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 pa tience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. τας καρδιας ὑμων ὡς εν ἡμε ρα σφαγης 6 Κατεδικάσατε, εφόνευσατε τον δικαιον ουκ αντιτασ σεται ὑμιν. 7 Μακροθυμησατε ουν, αδελφοι, έως της παρουσίας του Kupiov. Κυριου. Ιδου, ὁ γεωργος εκδέχεται τον τιμιον καρπον της γης, μακροθυμων επ' αυτῷ, έως αν λαβῃ ὑετον πρωιμον και οψιμον. drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. 2. And have been wanton. Εσπαταλήσατε Syriac (subsannastis) we have mocked. The Greek word signifies to feed deliciously, and drink choice liquors; and because that manner of living leads to lasciviousness, it often signifies to be addicted to carnal lusts, as in this passage, where it is dis. tinguished from srguonoars ye have lived luxuriously. See 1 Tim. v. 6.— The Jews were so noted for lasciviousness, that Tacitus calls them projectissima ad libidinem gens, a nation exceedingly addicted to lust. Hist. lib. v. initio. 3. Ye have fatted your hearts as for a day of slaughter. Syriac, corpora vestra, your bodies.—A day of slaughter, is an high festival, a day of offering many sacrifices. This is an allusion to Isaiah's description of the destruction of the Idumeans, chap. xxxiv. 6. For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozra, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. In the same manner, the destruction of God's enemies is called the supper of the great God, Rev. xix. 18 See also Ezek. xxxix. 17. The apostle's meaning is, that the rich Jews, by their luxury and lasciviousness, had rendered themselves fit to be destroyed in the day of God's wrath.-Others think the meaning is, ye have pampered yourselves every day, as the luxurious do on high festival days. Either way understood, this passage is a rebuke to those who by fraud and oppression amass riches, and spend them in gratifying their own lusts, without attending to the wants of the poor. The clause, as for a day of slaughter, is wanting in the Ethiopic version, and is thought by Mill an interpretation rather than a part of the text, Proleg. 1217. But the reading of the Ethiopic version, being unsupported, is of no authority. Ver. 6.-1. Ye have killed the just one. In Le Clerc's opinion, which Benson follows, the just one, is the Christians whom the unbelieving Jews per lasciviousness, and by that sensual manner of living, ye have fatted yourselves for a day of vengeance, as victims are fatted for a day of sacrifice. 6 The crime for which especially ye are to be punished is this; Ye have condemned as an impostor, Ye have killed the Just one Jesus of Nazareth, who, though he could have delivered himself, did not resist you. 7 Wherefore, having this great example of patience in your master, be ye patient brethren who are persecuted by your countrymen as he was, until the coming of the Lord to destroy your persecutors. In the common affairs of life men exercise patience cheerfully. Behold the husbandman who expecteth the valuable fruit of the earth, is patient concerning it, till it receive the early and the latter rain. secuted and put to death. But as Stephen charged the council, Acts vii. 52. with murdering the just one, and as the just one is an appellation given to our Lord, Acts iii. 14. xxii. 14 to denote that he was just or righteous in calling himself the Messiah, and that the sin of the Jews in putting him to death was great, I rather think it is of him the apostle speaks; more especially as our Lord himself, in the parable of the vineyard, expressly declared that the lord of the vineyard, for the crime of killing his son, would miserably destroy these wicked husbandmen: that is, the whole Jewish nation, to whom the crime committed by their rulers is imputed, both by Christ and by his apostles.-The conjunction and, is elegantly omitted in this clause, to express the haste of the Jewish rulers to put Christ to death, after he was condemned. 2. Who did not resist you. I have followed Michaelis in supplying the pronoun who. In the original it is, resisteth you not. But, as the other verbs in the sentence are in the preterite tense, Ye have condemned, ye have killed, this must be understood in the past time likewise.-Benson, who by the just one understands all the righteous persons who were murdered by the Jews from first to last, thinks this clause should be translated interrogatively; Doth be (the Lord) not resist you ? Ver. 7.-1. Be patient. Mangouμncare. This word signifies to put off anger for a time. Here it means, to put off impatience. 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 pa tience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord ; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. 8 Μακροθύμησατε και μεις, ςηρίξατε τας καρδίας υμων, ότι ἡ παρουσία του Κυρίου ηγγικε. 9 Μη ςενάζετε κατ' αλληλων, αδελφοι, ίνα μη κατα κριθητε ιδου, κριτης προ των θυρων έςηκεν. 10 Υποδειγμα λαβετε της κακοπαθειας, αδελφοι μου, και της μακροθυμίας, τους προφητας, οἱ ελαλησαν τῷ ονοματι Κυρίου. 11 Ιδου, μακαριζομεν τους ὑπομενοντας. Την ὑπομονην Ιωβ ηκουσατε, και το τέλος Κυριου ειδετε, ότι πολυσπλαγ χνος εςιν ὁ Κύριος και οικο τίρμων. 2. The early and the latter rain. Literally, the morning and the evening rain. The whole time the seed is in the ground being considered as one day, the early rain, is called the morning rain, and the latter rain, the evening rain. In Judea the rains come in a regular course. The early rain falls commonly about the beginning of November, after the seed is sown, and the latter rain in the middle or towards the end of April, while the ears are filling. These rains were promised to the Israelites, Deut. xi. 14. Ver. 8.1. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. By the coming of the Lord, James meant his coming to destroy the Jewish commonwealth. See Pref. to 2 Thess. sect. 4. Agreeably to the prophetic style, the preterite »γγικε hath approached, is used here to shew that the coming of the Lord was absolutely certain; and at the time of writing this epistle, very near. Ver. 9. Groan not against one another. Groaning is caused by oppression ; and when it is merely the natural expression of affliction, it moves God to pity the afflicted person. Judg. ii. 18. But as Whitby observes, when it is the effect of impatience, or when it expresses a desire of revenge, it be comes criminal. It is this kind of groaning which the apostle forbids. Ver. 11.1. Behold we call them blessed who are patient. This being subjoined to ver. 10. where the prophets were proposed as an example of patience in suffering, it is an allusion to Christ's words, Matth. v. 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you; as is plain from his 8 Be ye also patient: Strengthen your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.1 9 Groan not against one another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: Behold the Judge standeth before the door. Gen. iv. 7. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering evil, and of patience. 11 Behold we call them blessed who are patient. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, 2 and ye have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. 8 Be ye also patient: strengthen your hearts, by considering that your sufferings will not be long: For the coming of the Lord to destroy your persecutors, draweth nigh. 9 Having foretold the speedy destruction of your persecutors, for the purpose of comforting you, and not to excite you to resentment, I say, Groan not against one another, brethren, as in pain till ye are avenged, lest ye be condemned. Behold Christ the Judge standeth before the door, hearing all ye say. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, roho have spoken in the name of the Lord to your forefathers, for an example of suffering evil from the very persons to whom they brought the messages of God, and of patience in suffering. 11 Behold, after Christ's example, We call them blessed who are patient. Ye have heard of the patience of Job under his heavy sufferings, and ye have seen the happy end which the Lord put to them; and that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful to his people, even when he afflicts them most. adding, ver. 12. Rejoice-for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. To shew the allusion, I have translated Maxagique literally, We call them blessed. Benson observes that the Papists to authorize their practice of making saints, have in their versions translated this clause, we beauti fy those who have suffered with constancy. See 3 John, ver. 5. note 2. 2. Te bave heard of the patience of Job. After mentioning the prophets, namely Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the rest, as examples of patience under sufferings, the apostle brings in the example of Job, a Gentile, who was remarkably patient under the heaviest afflictions, and was highly rewarded. His design in this was to shew the suffering believing Jews, that their lot was not different from that of the most eminent servants of God; and that if a Gentile was so patient under great sufferings, it became them to be equally patient, as being better instructed than he was.—This passage of scripture, as well as Ezek. xiv. 14. where Job is mentioned with Noah and 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 clders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 12 Προ παντων δε, αδελφοι μου, μη ομνύετε μητε τον ουρανον, μητε την γην, μητε αλλον τινα όρκον ητω δε 13 Κακοπαθει τις εν υμιν ; προσευχεσθω ευθυμει τις ψαλλετω. 14 Ασθενει τις εν ὑμῖν; προσκαλεσασπω τους πρεσβυτερους της εκκλησίας, και προσευξασθωσαν επ' αυτον, αλει ψαντες αυτον ελαιῳ εν τῷ ονοματι του Κυρίου. Daniel as one eminently righteous, shews that Job was a real person, and that his history is not a dramatic fable, as many have supposed. A fabulous person certainly would not have been mentioned by the apostle as an example of any virtue. 3. Te pave seen the end of the Lord. This is the genitive of the agent. Ye have seen in the history of that good man, what a happy termination the Lord put to his sufferings. Ver. 12.—1. Swear not, neither by the heaven, &c. It is supposed by some, that James, in this passage, forbade the brethren to make indiscreet vows for the purpose of delivering themselves out of their affliction; because a practice of that sort shewed great ignorance of the character of God, and great impatience. This no doubt is a good sense of the passage. Yet I rather think he forbade them, when brought before the tribunals of their persecutors, to deny their faith with oaths; which some of them, it seems, thought they might do with a safe conscience, if the oath was one of those which were reckoned not binding. For that the Jews thought some oaths obligatory and others not, appears from our Lord's condemnation of that false morality, recorded Matt. v. 34. 2. That ye may not fall, ύπο κρισιν, under condemnation. This, which is the reading of the common edition, and of some ancient MSS. particularly the Alexandrian, and of the Syriac, Vulgate, and other versions, was adopted by our translators. But Beza, Bengelius, and others on the authority of the greatest number of MSS. prefer εἰς ὑποκρισιν, into hypocrisy. This latter reading Mill hath inserted in his edition; yet in his Prolegom. he prefers the other, No. 1208.-The apostle in this passage sets the condemnation of God threatened in the decalogue against false swearers, in opposition to |
