James 1:11

Verse 11. A burning heat withereth.

In this verse the apostle enforces the idea advanced in the former verse by an expansion of the figure he there introduces. The rich must understand that no reliance whatever is to be placed in their belongings, for with riches and the owner the fate that the grass encounters from the rays of the burning sun, which all have observed, awaits the man. As the grass withers and its flower falls, and all its grace and fashion and beauty perish and melt away out of the sight of men, so it is with the rich man. Whatever his plans and purposes, and whatever may be the grandeur of his position among his fellowmen, the common vicissitudes of life, disease and death reach him, and he fades away as does the flower. His riches afford no protection. Meyer advances, to my mind, the idea contained in the apostle's words: "The prominent idea is that the rich man, overtaken by judgment, perishes in the midst of his doings and pursuits as the flower in the midst of its blossoming falleth a victim to the scorching heat of the sun."