In Matthew 25:10, why does the verse use a plural word for ”γάμους” (wedding)?
bumping in hopes of getting an appropriate answer.
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From two excellent Greek handbooks
The pl. (τοὺς γάμους) is often used to refer to the banquet. Ἐκλείσθη 3rd sg. aor. pass. indic. of κλείω, “close, lock.” Θύρα, -ας, ἡ, “door.”
Charles L. Quarles, Matthew, ed. Andreas J. Köstenberger and Robert W. Yarbrough, Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (B&H Academic, 2017), 298.
γάμους. Accusative direct object of ἐποίησεν. As BDAG (188) notes, singular and plural forms of γάμος are “oft[en] used interchangeably w[ith] no difference in m[ea]n[in]g.”
Wesley G. Olmstead, Matthew: A Handbook on the Greek Text, ed. Lidija Novakovic, vol. 2, Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2019), 183.
And from BDAG
γάμος, ου, ὁ (Hom.+; sg. and pl. are oft. used interchangeably w. no difference in mng.; cp. SIG 1106, 101–3 διδότω ὁ ἱερεὺς εἰς τοὺς γάμους τὰ γέρη τῷ τὸν γάμον ποιοῦντι; AcThom 4 [Aa II/2 p. 105, 3]. Joseph. distinguishes in Ant. 14, 467f betw. γάμος=wedding and γάμοι=wedding celebration. But for ‘marriage’ he somet. uses the sg. [s. 1a below], somet. the pl. [Ant. 20, 141]; Field, Notes, 16). ① public ceremony associated with entry into a marriage relationship, wedding celebration ⓐ gener., pl. (the pl. is used in this sense as early as Hom.; s. also Isaeus 8, 18; 20; BGU 892, 10; 13; 909, 3; Sb 7745, 2; PGiss 31, 16; POxy 111, 2; 927, 2.—Joseph., s. above) γάμους ποιεῖν give a wedding celebration Mt 22:2 (on γ. ποιεῖν cp. Demosth. 30, 21; Menand., Fgm. 450 K. [=454 Edm. III/2 p. 732]; Achilles Tat. 1, 3, 3; Xenophon Eph. 2, 7, 1; Michel 1001 II, 19; Tob 6:13; 8:19; 1 Macc 9:37; 10:58).
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 188.
And a further comment from EGG. (from Matt 22:2)\
Γάμος, -ου, ὁ, “wedding celebration.” The sg. and pl. of this noun were often used interchangeably. Although BDAG claims that Josephus (Ant. 14 §§467–68) used the pl. form for the wedding feast and the sg. for the wedding ceremony (188c–89a 1), the distinction was not preserved elsewhere in Josephus and is doubtful even in this example
Charles L. Quarles, Matthew, ed. Andreas J. Köstenberger and Robert W. Yarbrough, Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (B&H Academic, 2017), 257.
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