father or by the
bridegroom.

In this case there is nothing in the narrative that determines with
certainty whether the bridegroom, when the ten virgins waited for him,
was on his way for the bride to her father's house or with her to his
own. On the whole, the balance of probability inclines to the side of
those who think that this is the procession coming for the bride rather
than the procession returning with her. The particular expression, "The
bridegroom cometh," among other circumstances, points in this direction.
Lange's conception commends itself as probable that the virgins are in
some sense representatives of the bride, that they go forth to meet the
bridegroom, that he has come from afar, and that some unexpected delays
have occurred on the journey.

The house whose door was shut ere the foolish five came up was obviously
the house in which the grand marriage festival was held: to be shut out
of that house was to be shut out from the marriage.

When the curtain rises and the scene is first displayed, we behold ten
young women, adorned according to the fashion of the time, lingering in
a group by the wayside at night in the warm climate of Palestine.

They may have been the young companions of the bride, a selected ten,
specially invited to meet the bridegroom on the way, and enter with him
into the festal hall,--a group in character and constituents closely
corresponding to the bridesmaids at our marriage feasts,--or they may
have been the daughters of neighbouring families, sent by their parents,
or going of their own accord, in compliance with the custom of the
place, to offer a tribute of respect and affection to the bride and
bridegroom on their marriage-day.

This feature of the scene, although in itself subordinate and
incidental, derives great importance from the subsequent development of
the parable: it becomes the hinge on which the lesson turns. From the
circumstance that a portion of the company neither came with the
bridegroom nor waited in the house for his arrival, but went out to meet
him, all the tender and solemn teaching of this parable has sprung.[50]

[50] The closest analogue that I know of the fact which plays so
great a part in the structure of this scriptural lesson may be found
in a custom which prevails at funerals in the rural districts of
Scotland. When the distance between the house of the deceased and
the cemetery is considerable, a common, perhaps I should say a