Matthew 25:1-13

Ancient lighting took Work

I remember watching a movie (I think it was The Mummy) where the protagonists descended into an underground structure built by the ancients. The structure was completely dark save for a beam of sunlight coming through an opening in the ceiling. By simply catching that light and aligning it with mirrors distributed around the room, they were able to brilliantly light the entire enormous underground structure. Unfortunately, real ancient lighting was nowhere near this effective! This is an important consideration, because the nature of ancient lamps and torches plays a key role in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25:1-13.

But first, a note about Jewish wedding customs at play in this…