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33 mer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, 34 know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily, I say unto you, this 35 generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and 36 earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away.- -But of

that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but 37 my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the com38 ing of the Son of Man be. For, as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,

sitting, abounded in figs as well as olive-trees. Though the mind of Jesus was filled with the pictures of astonishing events to come, we still find him gracefully drawing from Nature, at his side, the embellishments of his speech.

33. All these things, i. e. the signs he had before so graphically described. It is near. Or, he, the Christ, in his kingdom, is near.

34. This generation shall not pass, &c., i. e. those then living would witness the fulfilment of Jesus' predictions; which was the case, for the destruction of Jerusalem took place about forty years after, and many then living were involved in the great catastrophe. John

long survived the event, and Lightfoot speaks of some Rabbins who also outlived it. It is apparent from this verse, that Jesus had been previously speaking of the downfall of the Jews, not of future judgment. At the time Jesus uttered these words there was peace with the Romans, and no prospect of the Jews venturing to contend with them; or, if they did, of the temple, city, and nation being wholly destroyed. Yet forty years accomplished it all. What boundless confidence ought we ever to repose in the promises and warnings of Jesus, since he has so clearly established his claim of an unerring prophet!

35. Shall pass away, &c. This verse contains a Hebrew compari

son. It is not asserted that heaven and earth shall pass away, but the essence of the declaration is, that they shall sooner pass away than my words fail. Compare Mat. v. 18 with Luke xvi. 17. The whole material universe shall sooner crumble to pieces, than the declarations of Christ be falsified.

"Not earth stands firmer than thy word,
Nor stars so nobly shine."

36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man. Or, no one. Jesus had mentioned many harbingers of the great event, but the exact time was disclosed to no one; neither to men, angels, nor to the Messiah himself; Mark xiii. 32, Acts i. 7; but was reserved in the omniscience of the Father alone. This must ever stand as an invincible proof of the superiority of the Father over the Son, an evidence clear as the sun at mid-day, that Jesus Christ was not God. To suppose, as is done by most commentators, that "Jesus said this of his human and not of his divine nature, and that one might know what the other was ignorant of, is to attribute a mental reservation to our Saviour, fit only for a Jesuit."

37-39. Noe. The Greek, of which the Hebrew form is Noah.

They were eating and drinking, &c. They were engaged in the ordinary occupations and amusements of life, when the deluge burst upon them; so the manifestation of the Son of Man, the overthrow

until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the 39 flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be ta- 40 ken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the 41 one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch, therefore, for ye know 42 not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that, if the good- 43 man 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 up. Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye 44 think not, the Son of Man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise 45

of the Jewish state, would take the nation by surprise, while they were buried in a vain security, and still expecting some deliverer would appear, though they were on the brink of ruin.-Knew not, i. e. regarded not, considered not, though they had been forewarned by the righteous patriarch. Luke xii. 35, xvii. 34.

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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 watchful. 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 goodman 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

servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give 46 them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord, 47 when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily, I say unto you, that he 48 shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant 49 shall say in his heart: My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin

to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for 51 him, and in an hour that he is not aware of; and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.

parable of the wise and the evil servant.-Whom his lord hath made ruler, &c. To whom his master 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. 42-46.

custom 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, 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 perfidious, 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 51. Shall cut him asunder. A would descend upon that generaconsiderable difference of opinion tion, yet his words have a wider has existed among expositors rela- and more lasting significance, and tive to the nature of the punish- call forth an echo from the human ment here described. Some have, heart every where. His followers like our translators, supposed that of all times must watch and pray, it was a literal cutting in two of the lest they enter into temptation, body, and cite in proof of it the watch for the coming of sickness,

48, 49. But and if. But ifThat 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.

TH

CHAPTER XXV.

The Parables of the Virgins, the Talents, and the Judgment.

HEN shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And 2

accident, and death, and be prepared to meet the will of Heaven with submission, and God in peace.

"Whate'er its form, whate'er its flow,
While life is lent to man below,
One duty stands confest,-
To watch incessant, firm of mind,
And watch where'er the post's assigned,
And leave to God the rest."

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 unite both of these views, and consider 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 oth ers 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 an other life. Great names, which it is needless to mention, have espous ed these several views, and advanced plausible arguments to sus tain 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 chap

ter.

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 connection 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 king

3 five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

They that were foolish 4 took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil 5 in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they 6 all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: Be7 hold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those 8 virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto 9 the wise: Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise

dom, 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 today and tomorrow, 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 forever, 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.

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 made in the text. The whole com

pany 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 was 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 virgins, 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

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