Your Daily Slice

 

KISLEV 24

Hanukkah 1^st Night

 

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’  Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”  (Matt 25:1-13 NASB)

  

Most of us are familiar with this parable, told to us by Messiah Yeshua, of the ten virgins: the five that were wise, and the five that were considered foolish.  Can we also remember what it was they were wise, or foolish, about?  Ah, yes; the ‘oil’ for their lamps.

 

‘Oil’, throughout the Scriptures, is symbolic of several different things: the Ruach, the Spirit of Elohim; the anointing (Ps 23:5; Ps 92:10; Isa 61; Ex 30:30, 31), and “the light of wisdom and holiness”^[1].  Here, in this parable, Yeshua is telling us about ten bridesmaids, or attendants, to the bride.  They had been chosen, correctly dressed, and called for on the day of the wedding feast.  It was the custom of ancient Israel for each attendant to have a personal lamp, or torch of their own.  Those who did not, were considered ‘gate crashers’, not showing honor and respect to the marriage covenant that was being made, and sanctified, in Elohim’s presence.  Thus, the ‘door was to be shut on them’.

 

The wise virgins, or bridesmaids, brought extra oil; they showed intelligent, careful planning.  They knew that extra oil will not light an already extinguished lamp, but it will keep a burning one from going out.  The foolish ones had no forethought or common sense, displaying a sense of carelessness in their thinking.  Please notice that these five were not called evil, or bad; they were simply foolish and thoughtless.  Wisdom is ours for the asking (James 1:5), and it is foolish to not avail ourselves of the wisdom of Elohim that is our inheritance. It would appear that the five foolish virgins were expecting the others to bail them out of trouble.  Unfortunately, there comes a time when that is no longer possible.

 

Preparedness is a personal thing.  We are all responsible for our own oil.  We can no longer borrow oil from one another, nor can we lend oil, to our own detriment and at our own expense.  We must seek our own.  First and foremost, we are all responsible to examine the Scriptures, study to show ourselves approved unto Yahweh (2Tim 2:15) and receive from our Creator the mercies that are new every morning (Lam 3:22-23).    We must learn to become Bereans (Acts 17:11), searching through the Word of our Elohim, and learning what is true, and what is false, always holding fast to the sound doctrine that we need in these troubled times (2Tim 1:13; Heb 10:23).

 

We need to ‘cultivate the presence of the Lord’.  Do we know where the ‘secret place of the most High’ is? (Ps 91) Do we choose to dwell (“To abide as a permanent resident, to have a habitation for some time or permanence”^[2]) in this ‘secret place’?  It is only by being permanently attached to someone that you will learn of them intimately, and this is also true of our Heavenly Bridegroom.  And it is here where the oil is found.

 

Tonight marks the first night of what is known as the Feast of Dedication, also called Hanukkah.   I refuse to argue whether it is required of us keep this feast or not; It was something Messiah Yeshua chose to observe and keep (see John 10:22-23), which is good enough for me.  Let us be diligent to check our own ‘oil level’ – not anyone else’s – remembering that the purity of the oil is also of vital importance.  Be diligent, everyone – the Bridegroom is coming!

  

“… You anoint my head with oil from an overflowing cup.”  (Psalm 23:5 CJB)

 

 ©2020

 

---

[1] The Stone Edition of the Chumash, ©1998. 2000 by Mesorah Publications, p 464

[2] American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828