Jam 5:1-5 | JFB | STEP | 1. Go to now-- Come now. A phrase to call solemn attention. ye rich-- who have neglected the true enjoyment of riches, which consists in doing good. James intends this address to rich Jewish unbelievers, not so much for themselves, as for the saints, that they may bear with patience the violence of the rich ( ), knowing that God will speedily avenge them on their oppressors [Bengel]. miseries that shall come-- literally, "that are coming upon you" unexpectedly and swiftly, namely, at the coming of the Lord ( ); primarily, at the destruction of Jerusalem; finally, at His visible coming to judge the world.

‏ James 5:1-5

CHAPTER 5 Jas 5:1-20. Woes Coming on the Wicked Rich: Believers Should Be Patient unto the Lord's Coming: Various Exhortations.

1. Go to now--Come now. A phrase to call solemn attention.

ye rich--who have neglected the true enjoyment of riches, which consists in doing good. James intends this address to rich Jewish unbelievers, not so much for themselves, as for the saints, that they may bear with patience the violence of the rich (Jas 5:7), knowing that God will speedily avenge them on their oppressors [Bengel].

miseries that shall come--literally, "that are coming upon you" unexpectedly and swiftly, namely, at the coming of the Lord (Jas 5:7); primarily, at the destruction of Jerusalem; finally, at His visible coming to judge the world.

2. corrupted--about to be destroyed through God's curse on your oppression, whereby your riches are accumulated (Jas 5:4). Calvin thinks the sense is, Your riches perish without being of any use either to others or even to yourselves, for instance, your garments which are moth-eaten in your chests.

garments ... moth-eaten--referring to Mt 6:19, 20.

3. is cankered--"rusted through" [Alford].

rust ... witness against you--in the day of judgment; namely, that your riches were of no profit to any, lying unemployed and so contracting rust.

shall eat your flesh--The rust which once ate your riches, shall then gnaw your conscience, accompanied with punishment which shall prey upon your bodies for ever.

as ... fire--not with the slow process of rusting, but with the swiftness of consuming fire.

for the last days--Ye have heaped together, not treasures as ye suppose (compare Lu 12:19), but wrath against the last days, namely, the coming judgment of the Lord. Alford translates more literally, "In these last days (before the coming judgment) ye laid up (worldly) treasure" to no profit, instead of repenting and seeking salvation (see on Jas 5:5).

4. Behold--calling attention to their coming doom as no vain threat.

labourers--literally "workmen."

of you kept back--So English Version rightly. Not as Alford, "crieth out from you." The "keeping back of the hire" was, on the part OF the rich, virtually an act of "fraud," because the poor laborers were not immediately paid. The phrase is therefore not, "kept back by you," but "of you"; the latter implying virtual, rather than overt, fraud. James refers to De 24:14, 15, "At this day ... give his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it, lest he CRY against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." Many sins "cry" to heaven for vengeance which men tacitly take no account of, as unchastity and injustice [Bengel]. Sins peculiarly offensive to God are said to "cry" to Him. The rich ought to have given freely to the poor; their not doing so was sin. A still greater sin was their not paying their debts. Their greatest sin was not paying them to the poor, whose wages is their all.

cries of them--a double cry; both that of the hire abstractly, and that of the laborers hired.

the Lord of sabaoth--here only in the New Testament. In Ro 9:29 it is a quotation. It is suited to the Jewish tone of the Epistle. It reminds the rich who think the poor have no protector, that the Lord of the whole hosts in heaven and earth is the guardian and avenger of the latter. He is identical with the "coming Lord" Jesus (Jas 5:7).

5. Translate, "Ye have luxuriated ... and wantoned." The former expresses luxurious effeminacy; the latter, wantonness and prodigality. Their luxury was at the expense of the defrauded poor (Jas 5:4).

on the earth--The same earth which has been the scene of your wantonness, shall be the scene of the judgment coming on you: instead of earthly delights ye shall have punishments.

nourished ... hearts--that is glutted your bodies like beasts to the full extent of your hearts' desire; ye live to eat, not eat to live.

as in a day of slaughter--The oldest authorities omit "as." Ye are like beasts which eat to their hearts' content on the very day of their approaching slaughter, unconscious it is near. The phrase answers to "the last days," Jas 5:3, which favors Alford's translation there, "in," not "for."