Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

The greatest among you shall be your servant.

“But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant--This plainly means, "shall show that he is so by becoming your servant"; as in Mt 20:27, compared with Mr 10:44.”

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.

“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men--Here they are charged with shutting heaven against men: in Lu 11:52 they are charged with what was worse, taking away the key--"the key of knowledge"--which means, not…”

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, &c.--Taking advantage of the helpless condition and confiding character of "widows," they contrived to obtain possession of their property, while by their "long prayers" they made them believe they were raised far above…”

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a…

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte--from heathenism. We have evidence of this in JOSEPHUS.”

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

“Our Lord purposely names the most trifling products of the earth as examples of what they punctiliously exacted the tenth of.”

Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.

“To these words, recorded by Luke, He adds the following, involving a principle of immense value: "But rather give alms of such things as ye have, and behold, all things are clean unto you" (Lu 11:41).”

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?

“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?--In thus, at the end of His ministry, recalling the words of the Baptist at the outset of his, our Lord would seem to intimate that the only difference between their condemnation…”

Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers.

“What precisely is meant by "the wisdom of God" here, is somewhat difficult to determine. To us it appears to be simply an announcement of a purpose of the Divine Wisdom, in the high style of ancient prophecy, to send a last set of messengers…”

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under…

“For rising into strength, kindling into fury, and forgetting herself entirely in her young, she will let the last drop of her blood be shed out and perish in defense of her precious charge, rather than yield them to an enemy's talons.”

Look, your house is left to you desolate.

“Behold, your house--the temple, beyond all doubt; but their house now, not the Lord's. See on Mt 22:7. is left unto you desolate--deserted, that is, of its Divine Inhabitant.”

For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

“That glory, once visible in the holy of holies, over the mercy seat, when on the day of atonement the blood of typical expiation was sprinkled on it and in front of it--called by the Jews the Shekinah, or the Dwelling, as being the visible…”

Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.

“And five of them were wise, and five were foolish--They are not distinguished into good and bad, as TRENCH observes, but into "wise" and "foolish"--just as in Mt 7:25-27 those who reared their house for eternity are distinguished into "wise" and "foolish builders"; because in…”

But the wise ones took oil in flasks along with their lamps.

“But this is too general; for it cannot be for nothing that this inward grace is here set forth by the familiar symbol of oil, by which the Spirit of all grace is so constantly represented in Scripture.”

When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

“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…”

At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

“And at midnight--that is, the time when the Bridegroom will be least expected; for "the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night" (1Th 5:2).”

Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

“Are we, then--with some even superior expositors--to conclude that the foolish virgins must represent true Christians as well as do the wise, since only true Christians have the Spirit, and that the difference between the two classes consists only in the one having the necessary…”

The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

“And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out--rather, as in the Margin, "are going out"; for oil will not light an extinguished lamp, though it will keep a burning one from going out.”

‘No,’ said the wise ones, ‘or there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

“Also, when the parable speaks of "selling" and "buying" that valuable article, it means simply, "Go, get it in the only legitimate way."”

Later the other virgins arrived and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us!’

“Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us--In Mt 7:22 this reiteration of the name was an exclamation rather of surprise; here it is a piteous cry of urgency, bordering on despair. Ah!”

But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’

“But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not--The attempt to establish a difference between "I know you not" here, and "I never knew you" in Mt 7:23 --as if this were gentler, and so implied a milder fate, reserved…”

For it is just like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted them with his possessions.

“Christ's "servants" here mean all who, by their Christian profession, stand in the relation to Him of entire subjection. His "goods" mean all their gifts and endowments, whether original or acquired, natural or spiritual.”

So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what belongs to you.’

“Thou wicked and slothful servant--"Wicked" or "bad" means "falsehearted," as opposed to the others, who are emphatically styled "good servants."”

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne.

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory--His personal glory. and all the holy angels with him--See De 33:2; 1Pe 3:22. then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory--the glory of His judicial authority.”

All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

“If it be said, But how can this be the general judgment, if only those within the Christian pale be embraced by it?--we answer, What is here described, as it certainly does not meet the case of all the family of Adam, is of course…”

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

“This is the holy love whose practical manifestations the King is about to recount in detail; and thus we see that their whole life of love to Christ is the fruit of an eternal purpose of love to them in Christ.”