Matthew 25:5

The bridegroom tarried - The coming of the bridegroom to an individual may imply his death: his coming to the world - the final judgment. The delay - the time from a man's birth till his death, in the first case; in the second, the time from the beginning to the end of the world.

Slumbered and slept - Or, ενυϚαξαν και εκαθευδον, they became drowsy and fell asleep. As sleep is frequently used in the sacred writings for death, so drowsiness, which precedes sleep, may be considered as pointing out the decays of the constitution, and the sicknesses which precede death. The other explanations which are given of this place must be unsatisfactory to every man who is not warped by some point in his creed, which must be supported at every expense. Carelessness disposed them to drowsiness, drowsiness to sleep, deep sleep, which rendered them as unconscious of their danger as they were before inattentive to their duty. The Anglo-Saxon has hit the meaning of the original well - of which my old MS. Bible gives a literal version, in the English of the 14th century: forsothe-alle nappeden and sleptyn.

The bridegroom tarried - That is, while they waited for him. It was uncertain at what time he would come. He delayed longer than they expected.

All slumbered and slept - Waiting until near midnight, they fell into repose. This circumstance is not to be pressed to prove that all Christians will be asleep, or cold and careless, when the Lord Jesus shall come. "Many" may be so, but many, also, will be looking for his coming. This circumstance is designed simply to show more clearly the "duty of being ready," Matthew 25:13. It does not mean to affirm it "as a fact" that none will be ready.

25:5 While the bridegroom delayed - That is, before they were called to attend him, they all slumbered and slept - Were easy and quiet, the wise enjoying a true, the foolish a false peace.