Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professors, theologians, and those interested in exegetical analysis of biblical texts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
In Matthew 25:3-4, in the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, Jesus explains, "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps." (ESV emphasis mine)
Other translations use the word "vessel" or "jar" instead of flask. What does the Greek of this verse indicate, and how precise a size for this container can we determine?
The size of the "jars" in Matthew 25:4 can be roughly worked out by the convergence of two factors: (1) the semantics of the Greek word used; and (2) the nature of the light-source needing oil.
(1) Semantics
A glance at the Liddell-Scott entry for ἀγγεῖον = aggeion suggests this kind of receptacle could range somewhat in size, the examples provided include things "for masons' use, ... pails or buckets used by firemen", and so on. So we're probably thinking of something rather larger than a jam jar.
(2) Light-source
The Greek for the "light source" here is usually translated "lamps", as in OP's citation, or the NIV link I have provided. There is a good reason for this: the Greek is λαμπάς = lampas! But we too easily think of the small "dish" type lamp into which a wick was laid:
But that's not what we should have in mind here. While lampas can refer to a variety of light sources (including these small oil lamps), its predominant meaning is to refer to torches, including as "used in festal processions". And that's what we have here. According to Craig Keener, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Eerdmans, 1999), p. 596:
Wedding processions from the bride’s to the groom’s home, accompanied by song and dancing, normally happened at night, hence requiring light. The lamps here are not the small, hand-held Herodian period lamps, which would generate very little light, but torches (as in weddings in the rest of the Mediterranean world — Eurip. Daughters of Troy 343-44: Virg. Aen. 4.338-39; 7.388; Culex 246; Ecl. 8.29: Ovid Metam. 1.483. 763; 4.758-59; 6.430; 10.6; Lucan C.W. 2.356; Plut. R.Q. 2, Mor. 263F; Ach. “the 211.1; cf. Safrai 1974/76b: 758). In poorer villages these torches may have been sticks wrapped with oiled rags, as in traditional Arab weddings (Jeremias 1965b; idem 1972: 174-75; followed by Gundry 1982: 498; pace Edersheim 541).
This now starts to form a picture of what is going on with these processional women in the parable. As described by R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (NICGNT; Eerdmans, 2007), pp. 948-9,
The portable torches for outdoor use ... would be bundles of cloth mounted on a carrying stick and soaked with oil. (The same word is used in John 18:3 for the torches carried by the arresting party in Gethsemane. ...) The jars held the oil into which the torch was dipped before lighting. A torch without a jar of oil was as useless as a modern flashlight without a battery.
The estimated burning time was thought to be about fifteen minutes.
Conclusion
So, how big were the "jars" of Matthew 25:4? Big enough to hold enough oil to soak the rags for burning as torch light. It would be reasonable to think in terms of a small pail or bucket, then.
_with_two_handles_MET_DP248055.jpg "Etruscan bucket, c. 550 BCE by Metropolitan Museum of Art | CC0 on Wikimedia.org - NOT TO SCALE ;)")
The New American Standard translates G0030, ἀγγείοις (angeíois) as 'flask', so I assume that is the translation you used. The KJV, for example, translates as the less descriptive 'vessel', and I have also seen 'receptacle' or 'container' in this verse. For fun, Wiktionary also includes the definitions jar, vase, pail, bucket, box, reservoir, coffin, sarcophagus, and body cavity. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that 'body cavity' is probably not what was meant.
For me, though, the most useful information is that this same word was used in Matthew 13:48 as well. Here, the NAS and KJV translators decided on the same English word, 'vessels'. Of the research that I have heard, I do not see anyone disputing that chapters 13 and 25 had different authors or wildly different time periods, so perhaps we can assume that the word had the same or similar meaning when it was used in each case?
In Matthew 13:48, Jesus is telling another parable, just like chapter 25. This time, the 'vessels' are large enough for at least one fish, and logically would be large enough to hold multiple fish. I can not say (someone can, just not me) what size fish the listeners were accustomed to seeing at that time, but the previous verse mentions 'every kind', so, again logically, the 'vessel' would have to be large enough to hold at least one of of the largest fish that the listeners would assume would be caught in the sea by net. I personally don't think we are talking Jonah large, but I really don't think we aren't talking just sardines either. So, how big was the vessel for the fish? The translation 'pail' seems to fit here, doesn't it?
And, if the same word, said by the same person, recorded by the same person, in the same culture, in the same time period, to similar sized groups, to people with similar mindsets, to teach a similar topic, is used, can we assume they have similar meanings? Let the reader decide.
Either way, I feel safe in assuming that the 'flask' of Matthew 25:4 would NOT fit on my key ring.
I’m interested to know what the flask represents? Does anyone know? I think that “oil in their lamps” represents asking Holy Spirit to reveal what He is saying as we read His Word (Thy Word is a lamp unto my path).
I’m keen to know what Jesus meant by the virgins taking oil in flasks along with their lamps. How do we apply this to our own lives-what is the flask?
The volume of the flask has not been supplied by the text and cannot be determined.
