![]() Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. ( Jam 5:4-6) The sins of the rich are condemned. In the last days: “The doom is depicted in highly coloured Jewish phrases, and the same immediate prospect of the End is held out as a threat to the rich and as a consolation to the oppressed poor.” (Moffatt)Ģ. ![]() On the day of judgment it will be revealed that they have lived their lives in the arrogant independence James previously condemned, heaping up earthly treasure in the last days, when they should have been heaping up treasure in heaven ( Luke 18:22). Will be a witness against you: The corruptible nature of the wealth of the rich will witness against them. Better howl with men than yell with devils.” (Trapp)Ĭ. “Better weep here, where there are wiping handkerchiefs in the hand of Christ, than to have your eyes whipped out in hell. “More than that, James adds, with a Dantesque touch of horror, the rust will devour (or corrode) your flesh like fire, you are so bound up with your greedy gains your wealth perishes and you perish with it and by it, eaten away in burning pain.” (Moffatt) Each one of them comes to nothing in their own way. Stores of food are corrupted (rotted), garments are moth-eaten, and gold and silver are corroded. James probably refers to the destruction of three kinds of wealth. In the life to come, their riches will be revealed as corrupted, moth-eaten and corroded. Weep and howl: In the style of an Old Testament prophet, James tells the rich to mourn in consideration of their destiny (the miseries that are coming upon you). “He speaks to them not simply as rich (for riches and grace sometimes may go together) but as wicked, not only wallowing in wealth, but abusing it to pride, luxury, oppression, and cruelty.” (Poole)ī. ![]() It is also true that the pursuit of riches is a motivation for every conceivable sin ( 1 Timothy 6:10). While Jesus counted some rich persons among His followers (such as Zaccheus, Joseph of Armithea, and Barnabas), we are compelled to observe that riches do present an additional and significant obstacle to the kingdom ( Matthew 19:23-24). He now naturally rebuked those most likely to live independently from God – the rich. Come now, you rich: James had developed the idea of the need for complete dependence on God. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.Ī. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. ( Jam 5:1-3) The rich and the illusion of wealth.Ĭome now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
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