CHAPTER 5

1-6. The practical neglect of God seen in the cruelty and luxury of the rich; and the appalling issue which awaits it.

1. ἄγε νῦν οἱ πλούσιοι, cf. on 4:13.

οἱ πλούσιοι, cf. 1:10 f. 2:2-6. The chief question here is whether “the rich,” who are attacked and warned, were Christians or not.

In 1:10 f. the rich man referred to seems certainly to have been a Christian brother (see note); in 2:2 f. the rich visitor is apparently not a Christian, so “the rich” of 2:6. In the passage before us the rich as a class are apostrophised, without reference to their religious profession, in order to make clear to the Christian readers the folly of admiring or striving after riches. Those who possess riches, runs the argument, do not present an attractive example, so soon as the real character of their possessions and prospects is understood. Like pleasure (4:1-10), so also wealth—which is sought after in order to gain pleasure— is a false aim. The tone is thus not of an appeal to evil-doers to reform (contrast 4:7-10 and even 4:13-17), but of a threatening of judgment; and the attitude ascribed to the rich is that of 2:6 f., rather than of 1:10 f.. Some of the rich may be Christians, but it is not as Christians that they are here addressed. The purpose of the verses is partly to dissuade the Christians from setting a high value on wealth, partly to give them a certain grim comfort in the hardships of poverty (cf. 5:7-11).

The passage is highly rhetorical and in detail recalls the denunciations of the O. T. prophets. Many of the ideas are found in Wisd. 2, where the customary arrogance and selfishness of the rich, the transitoriness of their prosperity, and their treatment of the righteous are set forth. Luke 6:24 f. also forms a close parallel. Cf. Enoch 94:7-11, 96:4-8, 97:3-10, 98:4-16, 99:11-16, 100:6-13, 103:5-8.

The only important argument for supposing these “rich” to be Christians is that they are in form directly addressed. For a full statement of the arguments, see Zahn, Einleitung, 1, § 4. But the form is the same as that of the prophetic denunciations of foreign nations, e. g. Isaiah 13:6 (Babylon), 15:3 (Moab); cf. Mat_23 (the apostrophe against scribes and Pharisees), and the regular form of Biblical “Woes.”

κλαύσατε, “lament.” Cf. 4:9; but there the lamentation is connected with repentance, here it is the wailing of those who ought to look forward to an assured damnation. Cf. 6:15-17 (note οἱ πλούσιοι, v. 15), Joel 1:5 κλαύσατε.

ὀλολύζοντες, “with howls of mourning.” Cf. Isaiah 13:6 (against Babylon) ὀλολύζετε, ἐγγὺς γὰρ ἡμέρα κυρίου, Isaiah 15:2, Isaiah 15:3 (against Moab) πάντες ὀλολύζετε μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ, Amos 8:3 (note the following context), Zechariah 11:2, Isaiah 10:10, Isaiah 14:31 (against Philistia), 16:7 (Moab), 23:1 (Tyre), 23:1, 14 (ships of Tarshish), 65:14, Jeremiah 48:20, Ezekiel 21:12.

ὀλολύζω and ἀλαλάζω both mean “cry aloud” (onomatopoetic), and both refer in earlier secular Greek to joyful crying, or to a cry raised to the gods in worship, seldom to a mere wail of grief or pain.

In the LXX ὀλολύζω is the ordinary representative of יָלַל and means “howl,” especially in distress or from repentance. It is used only in the prophetic books, and nearly always in the imperative.

ἀλαλάζω is the regular representative of Hebrew רוּעַ, except in Jeremiah, where in all the four cases of its use, 4:8, 29(47):2, 30(49):3, 32:20, it stands for יָלַל; cf. also ἀλαλαγμός, Jeremiah 20:16, for יְלָלָה. It means “cry”—with joy, triumph, battle fury, by way of sounding alarm, or the like.

Thus in the Greek O. T. there is a differentiation of meaning between the two words ὀλολύζω and ἀλαλάζω. In the N. T. ὀλολύζω only occurs once, while ἀλαλάζω is found but twice, Mark 5:36 (κλαίοντας καὶ ἀλαλάζοντας, in the sense of a cry of grief), and 1 Corinthians 13:1 (κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον). The explanation of the facts seems to be that in later Greek usage ὀλολύζω took the special sense of “cry in distress,” while ἀλαλάζω retained a wider range of meaning.

ταλαιπωρίαις, “miseries,” i. e. the sufferings of the damned, cf. vv. 7, 9, 18:7 f. 21:8, Psalm 140:10, Enoch 63:10, 99:11, 103:7.

For the denunciation of future punishment against oppressors, cf. 2 Macc. 7:14, 17, 19, 35, 4 Macc. 9:9, 32, 10:11, 11:3, 23, 12:12, 19, 13:15.

The reference found here by many older, and some more recent, commentators to the destruction of Jerusalem is wholly uncalled for; it is equally wrong to apply this to the distress preceding the Last Judgment; and still worse to think merely of the loss of property by the rich.

ἐπερχομέναις, “impending,” cf. Ephesians 2:7, Luke 21:26, Hermas, Vis. iii, 9; iv, 1.

2-3. Your wealth is already, to any eye that can see realities, rotten, moth-eaten, and rusted. The rust of it will testify to you in the Day of Judgment how valueless it and your confidence in it are. And the worthlessness of your wealth will then be your ruin, for you have been storing up for yourselves only the fire of hell.

2. σέσηπεν, “has rotted,” “is rotten,” i. e. of no value. The word is here used to apply (literally or figuratively) to every kind of wealth.

On the general idea, cf. Matthew 6:19. In James it is not the perishability but the worthlessness of wealth that is referred to. The property—no matter what its earthly value, or even its earthly chance of permanence—is worthless if measured by true standards.

This and the following verbs in the perfect tense (γέγονεν, κατίωται) are picturesque, figurative statements of the real worthlessness of this wealth to the view of one who knows how to estimate permanent, eternal values. The perfect tense is appropriately used of the present state of worthlessness.

Others take the perfect tense in these verbs as describing by prophetic anticipation (cf. Isaiah 60:1) what will inevitably happen with the lapse of time. But this is unnecessary, and the change to the future in ἔσται makes it unlikely. Notice also that the mention of the “rusting” of gold and silver points to a figurative meaning.

The view taken of these perfects carries the decision for a series of exegetical problems in vv. 2, 3 which are discussed in detail in the notes. A different view can be made clear by the following paraphrase, based on Huther’s interpretation:

“Your wealth will all perish in the Day of Judgment. The rust of it will testify to you beforehand of your own coming destruction, and the Judgment, when it has destroyed your possessions, will afterwards fall on you. You have been amassing treasure in the very days of the Judgment itself!”

The idea that σέσηπεν κτλ. gives the first specification of the actual sin of the rich, who show their rapacity by treasuring up wealth and letting it rot instead of using it to give to the poor or as capital to promote useful industries (“Œcumenius,” Calvin, Hornejus, Laurentius, Grotius, Bengel, Theile), is needless and far-fetched.

τὰ ἱμάτια. On garments as a chief form of wealth, cf. Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:1 Macc. 11:24, Acts 20:33, also Hor. Ep. i, 6, lines 40-44, Quint. Curt. v, 63.

σητόβρωτα, cf. HDB, “Moth,” and EB, “Moth.”

The word is found elsewhere in the Bible only in Job 13:28 ὡς ἰμάτιον σητόβρωτον. In secular Greek it has been observed only Orac. Sib. ap. Theoph. Ad Autol. ii, 36 (fragm. 3, 1. 26), σητόβρωτα δέδορκε (of idol-images). Cf. Isaiah 51:8, Isaiah 50:9, Micah 7:4 (LXX), Job 32:22 (LXX).

3. κατίωται, “rusted,” “corroded.” The preposition κατα- has a “perfective” force, almost like “rusted out,” or “rusted through,” cf. the only other Biblical instance, Ecclus. 12:11 εἰς τέλος κατίωσεν. Hence R.V. “utterly rusted.” See J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena, pp. 111 ff. The word is found in Epict. Diss. iv, 614, but is rare.

In fact, silver does not easily corrode so as to become worthless (cf., however, Ecclus. 29:10 f.), and gold not at all. On ancient knowledge of the freedom of gold from rust, see references in Wetstein. In the apparent references to the rusting of gold in Ep. Jer_11 and 24, tarnishing is probably meant. But James’s bold figure has nothing to do with such expressions. He means that even the most permanent earthly treasure has no lasting value. “Have rusted” is equivalent to “are worthless,” and the writer is thinking of the present, although the present is illuminated by what he knows about the future.

Cf. Chaucer, Prologue to Canterbury Tales:

“And this figure he addide yit therto,

That if gold ruste, what shulde yren doo?”

εἰς μαρτύριον, used in various relations in the N. T., Matthew 8:4 (Mark 1:44, Luke 5:14), 10:18, 24:14, Mark 6:11 (Luke 9:5), 13:9 (Luke 21:13), Hebrews 3:5. It seems to mean “for a visible (or otherwise clear and unmistakable) sign.”

It is derived from an O. T. expression, found in Genesis 21:30, Genesis 31:44, Deuteronomy 31:19, Deuteronomy 31:26, Joshua 24:27, in all which cases it represents לְעֵד or לְעֵדָה, which means “to be a sign,” or “pledge,” or “symbol,” usually with reference to some material object, a book, a stone, a group of animals. See also Job 16:8 (Job’s sickness as μαρτύριον of his guilt), Micah 1:2. In Joshua 22:27, Joshua 22:28, Joshua 22:34, Ruth 4:7 μαρτύριον is used in a different grammatical relation but in the same sense. In 1 Samuel 9:24, Proverbs 29:14, Hosea 2:12, Micah 7:18, εἰς μαρτύριον is found, due to a mistranslation but probably intended by the translator in the same sense.

So here the rust is the visible sign and symbol of the real state of the case—of the perishability of riches and hence of the certain ruin awaiting those who have no other ground of hope.

Others take εἰς μαρτύριον to mean “for witness of your rapacity” (see above on σέσηπεν) or “of your own coming destruction.” The latter view corresponds with that which takes the perfects σέσηπεν κτλ. in a future sense as prophetic of the Judgment.

ὑμῖν, “to you,” “giving you proof of the facts.”

This is better suited to the context than “against you,” viz. in the judicial process of the Last Day. Cf. Enoch 96:4 for parallel to this latter.

φάγεται τὰς σάρκας ὑμῶν, “shall consume your fleshly parts,” i. e. “the perishability of your riches will be your ruin,” “you and your riches will perish together.” The idea is of rust corroding, and so consuming, human flesh, like the wearing into the flesh of a rusty iron chain—a terrible image for the disastrous results of treating money as the reliance and the chief aim of life. For a somewhat similar turn, cf. Ecclus. 34(31):5.

φάγεται is used as future of ἐσθίω in LXX and N. T.

ἐσθίω is found in secular writers of the devouring of a fire (Hom. Il. xxiii, 182), the eating of a sore (Æsch. Philoctetes, fragm.), the effect of caustics, and the like.

σάρκας. The plural is used from Homer down, also by Attic writers and Plato, in a sense not distinguishable from that of the singular. So Leviticus 26:29, 2 Kings 9:36, 2 Kings 9:4 Macc. 15:15, Revelation 17:16, 19:18, 21, Luke 24:39 (Tischendorf).

ὡς πῦρ ἐθησαυρίσατε, “since you have stored up fire,” i. e. the fire of Gehenna. There is a play in the word ἐθησαυρίσατε (cf. vv. 2 f.), as in Matthew 6:19; cf. a curiously similar play in Ecclus. 29:11.Proverbs 16:27 ἀνὴρ ἄφρων ὀρύσσει ἑαυτῷ κακά, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ χειλέων θησαυρίζει πῦρ. On the fire of hell, cf. Isaiah 30:33, Judith 16:17, Matthew 5:22, and see P. Volz, Jüdische Eschatologie, pp. 280 f. 285 f.; W. Bousset, Die Religion des Judentums2, p. 320.

On ὡς with the meaning “since,” see Lex. s. v., I, 4, b. (not quite adequate), L. and S. s. v., B, IV.

ὡς πῦρ would more naturally be connected with the preceding (so WH. mg.), cf. Isaiah 30:27 καὶ ἡ ὁργὴ τοῦ θυμοῦ ὡς πῦρ ἔδεται. But this leaves ἐθησαυρίσατε without an object, which is impossible, unless, indeed, the text is defective and a word has dropped out. Windisch conjectures ὀργήν, cf. Romans 2:5. Syr omits ὡς and connects πῦρ with the following sentence. Latin vt and vg connect with the preceding; but a wide-spread alteration (Cod. Amiat., not Cod. Fuld.) has relieved the difficulty by adding iram after thesaurizastis.

Cf. Matthew 6:19, Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22, Romans 2:5 θησαυρίζεις σεαυτῷ ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς, Proverbs 1:18 (LXX), 2:7, Tob. 4:9 θέμα γὰρ ἀγαθὸν θησαυρίζεις σεαυτῷ εἰς ἡμέραν ἀνάγκης, 4 Ezra 6:5, 7:77 “a treasure of works laid up with the Most High,” Apoc. Baruch 24:1, and Charles’s note, Test. XII Patr. Leviticus 13:5, and Charles’s note.

ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις, i. e. “which shall be in the last days.” The last days are the days of judgment, when punishment will be awarded. Cf. the same phrase in 2 Timothy 3:1 and (with the article) Acts 2:17, Didache 16:3.

For the omission of the article with a superlative, cf. Winer-Schmiedel, § 19. 9. Other similar phrases are τῇ ἐσχάτη ἡμέρᾳ (John 6:39 f., etc.), ἐσχάτη ὥρα (1 John 2:18), ἐν καιρῷ ἐσχάτῳ (1 Peter 1:5), ἐπʼ ἐσχάτου χρόνου (Judges 1:18, etc.); see Lex. s. v. ἔσχατος, 1 and 2, a.

The same expressions are found in the O. T., cf. Numbers 24:14, Deuteronomy 4:30, Isaiah 2:2, Isaiah 41:23, Jeremiah 23:20, Ezekiel 38:16, Daniel 2:28, Hosea 3:5, Hosea 3:4 Ezra 13:16.

Other interpretations are possible for the last sentence of v. 3:

(1) With the punctuation, as above, by which ὡς πῦρ is connected with the following, ὡς can be taken in the sense, “as,” “as it were.” But this is less forcible, since the writer who wrote the preceding and following denunciation would not be likely to hold back from the out-and-out threat of “fire.”

(2) ὡς πῦρ can be connected with the preceding sentence, and ἐθη σαυρίσατε made to begin a new sentence (so A.V., R.V., WH. mg., following Old Latin and Vg). In that case we must read: “The rust of them will be for a witness and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the Last Days,” etc. This makes a fairly suitable context for ὡς πῦρ. But the following sentence is left mutilated, for ἐθησαυρίσατε requires an object; and the sense is weakened. Under this interpretation the “Last Days” have to be understood as already here.

4. As an example of the way in which the rich have been treasuring up fire for themselves, James specifies injustice to farm labourers, a conspicuous form of oppression from early O. T. times down. Cf. also v. 6. Hermas, Vis. iii, 9:6, has many points of similarity.

μισθός, cf. Deuteronomy 24:15 αὐθημερὸν ἀποδώσεις τὸν μισθὸν αὐτοῦ … ὅτι … καταβοήσεται κατὰ σοῦ πρὸς κύριον, Leviticus 19:13, Malachi 3:5 τοὺς ἀποστεροῦντας μισθὸν μισθωτοῦ, Ecclus. 31(34):25-27, Tob. 4:14, Ps.-Phocylides, 19 μισθὸν μοχθήσαντι δίγου· μὴ θλῖβε πένητα.

ἐργατῶν, “labourers,” especially used of farm labourers.

In O. T. only Wisd. 17:17, Ecclus. 19:1, 40:18, 1 Macc. 3:6, Psalm 94:16 (Sym.). The word has thus almost no LXX associations. In the N.T., beside this passage in James it is used freely by Matthew (six times) and by Luke and Acts (five times), and four times in the Pauline and Pastoral epistles.

ἀμησάντων, “reap.” Only here in N. T. Cf. Leviticus 25:11, Deuteronomy 24:19, Isaiah 17:5, Isaiah 37:30, Micah 6:15.

χώρας, “estates,” “farms,” cf. Luke 12:16, Luke 21:21, John 4:35, Amos 3:9, Amos 3:10, Amos 3:11, Amos 3:2 Macc. 8:6. E.V. “fields” suggests too small a plot of ground; χώρα means not a fenced subdivision but the whole estate under one ownership.

ἀφυστερημένος, “kept back,” an appropriate word, rare in Biblical Greek. Cf. Nehemiah 9:20; used intransitively in Ecclus. 14:14.

ἀφυστερημένος] B*א.

ἀπεστερημένος] B3AP minnpler.

ἀποστερημένος] KL.

The rare word found in B*א has been emended to a more familiar one, cf. Malachi 3:5, Ecclus. 4:1, 29:6, 31(34):27.

ἀφʼ ὑμῶν, “by you,” cf. 1:13. See Lex. s. v. ἀπό, II, 2, d. bb. col. 59b. Cf. Winer, § 47 (Thayer’s translation, p. 371), Buttmann, § 147. 6 (Thayer’s translation, pp. 325 f.).

κράζει, cf. Deuteronomy 24:15; Genesis 4:10 (blood of Abel), 18:20 f. 19:13 (sin of Sodom), Enoch 47:1 (prayer and blood of the righteous).

εἰς τὰ ὦτα κυρίου σαβαώθ, cf. Isaiah 5:9, ἠκούσθη γὰρ εἰς τὰ ὦτα κυρίου σαβαὼθ ταῦτα (i. e. the aggressions of the rich), Psalm 18:7.

κυρίου σαβαώθ, “Lord of Sabaoth,” “Lord of Hosts,” יהוה צְבָאוֹת. This term originally referred to Jahveh as the god of the armies of Israel, then as ruler of the “hosts of heaven,” i. e. the stars and heavenly powers. In LXX usually represented by παντοκράτωρ (see Lex. s. v.), but in all cases in Isaiah and in nine others transliterated, as here and Romans 9:29. See HDB, “Lord of Hosts,” EB, “Names,” Smith, DB, “Sabaoth,” Sanday on Romans 9:29. The term is here used (after Isaiah 5:9) to suggest the almighty power and majesty of Him who will make the cause of the labourers his own, so in 3 Macc. 6:17 f..

5. Your luxurious life on this earth is nothing in which you can take satisfaction, it is but the preliminary to a day of punishment.

Cf. Luke 16:19-31 (Dives and Lazarus), Luke 6:24 f. 12:Luke 6:16-21. Cf. Enoch 98:11, 102:9.

ἐτρυφήσατε, “you have lived in luxury,” “lived delicately” (R.V.). Derived from θρύπτω, to “break down,” “enervate”; it denotes soft luxury, not necessarily wanton vice. Cf. Nehemiah 9:25 καὶ ἐφάγοσαν καὶ ἐνεπλήσθησαν καὶ ἐλιπάνθησαν καὶ ἐτρύφησαν, Ecclus. 14:4; and for τρυφή Luke 7:25, 2 Peter 2:13, Ecclus. 14:16. Cf. Hermas, Sim. vi, 1:6 τρυφῶντα ἧν καὶ λίαν σπατα λῶντα, Luke 16:19 εὐφραινόμενος καθʼ ἡμέραν λαμπρῶς.

The aorist is “constative” or summary (cf. J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena, p. 109), and is properly translated by the English perfect (A.V., R.V.).

ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, in contrast to heaven, or the next world; ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς is the day which introduces the next world. Cf. Matthew 6:19.

ἐσπαταλήσατε, “given yourselves to pleasure.” R.V. “taken your pleasure” is weaker than the original, and not so good as the antiquated “been wanton” of A.V. Cf. 1 Timothy 5:6, Ecclus. 21:15.

σπαταλᾶν is a less literary word than τρυφάω, having worse associations in secular use, and suggesting positive lewdness and riotousness. This word and its cognates, σπαταλός, σπατάλη, κατασπαταλάω, are each used a few times in LXX, Sym. and “alii.” Cf. Barn. 10:3, Varro ap. Non. p. 46. 12 spatula eviravit omnes Veneri vaga pueros. Hort, pp. 107-109, assembles many instances of the word from the LXX and other sources.

ἐθρέψατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς, “you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.” This declares, with a hard, ironical turn, what has been the real nature of the τρυφᾶν and σπαταλᾶν, the life of luxurious pleasure; it is merely a fattening of the ox that he may be fit for slaughter.

Cf. Jeremiah 46:21 ὥσπερ μόσχοι σιτευτὸι τρεφόμενοι, Xen. Mem. 2, 1:22 τεθραμμένη εἰς πολυσαρκίαν, Philo, In Flacc. 20 σιτία μοι καὶ ποτὰ καθάπερ τοῖς θρέμμασιν ἐπὶ σφαγὴν δίδοται.

καρδίας, i. e. the heart as the seat of pleasures, appetites, passions. See Lex. s. v. καρδία, 2. b. δ. Cf. Matthew 15:19, Luke 21:34, Acts 14:17, Psalm 104:15, Jdg 19:5, Jdg 19:8, Hermas, Sim. v, 3:7.

ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς, “for (i. e. so as to be fat in) the day of slaughter.” On this use of ἐν, cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:13. The rendering of A.V., R.V., “a day of slaughter,” is wrong, cf. Romans 2:5, 1 Peter 2:12. The article is omitted, as often in compact prepositional expressions, Blass-Debrunner, § 255. Cf. Jeremiah 12:3 ἄθροισον αὐτοὺς ὡς πρόβατα εἰς σφαγήν, ἅγνισον αὐτοὺς εἰς ἡμέραν σφαγῆς αὐτῶν, 50:27, Isaiah 34:2, Isaiah 34:6, Ezekiel 21:15, Psalm 44:22, Orac. Sib. 5, 377-380. The Day of Judgment is meant. Cf. Enoch 94:9, “Ye have become ready for the day of slaughter,” 98:10, 99:6, Jeremiah 25:34.

Many interpreters think that ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς must refer to the time in which ἐθρέψατε has been going on. Then the sense will be: “You

have been occupied with pampering yourselves in the very day when you will be finally cut off.” But this is unnecessary, and the words become less pregnant and significant, while it is not natural to speak of the present time as if the Day of Judgment itself (near though it may be) had already come.

ἐν ἡμέρᾳ] Bא*R 33 minn ff vg boh.

ἐν ἡμέραις] A.

ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ] אcKL 048 minnpler syrutr Cyr.

A’s reading is unsupported error. The prefixing of ὡς changes and weakens the sense because of failure to note the allusion to the Day of Judgment in ἡμέρα σφαγῆς. This reading with ὡς is correctly enough paraphrased by aeth (ed. Platt) ut qui saginat bovem in diem mactationis.

6. By your oppression you are guilty of the blood of righteous men; do you not find them your enemies?

κατεδικάσατε, “condemned.” Cf. Matthew 12:7, Matthew 12:37, Luke 6:37. The rich are judges, or at any rate control the courts.

ἐφονεύσατε, “murdered.” Cf. 2:11, 4:2. Oppression which unjustly takes away the means of life is murder. Cf. Ecclus. 4:1, 31(34):25-27:

ἄρτος ἐπιδεομένων ζωὴ πτωχῶν,

ὁ ἀποστερῶν αὐτὴν ἄνθρωπος αἱμάτων·

φονεύων τὸν πλησίον ὁ ἀφαιρούμενος συμβίωσιν,

καὶ ἐκχέων αἷμα ὁ ἀποστερῶν μισθὸν μισθίου.

Here, however, every kind of cruel conduct leading to the death of the poor and righteous is doubtless meant, including in some cases actual murder—whether violent or judicial (e. g. the execution of Stephen).

Cf. Enoch 99:15, 100:7, 103:11-15, Wisd. 2:20, Psalm 37:32, Isaiah 57:1, Matthew 23:35.

τὸν δίκαιον, singular, representing the class.

Cf. Isaiah 3:10, Isaiah 3:11, 57:1 (note v. 4 ἐνετρυφήσατε), Wisd. 2:12, Enoch 95:7. The oppressed and the righteous are evidently the same persons. The rich here are not thought of as Christians. Cf. Amos 2:6, Amos 2:7, Amos 2:5:12, Amos 2:8:4, where the poor, the oppressed, and the righteous are the same.

In Luke 23:47, Acts 3:14, Acts 3:7:52, Acts 3:22:14, 1 John 2:1 (cf. 1 Peter 3:18), ὁ δίκαιος is used of Christ, cf. Enoch 38:2, 53:6. It is not, however, likely that Christ would here be referred to so vaguely, although his death might naturally be included in the writer’s mind under ἐφονεύσατε. The attack is upon the rich as a class, and their misdeeds are thought of as characterising their whole history. Matthew 23:35 is an excellent parallel; cf. also the reproaches in Acts 7:51-53.

οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται ὑμῖν; “does not he (sc. ὁ δίκαιος) resist you?”

ἀντιτάσσεται (cf. Jam 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5, Romans 13:2, Acts 18:6, Proverbs 3:34) evidently relates to a highly formidable resistance, and probably the witness of the poor at the Day of Judgment is meant. Cf. Enoch 91:12 (and Charles’s note) 98:12, 104:3.

In Hosea 1:6 ἀντιτάσσεσθαι is contrasted with ἐλεεῖν, to “show mercy”; in Proverbs 3:34 with διδόναι χάριν, “be favourably inclined.” It seems to be used of active opposition or resistance, not of a merely hostile attitude. So Esther 3:4, Proverbs 3:15, Proverbs 3:4 Macc. 16:23 (Cod. א).

Other interpretations of v. 6 are to be rejected:

(1) If, with many interpreters, οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται is taken as a positive statement instead of a question, it must probably refer to the deliberate non-resistance of the righteous on principle, as in Isaiah 53:7, 1 Peter 2:23. But (a) this sense is wholly unsuited to the context, (b) the asyndeton after δίκαιον then becomes well-nigh impossibly violent, and (c) to end this powerful passage of triumphant denunciation with a brief reference to the submissive non-resistance of the righteous would be strange indeed.

(2) For this last reason the view that the meaning is, “he offers you no effective resistance,” is almost equally unacceptable.

(3) Hofmann and others take ἀντιτάσσεται as impersonal passive, “no opposition is made,” cf. v. 15. But (Mayor) “it is the middle, not the active, which means to resist.”

(4) Some interpreters would supply ὁ θεός as the subject of ἀντιτάσσεται, taking the latter interrogatively. This would be in accord with the Jewish avoidance of the name of God wherever possible, and would form an allusion to 4:6; but it seems here unnecessary and unnatural.

In the interest of this last interpretation Bentley conjectured OK̄C̄ for ΟΥΚ; like most N. T. conjectures, it is unnecessary.

(5) By those who take τὸν δίκαιον to refer to Jesus Christ, οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται is interpreted either interrogatively, as a warning of the Day of Judgment (cf. Matthew 25:31 f.), or affirmatively, in the light of 1 Peter 2:23.

7-11. Encouragement to patience, and constancy, and to mutual forbearance, in view of the certainty and nearness of the Coming of the Lord, and in view of the great examples of the prophets and Job, and of their reward.

With v. 7 begin the Counsels for the Christian Conduct of Life, which occupy the rest of the chapter and are contrasted with the censure of Worldliness in 4:1-5:6.

7. μακροθυμήσατε, “be patient.” This word has more the meaning of patient and submissive, ὑπομένειν that of steadfast and constant, endurance. But the two words are nearly synonymous. Cf. 1:3 f. 12, 5:11, Colossians 1:11, Colossians 3:12 (with Lightfoot’s notes), 1 Corinthians 13:4, 1 Corinthians 13:7, 2 Corinthians 6:4, 2 Corinthians 6:6, Hebrews 6:11 f. Hebrews 6:15, 2 Timothy 3:11. See Trench, Synonyms, § liii.

μακροθυμεῖν is rare in secular Greek, but is common (as verb, noun, and adjective) in the LXX, partly with reference to God’s attribute of long suffering (e. g. Psalm 86:15), partly in passages commending the virtue to men, e. g. Proverbs 19:11, Ecclus. 29:8, Baruch 4:25 τέκνα, μακροθυμήσατε (suffer patiently) τὴν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπελθοῦσαν ὑμῖν ὀργήν.

Enoch 96:1, 3, 97:1-2, 103:1-5 are good parallels, combined, as they are, with the series of Woes to which vv. 1-6 are so closely similar.

It is to be noted that the evil and hardship which are to be borne with patience, and which call out groans (v. 9), are not necessarily persecution, or unjust oppression, but may well be merely the privations, anxieties, and sufferings incident to the ordinary life of men. Note the reference to the example of Job (whose misfortunes were grievous sickness and the loss of children and property), and the special precepts about conduct in sickness, vv. 14 ff. Notice also κακοπαθεῖ, v. 13, a general word for being in trouble.

οὖν presents the exhortation as a direct corollary from the declaration in vv. 1-6 that judgment awaits the rich; but the paragraph as a whole is related to the main underlying thought of 4:1-5:6, not exclusively to 5:1-6. Cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:6, 2 Thessalonians 1:7.

ἀδελφοί, possibly in contrast to οἱ πλούσιοι, v. 1.

τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ κυρίου, “the coming of the Lord.” Cf. Matthew 24:3, Matthew 24:27, Matthew 24:37, Matthew 24:39, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, 1 Thessalonians 3:4:15, 1 Thessalonians 3:5:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2 Peter 1:16, 2 Peter 1:3:4, 1 Corinthians 15:23, 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 2 Thessalonians 2:8, 2 Thessalonians 2:1 Jn. 2:28, cf. Mark 14:62.

τοῦ κυρίου refers to Christ, cf. 1:1, 2:1, 5:14, 2 Peter 3:12.

The word παρουσία is found but five times in the LXX (Nehemiah 2:6 (Cod. A), Judith 10:18, 2 Macc. 8:12, 15:21, 3 Macc. 3:17), and until the N. T. we do not find it used with reference to the Messiah at all. Nor does God’s coming to redemption and judgment appear to be referred to in Jewish sources by this term. Its natural associations in such use are with the “advent,” or visit (παρουσία), of Greek kings to the cities of their realm; cf. Deissmann, Licht vom Osten2, pp. 278 ff., Light from the Ancient East, pp. 372 ff., and especially Brooke’s full note on 1 John 2:28.

Test. XII Patr. Judges 1:22:2, ἕως τῆς παρουσίας θεοῦ τῆς δικαιοσύνης is probably a Christian addition; it is not found in the Armenian version. It refers to Christ with the naïve patripassianism characteristic of these interpolations. The quotations given by Spitta (p. 137) from the Testament of Abraham are of Christian origin, and refer to the παρουσία of Christ (cf. Schürer, GJV, § 32, V, 6).

ἱδοὺ ὁ γεωργός.

“The farmer has to wait, and to be patient”; a comparison used as an argument, and introduced abruptly, as in 2:15, 3:4, 5. This comparison does not bear any special relation to the occupation of the readers. ὁ γεωργός refers to the independent farmer, not to the ἐργάτης.

We are here reminded of the parables of the Gospels, where the consummation of all things is repeatedly compared to a harvest, e. g. Matthew 13:30; cf. also Ecclus. 6:19, Psalm 126:5, Psalm 126:6. For the thought, cf. (Wetstein) Tibullus, 2, 6. 21 f. and the apocryphal fragment quoted in Clem. Rom. 23:3-5 and Clem. Romans 11:2-4.

τὸν τίμιον καρπόν, “the precious crop” for which he longs. τίμιος is added in order to make the comparison complete.

ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, “over it,” “with reference to it.”

Cf. the use of ἐπὶ with παρακαλεῖν, “console,” in 2 Corinthians 1:4,

1 Thessalonians 3:7, and with μετανοεῖν, 2 Corinthians 12:21; also the more general use, John 12:15, Revelation 22:16.

ἕως λάβῃ sc. ὁ καρπός. So R.V. A.V. and R.V. mg., with some interpreters, supply “the farmer” as subject.

πρόϊμον] Β 048 (minnpauc) vg sah.

ὑετὸν πρόϊμον] ΑΚ (LP minnpler) syrpesh syrhcl. txt.

καρπὸν τὸν πρόϊμον] א* (אc om τόν) min ff syrhcl. mg boh.

The shortest reading is to be preferred; the others represent two different methods of completing a supposedly defective text. It should be stated that B3KL minnpler read πρώϊμον, the more usual form of the word.

Another possibility would be that the Syrian reading with ὑετόν, which clearly gives the best sense, is original; and either (1) that ὑετόν was accidentally omitted, so as to produce the text of B, and by a secondary conjecture (καρπόν) that of א, or else (2) that for ὑετόν, not understood outside of Palestine and Syria, καρπόν was directly substituted, so that the editor of the text of B, having to choose between two rival readings, cut the knot by refusing to accept either. But against this stands the weight of the external testimony to the omission, together with the argument from the shorter reading. In any case the reading καρπόν is secondary.

πρόϊμον καὶ ὄψιμον sc. ὑετόν, “the early and late rain.” On the ellipsis, to which there is no complete parallel, cf. 3:11.

To fill the ellipsis, καρπόν is sometimes supplied from the preceding (so many interpreters from Cassiodorius to Spitta), and then the reference will perhaps be to the succession of barley and wheat, Exodus 9:31 f.; cf. Stephanus, Thesaur. s. v. πρώϊμος; Geoponica, i, 12:32, 37, with similar distinction of οἱ πρώϊμοι καρποὶ καὶ οἱ ὄψιμοι … οἱ δὲ μέσοι; Xen. Œc. 17:4.

The sentence would then mean, “until he receive it early and late,” and would emphasise the continuance of the farmer’s anxiety until all the harvests are complete. But this does not well suit the comparison with the Parousia, where it is the event itself, not the completion of a series of processes, that is significant. Moreover, the O. T. parallels tell strongly against this interpretation, and there is no evidence that such a distinction had any place in popular usage.

The use of these terms for the two critical periods of rain is found in Deuteronomy 11:14, Jeremiah 5:24, Joel 2:23, Zechariah 10:1 (LXX); cf. Jeremiah 3:3, Hosea 6:3. The comparison is drawn from a matter of intense interest, an habitual subject of conversation, in Palestine.

The “early rain” normally begins in Palestine in late October or early November, and is anxiously awaited because, being necessary for the germination of the seed, it is the signal for sowing. In the spring the maturing of the grain depends on the “late rain,” light showers falling in April and May. Without these even heavy winter rains will not prevent failure of the crops. Thus the farmer is anxious, and must exercise μακροθυμία, until both these necessary gifts of Heaven are assured.

The special anxiety about these rains seems to be characteristic of the climate of Palestine and southern Syria, as distinguished from other portions of the subtropical region of the Mediterranean basin. Elsewhere, although the dry season and rainy season are quite as well marked, the critical fall and spring months are pretty certain to secure a sufficient rainfall, as in Italy, or else there is no hope of rain in them, as in northern Egypt in the spring. But in Syria these rains are usual yet by no means uniform or certain; hence only there do they take so prominent a place in the life and thought of everybody. See J. Hann, Handbuch der Klimatologie 3, iii, 1911, pp. 90-96, especially the instructive tables, pp. 12 f., 93; H. Hilderscheid, “Die Niederschlagsverhältnisse Palästinas in alter und neuer Zeit,” in Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästinavereins, xxv, 1902, especially pp. 82-94; E. Huntington, Palestine and Its Transformation, 1911; EB, “Rain.”

It is instructive to observe that the v. l. ὑετόν belongs to the “Syrian” (Antiochian) text, the framers of which were familiar with a similar climate, while in Egypt καρπόν (א boh, etc.) or else the shorter reading with no noun at all (B sah) was prevalent. The reading καρπόν (or the corresponding interpretation) was likewise natural from the point of view of Italy and the western Mediterranean (ff Cassiodorius).

The question arises whether this may be a purely literary allusion, drawn from the O. T. passages and made without any personal knowledge of these rains and their importance. That is made unlikely by the absence of any other relation here (apart from the names of the two rains) to the language or thought of any one of the O. T. passages. The author uses a current phrase as if he were himself familiar with the matter in question. To suppose that to him and his readers this was a mere Biblical allusion to a situation of which they knew only by literary study would give a formal stiffness and unreality to the passage wholly out of keeping with the intensity and sincerity of the writer’s appeal.

The resemblance here to the O. T. is in fact less close than to the tract Taanith of the Mishna, where the date is discussed at which, if rain have not yet begun, it should be prayed for. The tract shows in many ways how deeply these seasons of rain entered into all the life of the people. See also JE, “Rain.”

The Apostolic Fathers and the apologists contain no reference to these terms for the rains of Palestine, and the names do not seem in any way to have become part of the early Christian religious vocabulary.

8. καί, as often in comparisons. Cf. John 6:57, Matthew 6:10, 1 Corinthians 15:49, Php 1:20; οὕτως καί, Jam 1:11, Jam 3:5.

στηρίξατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν, “make your courage and purpose firm.” Cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:13, Psalm 112:8, Ecclus. 6:37, 22:16, Jdg 19:5, Jdg 19:8. στηρίζειν is common in N. T., cf. 1 Peter 5:10, 2 Thessalonians 2:17, Luke 22:32, Acts 18:23, Romans 1:11, etc.

ἤγγικεν, cf. 1 Peter 4:7, Mark 1:15, Matthew 3:2.

9. μὴ στενάζετε κατʼ ἀλλήλων, “do not groan against one another.” στενάζειν does not mean “murmur,” but “groan,” “complain of distress,” cf. Hebrews 13:17. It is frequently used in the LXX for the utterance of various kinds of pain and grief.

The more emphatic words here are κατʼ ἀλλήλων, and the sentence means: “Do not blame one another for the distress of the present soon-to-be-ended age.” This, it is pointed out, is both wicked (ἵνα μὴ κριθῆτε) and needless (ἱδοὺ ὁ κριτὴς πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν ἕστηκεν). We ought to cultivate patience in general, and we ought not to blame one another for our unmerited distress, for we should recognise that it is part of the inevitable and temporary evil of the present age.

The translation “grudge” (A.V.) means “complain”; cf. Psalm 59:15 (A.V.), Shakespeare, 1. Henry VI, iii, 1, 176.

ἵνα μὴ κριθῆτε. They are themselves in danger of judgment, if they commit the sin of complaining of their brethren. Cf. 2:12 f. 4:12, 5:12, also Matthew 7:1 (but there is here in James nothing of the idea that judging brings Judgment). As in 4:12, so probably here, God is the judge, and with the coming of the Lord (i. e. Christ), v. 7, God’s judgment appears; cf. Romans 2:16.

The sentence means hardly more than “for that is wrong,” cf. v. 12.

πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν, cf. Mark 13:29, Matthew 24:33.

10. ὑπόδειγμα λάβετε, “take as an example.” Cf. Ecclus. 44:16,, 2 Macc. 6:28, 31, 4 Macc. 17:23, John 13:15; 1 Peter 2:21, ὑπόγραμμον.

τῆς κακοπαθίας καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας, “of hardship coupled with patience,” i. e. “of patience in hardship,” easily understood as a form of hendiadys.

Cf. 4 Macc. 9:8 διὰ τῆσδε τῆς κακοπαθίας καὶ ὑπομονῆς, “through this patient endurance of hardship.”

κακοπαθία and κακοπαθέω are somewhat rare words; they correspond well to English “hardship.” Cf. Malachi 1:13, Jonah 4:10, Jonah 4:2 Macc. 2:26 f., Ep. Arist. 49:26, also Sym. in Genesis 3:17, Psalm 12:5, Psalm 16:4, Psalm 127:2.

τοὺς προφήτας. Cf. Matthew 5:12, Matthew 5:23:34, Matthew 5:37, Acts 7:52, Hebrews 11:33, 1 Thessalonians 2:15, Luke 11:49, 2 Chronicles 36:16.

It is noteworthy that the example of Christ’s endurance of suffering is not here referred to, as it is in 1 Peter 2:21 ff.

οἳ ἐλάλησαν ἐν τῷ͂ ὀνόματι κυρίου. Cf. Daniel 9:6 (Theod.) οἳ ἐλάλουν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου, Jeremiah 20:9, Jeremiah 44:16. οἳ ἐλάλησαν κτλ. is added in order to point out that even the most eminent servants of God have been exposed to suffering and hardship, cf. Matthew 5:12.

ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι] BP minnmulti.

ἐν ὀνόματι] א.

ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι] min.

τῷ ὀνόματι] AKL 048 minnpler.

Difficult to decide; external authority is here against lectio brevior.

11. μακαρίζομεν τοὺς ὑπομείναντας. Cf. 1:3, 12, Daniel 12:12 μακάριος ὁ ὑπομένων, 4 Macc. 1:10, 7:22, εἰδὼς ὅτι τὸ διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν πάντα πόνον ὑπομένειν μακάριόν ἐστιν, Matthew 24:13.

μακαρίζομεν refers to the prevalent habitual estimate of the worth of constancy. It sounds as if James had in mind some well-known saying like Daniel 12:12.

τοὺς ὑπομείναντας, “those who have proved themselves constant”—a general class, not specific individuals.

τοὺς ὑπομείναντας] BאAP minn ff vg syrpesh.hcl.

τοὺς ὑπομένοντας] KL 048 minnpler sah.

External evidence must decide; the meaning differs by only a shade.

τὴν ὑπομονὴν Ἰώβ.

This virtue was seen in Job’s refusal to renounce God, Job 1:21 f. Job 1:2:9 f. Job 1:13:15, Job 16:19, Job 19:25 ff. It had evidently already become a standing attribute of Job in the popular mind; in Tanchuma, 29. 4 (Schöttgen, Horae hebraicae, pp. 1009 f.) Job is given as an example of steadfastness in trial and of the double reward which that receives. Cf. Clem. Rom. 17:3, 26:3, 2 Clem. Romans 6:8; this verse is the only mention of Job in the N. T., and has doubtless given rise to the modern saying, “as patient as Job.”

ἠκούσατε. Perhaps in the synagogue; cf. Matthew 5:21, Matthew 5:27, Matthew 5:33, Matthew 5:38, Matthew 5:43.

τὸ τέλος κυρίου, “the conclusion wrought by the Lord to his troubles.” Cf. Job 42:10-17, especially v. 12 ὁ δὲ κύριος εὐλόγησε τὰ ἔσχατα Ἰώβ.

τὸ τέλος κυρίου is taken by Augustine, Bede, and many later interpreters to mean the death of Christ. But in that case not the mere death, but the triumph over death, would have had to be made prominent. The suggestion is at variance both with what precedes and with what follows; and the death of Christ is not likely to be introduced so ambiguously. “If τέλος is supposed to refer to the Resurrection and Ascension, the main point of the comparison (suffering) is omitted: if it refers to the Crucifixion, the encouragement is wanting” (Mayor).

τέλος sometimes means “death,” as Wisd. 3:19, cf. 2:16 μακαρίζει ἔσχατα δικαίων. But it is not necessary to give it that meaning here.

εἴδετε, i. e. in the story of Job. Cf. Hebrews 3:19, Test. XII Patr. Benj. 4:1 ἴδετε οὖν, τέκνα μου. τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὸ τέλος (v. l. ἔλεος).

πολύσπλαγχνός ἐστιν ὁ κύριος καὶ οἰκτίρμων.

Cf. Psalm 103:8 (note v. 9 οὐκ εἰς τέλος ὀργισθήσεται), 111:4, 145:8, Exodus 34:6, Ecclus. 2:7-11, Ps. Sol. 10:8, Test. XII Patr. Judges 1:19:3, Zab. 9:7.

πολύσπλαγχνος means “very kind.” Apart from far later Christian use (e. g. Theod. Stud. p. 615, eighth century) it is elsewhere found only in Hermas, Sim. v, 7 4, Mand. iv, 3. Cf. πολυσπλαγχνία, Hermas, Vis. i, 3:2, ii, 2:8, iv, 2:3, Mand. ix, 2, Justin Mart. Dial. 55; πολυεύσπλαγχνος, Hermas, Sim. v, 4:4; πολυευσπλαγχνία, Hermas, Sim. viii, 6:1.

It seems to be equivalent to LXX πολυέλεος. Like other words from σπλάγχνα (רַחֲמִים) it must be of Jewish origin. This group of words is rather more strongly represented in the N. T. than in the LXX, and seems to have come into free popular use in the intervening period.

οἰκτίρμων, “merciful.” In classical Greek only a poetic term for the more common ἐλεήμων (Schmidt, Synonymik der griech. Sprache, iii, p. 580). Frequent in the LXX for רַחֲמִים; nearly always used of God; in the majority of cases combined with ἐλεήμων. Cf. Luke 6:36.

12-18. Do not break out into oaths. Instead, if in distress, pray; if well off, sing a psalm to God; if sick, ask for prayer and anointing, and confess your sins. Prayer is a mighty power; remember Elijah’s prayer.

The exhortation relating to oaths appears to be parallel with μὴ στενάζετε. “Do not put the blame for your hardships on your brethren: do not irreverently call upon God in your distress.” Vv. 12-18 all relate to the religious expression of strong emotion.

12. πρὸ πάντων δέ, “but especially,” emphasising this as even more important than μὴ στενάζετε.

For the use of this formula near the end of a letter, cf. 1 Peter 4:8, and see examples from papyri quoted in Robinson, Ephesians, p. 279.

μὴ ὀμνύετε. A reminiscence of Matthew 5:34-37 (note especially v. 37 and the reference to οὐρανός and γῆ in vv. 34 f.).

τὸν οὐρανόν. The accusative is the ordinary classical construction after ὄμνυμι; ἐν with the dative, as found in Matthew is a Hebraism.

ἤτω, for ἔστω. See references in Lex. and Winer-Schmiedel, § 14:1, note; also Mayor’s note, p. 167, J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena, p. 56.

ἤτω δὲ ὑμῶν τὸ ναὶ ναί, “let your yea be yea” (and nothing more).

This is simpler, and in every way better, than to translate, “Let yours be the ‘Yea, yea,’ ” i. e. the mode of speech commanded by the Lord in Matthew 5:37.

It is not to be supposed that James had in mind any question of the lawfulness of oaths in a law-court in a Jewish or Christian country. To any oriental such a saying as this, or Matthew 5:37, would at once suggest ordinary swearing, not the rare and solemn occasions about which modern readers have been so much concerned.

The commentators are divided on this point. Huther (Beyschlag) names many who hold that James meant to forbid all oaths, but a still larger number who think that only frivolous swearing was in his mind. Huther’s own argument is that if he had meant to forbid serious oaths he would have had to mention explicitly the oath by the name of God.

The form here differs from that of the saying in Matthew 5:37 ἔστω δὲ ὁ λόγος ὑμῶν ναὶ ναί, and it is a singular fact that the words of Jesus are quoted substantially in the form found in James by many early writers, including Justin Martyr, Apol. i, 16, Clem. Alex. Strom. v, 14, 99, p. 707, vii, 11, 67, p. 872.

The form in James is simpler and seems to correspond to a current Jewish mode of describing truthfulness. Similar language is found in Ruth rabba 3, 18, “With the righteous is their ‘yes,’ yes, and their ‘no,’ no,” ascribed to R. Huna († 297 a.d.), quoting his contemporary R. Samuel bar-Isaac, and doubtless independent of the N. T.

The fact probably is that at an early date the text of Matthew 5:37 was in the East either modified or misquoted by the influence of the more familiar current phrase, which also appears in James. In the later quotations, however, direct influence from Jam 5:12 is very likely to have come in. The theory that we have here in James and in these early writers the traces of an oral form of the sayings of Jesus preserved independently of Matthew’s Greek gospel is unlikely, and unnecessary. For a convenient presentation of the facts, see A. Resch, Aussercanonische Paralleltexte zu den Evangelien, ii, Matthaeus und Marcus, 1894 (Texte und Unters. x), pp. 96 f.

The commonness of oaths (often half-serious, half-profane) in daily speech in the ancient world, both Jewish and Gentile, does not need to be illustrated, cf. Ecclesiastes 9:2. The censure of the moralists seems to have proceeded both from the tendency to untruthfulness which made an oath seem needed (and which it intensified), from the dishonest distinctions between the valid and the invalid oath, and from the irreverence of profanity (Philo, De decal. 19 φύεται γὰρ ἐκ πολυορκίας ψευδορκία καὶ ἀσέβεια). To these motives should be added the dread among the Greeks of an oath which might commit to unexpected obligations perhaps tragic in their result.

From Jewish sources there are consequently many sayings recommending either complete abstinence from swearing or at least the greatest possible restriction of the custom. Thus Ecclus. 23:9-11, 27:14. Philo discusses oaths in De decal. 17-19, and De spec. leg. ii, 1-6. His principle is that oaths are to be avoided when possible, that oaths should be taken by lower objects (“the earth, the sun, the stars, the universe”) rather than by “the highest and eldest Cause,” and he praises the man who by any evasion (cf. English, “Oh My!”) avoids the utterance of the sacred words of oaths. His abhorrence of oaths is due to their profane impiety and unseemliness, but he also lays stress on truthfulness and on the wickedness of false swearing and of swearing to do wrong.

Rabbinical teaching was to much the same effect, with varying degrees of rigour. Nedarim 20 a, “Accustom not thyself to vows, for sooner or later thou wilt swear false oaths”; Midrash Bemidbar r. 22, “Not even to confirm the truth is it proper for one to swear, lest he come to trifle with vows and swearing, and deceive his neighbour by oaths”; Midrash Wajjikra r. 6 (cf. Shebuoth 47 a), where all swearing is forbidden. See A. Wünsche, Neue Beiträge zur Erläuterung der Evangelien aus Talmud und Midrasch, 1878, pp. 57-60, and E. Bischoff, Jesus und die Rabbinen, 1905, pp. 54-56.

In particular the Essenes refrained from oaths; Josephus, BJ, ii, 8 6: “Every statement of theirs is surer than an oath; and with them swearing is avoided, for they think it worse than perjury. For they say that he who is untrustworthy except when he appeals to God, is already under condemnation,” cf. Ant. xv, 10 4. Philo, Quod omn. prob. liber, 12, mentions among the doctrines of the Essenes τὸ ἀνώμοτον, τὸ ἀψευδές.

Similar reasons led to the discouragement of oaths by Greek moralists. Pythagoras himself is said (Diog. Laert, Pythag. 22, Jamblichus, Vita Pythag. 9 and 28) to have taught μηδʼ ὀμνύναι θεούς, ἀσκεῖν γὰρ αὑτὸν δεῖν ἀξιόπιστον παρέχειν, and this was certainly a principle of the Pythagoreans. See also Diodor. Sic. x, fragm. 92.

From the Stoic side comes the saying of Epictetus, Enchir. 335, ὅρκον παραίτησαι, εἰ μὲν οἷόν τε, εἰς ἅπαν, εἰ δὲ μή, ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων, and that of the Stoically influenced Eusebius, in Stobæus, Anthol. iii, 27, 13 οἱ πολλοὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποισι τὸ εὐόρκους εἶναι αὐτοῖς παραινέουσιν, ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τὸ ἀρχὴν μηδʼ εὐπετέως ὀμνύναι ὅσιον ἀποφαίνομαι.

For other Greek sayings, cf. Chœrilus of Samos (fourth century b.c.), ὅρκον δʼ οὐτʼ ἄδικον χρεὼν ὀμνύναι οὔτε δίκαιον (in Stobæus, Anthol. iii, 27, 1); Menander, Sent. sing. 441 ὅρκον δὲ φεῦγε καὶ δικαίως κἀδίκως; the statement of Nicolaus Damascenus (Stob. Anth. iv, 2, 25), Φρύγες ὅρκοις οὐ χρῶνται, οὐτʼ ὀμνύντες, οὔτε ἄλλους ἐξορκοῦντες; Sosiades’ maxims of the Seven Sages, in Stobæus, Anthol. iii, 1, 173 ὅρκῳ μὴ χρῶ.

See R. Hirzel’s excellent monograph, Der Eid, 1902; L. Schmidt, Die Ethik der alten Griechen, 1882, ii, pp. 1-11; references in Mayor and Wetstein on Matthew 5:37; Stobæus, Anthol. iii, c, 27 Περὶ ὅρκου.

With early Christian writers the objection to oaths was further increased by reason of the necessary association with heathen worship and formulas. The subject is discussed by Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Chrysostom, Augustine. See references in Mayor, K. F. Stäudlin, Geschichte der Vorstellungen und Lehren vom Eide, 1824, “Oaths,” in DCA.

ἵνα μὴ ὑπὸ κρίσιν πέσητε, cf. v. 9, with the same meaning.

ὑπὸ κρίσιν] BאA minn ff vg boh sah syrutr.

εἰς κρίσιν] minn2.

εἰς ὑπόκρισιν] KLP 048 minnmulti.

The reading of KLP is a superficial emendation.

13-15. The negative precepts for behaviour under the trials of earthly existence (μὴ στενάζετε κατʼ ἀλλήλων, μὴ ὀμνύετε) are followed by positive precepts for the conduct of life in the shifting scenes of this world. In trouble and joy, and in sickness, the first thought and the controlling mood should be Prayer.

13. κακοπαθεῖ τις; “is any in trouble?” Cf. note on κακοπαθίας, v. 10; the word refers to calamity of every sort, and is not to be limited to the opposite of εὐθυμία.

These short sentences, with question and answer, are characteristic of the diatribe; cf. Teles, ed. Hense2, p. 10. See Introduction, p. 12.

εὐθυμεῖ τις; “is any in good spirits?” εὐθυμεῖν, εὐθυμία are not found in LXX, εὔθυμος only in 2 Macc. 11:26. In the N. T. they are found elsewhere only in Acts 24:10, Acts 24:27:22, Acts 24:25, 36—in both cases in passages of a distinctly Hellenic character.

ψαλλέτω, “let him sing a hymn.”

Cf. Ephesians 5:19, Romans 15:9, 1 Corinthians 14:15; ψαλμός, 1 Corinthians 14:26, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16.

Properly “play the harp,” hence frequent in O. T., especially in Psalms (forty times), for זָמַר, “sing to the music of a harp,” e. g. Psalm 7:17, Psalm 98:4. But the word does not necessarily imply the use of an instrument.

14. ἀσθενεῖ τις; “is any sick?” Cf. Matthew 10:8, John 4:46, Acts 9:37, Php 2:26 f.

τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους τῆς ἐκκλησίας, definite officers, not merely the elder men in general, cf. Acts 20:17.

Presbyters as church officers are mentioned in the N. T. in Acts 11:30, Acts 11:14:23, Acts 11:15:4, Acts 11:6, Acts 11:22, Acts 11:23, Acts 11:16:4, Acts 11:20:17, Acts 11:21:18, 1 Timothy 5:1, 1 Timothy 5:2, 1 Timothy 5:17, 1 Timothy 5:19 (?), Titus 1:5, 1 Peter 5:1 (?), 3 John 1:1. Jewish villages also had presbyters. On the origin and history of the Christian office of presbyter, see EB, “Presbyter,” “Bishop,” “Ministry”; HDB, “Bishop,” “Church,” “Church Government,” “Presbytery.”

The solemn visit here described gives a vivid picture of the customs of a Jewish town. James recommends it not as anything new, nor as excluding all other therapeutic methods. Visiting the sick (cf. Matthew 25:36) was enjoined by the rabbis: Nedarim 39, “He who visits the sick lengthens his life, and he who refrains shortens it”; cf. Sanhedrim 101, 1 (Wetstein), where R. Elieser is visited in sickness by four rabbis; Shabbath 127 b; Sota 14 a. See Edersheim, Jewish Social Life, pp. 167 f.; S. Schechter, Studies in Judaism, second series, Philadelphia, 1908, pp. 99 f. and note 42, p. 311.

The following interesting passages have been brought to the attention of N. T. scholars by the aid of Dr. S. Schechter (see Fulford, St. James, pp. 117 f.): Samachoth Zutarti (ed. Chaim M. Horowitz, Uralte Tosefta’s, Mainz, 1890, pp. 28-31), “From the time when a man takes to his bed, they come to him and say, ‘Words neither revive one, nor do they kill.’ [After exhorting the sick man to set his worldly affairs in order, as Isaiah did Hezekiah, 2 Kings 20:1, if he sees that the sick man is dangerously ill, the visitor says], ‘Confess before thou diest, for there are many who have confessed and died not; others who did not confess have died. Again perhaps on the merit of thy confession thou wilt recover.’ If he can confess with his mouth, he does so. If not, he confesses in his heart. Both the man who confesses with his mouth and the man who confesses in his heart are alike, provided that he directs his mind to God and his understanding is clear.” T. B. Shabbath 13 b, “He who comes to a sick man says, ‘May the Lord have mercy on you.’ ” “He who comes to pay a visit to a sick man must not sit on a bed or on a chair; but let him wrap his mantle round him, and pray the mercy of God for the man. There is a divine presence at the head of the sick man.”

Closely like the verse in James is Baba bathra 116 a, “Let him into whose house calamity or sickness has come, go to a wise man (i. e. a rabbi) that he may intercede for him with God.”

ἐκκλησίας, cf. note on συναγωγήν, 2:2, and EB, “Church.” προσευξάσθωσαν. Cf. Ecclus. 38:9, 14.

ἀλείψαντες ἐλαίῳ, cf. Mark 6:13.

The aorist participle does not imply that the anointing is to precede the prayer; cf. Burton, Moods and Tenses, § 139-141; Blass-Debrunner, § 339; Moulton, Prolegomena, pp. 130-132.

The Jews, as well as other ancient peoples, used oil as a common remedial agent. In many cases, doubtless, the application had therapeutic value; often, however, in the lack of scientific knowledge it must (like many other remedies, ancient and modern) have owed its efficacy wholly to influence on the patient’s mind. Cf. Isaiah 1:6, Luke 10:34, and the evidence collected by Mayor; and see “Oil” and “Anointing,” in EB, and HDB Galen, Med. temp. ii, calls oil “The best of all remedies for paralysis (τοῖς ἐξηραμμένοις καὶ αὐχμώδεσι σώμασιν.)”

Talm. Jerus. in Berakoth 3. 1, “R. Simeon, the son of Eleazar, permitted R. Meir to mingle wine and oil and to anoint the sick on the Sabbath. And he was once sick, and we sought to do so to him, but he suffered us not.” Talm. Jerus. in Maasar Sheni 53. 3, “A tradition: Anointing on the Sabbath is permitted. If his head ache, or if a scall comes upon it, he anoints it with oil.” Talm. Bab. in Joma 77. 2, “If he be sick, or scall be upon his head, he anoints according to his manner.” Talm. Jerus. in Shab. 14. 3, “A man that one charmeth, he putteth oil upon his head and charmeth.”

With these Jewish ideas may be compared the notion of the oil which flows from the tree of life in paradise and bestows physical and spiritual blessings (Apoc. Mos. 9, Vita Adae et Evae 36, Evang. Nicod. 19).

This use of oil for healing was combined with the appeal to spiritual forces, as we can see in Jam 5:14 and as is hinted in Mark 6:13. The reference in James is to an accepted popular custom, and the writer would hardly have been able to distinguish the parts played in the recovery by the two elements, or perhaps even to give any theory of the function of the oil. It is possible, as has often been suggested, that one motive for James’s exhortation is to counteract the habit of seeking aid from superstitious, often heathenish, incantations and charms. The verse is often quoted to that end by later Christian writers (see references infra).

The same therapeutic use of oil (oleum infirmorum) in combination with religious rites continued in the earlier centuries of the Christian era, and is there, as among the Hebrews, carefully to be distinguished from that anointing (oleum catechumenorum, chrisma principale, etc.) which was the symbol of the conveyance of a character or grace.

The story told by Tertullian (Ad Scapulam, 4) is often quoted:

“Even Severus himself, the father of Antoninus, was graciously mindful of the Christians; for he sought out the Christian Proculus, surnamed Torpacion, the steward of Euhodias, and, in gratitude for his having once cured him by anointing, he kept him in his palace till the day of his death.”

Besides this case Puller, Anointing of the Sick, has collected a large number of narratives of cures through the administration of holy oil, written at various dates from the third to the seventh century, and attested by contemporary or nearly contemporary evidence. Many of them are cases of paralysis or blindness, and may well have been of an hysterical nature (see P. Janet, The Major Symptoms of Hysteria, 1907). During this period of church history it does not appear that the therapeutic anointing with oil was generally thought of as also having spiritual efficacy. Origen, Hom. ii in Lev_4, uses the passage in James to illustrate the remission of sin through penitence, but seems to pay no attention to the reference to anointing. Likewise Chrysostom, De sacerd. iii, 6, quotes James to prove the authority of priests to forgive sins, but seems to take no thought of the anointing. Other writers also make it plain that they think of the oil merely as a means of securing bodily health.

The value in the Christian church of such a popular substitute for pagan magic was felt at this time. Cyril of Alexandria, De adorat. in spir. et ver. vi, p. 211, urges his readers to avoid the charms and incantations of magicians, and fittingly quotes Jam 5:13-15, and likewise Cæsarius of Arles more than once quotes the verses on occasions when he is warning his people against the common recourse to sorcerers and superstitions, instead of which he recommends the consecrated oil. Cf. Append. serm. S. Augustini, serm. 265, 3, Migne, vol. xxxix, col. 2238, and serm. 279, 5, col. 2273; also the Venerable Bede, Exposit. super div. Jacob. epist., Migne, vol. xciii, col. 39.

From the fourth century on there are Greek and other oriental liturgies containing forms for blessing the holy oil, for instance in one of the oldest, the Sacramentary of St. Serapion (fourth century, Egypt), ed. Brightman, Journal of Theol. Studies, i, 1899-1900, pp. 108, 267 f.

The Latin forms are to the same effect. During these centuries the therapeutic use of oil consecrated by a bishop or a priest or a wonder-working saint was permitted to any person without distinction. The letter of Pope Innocent I to Decentius (Ep. 25, 8, Migne, vol. xx, cols. 560 f.), dated March 19, 416, says that sick believers “have the right to be anointed with the holy oil of chrism, which, being consecrated by the bishop, it is lawful not for the priests only, but for all Christians to use for anointing in case of their own need or that of members of their household.’

Before the end of the eighth century, however, a change came about in the West, whereby the use of oil was transformed into an anointing of those about to die, not as a means to their recovery, but with a view to the remission of their sins, and in connection with the giving of the viaticum. How far the change in the church may have been influenced by coexisting popular customs and ideas, which now forced themselves into legitimate usage, is not known. For instance, Irenæus, i, 215, says that the gnostic Marcosii anointed the dying with oil and water as a protection of their souls against the hostile powers of the spirit-world.

In any case this history shows the transformation of a widespread popular practise, having religious associations but purely medicinal aims, into a strictly religious rite, limited to priestly administration and carefully ordered with fixed forms and established rules. The withdrawal of the rite from the sphere of popular medicine was doubtless fundamentally due to the advancing control of rational intelligence in the affairs of the church and to a sound progress in religious conceptions. It was felt that religious observances should have a spiritual purpose. But by retaining the physical element, and ascribing to it spiritual efficacy ex opere operato, there was brought about a different and more far-reaching intrusion of the physical into the sphere of the religious.

The sacrament of Extreme Unction is first mentioned by name as one of the seven sacraments of the church in the twelfth century. It was fully discussed by the schoolmen, and received authoritative definition in the decree of the Council of Trent, which declares that holy unction of the sick was established as a sacrament by Christ our Lord, “implied (insinuatum) in Mark, and commended and promulgated to the faithful by James the Apostle and brother of the Lord” (Sess. xiv, Doctrina de sacr. extr. unct. cap. i). Since that time such a view as that of Cardinal Cajetan, that James does not refer to the sacramental anointing of extreme unction (“nec ex verbis nec ex effectu verba haec loquuntur de sacramentali unctione extremae unctionis,” Comment. in ep. S. Jacobi, dated 1539), has been illegal in the Roman church.

In the Greek church the mystery of anointing (εὐχέλαιον) has retained in part its original purpose as a therapeutic process, and is administered to the sick while there is still hope of recovery. In the Russian use the recovery to health is the chief point, with the Greeks the main emphasis is on the forgiveness of sins.

F. Kattenbusch, “Ölung,” in Herzog-Hauck, PRE, 1904; F. W. Puller, The Anointing of the Sick in Scripture and Tradition, 21910; “Oil” and “Unction,” in DCA.

ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου. Belongs with ἀλείψαντες, “anointing with oil with the use of the name”; see Heitmüller, Im Namen Jesu, 1903, pp. 86 f. The use of “the name” made this anointing a partly religious act and not a merely medicinal application.

τοῦ κυρίου] B omits. This is probably an error, but on “the Name,” with no genitive, cf. 3 John 1:7, Acts 5:41, Leviticus 24:11, Leviticus 24:2 Clem Rom_13 (and Lightfoot’s note), Ign. Eph_3 (and note), Pirke Aboth, iv, 7, cf. Jam 2:7.

15. ἡ εὐχή. The prayer is the more important part of the process, but of course is not thought of as exclusively operative. Intercessory prayer was a familiar idea to Jews.

εὐχή is elsewhere in the N. T. used of a vow. In secular Greek, vow and prayer are in many cases not easily distinguished; εὐχή has there the meaning “wish” also. In the LXX it means “vow” in the vast majority of cases, but in Proverbs 15:8, Proverbs 15:29 has the sense of “prayer.” εὓχομαι is regularly used for “pray” as well as “vow.”

τῆς πίστεως, cf. 1:6.

σώσει, i. e. restore to health, cf. Matthew 9:21f., Mark 6:56, Diod. Sic. i, 82 κἂν [οἰ ἰατροὶ] ἀδυνατήσωσι σῶσαι τὸν κάμνοντα.

Some interpreters, both Protestant scholars (as von Soden) and Catholic (as Trenkle), have given this the meaning “save to eternal life,” while others have tried to include both ideas. But the natural meaning of the word in this context is decisive (so, among Roman Catholics, Belser).

τὸν κάμνοντα, “the sick man,” cf. ἀσθενεῖ, v. 14.

κάμνειν is common in secular Greek in this sense, but is not found in LXX nor elsewhere than here in N. T. It is used, e. g. of gout and of disease of the eyes (κάμνειν τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς), and there is no reason whatever for taking τὸν κάμνοντα to mean “the dying” (von Soden).

ἐγερεῖ. The word means “raise from the bed of sickness to health,” and is a virtual repetition of σώσει; cf. 2 Kings 4:31, Psalm 41:10, Mark 1:31.

ἐγερεῖ cannot refer here either to the awakening of the dead to life or to the resurrection.

ὁ κύριος. If τοῦ κυρίου, v. 14, is genuine, and refers to Christ, ὁ κύριος may have the same meaning. It would be more natural that it should mean “God.”

κἄν, “and if,” cf. Mark 16:18, Luke 13:9, and many other passages quoted in Lex.. s. v. κἄν.

ἀμαρτίας, i. e. sins which have occasioned the sickness.

Sickness was generally held to be due to sin, cf. Mark 2:5 ff., John 9:2 f. John 9:5:14, 1 Corinthians 11:30, Deuteronomy 28:22, Deuteronomy 28:27, Psa_38, Isaiah 38:17, Ecclus. 18:19-21, Nedarim, fol. 41:1, “No sick person is cured of his disease until all his sins are forgiven him,” Test. XII Patr. Rub. 1:7, Sim. 2:12, Zab. 5:4, Gad 5:9 f.

ἀφεθήσεται, impersonal passive, cf. Matthew 7:2, Matthew 7:7, Romans 10:10, Blass-Debrunner, § 130, Gildersleeve, Syntax, § 176. This seems to refer not to general forgiveness but to the special sins in question.

16. ἐξομολογεῖσθε, προσεύχεσθε.

The confession is by the sick, the prayer by the well for the sick. The value of confession is as an expression of penitence, and as thus furnishing ground for the others’ prayers. On confession in Jewish piety, see S. Schechter, Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology, ch. 18, and on the history of confession, see DCA, “Exomologesis,” “Penitence,” EB, “Confess.”

οὖν, since this is the method of securing healing (ὅπως ἰαθῆτε).

ἀλλήλοις, not necessarily restricted to the presbyters.

ὅπως ἰαθῆτε refers to bodily healing, as is clearly shown by the context (cf. v. 14). The subject of ἰαθῆτε is “you who are prayed for.” The sick persons’ own prayers for themselves are not in mind.

δέησις, “prayer,” with especial thought of petition, common in LXX and not infrequent in N. T., e. g. Php 1:19. Cf. Trench, Synonyms, § li, Lightfoot on Php 4:6, Ellicott on Ephesians 6:18, commentaries on 1 Timothy 2:1.

δικαίου, cf. v. 15 ἡ εὐχὴ τῆς πίστεως, 1:6 f.

ἐνεργουμένη, “when it is exercised,” “exerted,” “put forth.” The meaning is: “A righteous man’s praying has great effect when he prays.” The participle adds but little to the sense; for more significant participles in the same construction, see 1:14.

On the verb ἐνεργεῖν, see J. A. Robinson, St. Paul’s Ep. to the Ephesians, pp. 241-247, Mayor, ad loc. The word is used intransitively to mean “be active,” and transitively (as here) in the sense of “effect,” “carry out,” “do.” In certain instances in Paul (notably 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Thessalonians 2:7, 2 Corinthians 4:13, Galatians 5:6, Romans 7:5, Ephesians 3:20, cf. 2 Corinthians 1:6, Colossians 1:29) it is used in the passive, and the subject is an agent or power, which is “made active,” “set at work,” “made to work.” This is a step beyond the usual meaning, but such an explanation of these instances is better than (with Lightfoot) to take them as middle, which neither accords with usage nor follows inner fitness.

The Greek commentators on James take the word as passive, in the sense “being made effective.” This is thought of as accomplished either by the virtues of the one who prays or by the ensuing good conduct of him for whom the prayer is offered. Maximus Confessor, in Quœstiones ad Thalassium, 57 (Migne, vol. xc, cols. 589-592, also Cramer’s Catena) offers both explanations. “Œcumenius” gives only the latter, as does Matthaei’s scholiast, who writes συνεργουμένη ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ δεομένου [i. e. the needy man’s] γνώμης καὶ πράξεως. Modern commentators sometimes interpret: “when actuated by the Spirit,” but it is not legitimate here to assume this altogether later use, from which the term energumen, “possessed person,” comes. Others take it as meaning “made active,” “energised,” and so as about equivalent to ἐνεργής, “effectual,” or ἐκτενής, “earnest.” But the writer would hardly have desired to restrict the power of a righteous man’s prayer to exceptional cases where it showed more than ordinary intensity; the sentence owes its whole force to being an unqualified statement. Moreover there is no good evidence that the word was capable of bearing this sense.

The Latin ff has frequens, vg assidua, Luther, wenn es ernstlich ist. Of the English versions Wiclif and the Rhemish follow the Vulgate with “continual”; Tyndale, the Great Bible, the Geneva version, and the Bishops’ Bible follow Luther with “fervent.” A.V. has the combination “effectual fervent,”* while R.V. (under the influence of Lightfoot) takes the participle as middle and translates “in its working.”

17. Vv. 17 f. confirm by the example of Elijah the statement πολὺ ἰσχύει.

Ἠλείας, cf. 1 Kings 17:1, 1 Kings 17:18:1, 42 ff.

The importance in Jewish popular thought of Elijah’s relation to the famine is illustrated by Ecclus. 48:1-3, 4 Ezra 7:39.

Vv. 17, 18 are dependent on midrashic tradition in the following respects (cf. the similar dependence on Jewish tradition in Jam 2:23, Jam 5:11):

(1) Elijah’s prayer that it might not 1 Kings 17:1 speaks only of a prophecy. The idea of a prayer was an inference from the words, “God, before whom I stand,” in 1 Kings 17:1; note also the prominence given to Elijah’s prayer in his other great miracle, 1 Kings 17:17-24; 1Ki 17:4 Ezra 7:39. This embellishment followed regular Jewish methods of interpretation; e. g. the Targum to Genesis 18:22, Genesis 19:27 translates “stood” by “ministered in prayer.” That Elijah procured the drought is directly stated in Ecclus. 48:3.

(2) The period of “three years and six months.” The same statement is made in Luke 4:25 ἔτη τρία καὶ μῆνας ἕξ, and is found in Jalkut Shimoni, fol. 32, Col_2, on 1 Kings: “In the thirteenth year of Ahab there was a famine in Samaria for three years and a half” (text in Surenhusius, Βίβλος καταλλαγῆς, Amsterdam, 1713, p. 681). The O. T. basis for this midrash was 1 Kings 18:1 (“many days,” “in the third year”). Various explanations for the precise definition of three years and six months are suggested by J. Lightfoot, Horae hebraicae on Luke 4:25, and by Surenhusius, pp. 680-682. For other Jewish estimates of the length of the drought, cf. Ruth rabba 1, 4 (Wetstein), “fourteen months,” and W. Bacher, Die Agada der Tannaiten und Amoräer; Bibelstellenregister, on 1 Kings 17:1, 1 Kings 18:1.

It is possible, but not demonstrable, that the apocalyptic number of the half-week, three and one-half, may have had influence on the number here; cf. Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7, Revelation 11:2, Revelation 11:3, Revelation 11:9, Revelation 11:12:6, Revelation 11:14, Revelation 11:13:5.

(3) V. 18 καὶ πάλιν προσηύξατο is perhaps justified by 1 Kings 18:42.

ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν, “suffering the like with us,” i.e. “a man like us.” This should encourage us to take the example to heart, and is perhaps occasioned by the current tendency to emphasise superhuman traits in Elijah; cf. Ecclus. 48:1-22 for earlier, and JE, “Elijah,” for later developments in that direction.

προσευχῇ προσηυξατο, “prayed a prayer.” It was the prayer of Elijah, not any magic wrought by a superhuman being, which brought about the noteworthy result.

προσευχῇ throws into relief the important idea of the sentence, much as in the classical analogies γάμῳ γεγαμηκώς, “marry in true wedlock,” Demosth. p. 1002, 12, or the figurative and frequent φεύγειν φυγῇ, “flee with all speed,” Plato, Symp. p. 195 B, etc. These and other examples of the figura etymologica (some of which are also given in the grammars) are to be found, together with valuable distinctions and classifications, in Lobeck, Paralipomena grammaticae grœcae, 1837, pp. 523-527. Speaking of the LXX idiom, which he does not, however, trace to its source in the Hebrew infinitive absolute, Lobeck says, “haud aliena illa ab emphasis ratione, sed aliena tamen a Grœcorum grœcensium consuetudine,” that is (J. H. Moulton), they are “possible, but unidiomatic” expressions.

In the LXX the idiom is much overworked, having been one of several convenient methods of representing the Hebrew infinitive absolute; cf. Genesis 2:17 θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθαι, Genesis 31:30 ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπιθυμήσεις (so Luke 22:15), etc., etc. Such a case as John 3:29 χαρᾷ χαίρει is to be regarded as imitative. Acts 5:28 παραγγελίᾳ παρηγγείλαμεν is probably a translation from Aramaic.

See Blass-Debrunner, § 198, Buttmann, § 133. 22, Winer, § 4, § 44, Rem. 3, § 54. 3, J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena, pp. 75 f.

It may well be that James’s phrase is directly or indirectly affected by this familiar Biblical idiom, but the A.V. “prayed earnestly,” R.V. “prayed fervently,” although they would be legitimate translations of a corresponding Hebrew phrase, introduce into this Greek verse what is not properly to be found there.

τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι.

The infinitive with τοῦ, like other expressions of purpose (cf. Php 1:9 προσεύχομαι ἵνα), is often, as here, reduced to the force of an object clause. Cf. 1 Kings 1:35, Isaiah 5:6, Acts 15:20. See J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena, pp. 216-218, Blass-Debrunner, § 400, Winer, § 44. 4, Buttmann, § 140. 16.

ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, “on the earth,” cf. Luke 4:25 ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, Genesis 7:12 (of the flood) ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, 1 Kings 18:1 ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς.

18. καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ὑετὸν ἔδωκεν. For ὑετὸν διδόναι, cf. 1 Samuel 12:17, 1 Kings 18:1, Acts 14:17, in all which cases the subject is “God.”

For similar instances of the efficacy of prayer in bringing a severe drought to an end, cf. Jos. Antiq. xiv, 2:1, in the case of Onias, δίκαιος καὶ θεοφιλής, and Epiphanius, Hær. lviii (lxxviii), 14, in a story of James himself.

19, 20. Conclusion. Final saying on the privilege of being instrumental in the restoration of an erring brother to the way of truth.

This seems to be a general appeal, equally related to all the preceding discussions of specific tendencies and dangers. As such, it forms a fitting conclusion and gives the motive of the whole tract.

With this conclusion Spitta well compares that of Ecclus. 51:30.

19. ἀδελφοί μου. In the first place in the sentence, as elsewhere in 2:1 only. In both cases there is an abrupt change of subject.

πλανηθῇ, “err,” “wander.”

The figurative use of “wander” and “cause to wander,” with reference to “erring from truth and righteousness,” is common in the O. T. especially in the prophets and Wisdom-literature. Cf. Wisd. 5:6 ἐπλανήθημεν ἀπὸ ὁδοῦ ἀληθείας, Isaiah 9:16, Ezekiel 34:4 τὸ πλανώμενον οὐκ ἀπεστρέψατε (v. l. ἐπεστρέψατε), etc. Also in the N. T., cf. Hebrews 5:2, 2 Peter 2:15, 2 Timothy 3:13, Revelation 18:23, and Polyc. Phil. 6:1 ἐπιστρέφοντες τὰ ἀποπεπλανημένα. In Test. XII Patr. the evil spirits are called πνεύματα τῆς πλάνης, and Beliar, their chief, is ὁ ἄρχων τῆς πλάνης, cf. Charles’s note on Test. XII Patr. Rub. 2 1.

ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, cf. 1:18, 3:14 and notes.

“The truth” is here the whole code of religious knowledge and moral precept accessible to the members of the Christian church. To err from it means any departure from the right path in thought or conduct. Various examples of such erring have occupied the attention of the writer throughout his epistles; here, however, grave sin (v. 20) seems to be chiefly in his mind.

The use of ἡ ἀλήθεια in this comprehensive sense is not founded on the O. T. אֱמֶת, אֱמוּנָה, which ordinarily mean “stability,” “faithfulness,” or else “conformity to fact,” while in many cases in the O. T “truth” is hardly to be distinguished from practical “righteousness,” e. g. Hosea 4:1. Yet in Daniel 8:12, Daniel 9:13 καὶ τοῦ συνιέναι ἐν πάσῃ ἀληθείᾳ σου, and the Apocrypha, ἡ ἀλήθεια is occasionally employed in a sense more like that of Greek writers; so Ecclus. 4:28, 3 Macc. 4:16, 4 Macc. 5:10.

For the Greek usage, cf. Dion. Hal. De Thuc. jud. iii, τῆς φιλοσόφου θεωρίας σκοπός ἐστιν ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας γνῶσις, Plutarch, Gryll. p. 986 A κενὸν ἀγαθὸν καἰ εἴδωλον ἀντὶ τῆς ἀληθείας διώκων.

In the N. T. this sense of “a body of true principles” is found in Paul (e. g. 2 Thessalonians 2:10, Galatians 5:7, 2 Corinthians 4:2, Ephesians 4:24), often in John (e. g. 8:32, 16:12, 18:37, 1 John 3:19), and elsewhere. Yet even here the influence of the O. T. is to be seen in the strong moral element included in the conception. The truth is not merely an object of knowledge, as in secular usage, but a moral and religious ideal, God’s revealed will, to which the loyalty of the heart must be given. Cf. Romans 2:20 ἔχοντα τὴν μόρφωσιν τῆς γνώσεως καὶ τῆς ἀλθείας ἐν τῷ νόμῷ, John 3:21 ὁ δὲ ποιῶν τὴν ἀληθείαν.

See Cremer, Wörterbuch der neutest. Gräcität9, 1902, s. v. ἀλήθεια, Wendt, “Der Gebrauch der Wörter ἀλήθεια, ἀληθής and ἀληθινός im Neuen Testament,” in Studien und Kritiken, 1883, pp. 511-547; V. H. Stanton, “Truth,” in HDB.

ἐπιστρέψῃ, “turn,” i. e. from error to the way of truth.

The norm of departure and return is sufficiently shown by the context; there is here no necessary indication that the word itself had already acquired the technical religious meaning of the modern verb “convert,” although such passages as Matthew 13:15 (Isaiah 6:10), Luke 1:16, Luke 22:32, Acts 3:19, Acts 3:14:15, 1 Thessalonians 1:9 show that that process had already begun. See Malachi 2:6, Daniel 12:3, Ecclus. 18:13, Ezekiel 34:4 (Cod. A), Polyc. Phil. 6, Apost. Const. 2, 6, cf. 1 Peter 2:25.

It is used in the sense of “turn from an error” by Lucian, De hist. conscr. 5, cf. Plut. Alc. 16. Cf. Test. XII Patr. Zab. 9:7, Daniel 5:11, Benj. 4:5; for other passages, see Charles’s index.

The sense “turn back, ” which the word seems to have here, is not wholly foreign to Greek usage (cf. Hippocr. 135 E, of a fever, “recur”), but it is rare, while in the LXX, following שׁוּב, that sense is very common. Cf. Matthew 12:44.

20. γινωσκέτω. If the alternative reading, γινώσκετε, is adopted, it is to be taken as probably imperative, cf. 2:1, 3:1, 5:7, etc.

γινωσκέτω ὅτι] אAKLP minn vg boh.

γινώσκετε ὅτι] B 69 1518 syrhcl.

om] ff sah.

The omission by ff sah is mere freedom of translation. As between γινωσκέτω and γινώσκετε, the latter might have arisen from an attempt to eliminate the hard question, necessarily present with the reading γινωσκέτω, as to who (the converter or the converted) was the subject of the verb. The address ἀδελφοί justified the change to the unambiguous, but colourless, γινώσκετε. On the other hand, it is unlikely that the influence of τις should have led to the change from the wholly unobjectionable γινώσκετε to γινωσκέτω. The reading of א is accordingly the “harder” reading, and to be preferred. This is one of the rare instances of an emended reading in B.

See P. Corssen, Göttingische gelehrte Anzeiger, 1893, p. 585, B. Weiss, Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie, vol. xxxvii, 1894, pp. 439-440.

ἐκ πλάνης ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ, “from the error of his way,” cf. 1 John 4:6 for contrast of ἀλήθεια and πλάνη.

σώσει. For instances of σώζειν in this sense with a human subject, cf. Romans 11:14, 1 Corinthians 7:16, 1 Timothy 4:16.

σώσει] For this reading (supported by all Greek witnesses, and by vgam fu Ambrst Cassiodor) ff with certain Vulgate Mss and Origlat reads salvat.

Similarly καλύψει is translated with the present tense by vg and Origlat (but not by ff).

ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, i. e. the erring brother’s soul, cf. 1:21 and note.

ψυχήν] BKL minnpler ff sah.

ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ אA (τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ) P minn vg boh syrutr.

In the same connection it is to be noticed that B ff read ἐκ θανάτου αὐτοῦ for the ἐκ θανάτου of nearly all other witnesses. In both cases the shorter reading is to be preferred.

ἐκ θανάτου. The force of the sentence depends on this word, which expresses the seriousness of the situation when a man wanders from the truth, a seriousness which may easily be overlooked and forgotten. This sentence is no platitude, provided θανάτου receives its proper emphasis. On θανάτου, cf. 1:15 and 3:6 γεέννης. Note how here, as in 1:15, death is the result of sin.

καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν. καλύπτειν in connection with sins usually means “cause them to be forgotten,” “procure pardon,” and that is the meaning here. Cf. Psalm 32:1f. 85:2 (quoted Romans 4:7), Nehemiah 4:5, Ep. ad Diogn. 9.

ἁμαρτιῶν means the sins of the converter (so Roman Catholic commentators and some others); to refer it to the sins of the converted person, as many do, makes a bad anticlimax. See Origen, Hom. in Leviticus 2:5 where converting a sinner is included as one method of securing forgiveness of one’s own sins.

Cf. Sohar 92. 18, “Great is the reward of him who leads back sinners to the way of the Lord,” 2 Clem. Rom_15 μισθὸς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν μικρὸς πλανωμένην ψυχὴν καί ἀπολλυμένην ἀποστρέψαι εἰς τὸ σωθῆναι, Pistis Sophia, ch. 104, Pirke Aboth, v, 26, “Whosoever makes the many righteous, sin prevails not over him.”

1 Peter 4:8 has a closely similar sentence, ἀγάπη καλύπτει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν, introduced as if a familiar aphorism. It is also found in Clem. Rom. 49, 2 Clem. Rom_16. See Lightfoot’s notes on both passages.

Both 1 Peter and James are usually held to be dependent on the Hebrew of Proverbs 10:12, “Hatred stirs up strife, but Love hides all transgressions” (Toy). There, however, the sense is not exactly “forgive” (as in the above-mentioned passages from the Psalms, etc.), but rather “hide,” “turn attention away from,” other men’s sins, as kindly feeling would suggest, cf. 1 Corinthians 13:6.

Similar is the meaning in the rabbinical passages quoted by Wetstein, where it is a question of keeping quiet about another’s sin, of refraining from gossip, not of forgiveness. So Proverbs 17:9 ὃ κρύπτε ἀδικήματα ζητεῖ φιλίαν.

Moreover, the LXX of Proverbs 10:12 (πάντας δὲ τοὺς μὴ φιλονεικοῦντας καλύπτει φιλία) is wholly unlike the N.T. passages, and the resemblance of James to even the Hebrew text is too slight to justify the idea of direct influence upon him from that source. The sentence in 1 Peter 4:8 may possibly have been influenced by Proverbs, but it is more likely that some familiar Greek aphorism (all the associations of which can no longer be traced) has been used by 1 Peter, while a part of the same form of words has been independently used, in a very different sense, by James.

See Lightfoot on Clem. Rom. 49 and 2 Clem. Rom_16, Resch, Agrapha, pp. 248 f., Ropes, Die Sprüche Jesu die in den kanonischen Evangelien nicht überliefert sind, pp. 75 f.

Zahn, Theodor Zahn, Einleitung in das Neue Testament, 31906-1907.

HDB J. Hastings, A Dictionary of the Bible, 1898-1902.

EB Encyclopœdia Biblica, 1899-1903.

J. H. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek. Vol I. Prolegomena, 1906, 31908.

Lex. J. H. Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1886.

L. and S. H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, 71883.

Winer G. B. Winer, A Grammar of the Idiom of the New Testament, Thayer’s translation, 21873.

Vg Vulgate.

Buttmann A. Buttmann, A Grammar of the New Testament Greek, Thayer’s translation, 1876.

DB Dictionary of the Bible.

Blass-Debrunner A. Debrunner, Friedrich Blass’ Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch, vierte vöilig neugearbeitete Auflage, 1913.

Mayor J. B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. James, 1892, 21897, 31910.

Trench, R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, 121894.

Schürer, E. Schürer, Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, 41901-1909.

JE The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.

Burton, E. D. Burton, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in New Testament Greek, 41900.

Herzog-Hauck, A. Hauck, Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche, begründet von J. J. Herzog, 1896-1913.

DCA W. Smith and S. Cheetham, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, 1893.

* Lightfoot, On a Fresh Revision3, 1891, p. 203, thinks the word “effectual” was introduced by inadvertence from a note in L. Tomson’s N. T. of 1576.