James 5:2,3

‘Your riches are corrupted,

And your garments are moth-eaten.

Your gold and your silver are corroded,

And their corrosion will be for a testimony against you,

And will eat your flesh as fire,

‘You have laid up your treasure in the last days.'

This was not, of course, literally true, although possibly partly so. Moths and corrosion wait for no man. It was rather as they were seen looking into the future. In God's eyes it was already so. He was seeing things as they would be when their miseries came on them. All the wealth that they possessed would be marred in one way or another in such a way as to make it useless and undesirable. This contrasts with James 5:5 where they have ‘lived delicately on the earth, and taken their pleasure'. They have been used to luxury and the very best. Now they will experience the very worst. Their riches will have spoiled (the corn, oil and wine), their garments will have been eaten by moths, and their gold and silver will have corroded, because instead of doing good with it in the present, they had stored it up as treasure for the future. It would thus act as evidence of their failure to do the Father's will. It was not the wealth itself that was evil, it was the love of it (1 Timothy 6:10) and the failure to use it properly.

Silver and gold were normal means of investment for the future, and clothing was also another form in which the wealthy stored up their wealth. Fine clothing was much valued. Joseph gave changes of clothing to his brothers (Genesis 45:22). It was for a beautiful robe from Shinar that Achan brought judgment on Israel and death both to himself and his family (Joshua 7:21). Samson offered changes of clothing to anyone who could solve his riddle (Judges 14:12). Naaman brought a gift of clothing to Elisha, the prophet of Israel, to obtain which Gehazi, his servant, sinned grievously (2 Kings 5:5; 2 Kings 5:22). Paul declared that he had coveted no man's money or clothing (Acts 20:33).

But all these things would suffer from the ravages of nature. James has in mind here the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus promised similar catastrophes (Matthew 6:19). But the general idea was initially based on the Old Testament, see Psalms 39:11; Isaiah 50:9; Isaiah 51:8; Lamentations 4:1; Hosea 5:12, and compare also Ezekiel 7:19.

‘And will eat your flesh as fire.' Because it would be damning evidence at the judgment their spoiled riches will be responsible for them suffering the flames of judgment. Thus it would ‘eat their flesh as fire'. The very corrosion of their silver and gold would also corrode them.

‘You have laid up your treasure in the last days.' This connects to the previous line indicating that they have well and truly ‘laid up their treasure in the last days', for it will eat their flesh as fire. Jesus had told men to lay up their treasure in Heaven (Matthew 6:19), but these men have foolishly laid theirs up on earth even though they knew that it was ‘the last days'. It will thus act as a judgmental fire to burn them. For Jews the coming of the Messianic Kingdom was expected and they thus considered themselves to be in the last days. For Christians the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit in overwhelming power were indications of the last days (Acts 2:17) because the Messiah had already come. And the Messiah was to bring forth both a deluge of Holy Spirit and a deluge of fire (Matthew 3:11).