Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
KJV
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Commentary
Commentary
In this chapter the apostle denounces the judgments of God upon those
rich men who oppress the poor, showing them how great their sin and
folly are in the sight of God, and how grievous the punishments would
be which should fall upon themselves, ver. 1-6 .
Hereupon, all the faithful are exhorted to patience under their trials
and sufferings, ver. 7-11 .
The sin of swearing is cautioned against, ver. 12 .
We are directed how to act, both under affliction and in prosperity, ver. 13 .
Prayer for the sick, and anointing with oil, are prescribed, ver. 14, 15 .
Christians are directed to acknowledge their faults one to another, and
to pray one for another, and the efficacy of prayer is proved, ver. 16-18 .
And, lastly, it is recommended to us to do what we can for bringing
back those that stray from the ways of truth.
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries
that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall
be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were
fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your
fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries
of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord
of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye
have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not
resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the
earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early
and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of
the Lord draweth nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be
condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name
of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of
patience.
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of
the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the
Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
The apostle is here addressing first sinners and then saints.
I. Let us consider the address to sinners; and here we find James
seconding what his great Master had said: Woe unto you that are
rich; for you have received your consolation, Luke vi. 24 .
The rich people to whom this word of warning was sent were not such as
professed the Christian religion, but the worldly and unbelieving Jews,
such as are here said to condemn and kill the just, which the
Christians had no power to do; and though this epistle was written for
the sake of the faithful, and was sent principally to them, yet, by an
apostrophe, the infidel Jews may be well supposed here spoken to. They
would not hear the word, and therefore it is written, that they
might read it. It is observable, in the very first inscription of this
epistle, that it is not directed, as Paul's epistles were, to the
brethren in Christ, but, in general, to the twelve tribes; and the salutation is not, grace and peace from Christ, but, in
general, greeting, ch. i. 1 .
The poor among the Jews received the gospel, and many of them believed;
but the generality of the rich rejected Christianity, and were hardened
in their unbelief, and hated and persecuted those who believed on
Christ. To these oppressing, unbelieving, persecuting, rich people, the
apostle addresses himself in the first six verses .
1. He foretels the judgments of God that should come upon them, v. 1-3 .
they should have miseries come upon them, and such dreadful miseries
that the very apprehension of them was enough to make them weep and
howl--misery that should arise from the very things in which they placed
their happiness, and misery that should be completed by these things
witnessing against them at the last, to their utter destruction; and
they are now called to reason upon and thoroughly to weigh the matter,
and to think how they will stand before God in judgment: Go to now,
you rich men. (1.) "You may be assured of this that very dreadful calamities are
coming upon you, calamities that shall carry nothing of support nor
comfort in them, but all misery, misery in time, misery to eternity,
misery in your outward afflictions, misery in your inward frame and
temper of mind, misery in this world, misery in hell. You have not a
single instance of misery only coming upon you, but miseries. The ruin
of your church and nation is at hand; and there will come a day of
wrath, when riches shall not profit men, but all the wicked shall be
destroyed. "
(2.) The very apprehension of such miseries as were coming upon them is
enough to make them weep and howl. Rich men are apt to say to
themselves (and others are ready to say to them), Eat, drink, and be
merry; but God says, Weep and howl. It is not said, Weep and
repent, for this the apostle does not expect from them (he speaks in a
way of denouncing rather than admonishing); but, " Weep and howl, for when your doom comes there will be nothing but weeping, and
wailing, and gnashing of teeth. " Those who live like beasts are
called howl like such. Public calamities are most grievous to rich
people, who live in pleasure, and are secure and sensual; and therefore
they shall weep and howl more than other people for the miseries that
shall come upon them.
(3.) Their misery shall arise from the very things in which they placed
their happiness. "Corruption, decay, rust, and ruin, will come upon
all your goodly things: Your riches are corrupted and your garments
are moth-eaten, v. 2 .
Those things which you now inordinately affect will hereafter
insupportably wound you: they will be of no worth, of no use to you,
but, on the contrary, will pierce you through with many sorrows; for,"
(4.) " They will witness against you, and they will eat your flesh as
it were fire, " v. 3 .
Things inanimate are frequently represented in scripture as witnessing
against wicked men. Heaven, earth, the stones of the field, the
production of the ground, and here the very rust and canker of
ill-gotten and ill-kept treasures, are said to witness against impious
rich men. They think to heap up treasure for their latter days, to live
plentifully upon when they come to be old; but, alas! they are only
heaping up treasures to become a prey to others (as the Jews had all
taken from them by the Romans), and treasures that will prove at last
to be only treasures of wrath, in the day of the revelation of the
righteous judgment of God. Then shall their iniquities, in the
punishment of them, eat their flesh as it were with fire. In the ruin of Jerusalem, many thousands perished by fire; in the last
judgment the wicked shall be condemned to everlasting burnings,
prepared for the devil and his angels. The Lord deliver us from the
portion of wicked rich men! and, in order to this, let us take care
that we do not fall into their sins, which we are next to consider.
2. The apostle shows what those sins are which should bring such
miseries. To be in so deplorable a condition must doubtless be owing to
some very heinous crimes.
(1.) Covetousness is laid to the charge of this people; they laid by
their garments till they bred moths and were eaten; they hoarded up
their gold and silver till they were rusty and cankered. It is a very
great disgrace to these things that they carry in them the principles
of their own corruption and consumption--the garment breeds the moth
that frets it, the gold and silver breeds the canker that eats it; but
the disgrace falls most heavily upon those who hoard and lay up these
things till they come to be thus corrupted, and cankered, and eaten.
God gives us our worldly possessions that we may honour him and do good
with them; but if, instead of this, we sinfully hoard them up, thorough
and undue affection towards them, or a distrust of the providence of
God for the future, this is a very heinous crime, and will be witnessed
against by the very rust and corruption of the treasure thus heaped
together.
(2.) Another sin charged upon those against whom James writes is
oppression: Behold, the hire of the labourers, who have reaped down
your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth, &c., v. 4 .
Those who have wealth in their hands get power into their hands, and
then they are tempted to abuse that power to oppress such as are under
them. The rich we here find employing the poor in their labours, and
the rich have as much need of the labours of the poor as the poor have
of wages from the rich, and could as ill be without them; but yet, not
considering this, they kept back the hire of the labourers; having
power in their hands, it is probable that they made as hard bargains
with the poor as they could, and even after that would not make good
their bargains as they should have done. This is a crying sin, an
iniquity that cries so as to reach the ears of God; and, in this case,
God is to be considered as the Lord of sabaoth, or the Lord
of hosts, Kyriou sabaoth , a phrase often used in the
Old-Testament, when the people of God were defenseless and wanted
protection, and when their enemies were numerous and powerful. The Lord
of hosts, who has all ranks of beings and creatures at his disposal,
and who sets all in their several places, hears the oppressed when they
cry by reason of the cruelty or injustice of the oppressor, and he will
give orders to some of those hosts that are under him (angels, devils,
storms, distempers, or the like) to avenge the wrongs done to those who
are dealt with unrighteously and unmercifully. Take heed of this sin of
defrauding and oppressing, and avoid the very appearances of it.
(3.) Another sin here mentioned is sensuality and voluptuousness. You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, v. 5 .
God does not forbid us to use pleasure; but to live in them as if we
lived for nothing else is a very provoking sin; and to do this on the
earth, where we are but strangers and pilgrims, where we are but to
continue for a while, and where we ought to be preparing for
eternity--this, this is a grievous aggravation of the sin of
voluptuousness. Luxury makes people wanton, as in Hos. xiii. 6 , According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled,
and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. Wantonness and luxury are commonly the effects of great plenty and
abundance; it is hard for people to have great plenty and abundance; it
is hard for people to have great estates, and not too much indulge
themselves in carnal, sensual pleasures: " You have nourished your
hearts as in a day of slaughter: you live as if it were every day a
day of sacrifices, a festival; and hereby your hearts are fattened and
nourished to stupidity, dulness, pride, and an insensibility to the
wants and afflictions of others." Some may say, "What harm is there in
good cheer, provided people do not spend above what they have?" What!
Is it no harm for people to make gods of their bellies, and to give all
to these, instead of abounding in acts of charity and piety? Is it no
harm for people to unfit themselves for minding the concerns of their
souls, by indulging the appetites of their bodies? Surely that which
brought flames upon Sodom, and would bring these miseries for which
rich men are here called to weep and howl, must be a heinous evil!
Pride, and idleness, and fullness of bread, mean the same thing with
living in pleasure, and being wanton, and nourishing the heart as in a
day of slaughter.
(4.) Another sin here charged on the rich is persecution: You have
condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you, v. 6 .
This fills up the measure of their iniquity. They oppressed and acted
very unjustly, to get estates; when they had them, they gave way to
luxury and sensuality, till they had lost all sense and feeling of the
wants or afflictions of others; and then they persecute and kill
without remorse. They pretend to act legally indeed, they condemn
before they kill; but unjust prosecutions, whatever colour of law they
may carry in them, will come into the reckoning when God shall make
inquisition for blood, as well as massacres and downright murders.
Observe here, The just may be condemned and killed: but then again
observe, When such do suffer, and yield without resistance to the
unjust sentence of oppressors, this is marked by God, to the honour of
the sufferers and the infamy of their persecutors; this commonly shows
that judgments are at the door, and we may certainly conclude that a
reckoning-day will come, to reward the patience of the oppressed and to
break to pieces the oppressor. Thus far the address to sinners
goes.
II. We have next subjoined an address to saints. Some have been ready
to despise or to condemn this way of preaching, when ministers, in
their application, have brought a word to sinners, and a word to
saints; but, from the apostle's here taking this method, we may
conclude that this is the best way rightly to divide the word of truth.
From what has been said concerning wicked and oppressing rich men,
occasion is given to administer comfort to God's afflicted people: "Be
patient therefore; since God will send such miseries on the wicked, you
may see what is your duty, and where your greatest encouragement
lies."
1. Attend to your duty: Be patient
( v. 7 ),
establish your hearts
( v. 8 ),
grudge not one against another, brethren, v. 9 .
Consider well the meaning of these three expressions:--
(1.) " Be patient --bear your afflictions without murmuring, your
injuries without revenge; and, though God should not in any signal
manner appear for you immediately, wait for him. The vision is for
an appointed time; at the end it will speak, and will not lie;
therefore wait for it. It is but a little while, and he that shall come
will come, and will not tarry. Let your patience be lengthened out
to long suffering;" so the word here used, makrothymesate, signifies. When we have done our work, we
have need of patience to stay for our reward. This Christian patience
is not a mere yielding to necessity, as the moral patience taught by
some philosophers was, but it is a humble acquiescence in the wisdom
and will of God, with an eye to a future glorious recompense: Be
patient to the coming of the Lord. And because this is a lesson
Christians must learn, though ever so hard or difficult to the, it is
repeated in v. 8 , Be you also patient. (2.) " Establish your hearts --let your faith be firm, without
wavering, your practice of what is good constant and continued, without
tiring, and your resolutions for God and heaven fixed, in spite of all
sufferings or temptations." The prosperity of the wicked and the
affliction of the righteous have in all ages been a very great trial to
the faith of the people of God. David tells us that his feet were
almost gone, when he saw the prosperity of the wicked, Ps. lxxiii. 2, 3 .
Some of those Christians to whom St. James wrote might probably be in
the same tottering condition; and therefore they are called upon to
establish their hearts; faith and patience will establish the heart.
(3.) Grudge not one against another; the words me
stenazete signify, Groan not one against another, that
is, "Do not make one another uneasy by your murmuring groans at what
befalls you, nor by your distrustful groans as to what may further come
upon you, nor by your revengeful groans against the instruments of your
sufferings, nor by your envious groans at those who may be free from
your calamities: do not make yourselves uneasy and make one another
uneasy by thus groaning to and grieving one another." "The apostle
seemeth to me" (says Dr. Manton) "to be here taxing those mutual
injuries and animosities wherewith the Christians of those times,
having banded under the names of circumcision and uncircumcision, did grieve one another, and give each other
cause to groan; so that they did not only sigh under the oppressions of
the rich persecutors, but under the injuries which they sustained from
many of the brethren who, together with them, did profess the holy
faith." Those who are in the midst of common enemies, and in any
suffering circumstances, should be more especially careful not to
grieve nor to groan against one another, otherwise judgments will come
upon them as well as others; and the more such grudgings prevail the
nearer do they show judgment to be.
2. Consider what encouragement here is for Christians to be patient, to
establish their hearts, and not to grudge one against another. And,
(1.) "Look to the example of the husbandman: He waits for the
precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he
receive the early and latter rain. When you sow your corn in the
ground, you wait many months for the former and latter rain, and are
willing to stay till harvest for the fruit of your labour; and shall
not this teach you to bear a few storms, and to be patient for a
season, when you are looking for a kingdom and everlasting felicity?
Consider him that waits for a crop of corn; and will not you wait for a
crown of glory? If you should be called to wait a little longer than
the husbandman does, is it not something proportionably greater and
infinitely more worth your waiting for? But,"
(2.) "Think how short your waiting time may possibly be: The coming
of the Lord draweth nigh, v. 8 ;
behold, the Judge standeth before the door, v. 9 .
Do not be impatient, do not quarrel with one another; the great Judge,
who will set all to rights, who will punish the wicked and reward the
good, is at hand: he should be conceived by you to stand as near as one
who is just knocking at the door." The coming of the Lord to
punish the wicked Jews was then very nigh, when James wrote this
epistle; and, whenever the patience and other graces of his people are
tried in an extraordinary manner, the certainty of Christ's coming as
Judge, and the nearness of it, should establish their hearts. The Judge
is now a great deal nearer, in his coming to judge the world, than when
this epistle was written, nearer by above seventeen hundred years; and
therefore this should have the greater effect upon us.
(3.) The danger of our being condemned when the Judge appears should
excite us to mind our duty as before laid down: Grudge not, lest you
be condemned. Fretfulness and discontent expose us to the just
judgment of God, and we bring more calamities upon ourselves by our
murmuring, distrustful, envious groans and grudgings against one
another, than we are aware of. If we avoid these evils, and be patient
under our trials, God will not condemn us. Let us encourage ourselves
with this.
(4.) We are encouraged to be patient by the example of the prophets
( v. 10 ): Take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an
example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Observe here, The
prophets, on whom God put the greatest honour, and for whom he had the
greatest favour, were most afflicted: and, when we think that the best
men have had the hardest usage in this world, we should hereby be
reconciled to affliction. Observe further, Those who were the greatest
examples of suffering affliction were also the best and greatest
examples of patience: tribulation worketh patience. Hereupon
James gives it to us as the common sense of the faithful
( v. 11 ): We count those happy who endure: we look upon righteous and
patient sufferers as the happiest people. See ch. i. 2-12 .
(5.) Job also is proposed as an example for the encouragement of the
afflicted. You have hard of the patience of Job, and have seen the
end of the Lord, &c., v. 11 .
In the case of Job you have an instance of a variety of miseries, and
of such as were very grievous, but under all he could bless God, and,
as to the general bent of his spirit, he was patient and humble: and
what came to him in the end? Why, truly, God accomplished and brought
about those things for him which plainly prove that the Lord is very
pitiful, and of tender mercy. The best way to bear afflictions is
to look to the end of them; and the pity of God is such that he will
not delay the bringing of them to an end when his purposes are once
answered; and the tender mercy of God is such that he will make his
people an abundant amends for all their sufferings and afflictions. His
bowels are moved for them while suffering, his bounty is manifested
afterwards. Let us serve our God, and endure our trials, as those who
believe the end will crown all.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by
heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let
your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into
condemnation.
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let
him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the
church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord
shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be
forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for
another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he
prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the
earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth
brought forth her fruit.
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one
convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the
error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a
multitude of sins.
This epistle now drawing to a close, the penman goes off very quickly
from one thing to another: hence it is that matters so very different
are insisted on in these few verses.
I. The sin of swearing is cautioned against: But above all things,
my brethren, swear not, &c., v. 12 .
Some understand this too restrictedly, as if the meaning were, "Swear
not at your persecutors, at those that reproach you and say all
manner of evil of you; be not put into a passion by the injuries
they do you, so as in your passion to be provoked to swear." This
swearing is no doubt forbidden here: and it will not excuse those that
are guilty of this sin to say they sear only when they are provoked to
it, and before they are aware. But the apostle's warning extends to
other occasions of swearing as well as this. Some have translated the
words, pro panton -- before all things; and so have
made sense of this place to be that they should not, in common
conversation, before every thing they say, put an oath. All
customary needless swearing is undoubtedly forbidden, and all along in
scripture condemned, as a very grievous sin. Profane swearing was very
customary among the Jews, and, since this epistle is directed in
general to the twelve tribes scattered abroad (as before has
been observed), we may conceive this exhortation sent to those who
believed not. It is hard to suppose that swearing should be one of the
spots of God's children, since Peter, when he was charged with being a
disciple of Christ and would disprove the charge, cursed and swore,
thereby thinking most effectually to convince them that he was no
disciple of Jesus, it being well known of such that they durst not
allow themselves in swearing; but possibly some of the looser sort of
those who were called Christians might, among other sins here charged
upon them, be guilty also of this. It is a sin that in later years has
most scandalously prevailed, even among those who would be thought
above all others entitled to the Christian name and privileges. It is
very rare indeed to hear of a dissenter from the church of England who
is guilty of swearing, but among those who glory in their being of the
established church nothing is more common; and indeed the most
execrable oaths and curses now daily wound the ears and hearts of all
serious Christians. James here says,
1. Above all things, swear not; but how many are there who mind
this the least of all things, and who make light of nothing so much as
common profane swearing! But why above all things is swearing
here forbidden?
(1.) Because it strikes most directly at the honour of God and most
expressly throws contempt upon his name and authority.
(2.) Because this sin has, of all sins, the least temptation to it: it
is not gain, nor pleasure, nor reputation, that can move men to it, but
a wantonness in sinning, and a needless showing an enmity to God. Thy enemies take thy name in vain, Ps. cxxxix. 20 .
This is a proof of men's being enemies to God, however they may pretend
to call themselves by his name, or sometimes to compliment him in acts
of worship.
(3.) Because it is with most difficulty left off when once men are
accustomed to it, therefore it should above all things be watched
against. And,
(4.) " Above all things swear not, for how can you expect the
name of God should be a strong tower to you in your distress if you
profane it and play with it at other times?" But (as Mr. Baxter
observes) "all this is so far from forbidding necessary oaths that it
is but to confirm them, by preserving the due reverence of them." And
then he further notes that "The true nature of an oath is, by our
speech, to pawn the reputation of some certain or great thing, for the averring of a doubted less thing; and not (as is
commonly held) an appeal to God or other judge." Hence it was that
swearing by the heavens, and by the earth, and by the other oaths the
apostle refers to, came to be in use. The Jews thought if they did but
omit the great oath of Chi-Eloah, they were safe. But they grew
so profane as to swear by the creature, as if it were God; and so
advanced it into the place of God; while, on the other hand, those who
swear commonly and profanely by the name of God do hereby put him upon
the level with every common thing.
2. But let your yea be yea, and your nay nay; lest you fall into
condemnation; that is, "let it suffice you to affirm or deny a
thing as there is occasion, and be sure to stand to your word, an be
true to it, so as to give no occasion for your being suspected of
falsehood; and then you will be kept from the condemnation of backing
what you say or promise by rash oaths, and from profaning the name of
God to justify yourselves. It is being suspected of falsehood that
leads men to swearing. Let it be known that your keep to truth, and are
firm to your word, and by this means you will find there is no need to
swear to what you say. Thus shall you escape the condemnation which is
expressly annexed to the third commandment: The Lord will not hold
him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. "
II. As Christians we are taught to suit ourselves to the dispensations
of Providence
( v. 13 ): Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing
psalms. Our condition in this world is various; and our wisdom is
to submit to its being so, and to behave as becomes us both in
prosperity and under affliction. Sometimes we are in sadness, sometimes
in mirth; God has set these one over against the other that we may the
better observe the several duties he enjoins, and that the impressions
made on our passions and affections may be rendered serviceable to our
devotions. Afflictions should put us upon prayer, and prosperity should
make us abound in praise. Not that prayer is to be confined to a time
of trouble, nor singing to a time of mirth; but these several duties
may be performed with special advantage, and to the happiest purposes,
at such seasons.
1. In a day of affliction nothing is more seasonable than prayer. The
person afflicted must pray himself, as well as engage the prayers of
others for him. Times of affliction should be praying times. To this
end God sends afflictions, that we may be engaged to seek him early;
and that those who at other times have neglected him may be brought to
enquire after him. The spirit is then most humble, the heart is broken
and tender; and prayer is most acceptable to God when it comes from a
contrite humble spirit. Afflictions naturally draw out complaints; and
to whom should we complain but to God in prayer? It is necessary to
exercise faith and hope under afflictions; and prayer is the appointed
means both for obtaining and increasing these graces in us. Is any
afflicted? Let him pray. 2. In a day of mirth and prosperity singing psalms is very proper and
seasonable. In the original it is only said sing, psalleto , without the addition of psalms or any other
word: and we learn from the writings of several in the first ages of
Christianity (particularly from a letter of Pliny's, and from some
passages in Justin Martyr and Tertullian) that the Christians were
accustomed to sing hymns, either taken out of scripture, or of more
private composure, in their worship of God. Though some have thought
that Paul's advising both the Colossians and Ephesians to speak to
one another psalmois kai hymnois kai odais
pneumatikais -- in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, refers only to the compositions of scripture, the psalms of David being
distinguished in Hebrew by Shurim, Tehillim, and Mizmorim, words that exactly answer these of the apostle. Let
that be as it will, this however we are sure of, that the singing of
psalms is a gospel ordinance, and that our joy should be holy joy,
consecrated to God. Singing is so directed to here as to show that, if
any be in circumstances of mirth and prosperity, he should turn his
mirth, though alone, and by himself, in this channel. Holy mirth
becomes families and retirements, as well as public assemblies. Let
our singing be such as to make melody with our hearts unto the
Lord, and God will assuredly be well pleased with this kind of
devotion.
III. We have particular directions given as to sick persons, and healing pardoning mercy promised upon the observance of those
directions. If any be sick, they are required,
1. To send for the elders, presbyterous tes
ekklesias -- the presbyters, pastors or ministers of
the church, v. 14, 15 .
It lies upon sick people as a duty to send for ministers, and to desire
their assistance and their prayers.
2. It is the duty of ministers to pray over the sick, when thus desired
and called for. Let them pray over him; let their prayers be
suited to his case, and their intercessions be as becomes those who are
affected wit his calamities.
3. In the times of miraculous healing, the sick were to be anointed
with oil in the name of the Lord. Expositors generally confine this
anointing with oil to such as had the power of working miracles; and,
when miracles ceased, this institution ceased also. In Mark's gospel we
read of the apostle's anointing with oil many that were sick, and
healing them, Mark vi. 13 .
And we have accounts of this being practiced in the church two hundred
years after Christ; but then the gift of healing also accompanied it,
and, when the miraculous gift ceased, this rite was laid aside. The
papists indeed have made a sacrament of this, which they call the
extreme unction. They use it, not to heal the sick, as it was used
by the apostles; but as they generally run counter to scripture, in the
appointments of their church, so here they ordain that this should be
administered only to such as are at the very point of death. The
apostle's anointing was in order to heal the disease; the popish
anointing is for the expulsion of the relics of sin, and to enable the
soul (as they pretend) the better to combat with the powers of the air.
When they cannot prove, by any visible effects, that Christ owns them
in the continuance of this rite, they would however have people to
believe that the invisible effects are very wonderful. But it is surely
much better to omit this anointing with oil than to turn it quite
contrary to the purposes spoken of in scripture. Some protestants have
thought that this anointing was only permitted or approved by Christ,
not instituted. But it should seem, by the words of James here, that it
was a thing enjoined in cases where there was faith for healing. And
some protestants have argued for it with this view. It was not to be
commonly used, not even in the apostolical age; and some have thought
that it should not be wholly laid aside in any age, but that where
there are extraordinary measures of faith in the person anointing, and
in those who are anointed, an extraordinary blessing may attend the
observance of this direction for the sick. However that be, there is
one thing carefully to be observed here, that the saving of the sick is
not ascribed to the anointing with oil, but to prayer: The
prayer of faith shall save the sick, &c., v. 15 .
So that,
4. Prayer over the sick must proceed from, and be accompanied with, a
lively faith. There must be faith both in the person praying and in the
person prayed for. In a time of sickness, it is not the cold and formal
prayer that is effectual, but the prayer of faith.
5. We should observe the success of prayer. The Lord shall raise up;
that is, if he be a person capable and fit for deliverance, and if God
have any thing further for such a person to do in the world. And, if
he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him; that is, where
sickness is sent as a punishment for some particular sin, that sin
shall be pardoned, and in token thereof the sickness shall be removed.
As when Christ said to the impotent man, Go and sin no more, lest a
worse thing come unto thee, it is intimated that some particular
sin was the cause of his sickness. The great thing therefore we should
beg of God for ourselves and others in the time of sickness is the
pardon of sin. Sin is both the root of sickness and the sting of it. If
sin be pardoned, either affliction shall be removed in mercy or we
shall see there is mercy in the continuance of it. When healing is
founded upon pardon, we may say as Hezekiah did: Thou hast, in love to
my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption, Isa. xxxviii. 17 .
When you are sick and in pain, it is most common to pray and cry, O
give me ease! O restore me to health! But your prayer should rather
and chiefly be, O that God would pardon my sins!
IV. Christians are directed to confess their faults one to another,
and so to join in their prayers with an for one another, v. 16 .
Some expositors connect this with v. 14 .
As if when sick people send for ministers to pray over them they should
then confess their faults to them. Indeed, where any are conscious that
their sickness is a vindictive punishment of some particular sin, and
they cannot look for the removal of their sickness without particular
applications to God for the pardon of such a sin, there it may be
proper to acknowledge and tell his case, that those who pray over him
may know how to plead rightly for him. But the confession here required
is that of Christians to one another, and not, as the papists would
have it, to a priest. Where persons have injured one another, acts of
injustice must be confessed to those against whom they have been
committed. Where persons have tempted one another to sin or have
consented in the same evil actions, there they ought mutually to blame
themselves and excite each other to repentance. Where crimes are of a
public nature, and have done any public mischief, there they ought to
be more publicly confessed, so as may best reach to all who are
concerned. And sometimes it may be well to confess our faults to some
prudent minister or praying friend, that he may help us to plead with
God for mercy and pardon. But then we are not to think that James puts
us upon telling every thing that we are conscious is amiss in ourselves
or in one another; but so far as confession is necessary to our
reconciliation with such as are at variance with us, or for gaining
information in any point of conscience and making our own spirits quiet
and easy, so far we should be ready to confess our faults. And
sometimes also it may be of good use to Christians to disclose their
peculiar weaknesses and infirmities to one another, where there are
great intimacies and friendships, and where they may help each other by
their prayers to obtain pardon of their sins and power against them.
Those who make confession of their faults one to another should
thereupon pray with and for one another. The 13th verse directs persons to pray for themselves: Is any afflicted let him
pray; the 14th directs to seek for the prayers of ministers; and the 16th directs private Christians to pray one for another; so
that here we have all sorts of prayer (ministerial, social, and secret)
recommended.
V. The great advantage and efficacy of prayer are declared and proved: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, whether he pray for himself or for others: witness the example of
Elias, v. 17, 18 .
He who prays must be a righteous man; not righteous in an absolute
sense (for this Elias was not, who is here made a pattern to us), but
righteous in a gospel sense; not loving nor approving of any iniquity. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my
prayer, Ps. lxvi. 18 .
Further, the prayer itself must be a fervent, in-wrought, well-wrought
prayer. It must be a pouring out of the heart to God; and it must
proceed from a faith unfeigned. Such prayer avails much. It is of great
advantage to ourselves, it may be very beneficial to our friends, and
we are assured of its being acceptable to God. It is good having those
for friends whose prayers are available in the sight of God. The power
of prayer is here proved from the success of Elijah. This may be
encouraging to us even in common cases, if we consider that Elijah was a man of like passions with us. He was a zealous good man and a
very great man, but he had his infirmities, and was subject to disorder
in his passions as well as others. In prayer we must not look to the
merit of man, but to the grace of God. Only in this we should copy
after Elijah, that he prayed earnestly, or, as it is in the original, in prayer he prayed. It is not enough to say a prayer, but we
must pray in prayer. Our thoughts must be fixed, our desires firm and
ardent, and our graces in exercise; and, when we thus pray in prayer,
we shall speed in prayer. Elijah prayed that it might not rain; and God heard him in his pleading against an idolatrous persecuting
country, so that it rained not on the earth for the space of three
years and six months. Again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, &c. Thus you see prayer is the key which opens and shuts heaven. To
this there is an allusion, Rev. xi. 6 ,
where the two witnesses are said to have power to shut heaven, that
it rain not. This instance of the extraordinary efficacy of prayer
is recorded for encouragement even to ordinary Christians to be instant
and earnest in prayer. God never says to any of the seed of Jacob, Seek my face in vain. If Elijah by prayer could do such great
and wonderful things, surely the prayers of no righteous man shall
return void. Where there may not be so much of a miracle in God's
answering our prayers, yet there may be as much of grace.
VI. This epistle concludes with an exhortation to do all we can in our
places to promote the conversion and salvation of others, v. 19, 20 .
Some interpret these verses as an apology which the apostle is making
for himself that he should so plainly and sharply reprove the Jewish
Christians for their many faults and errors. And certainly James gives
a very good reason why he was so much concerned to reclaim them from
their errors, because in thus doing he should save souls, and hide a
multitude of sins. But we are not to restrain this place to the
apostle's converting such as erred from the truth; no, nor to other
ministerial endeavours of the like nature, since it is said, "If any
err, and one convert him, let him be who he will that does so good an
office for another, he is therein an instrument of saving a soul from
death." Those whom the apostle here calls brethren, he yet supposes
liable to err. It is no mark of a wise or a holy man to boast of his
being free from error, or to refuse to acknowledge when he is in an
error. But if any do err, be they ever so great, you must not be afraid
to show them their error; and, be they ever so weak and little, you
must not disdain to make them wiser and better. If they err from the
truth, that is, from the gospel (the great rule and standard of truth),
whether it be in opinion or practice, you must endeavour to bring them
again to the rule. Errors in judgment and in life generally go
together. There is some doctrinal mistake at the bottom of every
practical miscarriage. There is no one habitually bad, but upon some
bad principle. Now to convert such is to reduce them from their error,
and to reclaim them from the evils they have been led into. We are not
presently to accuse and exclaim against an erring brother, and seek to
bring reproaches and calamities upon him, but to convert him: and, if
by all our endeavours we cannot do this, yet we are nowhere empowered
to persecute and destroy him. If we are instrumental in the conversion
of any, we are said to convert them, though this be principally
and efficiently the work of God. And, if we can do no more towards the
conversion of sinners, yet we may do this--pray for the grace and Spirit
of God to convert and change them. And let those that are in any way
serviceable to convert others know what will be the happy consequence
of their doing this: they may take great comfort in it at present, and
they will meet with a crown at last. He that is said to err from the
truth in v. 19 is described as erring in his way in v. 20 ,
and we cannot be said to convert any merely by altering their opinions,
unless we can bring them to correct and amend their ways. This is
conversion--to turn a sinner from the error of his ways, and not to
turn him from one party to another, or merely from one notion and way
of thinking to another. He who thus converteth a sinner from the error
of his ways shall save a soul from death. There is a soul in the
case; and what is done towards the salvation of the soul shall
certainly turn to good account. The soul being the principal part of
the man, the saving of that only is mentioned, but it includes the
salvation of the whole man: the spirit shall be saved from hell, the
body raised from the grave, and both saved from eternal death. And
then, by such conversion of heart and life, a multitude of sins
shall be hid. A most comfortable passage of scripture is this. We
learn hence that though our sins are many, even a multitude, yet they
may be hid or pardoned; and that when sin is turned from or forsaken it
shall be hid, never to appear in judgment against us. Let people
contrive to cover or excuse their sin as they will, there is no way
effectually and finally to hide it but by forsaking it. Some make the
sense of this text to be, that conversion shall prevent a
multitude of sins; and it is a truth beyond dispute that many sins are
prevented in the party converted, many also may be prevented in others
that he may have an influence upon, or may converse with. Upon the
whole, how should we lay out ourselves with all possible concern for
the conversion of sinners! It will be for the happiness and salvation
of the converted; it will prevent much mischief, and the spreading and
multiplying of sin in the world; it will be for the glory and honour of
God; and it will mightily redound to our comfort and renown in the
great day. Those that turn many to righteousness, and those who
help to do so, shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.
INTRODUCTION TO JAMES 5
In this chapter the apostle reproves the vices of rich men, and denounces the judgments of God upon them; exhorts the saints to patience under sufferings; warns them from vain and profane swearing, and presses to various duties and branches of religious worship, private and public, and to the performance of several good offices of love to one another. He represents the miseries of wicked rich men as just at hand, Jas 5:1 because they made no use of their riches, either for themselves, or others, and because of the trust they put in them, heaping them up against a time to come, Jas 5:2, and because of their injustice in detaining the hire of labourers from them, Jas 5:4 and because of their wantonness and luxury, Jas 5:5 and because of their cruelty to the innocent, Jas 5:6 and such who suffer at their hands are exhorted to exercise patience, from the instance of the husbandman waiting patiently for the fruit of the earth, and the rain to produce it; and from the consideration of the coming of Christ, the Judge, being near at hand, Jas 5:7 and from the example of the prophets of the Lord, who suffered much, and were patient, and so happy; and particularly from the instance of Job, his patience, the end of the Lord in his afflictions, and his pity and compassion towards him, Jas 5:10. But of all things the apostle entreats them, that they would take care of profane swearing, and all vain oaths, since these bring into condemnation, Jas 5:12 and from hence he passes to various exercises of religion; the afflicted he advises to prayer; and those in comfortable circumstances of body and mind to singing of psalms, Jas 5:13, and such that are sick, to send for the elders of the church to pray over them, and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord, whereby not only the sick man would be delivered from his sickness, the Lord raising him up, but even his sins would be declared to be forgiven, Jas 5:14. And not only it became the elders to pray for sick persons, but also the saints in general, one for another, and to acknowledge their faults to each other, since the fervent prayer of every righteous man is of great avail with God, Jas 5:16 of which an instance is given in Elias, whose prayer, though a man subject to like passions as other men, against, and for rain, was very successful, Jas 5:17. And Christians should not only be concerned for the health of each other's bodies, but also for the good of their souls; wherefore, whenever it is observed that any are straying from the path of truth, methods should be taken to restore them, and turn them from the error of their ways; and whoever is the happy instrument of such a restoration is the means of saving a soul from death, and hiding a multitude of sins, Jas 5:19.
Ver. 1. Go to now, ye rich men,.... All rich men are not here designed; there are some rich men who are good men, and make a good use of their riches, and do not abuse them, as these here are represented; and yet wicked rich men, or those that were the openly profane, are not here intended neither; for the apostle only writes to such who were within the church, and not without, who were professors of religion; and such rich men are addressed here, who, notwithstanding their profession, were not rich towards God, but laid up treasure for themselves, and trusted in their riches, and boasted of the multitude of their wealth; and did not trust in God, and make use of their substance to his glory, and the good of his interest, as they should have done:
weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you; meaning, not temporal calamities that should come upon them at the destruction of Jerusalem, in which the rich greatly suffered by the robbers among themselves, as well as by the Roman soldiers; for the apostle is not writing to the Jews in Judea, and at Jerusalem; but to the Christians of the twelve tribes scattered in the several parts of the world, and who were not distressed by that calamity; but eternal miseries, or the torments of hell are intended, which, unless they repented of their sins, would shortly, suddenly, and unavoidably come upon them, when their present joy and laughter would be turned into howling and weeping.
James 5:2
Ver 2. Your riches are corrupted,.... Either through disuse of them; and so the phrase is expressive of their tenaciousness, withholding that from themselves and others which is meet, and which is keeping riches for the owners thereof, to their hurt; or these are corrupted, and are corruptible things, fading and perishing, and will stand in no stead in the day of wrath, and therefore it is great weakness to put any trust and confidence in them:
and your garments are moth eaten; being neither wore by themselves, nor put upon the backs of others, as they should, but laid up in wardrobes, or in chests and coffers, and so became the repast of moths, and now good for nothing.
James 5:3
Ver. 3. Your gold and silver is cankered,.... Or grown rusty like iron, by lying long without use; this is not easily and quickly done, but in length of time gold and silver will change, and contract a rustiness; and so this conveys the same idea of hoarding up riches and laying up money, without making use of it in trade, for the support of the poor, and without distributing it to their necessities:
and the rust of them shall be a witness against you: at the day of judgment; which will be a proof that they have not been employed to such services, and for such usefulness, for which they were designed and given.
And shall eat your flesh as it were fire; that is, a remembrance of this, a sense of it impressed upon them, shall be like fire in their bones; shall distress their minds, gnaw their consciences, and be in them the worm that never dies, and the fire that shall never be quenched:
ye have heaped treasure together for the last days; either for many years, as the fool in the Gospel, for the times of old age, the last days of men, for fear they should then want; or for the last days of the world, or of time, as if they thought they should live for ever: the Vulgate Latin version reads, "ye have treasured up wrath for yourselves in the last days"; instead of riches, as they imagined; and that by their covetousness and wickedness, by a wicked disuse of their riches, and an unrighteous detention of them; but this supplement seems to be taken from Ro 2:5 though the sense is confirmed by some copies which connect the phrase, "as it were fire", in the preceding clause, with this, "ye have treasured up as it were fire"; and the Syriac version renders it, "ye have treasured up fire"; the fire of divine wrath; this is the fruit of treasuring up riches in an ill way, and without making a proper use of them.
James 5:4
Ver. 4. Behold the hire of the labourers, which have reaped down your fields,.... The wages agreed for by the day, with the labourers in their fields, particularly their reapers; which one instance serves for many others; and is the rather mentioned, because reaping is a laborious work, and those who are employed in it have nothing to live upon but their hand labour; and especially because they are made use of in cutting down the corn when it is fully ripe, and in great plenty; wherefore, to detain their just wages from them argues great inhumanity and wickedness; and yet this was what was done by rich men:
which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; unto God for vengeance, as the blood of Abel did; and shows that such an evil, however privately and fraudulently it may be done, will be made public, and is a crying one:
and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth; that is, the Lord of hosts; of angels, and of men; of the host of heaven, and of the inhabitants of the earth; of Jews and Gentiles, and of rich and poor; and who has power to vindicate the cause of the latter against their rich oppressors, and will do it; his ears are open to their cries, he takes notice of them, and regards them, and will take vengeance on those that injure them. The reference is to De 24:15.
James 5:5
Ver. 5. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth,.... This is said of other rich men; for all that is here said is not to be understood of the same individuals, but some things of one, and some of another; some made no use of their riches, either for themselves, or others; some did make use of them, and employed the poor, and then would not give them their wages; and others lived a voluptuous and luxurious life, indulged themselves in carnal lusts and pleasures, and gratified the senses by eating, drinking, gaming, and so were dead while they lived. The phrase suggests, that their pleasures were but short lived, but for a season, even while they were on earth; and that hereafter they would not live in pleasure:
and been wanton; through the abundance and plenty of good things, their delicious way of living, and the swing of pleasures which they took; the allusion is to fatted beasts, which being in good pastures, grow fat and wanton:
ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter, when beasts were slain for some extraordinary entertainment, or for the solemn festivals and sacrifices the Jews, when they lived more deliciously than at other times; and then the sense is, that these rich men fared sumptuously every day; every day was a festival with them; they indulged themselves in intemperance; they ate and drank, not merely what was necessary, and satisfying, and cheering to nature, but to excess, and gorged, and filled themselves in an extravagant manner: the Syriac version, instead of "hearts", reads "bodies" and one copy reads, "your flesh": and the last phrase may be rendered, as it is in the same version, "as unto", or "for the day of slaughter"; and so the Arabic version, "ye have nourished your hearts, as fattened for the day of slaughter": like beasts that are fattened in order to be killed, so were they preparing and fitting up by their sins for destruction.
James 5:6
Ver. 6. Ye have condemned and killed the just,.... Meaning not Christ, the Just One, as some have thought; whom the Jewish sanhedrim condemned as guilty of death, and got the sentence passed upon him, and him to be crucified by Pontius Pilate, on the day of slaughter, at the time of the passover, as some connect the last clause of the preceding verse with this; since the apostle is not writing to the Jerusalem Jews, nor to unbelievers, but to professors of religion; though he might say they did it, because their nation did it: but rather this is to be understood of the poor saints, who were just, through the imputation of Christ's righteousness to them, and lived soberly, righteously, and godly, and were harmless and inoffensive in their conversation: who were evil spoken of, censured, and judged, and condemned in a rash and uncharitable manner by their brethren; or were drawn to the judgment seats by the rich, who obtained a judicial process against them, and procured a sentence of condemnation to pass upon them unrighteously; and who killed them, by taking away their good names from them, and by withholding from them their supplies of life, the fruit of their own labour, whereby their lives were embittered and made miserable:
and he doth not resist you; it being neither in his power, nor in his inclination; but takes it patiently, quietly submits, and makes no opposition: or God does not resist you, as yet; he will do it shortly.
James 5:7
Ver. 7. Be patient therefore, brethren,.... The apostle here addresses himself to the poor who were oppressed by the rich men, and these he calls "brethren" of whom he was not ashamed; when he does not bestow this title upon the rich, though professors of the same religion: these poor brethren he advises to be patient under their sufferings, to bear them with patience,
unto the coming of the Lord; not to destroy Jerusalem, but either at death, or at the last, judgment; when he will take vengeance on their oppressors, and deliver them from all their troubles, and put them into the possession of that kingdom, and glory, to which they are called; wherefore, in the mean while, he would have them be quiet and easy, not to murmur against God, nor seek to take vengeance on men, but leave it to God, to whom it belongs, who will judge his people:
behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth; ripe fruit, which arises from the seed he sows in the earth; and which may be called "precious", because useful both to man and beast; see De 33:14 and between this, and the sowing of the seed, is a considerable time, during which the husbandman waits; and this may be an instruction in the present case:
and hath patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain; the Jews had seldom rains any more than twice a year; the early, or former rain, was shortly after the feast of tabernacles {u}, in the month Marchesvan, or October, when the seed was sown in the earth; and if it did not rain, they prayed for it, on the third or seventh day of the month {w}; and the latter rain was in Nisan, or March {x}, just before harvest; and to this distinction the passage refers.
{u} Bartenora in Misn. Taanith, c. 1. sect. 2. {w} T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 4. 2. & 6. 1. & 10. 1. & Bava Metzia, fol. 28. 1. Maimon. Tephilla, c. 2. sect. 16. {x} Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, & Miclol Jophi in Joel ii. 23. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 35. fol. 175. 3.
James 5:8
Ver. 8. Be ye also patient,.... As well as the husbandman, and like him; and wait for the rains and dews of divine grace to fall, and make fruitful, and for the ripe fruit of eternal life; and in the mean while cheerfully and patiently bear all injuries, and oppressions:
stablish your hearts; though the state of the saints is stable, they being fixed in the everlasting love of God, in the covenant of grace, in the hands of Christ, and on the rock of ages; yet their hearts are very unstable, and so are their frames, and the exercise of grace in them, and need establishing, which God's work; which is often done by the means of the word and ordinances; and these the saints should make use of, for the establishing of their hearts: the sense may be, take heart, be of good cheer, do not be dismayed, or faint, or sink under your pressures, but be of good courage, pluck up your spirits, lift up your heads: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; when he will render tribulation to them that trouble them, free them from all their sorrows and afflictions, and enter them into the joy of their Lord; which will be either at death, which was not very far off, or at the last day, which was drawing nearer and nearer, and which with God was near; with whom a thousand years are as one day.
James 5:9
Ver. 9. Grudge not one against another, brethren,.... On account of any happiness, temporal or spiritual, which another enjoys; do not inwardly repine at it; or secretly sigh and groan in an envious manner at it, though nothing may be said, as the word used signifies; much less complain of, accuse, and condemn one another, or meditate and seek revenge:
lest ye be condemned; hereafter, at the bar of Christ, by the Judge of the whole earth, who is privy to the secret murmurings and grumblings, and the envious sighs and groans of men; see Mt 7:1
behold the judge standeth before the door; there is another that judgeth, who is the Lord, and he is at hand; he is just at the door; a little while and he will come, and not tarry; which may refer not to Christ's coming to destroy Jerusalem, but to his second coming to judgment, which will be quickly; for the Gospel times are the last times; there will be no other age; at the end of this, Christ will come.
James 5:10
Ver. 10. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord,.... Men who have been highly honoured of God, with a gift of prophesying, or foretelling things to come; to whom God revealed his secrets, doing nothing without acquainting them with it; and who were sent forth by him, and prophesied in his name what were made known unto them; and yet, though these were his favourites, they suffered much; as cruel mockings, scourgings, imprisonment, famine, nakedness, and death in various shapes; some being stoned, others sawn asunder, and others killed by the sword; all which they endured with incredible patience. And therefore the apostle proposes them to be taken,
for an example suffering affliction, and of patience; their afflictions were many and great, and yet they were very patient under them; and through faith and patience they went through them, and now inherit the promises; and so are a very proper example and pattern for New Testament saints to follow and copy after.
James 5:11
Ver. 11. Behold, we count them happy which endure,.... Affliction, with courage, constancy, and patience, and hold out to the end; for such shall be saved; theirs is the kingdom of heaven; they are happy now, and will be so hereafter: the Spirit of God, and of glory, now rests upon them; and it is an honour done them that they are counted worthy to suffer for Christ; and they will be glorified with him to all eternity; the consideration of which may serve to encourage and increase patience.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job; from the account which is given of him, and his patience, in the book that bears his name; how he behaved under every trial, which came one upon the back of another; as the plundering of his substance, the loss of his children, and of the health of his body; and yet in all this Job sinned not, nor murmured against God, nor charged him foolishly, and was a mirror of patience; and though he afterwards let fall some expressions of impatience, yet he was humbled for them, and brought to repentance: this shows, that as the Apostle James, so the Jews, to whom he writes, believed that there had been really such a man as Job; and that the book which bears his name is an authentic piece of holy Scripture, and contains a narrative of matters of fact; or otherwise this reference to him would have been impertinent. How long Job endured the chastenings of the Lord cannot be said. The Jews {y} say they continued on him twelve months, which they gather from Job 7:3.
And have seen the end of the Lord; that is, the happy end, or exodus, out of all his troubles; which the Lord gave "to him", as the Oriental versions add; for he gave him twice as much as he had before, and blessed his latter end more than his beginning, Job 42:10. Some understand this of the Lord Jesus Christ, both of his great patience in sufferings, in which he is an example to his people, and they would do well to look to, and consider him; and of the end of his sufferings, his glorious resurrection from the dead, and session at the right hand of God, where he is crowned with glory and honour; but the former sense is best:
that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy; as to Job, so to all his people; his paternal relation to them engages his pity towards them; nor does he willingly afflict them; and when he does, he sympathizes with them; he is afflicted with them, and in his pity redeems them; his heart moves towards them, and he earnestly remembers them, and works deliverance for them in his own time and way; and therefore it becomes them to be patient.
{y} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 3. p. 9.
James 5:12
Ver. 12. But above all things, my brethren, swear not,.... As impatience should not show itself in secret sighs, groans, murmurings, and repinings, so more especially it should not break forth in rash oaths, or in profane swearing; for of such sort of swearing, and of such oaths, is the apostle to be understood; otherwise an oath is very lawful, when taken in the fear and name of God, and made by the living God, and is used for the confirmation of anything of moment, and in order to put an end to strife; God himself, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and angels, and good men, are in Scripture sometimes represented as swearing: and that the apostle is so to be understood, appears from the form of swearing prohibited,
neither by the heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath; of the like kind; such as are forbidden, and cautioned, and reasoned against by our Lord, in Mt 5:34 to which the apostle manifestly refers; See Gill on "Mt 5:34",
See Gill on "Mt 5:35",
See Gill on "Mt 5:36".
But let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that is, whenever there is an occasion for affirming, or denying anything, let it be done nakedly, simply, and absolutely, without any form of oath annexed to it; for whatever addition of that kind is made comes from evil, and tends to it, and is evil:
lest ye fall into condemnation; by the Lord; for either false, or rash, or profane swearing; for he will not suffer it to go unpunished; see Ex 20:7. Some copies read, "lest ye fall into hypocrisy"; or dissimulation, and get into a habit and custom of lying and deceiving, as common swearers do; and so reads the Arabic version.
James 5:13
Ver. 13. Is any among you afflicted?.... As the people of God generally are; they are commonly a poor, and an afflicted people; at least there are many among them that are so, and many are their afflictions: those whom Christ loves, as he did Lazarus, are not free from sicknesses and diseases; and these are rather signs of love than arguments against it; and when this is the case of any of the saints, what is to be done?
let him pray; to God that can save him; in the name of Christ; under the influence of the Spirit; believing in the word of promise. Times of afflictions are proper times for prayer; there is then more especially need of it; and God sometimes lays his afflicting hand upon his people, when they have been negligent of their duty, and he has not heard of them for some time, in order to bring them near to him, to seek his face, pay him a visit, and pour out a prayer before him; see Ps 50:15.
Is any merry? in good heart and spirit, in a good frame of mind, as well as in prosperous circumstances, in soul, body and estate:
let him sing psalms; let him not only be inwardly joyful, as he should be in prosperity, and be thankful to God for his many mercies, temporal and spiritual, he enjoys; but let him express it vocally, and melodiously, by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs: not that these are the only persons that are to sing psalms, or this the only time, any more than that afflicted persons are the only ones that are to pray, or the time of affliction the only time of prayer; but as affliction more especially calls for prayer, so spiritual joy, and rejoicing in prosperous seasons, for singing of psalms: weeping, and singing of psalms, were thought, by the Jews, inconsistent. Kimchi, on the title of the third psalm, observes, that their Rabbins say, that when David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, he wept; and if he wept, why is this called a psalm? and if a psalm, hkb hml, "why did he weep?"
James 5:14
Ver. 14. Is any sick among you?.... Which is often the case; the bodies of the saints, as well as others, are liable to a variety of diseases; they are sick, and sometimes nigh unto death, as Epaphroditus was: and then,
let him call for the elders of the church; in allusion to the elders of the congregation of Israel, Le 4:15. By these may be meant, either the elder members of the church, men of gravity and soundness in the faith, persons of long standing and experience; who have the gift and grace of prayer, and are not only capable of performing that duty, but of giving a word of counsel and advice to the sick. It was a kind of proverbial saying of Aristophanes the grammarian;
"the works of young men, the counsels of middle aged persons, and eucai gerontwn, "the prayers of ancient men" {z}:''
or rather officers of churches are meant, particularly pastors, who are so called in Scripture; these should be sent for in times of sickness, as well as physicians; and rather than they, since their prayers may be the means of healing both soul and body: so in former times, the prophets of God were sent to in times of sickness, for advice and assistance. It is a saying of R. Phinehas ben Chama {a} that
"whoever has a sick person in his house, let him go to a wise man, and he will seek mercy for him.''
And it follows here,
and let them pray over him; or for him, for the recovery of his health:
anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord; which some think was only done in a common medicinal way, oil being used much in the eastern countries for most disorders; and so these elders used ordinary medicine, as well as prayer: or rather this refers to an extraordinary gift, which some elders had of healing diseases, as sometimes by touching, and by laying on of hands, or by expressing some words, and so by anointing with oil; see Mr 6:13 which extraordinary gifts being now ceased, the rite or ceremony of anointing with oil ceases in course: however, this passage gives no countenance to the extreme unction of the Papists; that of theirs being attended with many customs and ceremonies, which are not here made mention of; that being used, as is pretended, for the healing of the souls of men, whereas this was used for corporeal healing; that is only performed when life is despaired of, and persons are just going out of the world; whereas this was made use of to restore men to health, and that they might continue longer in it, as follows.
{z} Apud Harpocratian. Lex. p. 125. {a} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 116. 1.
James 5:15
Ver. 15. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick,.... That is, the prayer of the elders, being put up in faith by them, and in which the sick person joins by faith; such a prayer is a means of bringing down from God a blessing on the sick man, and of restoring him to his former health:
and the Lord shall raise him up; from his bed of sickness, on which he is laid, and bring him forth to praise his name, and to fear and glorify him.
And if he have committed sins; not that it is a question whether he has or not, for no man lives without sin, nor the commission of it; but the sense is, if he has been guilty of any sins, which God in particular has taken notice of, and on account of which he has laid his chastising hand upon him, in order to bring him to a sense of them, and to acknowledge them; which is sometimes the case, though not always, at the same time that his bodily health is restored:
they shall be forgiven him; he shall have a discovery, and an application of pardoning grace to him: and indeed the removing the sickness or disease may be called the forgiveness of his sins, which is sometimes the sense of this phrase in Scripture, as in 1Ki 8:34.
James 5:16
Ver. 16. Confess your faults one to another,.... Which must be understood of sins committed against one another; which should be acknowledged, and repentance for them declared, in order to mutual forgiveness and reconciliation; and this is necessary at all times, and especially on beds of affliction, and when death and eternity seem near approaching: wherefore this makes nothing for auricular confession, used by the Papists; which is of all sins, whereas this is only of such by which men offend one another; that is made to priests, but this is made by the saints to one another, by the offending party to him that is offended, for reconciliation, whereby a good end is answered; whereas there is none by the other, and very often bad consequences follow.
And pray for one another, that ye may be healed; both corporeally and spiritually:
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Not any man's prayer; not the prayer of a profane sinner, for God heareth not sinners; nor of hypocrites and formal professors: but of the righteous man, who is justified by the righteousness of Christ, and has the truth of grace in him, and lives soberly and righteously; for a righteous man often designs a good man, a gracious man, one that is sincere and upright, as Job, Joseph of Arimathea, and others; though not without sin, as the person instanced in the following verse shows; "Elias, who was a man of like passions", but a just man, and his prayer was prevalent: and not any prayer of a righteous man is of avail, but that which is "effectual, fervent"; that has power, and energy, and life in it; which is with the Spirit, and with the understanding, with the heart, even with a true heart, and in faith; and which is put up with fervency, and not in a cold, lukewarm, lifeless, formal, and customary way: it is but one word in the original text; and the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "daily"; that prayer which is constant and continual, and without ceasing, and is importunate; this prevails and succeeds, as the parable of the widow and the unjust judge shows. Some translate the word "inspired": the Spirit of God breathes into men the breath of spiritual life, and they live, and being quickened by him, they breathe; and prayer is the breath of the spiritual man, and is no other than the reverberation of the Spirit of God in him; and such prayer cannot fail of success: it may be rendered "inwrought"; true prayer is not what is written in a book, but what is wrought in the heart, by the Spirit of God; who is the enditer of prayer, who impresses the minds of his people with a sense of their wants, and fills their mouths with arguments, and puts strength into them to plead with God, and makes intercession for them according to the will of God; and such prayer is always heard, and regarded by him: this has great power with God; whatever is asked, believing, is received; God can deny nothing prayed for in this manner; it has great power with Christ, as Jacob had over the angel, when he wrestled with him; and as the woman of Canaan, when she importuned him, on account of her daughter, and would have no denial: such prayer has often been of much avail against Satan, who has been dispossessed by it; even the most stubborn kind of devils have been dislodged by fasting and prayer: it has often been the means of preserving kingdoms and nations, when invaded by enemies, as the instances of Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah show; and of removing judgments from a people, as was often done, through the prayers of Moses, as when fire and fiery serpents were sent among them; and of bringing down blessings as rain from heaven by Elijah; and of delivering particular persons from trouble, as Peter was delivered from prison, through the incessant prayer of the church for him: and this power, and efficacy, and prevalence of prayer, does not arise from any intrinsic worth and merit in it, but from the grace of the Spirit, who influences and endites it, directs to it, and assists in it; and from the powerful mediation, precious blood, and efficacious sacrifice of Christ; and from the promise of God and Christ, who have engaged, that whatever is asked according to the will of God, and in the name of Christ, shall be done. The Jews have had formerly a great notion of prayer: the power of prayer, they say {b}, is strong; and extol it above all other services: they say {c}, it is better than good works, or than offerings and sacrifices; and particularly, the prayer of righteous men: says R. Eliezar {d}
"to what is Myqydu lv Ntlpt, "prayer of righteous men" like? it is like a shovel: the sense is, that as the shovel turns the corn on the floor, from one place to another, so prayer turns the holy blessed God from wrath to mercy.''
{b} Zohar in Exod. fol. 100. 1. {c} T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 32. 2. {d} T. Bab. Succa, fol. 14. 1. & Yebamot, fol. 64. 1.
James 5:17
Ver. 17. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are,.... The apostle gives an instance of earnest and fervent prayer, and of the efficacy of it in Elias; who is the same with the prophet Elijah, or Elijah the Tishbite; who, by the Septuagint in Mal 4:5 is called Elias, as here, and elsewhere, in the New Testament: of him James says, that he was a "man", contrary to the notion of some of the Jewish writers, who affirm, that Elijah was not born of a father and mother, but was an angel, who was clothed with the four elements of the world {e}; but he was not only born, but born in sin, as others are, and was by nature no better than others; and he himself confesses that he was no better than his fathers, 1Ki 19:4. And the apostle further observes; concerning him, that be was "subject to like passions as we are"; both in body and soul; he was subject to hunger and weariness, and was fed by ravens, and by the widow of Zarephath, and by an angel; and he was subject to reproach, affliction, and persecution, being charged by Ahab as a troubler of Israel, and persecuted by Jezebel, who sought his life; he was a mortal man, and liable to death, and requested to die, and must have died, had it not been for the wonderful power of God, which translated him, that he should not see death; and he was not free from sinful passions, as impatience, fear, and unbelief,
1Ki 17:20. And he prayed earnestly; or prayed in prayer; an Hebraism: it is said {f} of one, that hytwlu ylu, "he prayed his prayer"; and of others, that Nytwlu Nalu, "they prayed prayers"; though the phrase here seems to design something more than bare praying; a praying, not merely externally, or formally, and with the lip only, but with the Spirit, and with the understanding, and with the heart engaged in it, with inwrought prayer. The prophet prayed with much earnestness, with great vehemence and intenseness of Spirit, as this Hebraism denotes; his prayer was fervent, and it was constant, and importunate, and was continued till he had an answer: he may be thought to have prayed each of the seven times he sent his servant to look out for a sign of rain, 1Ki 18:43, he first prayed,
that it might not rain; this is not recorded in express words, but may be gathered from 1Ki 17:1 where he says, "as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew, nor rain, these years, but according to my word"; so the passage is understood by the Jewish interpreters: the phrase, "before whom I stand", is paraphrased by one of them {g} thus; before whom I am used to stand, hlyptb, "in prayer"; and it is a common saying with the Jews, there is no standing ever mentioned, but prayer is intended;
See Gill on "Mt 6:5" And the other phrase, "according to my word", is, by another {h}, interpreted to this sense, that the rain should not descend naturally, according to the custom of the world, but it should descend when Elijah wyle llpty, "prayed for it", and so it was:
and it rained not on the earth: on the land of Israel, which is only meant; it rained in other parts of the world, for the drought in those times was not universal: and this was,
by the space of three years and six months; which exactly agrees with the words of Christ, Lu 4:25 and this was in judgment upon the land of Israel, for the idolatry it was filled with in the times of Ahab: and this instance of prayer is mentioned, not with a view that it should be imitated; we are not to pray for judgments, unless we have a divine order for it, as Elijah had; but to show the efficacy of prayer made according to the will of God.
{e} Zohar in Gen. fol. 31. 1. & Imre Binah in ib. {f} Ib. in Exod. fol. 4. 2. & in Numb. fol. 79. 2. {g} R. David, Kimchi in loc. {h} Vid. Laniado in loc.
James 5:18
Ver. 18. And he prayed again,.... 1Ki 18:42. Here also is no express mention of his prayer, but it may be concluded from his gestures; and so the Jewish interpreters understand these words, "Elijah went up to the top of Carmel", llpthl, "to pray, and he cast himself down upon the earth", Mymvgh le llpthl, "to pray for rain; and he put his face between his knees", llpthw, "and prayed, and said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea"; and this he said while he was wtlyptb, "in his prayers" {i}: and the effect of this his prayer was,
and the heaven gave rain; see 1Ki 18:45.
And the earth brought forth her fruit: which for the years past it had not; hence there was a sore famine in the land, 1Ki 18:2. Now the apostle chose to give this example, because it was a common thing for the Jews to ask for rain: we often read of such a doctor, that he prayed for rain, and it came; and of another, that he asked for the rains, and they descended {k}: and his view is to observe, that the weakness and infirmities of the saints ought not to discourage them from prayer; and that they should be earnest and fervent in it, as was Elias, a man of like passions with themselves.
{i} Jarchi, Kimchi, Ralbag, & Laniado in loc. {k} T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 28. 1. & Taanith, fol. 19. 1. 23. 1. 24. 2. 25. 2. & Yoma, fol. 53. 2.
James 5:19
Ver. 19. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth,.... Either from Christ, who is the truth, by departing from him, forsaking his ways, worship, and ordinances; or from the Scriptures of truth, not speaking according to them, and embracing notions that are contrary unto them; or from the Gospel, the word of truth, from the doctrine of faith, and from uprightness of life and conversation, after having made a profession of Christianity; for this is to be understood of one who has embraced the Christian religion, become a member of a church, and has walked in the path of truth and holiness, but now fallen into error, either in principle, or in practice, or both:
and one convert him; or turn him from his error, to truth again; for this designs not first conversion, or the turning of a sinner from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and from the evil of a man's heart and ways and from a dependence on his own righteousness, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to look to him for righteousness, life, and salvation, which is wholly and entirely God's work, and not man's; but conversion after backslidings; for a restoration from a fallen condition is sometimes so called,
Ps 51:1 and which one brother may be an instrument of to another, by showing him, and setting before him, the evil of his errors, whether in principle or practice; and by instructing him in the doctrines of the Gospel, and in the duties of religion; and by reproving him in meekness, and according to the rules of Christ; which means are sometimes blessed for the gaining of such; and which may be called conversion: and also, this is sometimes done by praying for him; and which seems chiefly to be intended here; for from praying for the healing of the diseases of the body, the apostle proceeds to encourage the saints to pray for one another, for the healing of the diseases of the mind; and suggests, that if prayer avails to the one, it may to the other; and which is the most desirable, and the greatest blessing, as follows.
James 5:20
Ver. 20. Let him know,.... And observe it for his encouragement:
that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way; who is the instrument of restoring a backsliding professor, for such an one is meant by a sinner, and not a profane person; or of turning a poor bewildered believer, who is got out of the way of truth and holiness, into the right way again; or of convincing him of the error of his way, whether it be in point of doctrine, or of duty; and so of bringing him to the fold of Christ again, from whence he has strayed:
shall save a soul from death; not efficiently, but instrumentally, as in 1Ti 4:16 for otherwise Christ is the only Saviour; and he will be the means of saving "a soul", which is of more worth than a world; and that from death, the second death which lies in the separation of the soul from God, and in a sense of his wrath; which apostasy threatens with, and leads unto, if grace prevents not. The Alexandrian copy and others, and the Vulgate Latin version read, "his soul"; but the common reading is more emphatic; the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "his own soul"; and the Ethiopic version, "himself", as respecting him that is the instrument of the conversion of the other, and not the person converted:
and shall hide a multitude of sins; either "his own", as the same versions read; and then the sense is, he shall be blessed with a discovery and application of the forgiveness of all his sins, though they have been many and great; or rather the sins of the person converted. Sin is only covered by the blood and righteousness of Christ; and thereby it is so covered, as not to be seen by the eye of vindictive justice and in such manner as that the persons of those who are covered therewith are all fair, without fault and unreproveable in the sight of God; and though their sins are many, even a multitude, they are blotted out as a thick cloud, and are abundantly pardoned; yea, all their sins are covered, be they ever so many, for God forgives all trespasses, for Christ's sake; and the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin, and his righteousness justifies from all: and whoever is an instrument of bringing a backslider to a sense of the evil of his ways, and to true repentance for the same; as he, upon such repentance, has his iniquities caused to pass from him, or, in other words, to be covered, as from the sight of God, so from his own; he may be said to be the instrument of this also.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Public troubles are most grievous to those who live in
pleasure, and are secure and sensual, though all ranks suffer
deeply at such times. All idolized treasures will soon perish, except
as they will rise up in judgment against their possessors. Take heed
of defrauding and oppressing; and avoid the very appearance of it.
God does not forbid us to use lawful pleasures; but to live in
pleasure, especially sinful pleasure, is a provoking sin. Is it no harm
for people to unfit themselves for minding the concerns of their
souls, by indulging bodily appetites? The just may be condemned
and killed; but when such suffer by oppressors, this is marked by
God. Above all their other crimes, the Jews had condemned and
crucified that Just One who had come among them, even Jesus
Christ the righteous.\WHBC 1752.2
Public troubles are most grievous to those who live in
pleasure, and are secure and sensual, though all ranks suffer
deeply at such times. All idolized treasures will soon perish, except
as they will rise up in judgment against their possessors.
The just may be condemned
and killed; but when such suffer by oppressors, this is marked by
God. Above all their other crimes, the Jews had condemned and
crucified that Just One who had come among them, even Jesus
Christ the righteous.\WHBC 1752.2
Sources: Matthew Henry; Gill's Exposition; Matthew Henry Concise
Commentary
Commentary