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Selected Verse: Matthew 25:5 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Mt 25:5 |
King James |
While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
While the bridegroom tarried--So in Mat 24:48, "My Lord delayeth His coming"; and so Peter says sublimely of the ascended Saviour, "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things" (Act 3:21, and compare Luk 19:11-12). Christ "tarries," among other reasons, to try the faith and patience of His people.
they all slumbered and slept--the wise as well as the foolish. The world "slumbered" signifies, simply, "nodded," or, "became drowsy"; while the world "slept" is the usual word for lying down to sleep, denoting two stages of spiritual declension--first, that half-involuntary lethargy or drowsiness which is apt to steal over one who falls into inactivity; and then a conscious, deliberate yielding to it, after a little vain resistance. Such was the state alike of the wise and the foolish virgins, even till the cry of the Bridegroom's approach awoke them. So likewise in the parable of the Importunate Widow: "When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" (Luk 18:8). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The bridegroom tarried - That is, while they waited for him. It was uncertain at what time he would come. He delayed longer than they expected.
All slumbered and slept - Waiting until near midnight, they fell into repose. This circumstance is not to be pressed to prove that all Christians will be asleep, or cold and careless, when the Lord Jesus shall come. "Many" may be so, but many, also, will be looking for his coming. This circumstance is designed simply to show more clearly the "duty of being ready," Mat 25:13. It does not mean to affirm it "as a fact" that none will be ready. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Slumbered and slept (ἐνύσταξαν καὶ ἐκάθευδον)
Slumbered is, literally, nodded. Note the variation of tense. Nodded is aorist, denoting a transient act, the initial stage of slumber. They dropped their heads. Slept is imperfect, of continuous slumber. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| While the bridegroom delayed - That is, before they were called to attend him, they all slumbered and slept - Were easy and quiet, the wise enjoying a true, the foolish a false peace. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
The bridegroom tarried - The coming of the bridegroom to an individual may imply his death: his coming to the world - the final judgment. The delay - the time from a man's birth till his death, in the first case; in the second, the time from the beginning to the end of the world.
Slumbered and slept - Or, ενυϚαξαν και εκαθευδον, they became drowsy and fell asleep. As sleep is frequently used in the sacred writings for death, so drowsiness, which precedes sleep, may be considered as pointing out the decays of the constitution, and the sicknesses which precede death. The other explanations which are given of this place must be unsatisfactory to every man who is not warped by some point in his creed, which must be supported at every expense. Carelessness disposed them to drowsiness, drowsiness to sleep, deep sleep, which rendered them as unconscious of their danger as they were before inattentive to their duty. The Anglo-Saxon has hit the meaning of the original well - of which my old MS. Bible gives a literal version, in the English of the 14th century: forsothe-alle nappeden and sleptyn. |
8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.