Did Jesus Endorse Polygamy in the Parable of the Ten Virgins?
00:00:00.000 | Well, did Jesus celebrate polygamy? It's an interesting question from a listener named
00:00:08.560 | Amy. "Hello, Pastor John. I know you have opposed polygamy on the podcast in episode
00:00:12.520 | 860, but I'm curious, if Jesus was so opposed to it, why did he use the parable of the 10
00:00:19.040 | virgins in Matthew 25 verses 1 to 13? Why would Jesus use this parable if taking multiple
00:00:25.520 | wives was immoral?" Pastor John, what would you say to Amy? Let's read the parable. "Then
00:00:32.200 | the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the
00:00:37.680 | bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, five were wise. For when the foolish took their
00:00:43.440 | lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
00:00:49.960 | As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was
00:00:56.040 | a cry, 'Here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him.' Then all those virgins rose
00:01:02.560 | and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil,
00:01:07.840 | for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'Since there will not be
00:01:13.140 | enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' And while
00:01:19.080 | they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him
00:01:26.800 | to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying,
00:01:33.360 | 'Lord, Lord, open to us.' But he answered, 'Julie, I say to you, I do not know you.
00:01:41.280 | Watch therefore,'" this is Jesus' application, "'watch therefore, for you know neither
00:01:46.940 | the day nor the hour,'" meaning the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of Man.
00:01:52.160 | Now Amy asks, if Jesus was opposed to polygamy, why did he use the parable of the ten virgins?
00:01:58.080 | And I assume Amy asked this question because she thinks the ten virgins are waiting to
00:02:05.960 | marry the bridegroom when he comes. And perhaps she's encouraged in that interpretation because
00:02:13.040 | another bride is never mentioned in the parable. The bride is never mentioned. But that assumption
00:02:20.000 | that Amy seems to be making is not necessary or even likely, as Amy herself seems to imply.
00:02:28.840 | First because Jesus is clear on what he thinks marriage is. It's rooted in God's design
00:02:35.900 | with Adam and Eve in Genesis 2. And so he says in Matthew 19, "For have you not read,"
00:02:42.120 | and he's referring back there to that Genesis passage, "Have you not read that he who created
00:02:48.600 | them from the beginning made them male and female and said, 'Therefore a man shall,
00:02:55.920 | a man, one man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the
00:03:03.200 | two," not ten, "two shall become one flesh." So it's much more likely that we should see
00:03:13.440 | these ten virgins as what we would call bridesmaids. We don't know the details of how they did
00:03:21.920 | weddings among the Jews in those days, but it's easy to imagine that the bride is in
00:03:28.760 | the house waiting at the feast in private, not seen yet, and the bridesmaids, their job
00:03:38.900 | is supposed to run out to the bridegroom and bring him in with a great feast to where the
00:03:46.620 | bride is waiting.
00:03:48.280 | So here's a good principle to learn about parables at this point. Beware of letting
00:03:55.160 | imaginary details of parables—and that's what parables are, they're imaginary—take
00:04:01.040 | on meaning which would contradict the clear teaching of Jesus elsewhere. Parables are
00:04:08.480 | not that sort of teaching. They are verbal pictures to make a point, but not every brush
00:04:15.840 | stroke in the picture is designed to make a separate point.
00:04:20.840 | And let me illustrate from this very parable, this principle that I think is valuable here.
00:04:28.000 | It ends with a pretty clear statement of application. Jesus says, "Therefore," so I've just told
00:04:34.500 | you this story, now here's the "therefore." "Therefore, watch, for you know neither
00:04:41.160 | the day nor the hour." So he's comparing the coming of Jesus the second time to the
00:04:45.280 | coming of the bridegroom at night, and they didn't know what time he was going to come.
00:04:49.560 | He says, "Therefore, watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour." So the point
00:04:55.160 | we are to take away from five foolish virgins whose oil ran out, and five wise virgins who
00:05:03.400 | took thought to be ready with extra oil, was, "Watch, so that the Lord's second coming
00:05:11.640 | doesn't take you off guard like that." But what does "watch" mean? All ten were
00:05:19.600 | sleeping! All ten! The wise virgins were sleeping. They're not criticized for it. All ten were
00:05:27.160 | sleeping. If you think "watching" means going to your window and looking into the
00:05:31.160 | sky for the imminent coming of Jesus, you're not getting what "watch" means here. Including
00:05:37.320 | these wise virgins who are sleeping. They are successfully watching. So what does "watch"
00:05:44.120 | mean? They're wise. They're watching where they're supposed to. It doesn't mean stay
00:05:47.920 | up all night. No, it means stay awake to your calling. Stay awake to your duty. Stay awake
00:05:56.840 | to the vigilance you should have spiritually in your life. "Watch" doesn't mean don't
00:06:01.720 | sleep. It means don't fail to avail yourself of all the spiritual resources you will need
00:06:07.600 | to persevere in your calling and your duty till Jesus comes. So he finds you doing your
00:06:13.500 | duty, which means running out to meeting when he comes, having done your duty. So in the
00:06:18.920 | parable the duty was, "Honor the bridegroom with a great welcome and bring him into the
00:06:23.960 | celebration so that he can eat with his wife." It didn't matter if you slept, provided that
00:06:32.540 | you had all the resources you need to wake up and be there doing what you're supposed
00:06:38.980 | to do. So when it says at the end, "Watch," the watchfulness is spiritual life, vitality,
00:06:46.760 | readiness, vigilance, care. So the parable is not about polygamy or monogamy. It's not
00:06:54.960 | even about marriage. It's about what it means to live in the light of the second coming
00:07:02.020 | with spiritual wakefulness and vitality, always ready to be found doing what our duty is when
00:07:11.480 | he comes.
00:07:12.480 | ________________
00:07:13.480 | Great takeaway on eschatological wakefulness. Thank you, Pastor John. So good. And we did,
00:07:18.160 | in fact, talk about polygamy in a past episode, in episode 860, number 860, which is titled,
00:07:23.720 | "May I Have Two Wives, Six Vidos." That's the title. And that's one of our 1,300, over
00:07:30.880 | now 1,300 total episodes to date. Thank you for your interest and questions over the past
00:07:34.800 | six years. You can search all those episodes and read full transcripts that are online
00:07:39.160 | at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:07:44.320 | Speaking of follow-up questions, our episode on fantasy sports gambling recently brought
00:07:48.320 | in a few of those questions as well. Specifically, isn't educated sports gambling as virtuous
00:07:54.000 | as playing the stock market? We'll talk financial risk-taking when we return on Monday. I'm
00:08:00.040 | Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
00:08:02.160 | [End of Audio]
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