Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 25:10
(10) While they went to buy.—The words imply that had they gone earlier, as the wise virgins, by hypothesis, had done, all would have been well. The mistake lay in their not having gone before. It is too late, in other words, to have recourse to the ordinary means of grace for the formation of character, to ordinances, sacraments, rules of life, at the moment of the crisis in personal or national life, which answers to the coming of the bridegroom. The door is then shut, and is no longer opened... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 25:9
(9) Not so.—The words, as the italics show, are not in the Greek. They are, perhaps, necessary to complete the sense in English; but there is a tone of regretful tenderness in the way in which, in the original, the wise virgins give the reason that makes compliance with the request impossible, without directly uttering a refusal.Go ye rather to them that sell.—This feature in the parable is too remarkable to be passed over lightly, especially as the “exchangers” in the parable that follows are... read more