The beauty of biblical parables lies in their depth—each reading offers fresh insights. One such profound story is the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, found in Matthew 25. If you are not familiar with it, I encourage you to read through the passage carefully.
A key observation in this parable is that Jesus classified the virgins as either wise or foolish before mentioning whether they had extra oil. This suggests an important principle: they were not foolish because they lacked oil; rather, they lacked oil because they were foolish. Read that again—foolishness was the cause, and the lack of oil was merely the symptom.
From this, we can infer that being a virgin in the parable signifies purity or qualification. However, while virginity was a requirement to be in the group of awaiting bridesmaids, it was not the ultimate determinant of their fate. The distinguishing factor was wisdom or foolishness, which ultimately shaped the quality of their preparedness and their destiny.
A critical moment in the story comes in verse 6: “At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” One would expect that all the virgins would immediately move to meet him, yet the foolish ones reacted differently: “And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.” (verse 8).
This reaction is baffling. At such a crucial moment, instead of responding to the call, they were preoccupied with their lack of oil. Furthermore, their expectation that the wise virgins would share their oil was unreasonable. If they weren’t foolish, they could have simply followed the wise virgins, walking in their light rather than asking for their oil. Instead, the wise virgins made it clear that sharing the oil would be impractical and advised them to go buy their own.
The height of their folly is seen in their response: rather than adapting wisely to the situation, they ALL left at midnight to buy oil. Not only did this directly contradict the call to meet the bridegroom, but they also failed to consider a more efficient alternative—delegating just one among them to fetch oil while the rest stayed ready. Predictably, while they were away, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were present—who turned out to be the wise virgins—entered with him, leaving the foolish ones locked outside.
Wisdom is about being proactive rather than reactive. Those who plan ahead and take personal responsibility for their preparedness tend to succeed, while those who wait for crises often face irreversible losses. Preparedness is the hallmark of wisdom, while carelessness leads to regret. The choice is ours. Ultimately, wisdom is obtained from God’s word. The Bible states in 2 Timothy 3:15 that the Holy Scripture is able to make one wise.
Choose Wisdom.
Have a great weekend.
3 thoughts on “Why Virgins Become Foolish”
This is really insightful. Thanks SD👍
Wisdom is proactivity. Thank you Doc. God’s word is the source of wisdom
Wisdom is Proactivity and found in the Word