The Pulpit Commentary — James — Section 73

EXPOSITION. CHAPTER V. do not corrupt" (Matt. vi. Hl). Canke~ed (1<0.TlwTa1); better, r11,sted. Only here in tho Vere. 1-6.-DENUNOIATION 011' THE RIOH New Testament; never in the LXX. except ron (1) GRINDING DOWN TUE Poon AND KEEP• Ecclus. xii. 11. The rust of them. '16.: ING DAOK THEIR WAGES; (2) LUXURY j (3) used here for "rust" as in the LXX. in MunDER. The whole ■ection resembles IGzekiel's parable of the boiling pot (Ezek. nothing so much as an utterance of one of xxiv. 6, etc.)-a passage which (accordin<> the old Jewish prophets. It might almoBt to one interpretation) may have suggesteJ be o. leaf torn out of the Old 'festament. the following clause, " and shall eat your Ver. 1.-Go to now (see on cb. iv. 13). flesh," etc. (see vers. 9-12). Shall be 9. The Vulgate there has ec~; here, agite. witneea against yon (,ls µa.pT6piov &µ,v). The Ye rioh men (see on eh. ii. 6). Weep and rendering of the A.V. is quite defensible howl, etc.; cf. eh. iv. 9, but note the differ- (see Winer, p. 265), but it is equally possible enoe of tone; there, more of exhortation ; to take the words as the R.V. margin," for a here, more of denunciation. 'O;1.oA6(ovns : testimony unto you." "The rust of them," only here in the New Testament, but several says Alford," is a token of what shall happen times in the LXX., in passages of which to yourselves; in the consuming of your the one before us reminds us ; e.g. Isa. x. wealth you see depicted your own." Two 10; xiii. 6; xiv. 31; xv. 2 ; xxiii. 1, 6, 14. interpretations of the latter part of the verso Miseries. Tal,.a.,,..,p[a.,s: only ogain iu Rom. are pos.,ible, depending on the punctuation iii. 16 (equivalent to Isa. lix. 7); frequent adopted. (1) As the A.V. and R.V., puttin:s in the LXX. the stop after 1rvp : "Their rust ... shall Ver. 2.-Description of the miseries that eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up are coming upon them. The perfects ( crlcr111r• your treasure in the last days." The "fire,'' • . . 'Y•'Y•v•v) are prohably to be explained if this renrlering be adopted, may be ex- as " prophetic," in accordance with a com- plained from Ezek. xxiv. 9, etc. (2) Putting mon Hebrew idiom (see Driver on the the stop after vµwv and before c:,, ,rvp: 'Tenses of the Hebrew Verb,' § 14; and " Their rust . . . shall eat your flesh. Ye of. Winer, •Grammar of New 'I'estament have heaped up as it were fire in the last Greek,' p. 342: " The perfect does not stand days." This has the support of the Syriac for a present or future, but the case indicated (" Ye have gathered fire for you for the la.at by the apostle in Ta.l\.a.,-.rwpla.,s uµwv Ta.&< days"), and is adopted by Drs. Westcott and i1r,pxoµlva.is is viewed as already preseni, Hort. The "fire " will, of course, be tho and consequently the crfi-.r,w of the riches as fire of judgment; and the expression, C:,s -.rvp already completed"). For an instance of the •lh/cra.vp!cra.u, may easily have been suggested prophetio perfect, used ns here after oAoA6- by Prov. xvi. 27, 'Av-1,p li.cpp.,v opucrcr« ,a.vnj (uv, see Isa. xxiii. 1, 14, "How1, ... for your 1ea1eti, E1rl 6~ Ti;Jv EauToV xe,AE(IJ,, ~'1'avpl(H stronghold has been wasted." The miseries ,rvp. The whole form of expression also coming upon the rich are thus announced reminds us of St. Paul's" tree.surest up for to be the destruction of everything in virtue thyself wrath in the day of wrath" (Rom. of which they were styled rich. Their ii. 5), to which it is exactly parallel, the costly garments, in a great store of which "wrath in the day of wrath" there answer- the wealth of an Eastern largely consists, ing to the "fire in the last days" bere. should become moth-eaten. Their gold and (The rendering of the Vulgate is evidently silver should be rusted. Bengel notes on influenced by this parallel, as it ha, the.,au.• this passage: "Scripta hmo sunt paucis rizastis iram.) For the last days; rather, annis ante obsidionem Hierosolymorum;" in the last days (,v ecrxcfra.is 11µ.!pa.is); cf. and certainly the best commentiiry upon it 2 Tim. iii. I. If the words are connecte,1 is to be found in the terrible account given with -.riip as suggested above, there is no by Josephus of the sufferings and miseries difficulty in them. If the punctuation of which came upon the Jews during tho war the A.V. be retained, we must suppose that and siege of Jerusalem. The Jewish his- the writer is speeJ.."ing from the point of view torian has become the unconsoious witness of the lo.st day of all. "When the encl to the fulfilment of the propheoies of our came it found them heaping up trea,ure~ Lord and his apostle. :£lcr111r•v: only here in which Ibey could never use" (Deau Scott). the NewTest11.ment; in the LXX., Job xvi. 7. But the other view, though not so generally °%1/T0/3p.,Ta is also au /foa.~ ;1.,.,,&µe,ov in the adopted, seems for preferable. New Testa.ment; in LXX. used e.lso of gar• Ver. -1 11ccounts for the miseries that aro ]llente in Job xiii. 28. coming upon them. Their sins are the Ver. 3.-W,th this ancl the preceding cause. The language is modelled upon thu verse contrast our Lonl's words of treasure Okl Testt\ment, uncl the special sin de- laid up in houvea, "whore moth 1md ru11~ nounced b one thllt ~ ex1ire:,;,ly forbic'.ueu  THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMhS. [on. v. 1-20.