Logistically Challenged

Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. Matthew 25:2 NASB

Foolish – But of course they were foolish. They didn’t come prepared. Is that it? Is this parable of the kingdom simply about making sure we have enough provisions to wait out the return? Hardly!

In Greek, the term translated “foolish” is moros. It’s about deficiency, particularly “mental dullness.” Obviously, we get our word “moron” from this Greek root. In Greek thought, moros is about weakness, lack of judgment and sloth. But the parable wasn’t spoken in Greek, was it? It was spoken in Hebrew and in Hebrew “foolish” isn’t about mental deficiency, sloth or human frailty. In Hebrew, “fool” can be one of three different words: kĕsîl, ʾewîl or nābāl. The distinctions are important. None of them is about mental deficiency. In other words, in Hebrew stupid doesn’t matter.

In Prov three words are rendered fool, kĕsîl referring to the dull or obstinate one, referring not to mental deficiency, but to a propensity to make wrong choices. ʾewîl refers to moral insolence, and nābāl to the boorish man of mean disposition.^[1]

Each of these terms involves some form of moral failure. Wrong choices, insolence or meanness is at the heart of Hebrew foolishness. So these virgins are not logistically challenged. They are prone to wrong choices (or worse). It isn’t that they accidentally forgot to be prepared or that they were incapable due to reason of insanity (as the legal term is so inaptly applied). It’s that they displayed a consistent pattern of inappropriate choices. In other words, they are just like us. They were caught up in their standard way of doing things and this time the consequences were quite severe. It’s as if Yeshua is speaking about addicts, those of us who consistently make the wrong choice despite all of our intentions otherwise.

There’s a tragic lesson here. The lesson is not that these women were morai. That’s Greek. The lesson is that previous patterned behavior ruined their chances of entry into the wedding feast. They just did what they had always done—and the result was disaster. But I’m sure this wasn’t the first time disaster followed their decisions. The point is that there was a long history here—and still they didn’t change anything. They didn’t learn. They just kept making the same mistakes. The real question in this parable is not about how to get into the wedding feast. The real question is why did the five foolish virgins make the same mistake again.

In order to answer that question, we need to look in the mirror and ask, “Why do we?”

Topical Index: foolish, moros, kĕsîl, ʾewîl, nābāl, Matthew 25:2

^[1] Goldberg, L. (1999). 1011. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament.