Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

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2. FACING “YOURSELF” (5:1-11)
(1) Come now, you rich, weep and howl because of the miseries
that are coming upon you. (2) Your riches have rotted and your
clothes are moth-eaten. (3) Your gold and silver have rusted,
and their rust will be a witness against you and consume your
flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days. (4)
Look, the pay of the workers who mowed your fields, which was
fraudulently withheld by you, is crying out, and the cries of the
reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. (5) You
have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have
fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. (6) You have condemned,
you have murdered, the righteous man. He does not
resist you. (7) So be patient, brothers, until the coming of the
Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the
earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the
late rain. (8) So you also be patient, establish your hearts, for
the coming of the Lord is near. (9) Do not grumble against each
other, brothers, lest you be judged. Look, the judge is standing
at the door. (10) As an example of suffering and endurance,
brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
(11) Look, we count those who have endured blessed. You have
heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the end of the
Lord, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
a. The Rich and the Coming Judgment (5:1-6)
It is commonly held that this section, assuming either a state of unrepentance
or a refusal to repent, contains an announcement, if not proclamation, of impending
doom, rather than a call to repentance (Dibelius, 235; Grosheide,
1955, 401; Tasker, 109; Burdick, 199). Basically the case against the rich (not
all rich universally, but the rich in view in this section) is said to be closed.
Sentence has been passed. The repeated perfect tense in James 5:1-2 speaks
volumes. It includes past, present and future. The execution is just a formality.
Hence the call to weep and howl! They are “unmistakably non-
Christians” (Moo, 1985, 158, with reference to Lk. 6:24-25), totally selfdeceived
in their riches, incorrigible economic exploiters, callously responsible
for the miserable plight of the poor, beyond repentance and hope, “fodder
for hell.”
Penitents may weep, all right, but they never howl (Calvin, 343). That
term is only found in the OT prophets and always in the context of judgment