lifeless, cold stone. And when they finally stumble along in the dark without the light of their lamps to guide them to the wedding feast too late to enter, they would also be unable to illuminate their own faces when the doorman at the feast would try to identify them in the dark outside the door.  And so it would be said, “I do not know you”!

The five virgins with abundant oil for their lamps can be likened to those of the New Covenant, dressed properly for the marriage feast, with the blood of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, and God’s law written on their hearts of flesh. With their lamps of the New Covenant the “Way” to the bridegroom and marriage feast is illuminated and clear, and they arrive precisely on time to enter the marriage feast. Moreover, the doorman, by the light of their lamps, can see clearly the faces of the virgins, recognizing them for who they are permitting them entrance.

Yes, the parable of the Ten Virgins is somewhat about being prepared for the return of Christ.  But, I hope I have shed at least a little light on the deeper significance of the story.  It is not just looking forward to the return of Christ that is important, it is one’s spiritual “orientation” that Jesus focuses on.  To be “prepared”, by placing one’s trust in God alone, in God’s New Covenant of promise, Faith and Holy Spirit; and not simply attemping to “buy” entrance into the marriage feast relying soley one’s good, but insufficient, good works.

Marcus

In Remembrance: The Bread

At the Last Supper, which is better referred to as the last Passover meal Jesus shared with his twelve before His crucifixion, Jesus initiated the present sacrament of Communion.

We all know what happened at that Seder.  Jesus took bread, thanked God, broke the bread and passed it among the twelve.  And He did something else, something quite unusual at the time. He told the twelve that the bread they held was his body, that his body was given for them and that they should continue the new and unusual ritual in remembrance of Him. (Luke 22.19)

Of course, the bread Jesus broke and gave to the twelve at that Seder meal was unleavened bread, commonly known today as Matzah; and Mosaic law demanded such be eaten at the Passover meal and, for that matter, the entire following week.

The Jews of Jesus’ time did not fully realize what the unleavened bread signified. They did know that their ancestors when fleeing from Egypt, were commanded to make their bread without leavening so as to not delay their departure waiting for their bread to rise.  And thus the use of unleavened bread was a way of reminding them every Passover of God’s great work in setting Israel free from Egyptian servitude.  But the unleavened bread told, and still tells of something far greater than just Israel’s liberation from Egyptian bondage.

However, it would seem that the use of unleavened bread in our memorial of Christ’s last Passover meal lost its significanace, purpose and importance not long after we gentiles became the majority and dominate force in the Christian fellowship.  That, of course, is not surprising.  As gentiles we are just not “Jewish enough” to consistently understand Hebrew/Jewish history, culture, customs, idioms and historic traditions. And it was not long into the life of the church that it was gentiles teaching gentiles (former pagans teaching former pagans) about Judaism. The worse of it, however, is that we often think we do have such a “Hebrew” understanding when studying Scripture. However, revisiting the story of the first Passover with a clearer Jewish understanding of its history can reveal much to us about the significance of unleavened bread in the Passover, then and now, and how is should play a role in our Communion memorial today.  So, before we reconsider Exodus chapter 12 to would benefit us to listen to what a Jew has to teach us regards unleavened bread.

David Kraemer, a professor and librarian at the Jewish Theological Seminary, wrote in March 2007 an article published in the Daily Forward, a Jewish/American newspaper published in NYC. In that article Kraemer stated:

“…food historians are of the opinion that leavened bread originated in Egypt, probably less than a millennium before the pyramids were built. Egyptian culture was the first to produce leavened bread, and leavened bread was a symbol of Egyptian culture…The recognition that leavened bread first emerged in Egypt is essential for understanding the place of bread — leavened and unleavened — for (Passover)… Leavened bread requires either time for the exposure of the dough (to ambient yeast in the air), or a piece of already cultured bread to transmit its culture from one generation of bread to the next. The Torah explains the demand to eliminate leavening by reference to the first method (Exodus 12:34), but leavened bread inevitably carries reference to the second, more common method, as well. (That leavened bread was equated with culture was to be taken for granted in that context.) Moreover, it is notable that the Torah’s command is as much to eliminate the leavened substance as it is to eat the unleavened (see Exodus 12:15 and 18-19).

In Exodus Chapter 12, within verses 8-20 unleavened and leavened bread, together, are mentioned a total of ten times. Five times leavening and/or leavened bread is declared as prohibited and to be purged from one’s dwelling, and five times unleavened bread is commanded to be eaten only — and not just for one night, the night of the Passover, but for seven full days!  Moveover, the first and seventh days of the unleavened bread commandment are declared to be Sabbaths!  The commandment to shun leavened bread and consume unleavened bread for an entire week casts unleavened bread in a rather significant light. And to have that week of unleavened bread bracketed by TWO annual (high) Sabbaths makes the focus of the event special indeed.

Exodus 12…

8 They shall eat the flesh (of the Passover lamb) that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.

14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened breaduntil the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

It has long been held that leaven in the scriptures represents sin and/or deviation from the Torah/Scriptures. And, as Professor Keramer pointed out, leavened bread represented the culture of Egypt, a culture Israel was constantly admonished to reject.  And Jesus warned of another culture to avoid, the culture/leaven of the Pharisees, their traditions and customs perverting and superseding the Scriptures enhancing the standing of the religious leaders and creating a distance between the common man and God’s written word. But fundamentally, leaven, as it pertains to the bread of the Passover Seder and of our Communion rembrance symbolizes a culture of sin — or more revealingly — the lack of such culture, the lack of sin, the culture of sin, in the body, the very person, of Jesus!

Of course the significance of Passover’s unleavened bread goes further than just a reminder of Israel’s escape from Egypt, the rejection of a culture other than God’s and as a representation of the Christ’s sinlessness.  For hundreds of years prior to the Passover Seder of the “Last Supper”, the unleavened bread also foreshadowed what the Christ would face and suffer on our behalf.  When Jesus told the twelve that the Passover bread was his body, He was alluding to the fact that His body would look just like that Passover bread once the authorities finished with him.  His flesh would bare the welts and wounds of a flogging, just as unleveaned bread displays like markings; His flesh would be pierced, just like unleveaned bread displays piercings throughout its surfaces and finally He would be broken, just as the Passover and Communion bread is broken before it is consumed. Yet, through all of that, He would not be leveaned, influenced or corrupted by sin, the very sin culture of that world and today’s world.

As the scripture declares regards the Christ:

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)  

And Psalm 22:16

“For dogs encompass me;  a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet –

So, with the unleavened bread, the Matzah, we have a visual reminder of who Jesus is and what He suffered for our sake.

Jesus instructed his twelve and, presumably, all Christians, to break the Passover bread in remembrance of Him. And not only in remembrance, but also (in the thinking of this writer) in continuance of its witness to who Jesus was, who He is and what, exactly, He experienced in our place.  Since our Lord instructed us to continue the Passover Memorial of Exodus Chapter 12 through an act He performed at a later Passover seder, what we gentiles call the Last Supper, then should we not be eager to carry out that instruction as He, Himself, performed it, and had been performed previously for 1400 years?!

It is true, of course, the breaking and eating of the Communion bread today is done in many different ways wherever Christians gather. Some, without any thought or intent to be contrary, use regular, everyday, leavened bread, some use specially prepared bread dedicated solely to Communion and which is believed by its Communicants to be supernaturally transformed at some point to the ACTUAL flesh and blood of Jesus (a pagan concept in my view).  Some do use unleavened bread in their Communion while even others purposefully use leavened bread to symbolize spiritual growth from Communion with Christ.

Wide array of Traditions & Conclusion:

Although I acknowledge there is a wide array of traditions as to what type of bread is used in Communion, I submit that any bread used in Communion other that unleavened bread (when it is available) falls far short of Jesus’ directive and purpose (both in the Old and New Testaments) and diminishes the sacrament in its full power of witness. Jesus asked his disciples, His friends, to break the Passoverbread in remembrance of Him, the only bread that identifies who Jesus is and what it was He endured for us.

Jesus did not say, “Do something similar to this in memory of me.” He didn’t say, “After this day do and use whatever you feel best in memory of me.”

I can only concluded that Matzah, the very unleavened, marked, pierced and culturally “separated” bread that has been used at every Passover since the Exodus and was used at the Last Supper, that last Seder meal before Jesus was crucified, is unquestionably the only bread suited to fully reveal to all in Communion who Jesus is, what it was He suffered for our benefit and how it communicates rejection of the culture of the this world and an acceptance of God’s way.  The purpose of unleavened bread from the time of the Exodus until the crucifixion was to foreshadow God’s provision for salvation and God’s calling out for His people to be separate — to be holy.  And since the crucifixion, its purpose has been to be a reminder of and continual witness to the saving work of God through the person of Jesus and our continued separateness and holiness.  As it is so readily available, or so easily made, why use any other bread at our Communion memorial than the unleavened bread our Lord, Himself, used for this very purpose?

Welcome to Look Into The Bible

Welcome to my blog;  “Look Into The Bible”.  Here you will find my thoughts, comments and understandings of what I believe is revealed in Scripture and how such relates to us as a people and, of course, as individuals.

Many will think my views a bit unorthodox, and so they might well be.   Some people will think I am dead wrong in many of my interpretations, that too could be a real possibility.   And, of course, some will feel I am spot on — at least on occasion.   But I truly hope no one will ever think I am presenting something I don’t rationally and honestly think is the biblical truth.

There is an immense amount of information available regards biblical interpretation and understanding.  Just what is available in traditional sources alone is far more than the average person can digest in a lifetime, never mind also having to deal with all that is appearing in an explosive way here online.

What to read, view, listen to and investigate is a hit or miss proposition at times, and the varied, overlapping, contradictory, inconsistent and downright weird interpretations and theories abounding everywhere really can make one’s head spin.  And the dogmatic, condescending and judgmental attitudes that are frequently encountered when one is just trying to learn the truth is most frustrating, indeed. But, there are still good, solid, biblical teachers in many places doing much good for God’s people.

When Elijah lamented to God that he, Elijah, was the only one of God’s prophets still alive after a great persecution in Israel by Jezebel, God told Elijah that he was not the only prophet left, that He, God, always keeps a remnant for Himself.  I believe that has not changed today. There is a remnant within and among all the countless televangelists, prosperity preachers, Bible shysters and alike, that still teach the solid Word of God.  I certainly do not know who many of them are, but as I believe I discover them, I will post so here.

What I also plan on providing here are my personal understandings and interpretations of Scripture  — nothing more, nothing less.  But, of course, I am always open to the understandings of others, too. And, I welcome your comments, interpretations and ideas as well.  But please, let us not permit things to descend into doctrinal shoving matches to prove how right and wise we might be. Take from this blog whatever you find useful and relevant, and I will accept from you whatever I find useful and relevant.   Simple enough, yes?

Thanks for visiting as this blog starts its beginning.  I hope you, I and all who visit here will be well served because of our cooperative efforts.

Marcus