Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Matthew Capítulo 25

Matthew 25:1. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened, &c.— The particle then evidently points out the connection of the present parable with the latter part of the preceding chapter. Our Lord having mentioned the rewards and punishments of a future state, in order to animate his disciples to the rigorous discharge of their duty, it was easy and elegant to pass from that subject to the consideration of the general judgment, at which these rewards will be distributed in their utmost extent. And therefore, to rouse men in every age, he has given a striking representation of the last judgment, with its consequences, in three excellent parables. He had before frequently declared what would be the portion of all the workers of iniquity: but what will become of those who do no harm, though they do no good? Inoffensive, good sort of people? We have in the present chapter a clear and full answer to this important question. The first parable is that of the ten virgins, who waited to meet the bridegroom: Then shall the kingdom of heaven, &c. that is to say, "At the general judgment, the character, conduct, and lot of the subjects of the kingdom of heaven, (of the professors of the Gospel) may be represented by the character, conduct, and lot of virgins at a wedding." It seems, in those countries the bridegroom commonly brought home his bride in the evening; and that she might be received at his house in a suitable manner, his female friends, of the younger sort, were invited to come and wait with lamps,till some of his retinue, dispatched before the rest, brought word that he was at hand; on this they went forth with their lamps trimmed to welcome him, and conduct him with his bride into the house. And for this service they had the honour of being guests at the marriage-feast. Mr. Wynne conjectures that probably a wedding procession passing by, gave occasion to this parable;and the following account of the marriage ceremony at Aleppo, the capital of Syria, by a person who lately resided there, may possibly throw some light on the parable, as it alludes to the customs of those countries on that occasion. "On the appointed day in the afternoon, the bridegroom's relations go to the bride's house; and having supped there, they return to that of the bridegroom, who is by custom obliged to hide himself, or, at least, is not to be found without a seemingly strict search: when he is brought out dressed in his best cloaths, great noise and rejoicings are made upon finding him; and he and the bridesmen, being led several times round the courtyard in a noisy procession, are carried into a room. There he is dressed in his wedding cloaths, and led back into the court-yard. At midnight, or a few hours later, the relations, accompanied by all who are invited to the wedding, both men and women, return again to the bride's house in procession, each carrying a candle, and music playing before them. When they come to the door, it is shut against them. Then they knock and demand the bride, but are refused admittance: upon this ensues a mock fight, in which the bridegroom's party always prevails. The women then go to the bride's chamber, leading her out veiled; and in the like procession as above described, carry her to the bridegroom's house," See the notes on Psalms 45:0. Solomon's Song, and the Customs of the Jews and Indians compared, p. 41. &c.

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Matthew 25:6. And at midnight there was a cry— Perhaps the tradition which St. Jerome mentions, wherein it was asserted that Christ would come to judgment at midnight, might be borrowed from this passage; though certainly it is absurd enough, since that can be the case only under one meridian.

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Matthew 25:9. Saying, Not so, &c.— This, says Dr. Doddridge, seems merely an ornamental circumstance; and it is strange, that any popish writer should consider it as favouring their doctrine of a stock of merits in the church, founded on works of supererogation; since if it referred to them at all (which there is no reason to imagine) it would rather expose than encourage any dependance upon them.

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Matthew 25:12. Verily—I know you not— This circumstance in the parable is perfectly consistent with the rest; for nothing intimated a personal acquaintance with them; and guests asking admittance with such a pretence, might have been multiplied beyond all reason and convenience: at least its significancy and application are very apparent and important. In this parable, by the kingdom of heaven is meant the Gospel kingdom—the kingdom of grace in its last dispensation, when it is about to be swallowed up in glory. By the tenvirgins are meant the complete and general number of all Christian professors; the visible church of God upon earth, mixed with good and bad. By their taking the lamps, and going forth to meet the bridegroom, is meant their taking upon them by baptism, and their leading their lives in, the outward profession of the Christian faith. By the bridegroom is meant the Lord Jesus, the divine and glorious bridegroom of his spouse, the church. By the foolish virgins are meant mere professors; Christians only in name, who have a lamp without oil, faith without love. By the wise virgins are meant real Christians, who to an outward profession join inward holiness; who have not only the form, but the power of godliness; faith which works by love; a life beautified by the fruits of the Holy Spirit, whose gifts and graces particularly are figured out to us by the oil. By the slumber and sleep of them all, wise as well as foolish, is meant death, the common lot of good and bad. By the midnight cry to go forth and meet the bridegroom, is meant the last aweful summons to judgment, the archangel's trumpet, and the voice of God: by the solicitude of the foolish virgins, the discovery which nominal professors will make, too late, of their want of holiness. By the reproof of the wise isshewn, the impossibility of transferring good works from one to another; and of consequence the absurdity of the popish doctrine of supererogation; since no man at that day will be found to have more than enough for himself. By the admission of the wise to the marriage-feast, is meant the happy entrance of faithful Christians into bliss eternal with their all-glorious bridegroom; and by the exclusion of the foolish, the everlasting banishment of the strangers to true holiness from that bliss. And as the parable represents the suddenness of Christ's coming, it shews both the folly and danger of delaying repentance to a death-bed, and powerfully enforces habitual watch-fulness, both in the acquisition and exercise of grace, upon all men in every age, from the uncertainty of life;—for the day of death is to each of us as the day of judgment. Accordingly, the application of the parable is, watch therefore, &c. Matthew 25:13.

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Matthew 25:14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling— For He [the Son, Matthew 25:13.] is as a man, &c. The kingdom of heaven, added by our translators, appears to be repeated from the first verse; but the connection seems to require the version here given. See Luke 19:12. Instead of his goods, Dr. Heylin reads his effects.

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Matthew 25:15. Unto one he gave five talents— See the note on Mat 25:30 and Prideaux's preface to his Connection, p. 20.

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Matthew 25:21. Well done!— The original word Ευ, has a peculiar force and energy, far beyond what we can express in English. It was used by auditors or spectators in any public exercise, to express the highest applause, when any part had been excellently performed. By joy is here meant the place appointed for festivals and rejoicings, as is evident from Mat 25:30 where we read, that the wicked servant is cast into outer darkness, in opposition to the lights which illuminated the banqueting-room. Enter thou into the joy, &c. means, "share with me in the pleasures of my palace, and by sitting down at the entertainment which I have prepared, rejoice with me on account of my safe return." Grotius well observes upon the words over a few things, that even the obedience of Apostles and martyrs which they have manifested through grace, must appear trifling indeed, when compared with the exceeding weight of glory wherewith it shall be rewarded.

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Matthew 25:24. Then he which had received the one talent came, &c.— This circumstance may intimate, probably, that we are accountable for the smallest advantages with which we are entrusted; but it cannot imply that they who have received much, will in general pass their accounts best; for it is too plain in fact, that most of those whose dignity, wealth, and genius give them the greatest opportunities of service, seem to forget they have either any Master in heaven to serve, or any future reckoning to expect; and many of them render themselves muchmore criminal than this wicked and slothful servant, who hid his talent in the earth. See Grotius and Doddridge. Where thou hast not strawed, might be rendered, where thou hast not scattered; that is to say, where thou hast not sown, by scattering the grain.

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Matthew 25:25. Lo, there thou hast that is thine— Dr. Heylin renders this, see, you have your own,and it comes nearer to the emphatical beauty of the original, which strongly expresses the morose surly brevity of the slothful servant. The language is a lively picture of the mind, and an echo to the sense: 'Ιδε, εχεις το σον . Lo, thou hast that—thine. This is one instance among a thousand of the excellency of the sacred Scripture in this respect also. The next verse might be rendered more properly by interrogation, Knewest thou that, &c.? Dr. Whitby well observes, that when he said, Thou knewest, or knewest thou that I was an hard man, &c. this is no concession that the master was truly so, but an argument out of his own mouth to condemn him, for not acting suitably to his own hard conceptions of his lord. See Luke 19:22. Nor do these words thou oughtest to have put my money to the exchangers, &c. shew that Christ approved of usury; but only that he who thought so sordidly of his master, should have used his talent agreeably, that so he might have had his own with interest.

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Matthew 25:30. And cast ye the unprofitable servant, &c.— This punishment must have been greatly embittered to him by the happier lot of his fellow-servants, who were highly applauded for their diligence, and gladdened with the prospect of their reward. See on ch. Matthew 8:12.

In this parable, by the man travelling into a far country, is represented to us our Saviour, who is said to do so, either in reference to his ascent into heaven, or to that long-sufferance of his, whereby he waiteth for the fruit of our works. By his own servants are meant the subjects of his gospel kingdom, who are entrusted with his spiritual gifts and graces; and of necessity, by the goods or talents intrusted to them, must be meant, not only the gifts of nature, but of grace. By the servants who improved their lord's talents, are meant those who diligently labour to improve all the gifts of God, natural and spiritual, agreeable to the will of their heavenly Master, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord; while by the slothful servant, such are pictured out to us as live solely to themselves, without regard to the glory of God, or the good of mankind. "He who lives not solely to his own profit, (says Theophylact,) but whether he have prudence or riches, or power and authority with the great; or whatever influence and heart he hath, endeavours thereby to serve and be useful to others, this is the man who doubles that which is given him; but he who hides his talent, is the man who has regard solely to his own advantage, and not to that of others; and therefore is condemned. And whenever you see a man of good understanding and industrious, using his parts in the pursuit of worldly things, and earthly devices, of him you may say, that he hides his talent in the earth; to take an account whereof, the Master will one day come—the eternal judge of heaven and earth, whose future coming for that great purpose is figured out to us by the return of the lord of those servants, after a long time, to reckon with them. And as by the reward of the good and faithful servant the blessedness of all true Christians is shewn; so by the punishment of the wicked and slothful one, is declared to us the misery of all nominal and merely outward professors of thefaith and religion of Christ, who, on the day when, vested in terrible majesty, the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, &c. (2 Thessalonians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:12.) shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord."

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Matthew 25:34. Then shall the king say— The sentence passed upon the righteous, affords a noble motive to patience and continuance in well-doing. In the beginning of the parable our Lord calls himself the Son of Man only: but he now changes the appellation, taking the title of king with great propriety, when he is speaking of himself as exercising the highest act of kingly power; in passing final sentence upon all men as his subjects, whereby their state will be unalterably fixed for ever. And this title adds unutterable beauty to the condescending words that he is represented as speaking on this great occasion. One cannot imagine a more magnificent image than this before us—the assembled world, distinguished with such unerring penetration, and distributed into two grand classes, with as much ease as sheep and goats are ranged by a shepherd in different companies;—that assembled world waiting to receive their everlasting doom from the lips of Almighty andimpartial justice! The present state of good men is at best but a banishment from their native country;an exile in which they are frequently exposed to manifold temptations, to persecutions, to poverty, to reproach, and to innumerable other evils. But that they may bear all with unfainting courage and constancy, they are given to know by this sentence, that they are beloved and blessed of God, as his own children; and that there is no less than an eternal kingdom prepared for the faithful saints of God from the foundation or formation of the world, through that infinite prescience of Deity, whereby he foresees who will be faithful, and who will not. Well may such bear with the violence of their oppressors, knowing what an exceeding and eternal weight of glory awaits them.

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Matthew 25:40. Verily I say—in as much, &c.— This is unspeakably astonishing! The united wisdom of angels could not have thought of any thing more proper to convey an idea of the warmth and strength of the divine benevolence to man, or offered a more constraining motive to charity, than that the Son of God should declare from the judgment-seat, in the presence of the whole assembled universe, that such good offices as are done to the afflicted through genuine love, are done to him. Having in the day of his flesh suffered injuries and afflictions unspeakable, he considers all the holydistressed members of his body, loves them tenderly, and is so much interested in their welfare, that when they are happy, he rejoices; when they are distressed he is grieved. In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Wonderful condescension of the Son of God!

Astonishingstupidity of men! who neglect altogether or are persuaded with difficulty, to do good to Christ. What wonderful condescension, that the Son of God should call any of us his brethren! This happy relation arises from the manhood, which he still possesses in common with us. The faithful are with him, but in an infinitely inferior sense, sons of the same Father, after whose image they are formed through the influence of his Spirit working faith in them. It is this conformity of nature human and divine, which makes men Christ's brethren; for which reason, in whatever person it is to be found, he will acknowledge the relation, without regard to any circumstance whatever, that is out of the person's power. See Macknight. By these my brethren, Dr. Heylin also understands, the saints, who should come in Christ's train to judgment. See Mede's Works, p. 81 and Wetstein.

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