For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them. All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the Lord ; Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered. But they are altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion—their idol is wood!
They are shrewd to do evil, But to do good they do not know. Frequently Asked Questions About foolish How is the word foolish different from other adjectives like it? Keep scrolling for more. Learn More About foolish. Share foolish Post more words for foolish to Facebook Share more words for foolish on Twitter.
Time Traveler for foolish The first known use of foolish was in the 13th century See more words from the same century. Style: MLA. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary.
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Someone has said there are only two kinds of people in this world: the righteous and the unrighteous; but the classifying is always done by the righteous! That is all too humanly true. But here there is no moral division intended. In their expectation of the coming bridegroom they are all equally sincere and devoted. The only difference is, five of them felt it would be wise to provide some extra oil. This proves ultimately to be the most significant part of this story.
Yet, to the five foolish maidens, it represented only a trivial difference which was as nothing compared with the fact that they were unitedly waiting for the bridegroom's coming.
They were all agreed on the importance of oil and were all using it for its proper purpose-the giving of light. The only slight difference was that some felt more was needed than others. What the oil represents we shall see in a moment, but it is certainly evident that the wise and the foolish are still with us.
Despite our agreement in desiring the bridegroom to come, and our conviction that history will end as Jesus describes it, nevertheless, there are doubtless some reading this who will prove in the end to be wise, and others will be revealed to be foolish, lacking the essential for waiting till the Lord returns. If this parable has any message at all for us, it is that we determine what that essential is. Seemingly all would have gone well for the whole ten if the bridegroom had come when expected.
But the third movement of the story introduces an element of delay:. No explanation is given for what delayed the bridegroom. This seems to be another hint from the Lord that his absence would be long extended, as has certainly proved to be the case. It was this protracted delay of the bridegroom which constituted an unexpected demand on the part of the ten maidens for more oil.
At any rate, the story describes how all ten grew weary of waiting and fell fast asleep. There are many interpreters who view this as suggesting negligence on the part of the maidens. But there is no hint of rebuke or disapproval suggested by the Lord for this sleeping. And the wise slept as well as the foolish! It was, therefore, a perfectly natural and right thing to do, under the circumstances. It was night and therefore it was impossible to do any work.
It was also a festive occasion, and their only purpose for being there was to wait for the bridegroom. So when his coming was delayed they grew drowsy and it was only natural that they would drop off to sleep. But this is highly suggestive, for it indicates the awareness of Jesus that watching does not mean unceasing, conscious anticipation of his return. We are not to be continually peering up into the heavens like an air-raid sentry on duty. Such meetings are helpful and needed, because of the human tendency to forget, but what our Lord is indicating is that watching also allows time for normal activities.
Money must be earned, investments looked into, food must be cooked, babies washed, school lessons studied, weddings held and funerals attended-all the usual activities of life must go on.
While these wise and foolish maidens were sleeping, their thoughts were diverted, for the time being from the coming of the bridegroom. Thus, while we are engaged in the normal activities of life, there is no need to feel guilty because we have not been thinking of the Lord's return. There is nothing at all wrong about this, it is as it should be. We have not failed to watch because we have been busy doing natural and necessary things.
These maidens were waiting for the bridegroom's coming, even while they slept. There was a sense of imminence when they went out, yet a perfectly proper activity took their attention for a time. But suddenly there is a cry of warning, "Behold! At any rate the cry is sounded and all ten of the maidens are awakened.
Again it is clearly evident that the problem which would soon confront them did not arise out of the fact that they had fallen asleep. They are awake in plenty of time to meet the bridegroom. Many times we are, like these, called back to an awareness of the Lord's imminent return by events of the day, or some realization that time is short. We are often made aware that the grind and routine of life was never intended to go on that way forever.
And certainly one day the awakening will come not through events but the actual cry, it may be, of the returning Lord himself. Paul tells us that when he comes for the church it will be with a shout, and that shout may be these electrifying words, "Behold, the Bridegroom! The fourth movement of the story brings a crisis. In it is revealed the wisdom of the wise and the foolishness of the foolish:.
And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. To the consternation of the foolish, they find their lamps are flickering, guttering, about to go out.
The long delay has used up the oil and they have no more. They make their appeal to the wise: "Give us some of your oil.
Whatever it may represent, it is an individual matter. We have all felt something of this in some crisis hour when we have found our resources unequal to the demand.
We see someone else who is going through the same thing, and he appears unmoved and calm, well able to take the pressure. We may long to borrow some of his strength, but it is impossible.
In such an hour each has what he has and nothing more. So it is with these five foolish maidens. Their oil is gone and to their dismay they discover their need and there is a panicky rush to get more. But our Lord moves right on into the story, and the final movement is one of denial:. Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us. When the foolish finally arrived, the door was shut. Are we not surprised at that? Many will probably feel that these five were unjustly treated.
Why should they not be allowed into the wedding, even if they were a few moments late? But there is no vindictiveness in this shut door. We must be careful that we do not impose our faulty judgments into this matter. What the Lord did was right, and we must be careful to look diligently for those clues that will help us learn why he takes such action as this.
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