00850
 \\The days of Noah\\ (\\hai hmerai tou Ne\\). Jesus had used this same
 imagery before to the Pharisees
 # Lu 17:26-30
 In Noah's day there was plenty of warning, but utter
 unpreparedness. Most people are either indifferent about the
 second coming or have fanciful schemes or programs about it. Few
 are really eager and expectant and leave to God the time and the
 plans.

00851
 \\Were eating\\ (\\san trgontes\\). Periphrastic imperfect. The verb
 means to chew raw vegetables or fruits like nuts or almonds.

00852
00853
00854
 \\At the mill\\ (\\en ti muli\\). So Westcott and Hort and not \\mulni\\
 (millhouse) Textus Receptus. The millstone and then hand-mill
 which was turned by two women (\\althousai\\) as in
 # Ex 11:5
 This verb is a late form for \\ale\\. There was a handle near the
 edge of the upper stone.

00855
 \\Watch therefore\\ (\\grgreite oun\\). A late present imperative from
 the second perfect \\egrgora\\ from \\egeir\\. Keep awake, be on the
 watch "therefore" because of the uncertainty of the time of the
 second coming. Jesus gives a half dozen parables to enforce the
 point of this exhortation (the Porter, the Master of the House,
 the Faithful Servant and the Evil Servants, the Ten Virgins, the
 Talents, the Sheep and the Goats). Matthew does not give the
 Parable of the Porter
 # Mr 13:35-37

00856
 \\In what watch\\ (\\poii phulaki\\). As in
 # 14:25
 (four watches of the night). \\Broken through\\ (\\dioruchthnai\\).
 Digged through the tile roof or under the floor (dirt in the
 poorer houses).

00857
 \\That ye think not\\ (\\hi ou dokeite hri\\). It is useless to set
 the day and hour for Christ's coming. It is folly to neglect it.
 This figure of the thief will be used also by Paul concerning the
 unexpectedness of Christ's second coming
 # 1Th 5:2
 See also
 # Mt 24:50
 for the unexpectedness of the coming with punishment for the evil
 servant.

00858
00859
00860
00861
 \\My lord tarrieth\\ (\\chronizei mou ho kurios\\). That is the
 temptation and to give way to indulge in fleshly appetites or to
 pride of superior intellect. Within a generation scoffers will be
 asking where is the promise of the coming of Christ
 # 2Pe 3:4
 They will forget that God's clock is not like our clock and that
 a day with the Lord may be a thousand years or a thousand years
 as one day
 # 2Pe 3:8

00862
00863
00864
00865
 \\Ten virgins\\ (\\deka parthenois\\). No special point in the number
 ten. The scene is apparently centered round the house of the
 bride to which the bridegroom is coming for the wedding
 festivities. But Plummer places the scene near the house of the
 bridegroom who has gone to bring the bride home. It is not
 pertinent to the point of the parable to settle it. \\Lamps\\
 (\\lampadas\\). Probably torches with a wooden staff and a dish on
 top in which was placed a piece of rope or cloth dipped in oil or
 pitch. But sometimes \\lampas\\ has the meaning of oil lamp (\\luchnos\\)
 as in
 # Ac 20:8
 That may be the meaning here (Rutherford, _New Phrynichus_).

00866
00867
 \\Took no oil with them\\ (\\ouk elabon meth' heautn elaion\\). Probably
 none at all, not realizing their lack of oil till they lit the
 torches on the arrival of the bridegroom and his party.

00868
 \\In their vessels\\ (\\en tois aggeiois\\). Here alone in the N.T.,
 through \\agg\\ in
 # 13:48
 Extra supply in these receptacles besides the oil in the dish on
 top of the staff.

00869
 \\They all slumbered and slept\\ (\\enustaxan psai kai ekatheudon\\).
 They dropped off to sleep, nodded (ingressive aorist) and then
 went on sleeping (imperfect, linear action), a vivid picture
 drawn by the difference in the two tenses. Many a preacher has
 seen this happen while he is preaching.

00870
 \\There is a cry\\ (\\kraug gegonen\\). A cry has come. Dramatic use of
 the present perfect (second perfect active) indicative, not the
 perfect for the aorist. It is not \\estin\\, but \\gegonen\\ which
 emphasizes the sudden outcry which has rent the air. The very
 memory of it is preserved by this tense with all the bustle and
 confusion, the rushing to the oil-venders. \\Come ye forth to meet\\
 \\him\\ (\\exerchesthe eis apantsin\\). Or, Go out for meeting him,
 dependent on whether the cry comes from outside the house or
 inside the house where they were sleeping because of the delay.
 It was a ceremonial salutation neatly expressed by the Greek
 phrase.

00871
 \\Trimmed\\ (\\ekosmsan\\). Put in order, made ready. The wicks were
 trimmed, the lights being out while they slept, fresh oil put in
 the dish, and lit again. A marriage ceremony in India is
 described by Ward (_View of the Hindoos_) in Trench's _Parables_:
 "After waiting two or three hours, at length near midnight it was
 announced, as in the very words of Scripture, 'Behold the
 bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.'"

00872
 \\Are going out\\ (\\sbennuntai\\). Present middle indicative of linear
 action, not punctiliar or aoristic. When the five foolish virgins
 lit their lamps, they discovered the lack of oil. The sputtering,
 flickering, smoking wicks were a sad revelation. "And _perhaps_
 we are to understand that there is something in the coincidence
 of the lamps going out just as the Bridegroom arrived. Mere
 outward religion is found to have no illuminating power"
 (Plummer).

00873
 \\Peradventure there will not be enough for us and you\\ (\\mpote ou\\
 \\m arkesei hmn kai humn\\). There is an elliptical construction
 here that is not easy of explanation. Some MSS. Aleph A L Z have
 \\ouk\\ instead of \\ou m\\. But even so \\m pote\\ has to be explained
 either by supplying an imperative like \\ginesth\\ or by a verb of
 fearing like \\phoboumetha\\ (this most likely). Either \\ouk\\ or \\ou\\
 \\m\\ would be proper with the futuristic subjunctive \\arkesei\\
 (Moulton, _Prolegomena_, p. 192; Robertson, _Grammar_, pp.
 1161,1174). "We are afraid that there is no possibility of there
 being enough for us both." This is a denial of oil by the wise
 virgins because there was not enough for both. "It was necessary
 to show that the foolish virgins could not have the consequences
 of their folly averted at the last moment" (Plummer). It is a
 courteous reply, but it is decisive. The compound Greek negatives
 are very expressive, \\mpote--ou m\\.

00874
 \\And while they went away\\ (\\aperchomenn de autn\\). Present middle
 participle, genitive absolute, while they were going away,
 descriptive linear action. Picture of their inevitable folly. \\Was\\
 \\shut\\ (\\ekleisth\\). Effective aorist passive indicative, shut to
 stay shut.

00875
 \\Afterward\\ (\\husteron\\). And find the door shut in their faces.
 \\Lord, Lord, open to us\\ (\\Kurie, Kurie, anoixon hmin\\). They appeal
 to the bridegroom who is now master whether he is at the bride's
 house or his own.

00876
 \\I know you not\\ (\\ouk oida hums\\). Hence there was no reason for
 special or unusual favours to be granted them. They must abide
 the consequences of their own negligence.

00877
 \\Watch therefore\\ (\\grgoreite oun\\). This is the refrain with all
 the parables. Lack of foresight is inexcusable. Ignorance of the
 time of the second coming is not an excuse for neglect, but a
 reason for readiness. Every preacher goes up against this trait
 in human nature, putting off till another time what should be
 done today.

00878
 \\Going into another country\\ (\\apodmn\\). About to go away from
 one's people (\\dmos\\), on the point of going abroad. This word in
 ancient use in this sense. There is an ellipse here that has to
 be supplied, \\It is as when\\ or \\The kingdom of heaven is as when\\.
 This Parable of the Talents is quite similar to the Parable of
 the Pounds in
 # Lu 19:11-28
 but they are not variations of the same story. Some scholars
 credit Jesus with very little versatility. \\His goods\\ (\\ta\\
 \\huparchonta autou\\). His belongings, neuter participle used as a
 substantive.

00879
 \\To one\\ (\\hi men, hi de, hi de\\). Demonstrative \\hos\\, not the
 relative. Neat Greek idiom. \\According to his several ability\\
 (\\kata tn idian dunamin\\). According to his own ability. Each had
 all that he was capable of handling. The use that one makes of
 his opportunities is the measure of his capacity for more. One
 talent represented a considerable amount of money at that time
 when a \\denarius\\ was a day's wage.
 See note on "Mt 18:24"
  for the value of a talent.

00880
 \\Straightway\\ (\\euthes\\). Beginning of verse 16, not the end of
 verse
 # 15
 The business temper of this slave is shown by his promptness.
 \\With them\\ (\\en autois\\). Instrumental use of \\en\\. He worked
 (\\rgasato\\), did business, traded with them. "The virgins wait,
 the servants work" (Vincent). \\Made\\ (\\epoisen\\). But Westcott and
 Hort read \\ekerdsen\\, gained, as in verse
 # 17
 \\Kerdos\\ means interest. This gain was a hundred per cent.

00881
00882
00883
 \\Maketh a reckoning\\ (\\sunairei logon\\). As in
 # 18:23
 Deissmann (_Light from the Ancient East_, p. 117) gives two
 papyri quotations with this very business idiom and one Nubian
 ostracon with it. The ancient Greek writers do not show it.

00884
00885
 \\The joy of thy lord\\ (\\tn charin tou kuriou sou\\). The word \\chara\\
 or joy may refer to the feast on the master's return. So in verse
 # 23

00886
00887
00888
 \\That had received the one talent\\ (\\ho to talenton eilphs\\). Note
 the perfect active participle to emphasize the fact that he still
 had it. In verse
 # 20
 we have \\ho--labn\\ (aorist active participle). \\I knew thee\\ (\\egnn\\
 \\se\\). Second aorist active indicative. Experimental knowledge
 (\\ginsk\\) and proleptical use of \\se\\. \\A hard man\\ (\\sklros\\).
 Harsh, stern, rough man, worse than \\austros\\ in
 # Lu 19:21
 grasping and ungenerous. \\Where thou didst not scatter\\ (\\hothen ou\\
 \\dieskorpisas\\). But this scattering was the chaff from which wheat
 was winnowed, not the scattering of seed.

00889
00890
 \\Thou wicked and slothful servant\\ (\\ponre doule kai oknre\\). From
 \\ponos\\ (work, annoyance, disturbance, evil) and \\okne\\ (to be slow,
 "poky," slothful). Westcott and Hort make a question out of this
 reply to the end of verse
 # 26
 It is sarcasm.

00891
 \\Thou oughtest therefore\\ (\\edsi se oun\\). His very words of excuse
 convict him. It was a necessity (\\edei\\) that he did not see. \\The\\
 \\bankers\\ (\\tois trapezeitais\\). The benchers, money-changers,
 brokers, who exchanged money for a fee and who paid interest on
 money. Word common in late Greek. \\I should have received back\\
 (\\eg ekomisamn an\\). Conclusion of a condition of the second
 class (determined as unfulfilled). The condition is not
 expressed, but it is implied. "If you had done that." \\With\\
 \\interest\\ (\\sun toki\\). Not with "usury" in the sense of extortion
 or oppression. Usury only means "use" in itself. The word is from
 \\tikt\\, to bring forth. Compound interest at six per cent doubles
 the principal every twenty years. It is amazing how rapidly that
 piles up if one carries it on for centuries and millenniums. "In
 the early Roman Empire legal interest was eight per cent, but in
 usurious transactions it was lent at twelve, twenty-four, and
 even forty-eight" (Vincent). Such practices exist today in our
 cities. The Mosaic law did not allow interest in dealings between
 Hebrews, but only with strangers
 # De 23:19,20; Ps 15:5

00892
00893
00894
 \\The unprofitable\\ (\\ton achreion\\). Useless (\\a\\ privative and
 \\chreios\\, useful) and so unprofitable, injurious. Doing nothing is
 doing harm.

00895
00896
 \\All the nations\\ (panta ta ethn). Not just Gentiles, but Jews
 also. Christians and non-Christians. This program for the general
 judgment has been challenged by some scholars who regard it as a
 composition by the evangelist to exalt Christ. But why should not
 Christ say this if he is the Son of Man and the Son of God and
 realized it? A "reduced" Christ has trouble with all the Gospels,
 not merely with the Fourth Gospel, and no less with Q and Mark
 than with Matthew and Luke. This is a majestic picture with which
 to close the series of parables about readiness for the second
 coming. Here is the program when he does come. "I am aware that
 doubt is thrown on this passage by some critics. But the doubt is
 most wanton. Where is the second brain that could have invented
 anything so original and so sublime as vv.
 # 35-40,42-45
 ?" (Sanday, _Life of Christ in Recent Research_, p. 128). \\As the\\
 \\shepherd separates\\ (\\hsper ho poimn aphorizei\\). A common figure
 in Palestine. The sheep are usually white and the goats black.
 There are kids (\\eriphn, eriphia\\) which have grazed together. The
 goats devastate a field of all herbage. "Indeed they have
 extirpated many species of trees which once covered the hills"
 (Tristram, _Natural History of the Bible_, pp. 89f.). The
 shepherd stands at the gate and taps the sheep to go to the right
 and the goats to the left.

00897
00898
 \\From the foundation of the world\\ (\\apo katabols kosmou\\). The
 eternal purpose of the Father for his elect in all the nations.
 The Son of Man in verse
 # 31
 is the King here seated on the throne in judgment.

