Post #36 – The Ten Virgins

Dear Family and Friends

I hope this post finds each of you healthy and happy and having a spectacular day!  today I would like to share with you one of my favorite  lessons that I taught in Primary. It was the one about the Ten Virgins, you remember there were five who were wise and five who were foolish. I’m sure that you know the one that I am talking about, but just in case you are new to the scriptures or are a little bit rusty – let me refresh your memory a bit.

As the story goes there is going to be a big wedding feast and the bridegroom will be coming to attend the feast, but no one knows just when the bridegroom will come so they must be ready – no matter what time it may be when he comes through the town. I think it was at midnight in the story, which would have been much later that they had expected him to arrive because I think they would normally begin their celebration of the wedding feast as the sun was just beginning to go down for the night.

It seems that part of the preparation was to be sure that they had oil in their lamps so that they would be able to light the bridegrooms way when he announced his coming and they would not want to run out of oil so they would need to have an extra supply in order to keep their lamp lit to light his way to the bride’s home for the wedding feast. I think that is the way their custom went for the wedding feast

Now in the story there were ten virgins, five of whom had prepared well – they were the wise virgins and they filled their lamps and had purchased an extra vessel of oil to refill their lamps in necessary. Then there were the other five who probably waited until the last minute to prepare – they were the foolish virgins and they had their lamps with whatever oil was in them, but they didn’t have any extra oil to refill their lamps. The lamps back then would only last for an hour or two at the most, so they would definitely need extra oil.

Well the story goes on to tell that they all fell asleep while they were waiting when they all heard the bridegroom calling they awoke and the lamps of the foolish virgins had gone out. The foolish virgins asked the wise virgins – who had prepared ahead, to share their oil, but the wise virgins said that they would not have enough oil to light the way if they shared the oil that they had, so they told the ones who needed more oil to try to find a place to buy some oil  for themselves and to do it quickly.  I am sure that these foolish virgins truly wanted to go to the celebration, but they did not want to put forth the effort needed to prepare ahead of time to get there.

While these five unprepared or foolish young ladies were searching for a place to buy more oil the bridegroom came by to invite all of his friends to the wedding feast and those who were not prepared missed the invitation to the come with him. And all those that had come with the bridegroom went into the wedding feast and the door was closed. When the foolish virgins finally arrived at the place of the wedding feast the bridegroom told them that he didn’t know them, and they were not allowed to enter in.

Now when I taught this lesson to my primary students I always had an oil lamp drawn on poster board and oil droplets for my prompts for the story. I would ask my students how they could fill their oil lamps – how they could prepare spiritually? Then we would write their ideas on the oil droplets and put them into our lamp. I am all about visualization – it helps me to remember things, so please bear with me.

Picture in your mind’s eye a giant very old fashioned oil lamp and giant droplets of oil and think about things you can do to fill your lamp with oil so that you might be Spiritually prepared to meet the circumstances, situations, trials, or different journeys of your life and then picture how you might be spiritually prepared to meet the Savior at His Second Coming. Have you got the picture in your mind? Wow! Right? Meeting our Savior face to face someday! Will you be ready? Will you have continually been filling your vessel with oil? What are the things that you need to do to help you be prepared?

Some of the things that my students would tell me to fill their vessels with oil – listen to my parents, help other people, read my scriptures, say my prayers, help with family home evening, come to church each week, be nice to my friends, be nice to my brothers and sisters, and a few more. So, we each should be praying individually and with our families each day, studying the scriptures individually and with our families, and we should be exercising faith in Jesus Christ. We should turn to our Heavenly Father for His help to figure out our own struggles and difficulties and problems. This will help us to be able strengthen other during their times of spiritual struggles.

Now read through the scriptural account of the parable of the Ten Virgins as found in the Bible in the New Testament in Matthew 25:1-13. 1:40

1Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

2 And five of the were wise, and five were foolish.

3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there ne not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut.

11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh

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Here are a couple of videos that you might enjoy watching that depict this parable:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-01-002-the-ten-virgins?lang=eng

the following is from the Friend Magazine – it is a simplified version of the story of the Ten Virgins that you can share with the children in your life.

Chapter 47, The Ten Virgins.

Jesus told a story about 10 young women who went to a wedding. They waited for the bridegroom (the Son of man) to come and let them in. They did not know what time he would come. Matt. 25:1, 13

The 10 women had oil burning lamps. Five of the women were wise. They had extra oil with them.(Matt. 25:2,4)  The other five women were foolish. They only had the oil that was in their lamps.(Matt.25:3)

The bridegroom did not come for a long time. The oil in the lamps ran out. The five wise women had more oil to put in their lamps. The five foolish women had to go buy more oil.(Matt.25:5-9)

While they were gone, the bridegroom came. He let the five wise women into the wedding.(Matt.25:10) When the five foolish women returned, the door was closed. They could not go to the wedding.(Matt 25:10-13)

Jesus is like the bridegroom in this story. Church members are like the 10 women. When Jesus comes again, some members will be ready. They will have obeyed God's commandments. Others will not be ready. They will not be able to be with the Savior when He comes again. Others will be like the five foolish women and will not be able to be with the Savior. (3 Ne. 25:1-2; D&C 88:86, 92; D&C 45:56-57; Jesus the Christ, pages 576-580.

Remember in the first part of the parable Jesus said: “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.”  I found this article that explains in simple terms what the Parable of the Ten Virgins represents. And it gives some good background information that I found helpful as I study this parable.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

In this parable, the Savior taught us how to prepare for His Second Coming.

In these last days, the Lord has said, “Be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the Bridegroom” (D&C 33:17). This counsel refers to the parable of the ten virgins, which illustrates how we are to prepare for Christ’s Second Coming (see Matthew 25:1–13). Here are some explanations that may help you as you study this parable and ponder its meaning.

Ten Virgins

It was a custom among the Jews for the bridegroom to come at night to the bride’s house, where her bridesmaids attended her. When the bridegroom’s approach was announced, these maidens went out with lamps to light his way into the house for the celebration.

In this parable the virgins represent members of the Church, and the bridegroom represents Christ. The Lord explained to Joseph Smith that the wise virgins are those who “have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived” (D&C 45:57).

Bridegroom

In the Bible, the image of a wedding is used to portray the coming of the Lord (see Isaiah 62:5; Matthew 22:1–14). Jewish weddings included the announcement of the bridegroom’s coming to the bride’s house. The weddings usually began in the evening, with the lamps lit at dusk. So midnight was later than the ten virgins would have expected the bridegroom—and the announcement came suddenly.

We do not know the timing of Christ’s Second Coming, but we should prepare for it as though it could come at any time—whether soon or late.

Vessels

The vessels in the parable were containers for storing extra oil. Being wise means being prepared for the unexpected with an extra measure of faith, testimony, and the Spirit in our lives. Sometimes we grow complacent, thinking we have enough to get by. But following the Savior means more than just getting by. It means always striving to draw closer to Him, preparing for those times when our patience, faith, and testimony will be tried.

Lamps

The oil lamps used by the Jews in Jesus’s day are called Herodian lamps, after King Herod. These lamps enabled people to carry light wherever they went. In the same way, we are to carry the light of the gospel with us (see Matthew 5:14–16).

The handle was shaped by hand and then attached to the lamp.

The body of the lamp was made of clay and shaped on a potter’s wheel.

The spout or nozzle was made from a mold.

A wick made of flax fibers or a rush stem was placed in the spout, and then the lamp was filled with olive oil. Once the wick absorbed the oil, the lamp was lit.

Oil

Olives are first soaked in water to clean them and purge them of their bitterness, and then they are crushed to extract their oil. Olive oil, produced throughout the Mediterranean region, had multiple uses anciently: food, cooking oil, condiment, treatment for wounds, ingredient in cosmetics and soaps, and fuel for lamps.

The oil in the parable represents our faith and testimony, our purity and dedication, our good works, and our keeping of covenants—all of the ways in which we have “taken the Holy Spirit for [our] guide” (D&C 45:57).

The wise virgins could not share their oil with the foolish virgins because “the oil of spiritual preparedness cannot be shared” (Marvin J. Ashton, “A Time of Urgency,” Ensign, May 1974, 36).

Drop by Drop

“Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures—each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Deeds of kindness, payment of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage in the covenant for eternity—these, too, contribute importantly to the oil with which we can at midnight refuel our exhausted lamps.”

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985), Faith Precedes the Miracle (1972), 256.

The lamps were lit at dusk.

The bridegroom came at midnight.

Herodian lamps could usually burn for about two hours.

I hope that you all have found this parable interesting with the explanation and have realized that it is of utmost importance in your life. The Savior is teaching us through this parable how we can become spiritually prepared. I don’t want to make this post too long, but I do want to share more information on becoming spiritually prepared because I feel that it is so important for us to begin our preparations NOW! If you have already begun, good for you!! Keep working at it so that you will continue to stay spiritually prepared. Remember that being prepared for life’s emergencies is important, financially, physically, mentally, and emotionally, and as important as these are it is more important to be spiritually prepared --- so let’s get started together!!! Have a great week!