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. (James 5:1-6 KJV)
INTRODUCTION TO JAMES CHAPTER 5
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 (James 5:1-6). All the faithful are exhorted to patience under their trials and sufferings (James 5:7-11). The sin of swearing is cautioned against (James 5:12). We are directed on how to act, both under affliction and in prosperity (James 5:13). Prayer for the sick, and anointing with oil, are prescribed (James 5:14-15). Christians are directed to acknowledge their faults one to another, and to pray for one another, and the effectiveness of prayer is proved (James 5:16-18). Finally, it is recommended that we do what we can to bring back those who stray from the ways of truth.
Warning to the Rich
The apostle is here addressing sinners.
Let us consider the address to sinners; and here we find James echoing what his great Master had said: “Woe unto you that are rich; for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24). 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. The poor among the Jews received the gospel, and many of them believed; but the majority of the rich rejected Christianity, and were hardened in their unbelief, and hated and persecuted those who believed in Christ. To these oppressing, unbelieving, persecuting, rich people, the apostle addresses himself in the first six verses.
He foretells the judgments of God that should come upon them (James 5:1-3). They should have miseries come upon them, and such dreadful miseries that the very anticipation of them was enough to make them weep and howl—misery that should arise from the very things in which they placed their happiness: “Go to now, you rich men.”
You may be assured that very dreadful calamities are coming upon you, calamities that shall carry nothing of support nor comfort in them, but all misery. 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.
Rich men are apt to say to themselves, “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; but, “Weep and howl, for when your doom comes there will be nothing but weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.”
Their misery shall arise from the very things in which they placed their happiness. “Corruption, decay, rust, and ruin, will come upon all your fine things: Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten” (James 5:2). They will witness against you, and they will eat your flesh as it were fire (James 5:3).
Things inanimate are frequently represented in scripture as witnessing against wicked men. They think to heap up treasure for their later days, but they are only heaping up treasures to become a prey to others, 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. The apostle shows that those sins would bring such miseries.
Greed is laid to the charge of these 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 corroded. God gives us our worldly possessions that we may honor him and do good with them; but if, instead of this, we sinfully hoard them up, through excessive and improper affection towards them, or a distrust of the providence of God for the future, this is a very serious crime.
Another sin charged upon those against whom James writes is oppression: “Behold, the hire of the laborers, who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries” (James 5:4). 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. This is a crying sin, an iniquity that cries so as to reach the ears of God; and the Lord of hosts will give orders to some of those hosts that are under him to avenge the wrongs done to those who are dealt with unrighteously and without mercy.
Another sin here mentioned is sensuality and self-indulgence. “You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton” (James 5:5). God does not forbid us to have pleasure, but to live in them as if we lived for nothing else is a very provoking sin. “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.” 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?
Another sin here charged on the rich is persecution: “You have condemned and killed the just, and he does not resist you” (James 5:6). 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. When such do suffer, and yield without resistance to the unjust sentence of oppressors, this is marked by God, to the honor of the sufferers and the shame of their persecutors.