Chap. 5 contains five distinct sections; of great interest is the fact that the first two 1 6, 7 11 deal respectively with Jewish and Christian Eschatology; this subject will be dealt with presently; James 5:12 is a short section containing an adaptation of some words from the “Sermon on the Mount”;... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἄγε νῦν : See above James 4:13. κλαύσατε ὀλολύζοντες ἐπὶ ταῖς ταλαιπωρίαις ὑμῶν ταῖς ἐπερχομέναις : according to the original prophetic conception these “miseries” which were to overtake the wicked, were to come to pass in the “Day of the Lord,” _i.e._, during the Messianic Era; this belief became e... [ Continue Reading ]
The use of the Hebraic prophetic perfects in this passage is another mark of Jewish authorship. ὁ πλοῦτος ὑμῶν : this cannot refer to wealth in the abstract because this would be out of harmony with the rest of the verse which speaks of literal destruction; we have here precisely the same idea, as t... [ Continue Reading ]
κατίωται : in Sir 12:11 we have καὶ γνώσῃ ὅτι οὐκ εἰς τέλος κατίωσεν in reference to a mirror; the Hebrew, which is followed by the Syriac, is corrupt, but evidently read חלאה, which is the same word used in the preceding verse (ἰοῦται); the Hebrew word may perhaps be used in the sense of “filth” (s... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰδοὺ : this interjection, though good Attic, is used by some N.T. writers with a frequency which is unclassical, (Mayor) _e.g._, in this short Epistle it occurs six times, while on the other hand St. Paul uses it only nine times (once in a quotation) in the whole of his writings; its frequent occurr... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐτρυφήσατε : ἅπ. λεγ. in N.T.; it occurs in Sir 14:4 for the Hebrew בוע, [59] which means “to revel,” followed by ב. Luther translates: Ihr habt wohlgelebet, “Ye have lived well”; but the German word “schwelgen” so exactly describes the Greek that one wonders why he did not adopt it; the English “to... [ Continue Reading ]
κατεδικάσατε, ἐφονεύσατε τὸν δίκαιον : this expresses what must often have taken place; the prophetical books often refer to like things; there is no reason for regarding this as some specific case of judicial murder. _Cf._ Amos 2:6-7; Amos 5:12; Wis 2:10 ff. The antithesis between the צדיק (“righte... [ Continue Reading ]
Μακροθυμήσατε οὖν : the verb, as well as the adjective, is used both of God and man, _e.g._, Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 6:6; it expresses the attitude of mind which is content to wait; when used of God it refers to His long-suffering towards men (_e.g._, Sir 18:11); it is possible that in the present... [ Continue Reading ]
The section 7 11 is a Christian adaptation of the earlier Jewish conception of the Messianic Era; in place of αἱ ἐσχάται ἡμέραι there is ἡ παρουσία τοῦ Κυρίου, the one a specifically Jewish, the other a specifically Christian expression; the two expressions, which represent, as it were, the titles o... [ Continue Reading ]
στηρίξατε τὰς καρδίας : a Hebrew idiom, סעד לב; in the O.T. mostly of strengthening the body with food. ἡ παρουσία τοῦ Κυρίου ἤγγικεν : see above; _cf._ Matthew 3:2; Luke 21:28; Philippians 4:6; 1Pe 4:7; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 1 Thessalonians 1; John 1:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
μὴ στενάζετε : “A strengthened expression for μὴ καταλαλεῖτε James 4:11 ” (Carr); it refers to the inward feeling of grudge against another. The word shows that it is not only the righteous who are addressed in this section. ὁ κριτὴς πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν ἕστηκεν : _Cf._ Revelation 3:20. For the idea of the... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑπόδειγμα : _Cf._ Sir 44:16 and especially John 13:15, ὑπόδ. ἔδωκα ὑμῖν … of our Lord. τῆς κακοπαθείας : ἅπ. λεγ. in N.T. _cf._ 4Ma 9:8. It means “endurance” rather than the R.V. “suffering”; this goes better with μακροθυμίας, “patience”. The rendering “endurance” has support from the papyri, see De... [ Continue Reading ]
μακαρίζομεν : _Cf._ 4Ma 18:13, used in reference to Daniel. Ἰώβ : Job occupies a high place of honour in post-biblical Jewish literature, _cf._ the pseudepigraphic work “The Testament of Job”. τὸ τέλος Κυρίου : the final purpose of Jehovah with regard to Job; it could not refer to Christ, for the wh... [ Continue Reading ]
f1Πρὸ πάντων …: The most natural way of understanding these words would be to take them in connection with something that immediately preceded, but as there is not the remotest connection between this verse and the section that has gone just before, this is impossible here; the verse must be regarde... [ Continue Reading ]
κακοπαθεῖ : See note on James 5:10; it refers perhaps rather to mental worry or distress, while ἀσθενεῖ refers to some specific bodily ailment. εὐθυμεῖ : only found elsewhere in Acts 27:22; Acts 27:25 in the N.T. ψαλλέτω : refers both to playing on a stringed instrument (Sir 9:4) and to singing (Eph... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀσθενεῖ … προσκαλεσάσθω, etc.: _Cf._ Sir 38:14, καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ Κυρίου δεηθήσονται, ἵνα εὐοδώσῃ αὐτοῖς ἀνάπαυσιν καὶ ἴασιν χάριν ἐμβιώσεως. In regard to the practice of primitive Christianity in the matter of caring for the sick Harnack says: “Even from the fragments of our extant literature, although... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ εὐχὴ τῆς πίστεως : _Cf._ Matthew 21:22. σώσει : for this sense _cf._ Matthew 9:22; Mark 5:23; John 11:12. κάμνοντα : in this sense only here in the N.T., though it is used in a somewhat similar sense in Hebrews 12:3. ἐγερεῖ : it seems most natural to take this as referring to the sick man being ra... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξομολογεῖσθε … ἁμαρτίας : see critical note above. Confession of sins has always played an important part in Judaism; the O.T. word for confession of sins is תודה, [62] the later term, which denotes more particularly the liturgical form of confession, is וידוִי. Private as well as public confession... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἡλείας : Elijah plays an immense part in the later Jewish literature, see Hamburger, _op. cit._, article “Elias”. With his mention here _cf._ Sir 48:1 ff. προσευχῇ προσηύξατο : Hebraism _cf._ Luke 22:15; John 3:29, etc., etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
With this and the preceding verse _cf._ _Ta‘anith_, 24 _b_, where we are told of how Rabbi Chaninah, on being caught in a shower of rain, prayed: “Master of the Universe, the whole world is pleased, while Chaninah alone is annoyed”; then the rain immediately ceased. On arriving home he prayed: “Mast... [ Continue Reading ]
πλανηθῇ : “The passive aorist is used with a middle force in classical writers, as well as in the LXX, Deuteronomy 32:1; Psalms 119:176; Ezekiel 34:4 ” (Mayor). ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας : _Cf._ Mark 12:14, … ἐπʼ ἀληθείας τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ θεοῦ διδάσκεις, this seems to be the way in which ἀληθεία is here used, _c... [ Continue Reading ]
γινώσκετε : taking this as an indicative one may regard the words that follow as a quotation, a course which commends itself owing to the comparatively large number of quotations with which the Epistle abounds; at the same time it must be remembered that the weight of MS. evidence is in favour of γι... [ Continue Reading ]