shall live, and do this or ζησωμεν, και ποιησωμεν τουτο Ver. 15.-1. Instead of which, ye ought to say, If, &c. To attain the true meaning of the original words, Αντι του λεγειν ύμας, 1 think a comma ought to be placed after του, and the impersonal verb du ought to be supplied before λέγειν, so as to govern ύμας, thus : Αντι του, (for όν) δει ύμας λεγειν. By this translation the sentence begun, ver. 13. but which is interrupted by ver. 14. is completed ver. 15. in the following manner: ver. 13. Ye who say to-day or to-morrow we will go, &c. (ver. 14. Ye who do not know, &c.) ver. 15. Instead of which, namely what is mentioned ver. 13. Ye ought to say if the Lord will, &c. The apostle does not mean that these words should always be used by us, when we speak of our purposes respecting futurity: but that on such occasions, the sentiment which these words express, should always be present to our mind. The same advice Socrates gave to Alcibiades, with great reason; because whether one uses the words mentioned by the apostle, or only recollects the sentiment which they denote, nothing can be more effectual than either, for impressing the mind with a sense of God's supremacy in the government of the world: agreeably to the saying of the wise man Prov. xvi. 9. A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directech (governeth) his steps. CHAPTER V. View and illustration of the Matters contained in this Chapter. THE unbelieving Jews being exceedingly addicted to sensual pleasures, and very covetous, were of course grievous oppressors of the poor. Wherefore, to terrify these wicked men, and if possible to bring them to repentance, St. James, in the most lively colours, set before them the miseries which the Romans, the instruments of the divine vengeance, were to bring upon the Jewish people, both in Judea and every where else, now desert the Lord will, and we shall live, (και, 218.) certainly we will do this or that. 16 But now ye boast of your proud speeches: all boasting of this sort is bad. 14 (Ουν, 262.) Wherefore, to him who knoweth to do good, and doth it not, it is to him sin.1 certainly we will do this or that, seeing all future events depend on God alone, and not on your pleasure. were 16 But now ye boast of your proud speeches concerning futurity, as if ye absolutely independent on God. All boasting of this sort is impious, implying great ignorance both of yourselves and of God. 17 Being taught by your own scriptures, that all things are ordered by God, ye have no excuse for your proud speeches. Wherefore to him who knoweth to think and speak rightly concerning futurity, and doth it not, to him it is sin. Ver. 16.-1. All boasting of this sort is bad. It was bad, because by these proud speeches the Jews represented themselves, as not dependent on God for the prolongation of their life, and for success in their affairs. This impiety, as the apostle told them in the subsequent verse, was highly aggravated in them who were so well instructed concerning the providence of God, out of their own law. Ver. 17.-1. It is to bim sin. Because this is true with respect to all who act contrary to knowledge and conscience, Beza and Estius consider it as a general conclusion, enforcing the whole of the reproofs given to the Jews, for acting contrary to the divine revelations, of which they were the keepers. ed of God for their crimes; and particularly for the great crime of murdering the Just one, Jesus of Nazareth, their long expected Messiah. So that being soon to lose their possessions and goods, it was not only criminal but foolish, by injustice and oppression to amass wealth, of which they were so soon to be stripped, ver. 1.-6. In this part of his letter, the apostle hath introduced figures and expressions, which for boldness, vivacity, and energy, might have been used by the greatest Tragic Poet. And if they had been found in any of the writings of Greece or Rome, would have been praised as exceedingly sublime. Having foretold, that the power of the unbelieving Jews, the great persecutors of the Christians, was soon to be utterly broken, St. James improved the knowledge of that event for the consolation of the faithful, whom he next addressed. The coming of the Lord, to destroy the Jewish church and state, was at hand, so that the evils which they were suffering from the Jews were speedily to end. He therefore exhorted the brethren to bear patiently, till the Lord should come to deliver them. In so doing, they were to imitate both the husbandman, who waiteth patiently for the early and the latter rain to render the seed he hath sown fruitful, ver. 7.-9. and their own prophets, who suffered evil patiently while they delivered the messages of God to their fathers, ver. 10. He also put them in mind of the patience of Job, who was a Gentile, and whose patience under accumulated sufferings, was in the end rewarded with great temporal prosperity, and a lasting fame, ver. 11. Some of the Jewish Christians, it seems, when called before the tribunals of their persecutors, had saved themselves from OLD TRANSLATION. CHAP. V. 1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are cor GREEK TEXT. 1 Αγε νυν οἱ πλουσιοι, κλαυσατε ολολυζοντες επι ταις ταλαιπωριαις ὑμων ταις επερχομέναις. 2 Ὁ πλουτος ὑμων σεσηrupted, and your garments πε, και τα ἱματια ὑμων σητο are moth-caten. βρωτα γεγονεν· Ver. 1.-1. Weep on account of your miseries which are coming upon you. The Syriac translation of the last clause of this verse is, Qui venient super 008. In the Vulgate it is miseriis vestris quæ advenient vobis. The miseries of which the apostle speaks, were those in which the Jews were to be involved in their war with the Romans, and which by the signs pointed out in our Lord's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, James, who wrote this letter in Judea, knew were at hand: miseries from famine, pestilence, and the sword. These fell heaviest no doubt on the Jews in Judea. But they extended also to the Jews in the provinces. Besides, when Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans, the Jews in the provinces within the empire, and also out of its bounds, sent help to their brethren in Judea. So Dion Cassius tells us, Lib. 66. The reader who desires a particular account of the calamities which then befel the Jews, punishment, by denying their faith upon oath, in the vain imagination that some oaths were obligatory, and others not, Mat. v. 33.-37. This practice the apostle strictly prohibited, ver. 12.-and recommended prayer to God as the proper means of their deliverance out of trouble. Also the singing of psalms of thanksgiving and praise, when they were cheerful on account of their prosperity, ver. 13.-And when labouring under bodily distempers, he directed them to send for the elders, who were endowed with the gift of healing diseases miraculously, that they might pray for their recovery, ver. 14, 15. And if they had injured one another, he desired them in their sickness, to confess their faults mutually, and to pray for each others recovery, ver. 16.-The efficacy of the prayers of prophets and righteous men, he illustrated by the efficacy of Elijah's prayers, ver. 17, 18, 19. -Lastly, that the faithful might be excited to do their utmost, by prayer and every other proper means, to reclaim their brethren who had fallen into sin, he assured them that whosoever turns a sinner from the error of his way, saves him from death eternal; and for that good office, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament for ever and ever, ver. 20. NEW TRANSLATION. CHAP. V. 1 Come now ye rich men, qweep, howl, on account of your miseries are coming upon which YOU.1 2 Your riches are putrified, and your garments are moth-eaten.2 COMMENTARY. CHAP. V. 1 Come now ye rich men who disbelieve the gospel, instead of rejoicing in the prospect of much pleasure from your wealth, weep and cry bitterly, on account of the miseries which are coming upon you. 2 Your riches, your corn, wine, and oil, which ye have amassed by injustice and rapine, are putrified, and your garments, in your wardrobes, are moth-eaten. may read Josephus's history of the war, where he will find scenes of misery not to be paralleled in the annals of any nation. Ver. 2.-1. Your riches are putrified. Σεσησε. This circumstance shews that the apostle is speaking of stores of corn, wine, and oil, which like the rich fool mentioned, Luke xii. 18. they had amassed, probably, by rapine and fraud. In this manner the Syriac translator understood the passage: for he translates it, corruptæ sunt et fætuerunt. 2. Your garments are moth-eaten. clothes did not change as with us. In the eastern countries, the fashion of 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 3 Ὁ χρυσος ὑμων και ὁ αργυρος κατιώται, και ὁ ιος αυτων εις μαρτυριον ὑμιν εςαι, και φαγεται τας σαρκας ὑμων ὡς πυρ· εθησαυρισατε εν εσ together for the last days. χαταις ήμεραις· 4 Behold, the hire of the labourers which 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 4 Ιδου, ὁ μισθος των εργατων των αμησαντων τας χω ρας ὑμων, ὁ απεςηρημενος αφ' ὑμων, κραζει και αἱ βοαι των θερισαντων εις τα ωτα Κυριου σαβαωθ εισεληλύθασιν· 5 Ετρυφησατε επι της γης, και εσπαταλησατε· εθρεψατε to have many garments made of different costly stuffs, which they laid up as a part of their riches. See Gen. xlv. 22. Judges xiv. 12, 13. 2 Kings v. 5. This appears also from Q. Curtius, who tells us, Lib. v. c. 6. that when Alexander took Persepolis, he found the riches of all Asia gathered together there, which consisted not only of gold and silver, but of garments: vestis ingens modus. Ver. 3.-1. And the rust of them will be a witness against you. The circumstances of their corn, &c. being putrified, and of their gold and silver being eaten with rust, are mentioned to shew that they had not been properly used, but covetously hoarded. And by a strong poetical figure, the rust of their gold and silver is represented both as a witness against them, and an executioner to destroy them: It will bear witness to their covetousness, and punish them by raising the most acute pain in their conscience. 2. Treasured up misery in the last days. In the original this clause is elliptical. In Estius's edition of the Vulgate it is, Thesaurizastis vobis iram. The Syriac translator, construing aue with this clause, hath Ignem congessistis vobis in dies ultimos. And the commentators who by the last days understand the day of judgment, have adopted that translation. But, as the apostle is speaking of the last days of the Jewish commonwealth, and of the miseries which were then to fall on the nation, and particularly on the rich men, I think with Whitby, that the word to be supplied, is misery; especially as their wealth would be an inducement to the Romans to murder them. We have the phrase θησαυρίζειν οργην, treasure up wrath, Rom. ii. 5.-This denunciation, though applied here to the unbelieving Jews in the apostle's days, is general in its intention, and ought to be seriously attended to by all in every age, who amass riches unjustly, and who either hoard |